Say No To Abuse
There is no place for the glorification of sadomasochism and sexual abuse in any culture that stands against human trafficking. Yet Hollywood–Universal Pictures and Focus Features– is giving a platform to 50 Shades of Grey, a pornographic movie that merges erotica and violence. It has been controversially scaled down to an R rating so it can be served up as a mainstream offering and woo this generation of sons and daughters with a sleek and sexy–and completely inaccurate— look into the world of BDSM. To add insult to injury, this piece of cinematic garbage will be released the day before Valentine’s Day.
Opposition to the book and movie crosses the ideological spectrum, with many feminists expressing grave concerns about the messages the book is sending. One post on the leading feminist website Jezebel slammed the book (and by extension, the movie) as ’50 Shades of Abuse.’
Actually, this entire ’50 Shades of Degradation’ is pathetic. It points out the tremendous flaws in our male/female relationships. If men and women need to fantasize about controlling and degrading a sexual partner in order to get turned on — then, we are truly out of touch with what human intimacy is all about.
I would suppose that women, who seem to be running to this, are so unsatisfied with their sexual partners that perhaps we need to ask ourselves — why?
But, the unfortunate reality is that very few people will look at this for what it is, but instead, look at it for what the ‘studio’ wants us to see it as. Yes, their dream is that we’ll look at this behavior as — ‘normal’.
I’m pretty sure that abuse hotlines, battered women’s shelters, and our local police departments will be dealing with the aftermath of our ‘normalizing’ the subject matter of S&M.
Women as victims is nothing new in this world. It’s truly a shame to see this so ‘mainstreamed’. It’s particularly disturbing to know that there are so many women drinking the kool-aid known as — sexploitation. Good luck with that, ladies. (Robert, commenting the day after the film was released.)