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50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twilight

Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

There are a lot of horribly written books out there that don't come in for the same slating.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Asked a female co-worker today if she's read these books and she started laughing. I guess a friend of hers recommended the book so she went and bought the first one (without reading the jacket or scanning the prose inside the book.) She said when she started reading it her first thought was: "this is porn!"
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

I clicked the link. The writer of that profound, meaningful piece had an apostrophe in the wrong place in the title. Oddly, I didn't read any further.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

There's nothing wrong with women enjoying erotica, including erotica that's a guilty pleasure and based on quite dark fantasies that don't fall in line with an uplifting positive message.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

No, there's nothing wrong with women enjoying erotica. Nothing wrong with anyone enjoying it. They should just admit that that's what it is. ;)

Then there's the double-standard of the whole thing, if this were a book series targeted towards men things would be very different considering how men who visit porn stores and strip clubs are looked down on.

So, apparently, it's okay for legions of women to buy a book series that's basically porn and it's an accepted national sensation with a movie deal in the pipeline.

Yet a man has to go to the porn store in a trenchcoat to buy the DTV release of the latest porn sensation.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Trekker4747 said:
Yet a man has to go to the porn store in a trenchcoat to buy the DTV release of the latest porn sensation.
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Does this man not have the internet at home? :p

Paying for porn. That is so old school.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

It seems to me that most people, including those who enjoyed the book, acknowledge that it's erotic fiction. That doesn't mean it's analagous to watching hardcore porn. I don't know how racy the sex scenes in the book are, but reading about a sexual act is very different to watching one, and the movie will no doubt be tamed down to an R rating.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

When my mom got "saved" and heavily came into religion she gave up Daniele Steele novels because how "trashy" they were. Yet she's reading this book. When I called her on it she said it was an "interesting look into the male psyche" :rolleyes: and not like the "trash" she gave up.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Trekker4747 said:
When my mom got "saved" and heavily came into religion she gave up Daniele Steele novels because how "trashy" they were. Yet she's reading this book. When I called her on it she said it was an "interesting look into the male psyche" :rolleyes: and not like the "trash" she gave up.
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She's your mom. Let her read whatever she wants. ;)

I still can't believe the main characters are named Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey. I thought people were joking anout that at first.:rommie:
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Well, yeah, she can read whatever she wants, that's fine. But it was just a bit hypocritical of here to ditch one book series because of the smut in it (or whatever) but dig another book series (granted a decade later) that's pretty much all smut.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Trekker4747 said:
But it was just a bit hypocritical of here to ditch one book series because of the smut in it (or whatever) but dig another book series (granted a decade later) that's pretty much all smut.
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I think she wanted to read these books so she can discuss them with her friends. These books seem to be the next big thing right now. Most people are just buying the books to see what the big fuss is about. It has gotten so popular that the first book keeps getting sold out whenever I go to the store.

The author should give her agent a medal.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

I have read the first 14 chapters of the first book. And to be honest, I'm having a hard time staying interested.

Not that I wouldn't probably enjoy a good strong smutty book...because I probably would. But THIS smutty book features what is quite possibly THE most annoying writing style ever put forth in a best-selling novel. EGADS, this writer is terrible.

I do not think, in the 14 chapters I've read (and they are LONG-ASS chapters, too!) that there has been a single page where the female character doesn't 'blush' or 'flush'. Jesus, what an annoyingly pathetic individual! Also high on my list of overused words and phrases are:

"Oh my!" (occurs at least once in 3 pages)
"I looked down at my hands and..." (also occurs at least every 3 pages)
"My inner goddess..." (at least every 5-6 pages)

Also, the fact that every single conversation takes place in a 'murmur' is getting annoying. Good grief...don't be such a weenie, fer cryin' out loud. Talk like a couple of adults!

The story itself is actually not terrible so far. Not wonderful...but not terrible. However, this writer is just ruining it with the glacial pace (when I nearly put it down after about 6 chapters, my friends encouraged me to keep going because 'it really picks up in chapter 12'. Aside from the fact that it really has NOT picked up all that much since chapter 12, why in the heck should it take to chapter 12 to 'pick up' at all?) and all the repetitive words, phrases, conversations among characters, etc.

What this writer needs more than anything on earth is a good editor...and an even better thesaurus.

Maybe I'm just too used to reading spy novels or something. :lol:

Anyway...I'm gonna really try to finish this first book, just to say I've done it. But I have not picked the thing up in over a week...and I'm almost sort of dreading having to do so over the weekend so that I can report to one of my girlfriends who is crazy for these books that I am 'making progress'.

In truth, the thing I find more fascinating that the books is the phenomenon surrounding the books! Women my age would NEVER have walked into a store 10 years ago and bought this kind of thing. But now, with the ability to download books in the anonymity of your own home and read them on an e-reader, I guess a lot of women did so...thus opening the floodgates of middle-aged women who were smut-curious...but who were previously inhibited by the idea of walking to a checkstand with smut in-hand...and reading such a book on the bus, train or plane, for all to see. Now, because so many women are talking about the books, it has become 'okay' to go right out and buy smut - and not just on e-readers...but even in regular book format.

So...my assessment is that the book itself is not very good...but I very much like what the phenomenon surrounding it has done among the female population. Terrible book or not, I think this phenomenon is freeing up women a bit, which is good.
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Went to dinner with my parents this evening and on the way back to their house stopped by a store so my mom could buy the third book, I flipped through the book some and read parts of it and the prose in it just made me laugh. But we did have something of a discussion on who would play the characters in the movie. I don't know what the casting ideas would be for the movie or what actors would be up for it but based on what my mom tells me about the male protagonist in the movie she agreed with me that Bradley Cooper would make for a good lead.

Near as I could tell from flipping through the book the female narrator of the book is pretty much the blank-sheet/Bella Swan that could be played by anyone.

And, yeah, god, the parts in the book were just funny. One section I read had the two stammering at one another of a meal of... nuts or something. The guy gets up from their table, walks over to the woman and suggests they retire to the bedroom and then he asks her not to go pee. (?!?!?)

Yeah, I really laughed at that and actually said, "What the fuck?!" and closed the book. :lol:
 
Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

Ethros said:
Well if women really like 50 Shades so much, shouldn't they like men who beat them?


Explains why Chris Brown is still popular.
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Yeah, because BDSM is the same as abuse. :rolleyes: :brickwall:

Oh for fuck's sake. The level of ignorance in this society still manages to surprise me.

I haven't read those books, but it seems that they're popular for this exact reason - there's still such a fuss being made over BSDM and it's constantly being treated as something bad and forbidden and shameful, so a novel like that, which seems to be basically mild BDSM porn without much plot, becomes a phenomenon with the audience that's not familiar with online fanfiction and other non-mainstream works. If this 50 Shades of Grey thing helps BDSM not be such a taboo (and for people to stop writing stupid articles shaming women about their "wrong" sexual desires), at least it's going to be useful socially (which is more than one can say about Twilight). In 50 years time, hopefully, it won't be such a big deal at all.
RevdKathy said:
Small thought: why is it 'manly' when males (of any age) look at images of sex, but somehow 'sad' when women (especially older ones) read about it? Porn mags have known for years that while men respond to images, women are more likely to respond to words - which is why they have text sections. The books may well be crap (TL:DR!) but women reading about sex is surely ok? no?
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Because our society is still fucking sexist, that's why.
Bob the Skutter said:
RevdKathy said:
Since I seem to be the target demographic, maybe I ought to read this. Though it sounds as if it may actually be even worse than my own fanfic, which would be a real stretch.

Small thought: why is it 'manly' when males (of any age) look at images of sex, but somehow 'sad' when women (especially older ones) read about it? Porn mags have known for years that while men respond to images, women are more likely to respond to words - which is why they have text sections. The books may well be crap (TL:DR!) but women reading about sex is surely ok? no?
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From what I've heard of the books it's not the fact they're about sex that's bothering people, it's the fact the whole thing is about male control and the submissive woman. As well as a sexually inexperienced woman allowing an experienced man who's in to sexual games totally dominate her and of course in the end it turning out that all he needed was a good woman to change him. Basically it sends all the wrong messages. But it's fiction, if people like it then that's fair enough.

Also, gerrout of 'ere. Shoo! Go on! Go.
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You're talking about D/S sex, right? Not social/emotional/financial etc. control? So, basically, some people are upset that there are lots of women who enjoy sexual submission? Would it be the kind of people who think that policing women's sex lives and shaming them for their sexual desires is somehow "feminist"? :rolleyes:

Although it seems from the description that this book is the kind of story that unfortunately makes it look like people who like being submissive in bedroom are also going to be submissive in relationships in life in general, which couldn't be further from the truth (but apparently too many people still don't get that). If that's the kind of ignorant crap that this book perpetuates, then it might be as bad as Twilight in its implications.
 
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Re: 50 Shades Of Grey phenomenon? Mommy porn outsells Potter and Twili

What was BDSM about that?

I see a huge misconception about what BDSM really is.. it's not mainly the physical pain or humiliation.. it's not even about controlling someone but it's about trust. To be able to trust someone like that, to put your desires and your body under someone else's control.

Personally i can't get over the pain and control part so it's not in my list but whatever floats someone else's boat (as long as i'm not in it).
 
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