• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

E.L. James: Fifty Shades of Grey

lisegriffiths86 said:
I think Fifty shades does an excellent job of bringing out a dark side of women, and it unites us over something we have in common which is normally so 'tabboo.'

It is new and experimental, and so descriptive. I feel like this book isn't as respected as other massive best sellers and I guess this is justified in the sense that it started online, and the perhaps common view that it is (in some parts) not very well written, but it is addictive and its ability to unite women in such a new way is just incredible!
Click to expand...

There, at least (at last), is the beginning of discusssion about why this book sells in record breaking millions, despite being not as respected nor as well written as other best sellers. The people who have bought it seem not to have been influenced by the many derogatory opinions which have abounded here and elsewhere. They just plain didn't listen to "us," and one should indeed wonder why.
 
sparkchaser said:
If any women want to express their dark side, let me know.
Click to expand...

You're a brave man Sparkchaser, you realize that you have to now (if you haven't before) be able to act in the same manner as Christian if any 'dark sided' woman takes you up on your offer. :lol:
 
canuck said:
You're a brave man Sparkchaser, you realize that you have to now (if you haven't before) be able to act in the same manner as Christian if any 'dark sided' woman takes you up on your offer. :lol:
Click to expand...

knapp01.png
 
Just had a discussion with a bunch of our friends around the firepit last night. One of them said that he sees women reading this series on a plane next to him and feels a bit offended. His assertion is that he would be vilified for reading Playboy in public like that but its OK for women to read this book in public.

My comment was that I felt Playboy was perhaps a step above this book and Hustler might be a better comparison. :lol: I'm just teasing now, but seriously, I think he might have a point.
 
Alix said:
Just had a discussion with a bunch of our friends around the firepit last night. One of them said that he sees women reading this series on a plane next to him and feels a bit offended. His assertion is that he would be vilified for reading Playboy in public like that but its OK for women to read this book in public.
My comment was that I felt Playboy was perhaps a step above this book and Hustler might be a better comparison. :lol: I'm just teasing now, but seriously, I think he might have a point.
Click to expand...

I'm amazed, or maybe just sadly amused, that men still feel so competitive about what women can "get away with" that they can't. They who still have so much advantage over women going in. Pathetic. :sad:
 
I don't think it had anything to do with competition Peder. Its more about propriety and what is acceptable behaviour in public.
 
What's your thought oh sparkman? Is reading this kind of thing equivalent to reading a girly mag? Both are titillating. (I just love using that word! ;) )
 
Alix said:
What's your thought oh sparkman? Is reading this kind of thing equivalent to reading a girly mag? Both are titillating. (I just love using that word! ;) )
Click to expand...

I would say they were the same if the girlie mag didn't have the photos, which incidentally are the only reasons we buy them.

If I see a woman in public reading Fifty Shades, I'm all like ai5.photobucket.com_albums_y187_sparkchaser1998_smileys_naughty.gif
 
OK, I see your point. I don't think I'd like my kid sitting next to someone reading a girlie mag.

However, isn't the prevalent theory that men are visual and thus prefer pictures and women are stimulated by stories and scenarios? In that case, would they not be the same in terms of naughtiness?

And I wouldn't be thrilled with my kid reading over a woman's shoulder either.
 
Alix said:
OK, I see your point. I don't think I'd like my kid sitting next to someone reading a girlie mag.

However, isn't the prevalent theory that men are visual and thus prefer pictures and women are stimulated by stories and scenarios? In that case, would they not be the same in terms of naughtiness?

And I wouldn't be thrilled with my kid reading over a woman's shoulder either.
Click to expand...

That is what I thought as well.
 
Alix said:
I don't think it had anything to do with competition Peder. Its more about propriety and what is acceptable behaviour in public.
Click to expand...

I think it would be as appropriate for your friend to read 50 Shades in public as it was for the woman to be reading 50 Shades in public; and as appropriate, or not, for the woman to be reading Playboy in public as it would be for the man to be reading Playboy in public. That, to me, would be a discussion about the relative levels of propriety of reading different kinds of printed reading materials in public. A discussion about propriety, that is.

When your friend shifts the comparison to a woman being allowed to read 50 Shades of Grey versus a man not being allowed to read Playboy (if he isn't) then I sense the man complaining that he is unjustly disadvantaged, on the unspoken premise that 50 Shades of Grey and Playboy are otherwise equivalent and that the only difference is she's allowed and he isn't.

Which the argument is "more about" is in the eye of the beholder, I would guess, since non-comparable situations are being compared.
 
Perhaps you had to be there Peder, or perhaps you need to know the gentleman in question. He's quite unlikely to read EITHER of the items mentioned.

Our discussion was about "porn" and how women and men are stimulated differently. (See my comment to sparkchaser) And while it is acceptable for a woman to read what I have seen dubbed, "Mommy Porn" on an airplane or another public venue, it is unacceptable for a man to read any type of "porn" that would stimulate him in the same way in a public place.

The discussion also morphed into the changes in societal acceptance, and mainstreaming of things that were at one time illegal. BDSM stuff was my reference there.

Does my explanation change how you view our discussion Peder?
 
Alix said:
Perhaps you had to be there Peder, or perhaps you need to know the gentleman in question. He's quite unlikely to read EITHER of the items mentioned.

Our discussion was about "porn" and how women and men are stimulated differently. (See my comment to sparkchaser) And while it is acceptable for a woman to read what I have seen dubbed, "Mommy Porn" on an airplane or another public venue, it is unacceptable for a man to read any type of "porn" that would stimulate him in the same way in a public place.

The discussion also morphed into the changes in societal acceptance, and mainstreaming of things that were at one time illegal. BDSM stuff was my reference there.

Does my explanation change how you view our discussion Peder?
Click to expand...

I was clarifying my original answer, not responding to your subsequent morphed discussion. And I see no reason to change my clarification, or to join the subsequent discussion, since you ask.
 
Alix said:
The discussion also morphed into the changes in societal acceptance, and mainstreaming of things that were at one time illegal. BDSM stuff was my reference there.
Click to expand...

I think BDSM, or more specifically light BDSM, has become more mainstream.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top