Plan B Forum

she told me that it was basically a story-less "porn book,"...

She has also downloaded the second and third books of the trilogy,

While some critics have sneered at the quality of the writing, the book, which features scenes of sado-masochistic sex, has become the fastest-selling paperback of all time.
Author EL James has been plucked from obscurity and has made a fortune from her trilogy of novels which charter the travails of virgin Ana and the older Christian Grey.
But Clare Phillipson, director of the Wearside Women In Need, has called on people to burn them on a bonfire on November 5.
She said: "Our concern is not the graphic depiction of sex - this is an abusive relationship presented as a love story.
"It normalises abuse, degrades women and encourages sexual violence.
"There is lots of abuse in the book, not just sexual abuse.
"Do millions and millions of women suffer from secret self-loathing? Do they all want to be treated this badly?
"Some of what happens in the book, Fred West did to his victims in his cellar.
"I fail to see what is erotic about that."
Ms Phillipson believed if the author had been a man, the books would not have been published.
"There is emotional and sexual abuse of a 20-year-old with no sexual experience who is persuaded that being hit is good fun."
She said the way Grey hurt Ana then later made it up to her with expensive gifts and thoughtful e-mails was typical of a domestic abuser.
The charity which she directs helps women who are victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.
Speaking at one of the refuges it runs on Wearside, she said one victim of domestic violence who had read the book told her it left her confused.
"She told me 'If this is a love story, how come it didn't feel like this when it was happening to me'," she said.
She added: "There's an assumption that Nazis are the only people who burn books," she said.
"What we are saying is, this book is rubbish and we would like to reduce it to ashes.
"We are not burning the Bible or a political philosophy, we are burning the depiction of an abusive man as a romantic hero."

Guinevere wrote:
But think about the women who are uncomfortable reading erotica (my sister being one of them) -- maybe this will get them interested, they'll start reading the good stuff, and open their minds (and legs) a bit.

A charity for abuse victims is planning to burn copies of an erotic bestseller.

Fifty Shades - a trilogy about a steamy romance between a businessman and a student - contains themes of sadism and masochism.

Clare Phillipson, of Wearside Women in Need, said the theme was "vile" and urged women to drop off copies to her Washington office for a bonfire on 5 November.

Publisher Random House said: "The sex scenes are entirely consensual."

Ms Phillipson, who said she had read two-thirds of the first book before she gave up "in disgust", said she was furious that libraries throughout the North East were ordering extra copies of the trilogy to cope with demand.

Newcastle city libraries have 20 copies of the trilogy in stock; Sunderland City Council has nine copies with four more on order; libraries in Durham have 13 with 320 people on the waiting list and Northumberland County Council has eight copies with six more on order.

Ms Phillipson said: "I do not think I can put into words how vile I think this book is and how dangerous I think the idea is that you get a sophisticated but naive, young women and a much richer, abusive older man who beats her up and does some dreadful things to her sexually.

"My main objection is that at a time when local authorities are making cuts to outreach and refuge services for women experiencing domestic violence, we have libraries wasting and grossly misusing public to buy a book which says: 'domestic violence is sexy'.

"The money would be better spent supporting victims."

Sunderland City Councillor John Kelly said: "We want to give people freedom of choice in what they read - it is not for us to dictate what material they read. We want to give them a wide variety of material."

Gob wrote:

Guinevere wrote:
But think about the women who are uncomfortable reading erotica (my sister being one of them) -- maybe this will get them interested, they'll start reading the good stuff, and open their minds (and legs) a bit.

Sorry, sorry, sorry, couldn't resist!

Guinevere wrote:I slogged through the first one last spring because I was interested in all the furor (and because my sister, with who I sahre a Kindle account, downloaded it for a Girls Weekend read). It was cheesy, poorly written, the characters are flat, the dialogue repetitive, and there is lots and lots of sex. I didn't care for the book or the characters, but if reading about lots of sex (which is characterized as BDSM, but is mild at best, and perhaps adventurous at least) empowers men and women to have more and better and different sex go for it.

I started the second, out of curiousity, but found it as dreadfully written as the first, and never finished it. I've never even opened the third.

Is it art? No. Does that matter? Not one bit.

BTW - Fifty Shades began as Twlight fan fiction, and was originally written for those two main characters. That in and of itself should tell you enough about its quality . . .

If anyone wants an interesting, creative, well-written read, I highly recommend The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. One of the best books I have read this year!!

She said: "Our concern is not the graphic depiction of sex - this is an abusive relationship presented as a love story.

Gob wrote:

A charity for abuse victims is planning to burn copies of an erotic bestseller.

Fifty Shades - a trilogy about a steamy romance between a businessman and a student - contains themes of sadism and masochism.

Clare Phillipson, of Wearside Women in Need, said the theme was "vile" and urged women to drop off copies to her Washington office for a bonfire on 5 November.

Publisher Random House said: "The sex scenes are entirely consensual."

Ms Phillipson, who said she had read two-thirds of the first book before she gave up "in disgust", said she was furious that libraries throughout the North East were ordering extra copies of the trilogy to cope with demand.

Newcastle city libraries have 20 copies of the trilogy in stock; Sunderland City Council has nine copies with four more on order; libraries in Durham have 13 with 320 people on the waiting list and Northumberland County Council has eight copies with six more on order.

Ms Phillipson said: "I do not think I can put into words how vile I think this book is and how dangerous I think the idea is that you get a sophisticated but naive, young women and a much richer, abusive older man who beats her up and does some dreadful things to her sexually.

"My main objection is that at a time when local authorities are making cuts to outreach and refuge services for women experiencing domestic violence, we have libraries wasting and grossly misusing public to buy a book which says: 'domestic violence is sexy'.

"The money would be better spent supporting victims."

Sunderland City Councillor John Kelly said: "We want to give people freedom of choice in what they read - it is not for us to dictate what material they read. We want to give them a wide variety of material."

Scooter wrote:

She said: "Our concern is not the graphic depiction of sex - this is an abusive relationship presented as a love story.

Is this different in anything but a matter of degree from any number of bodice rippers by romance novelists like Rosemary Rogers, etc. who portray their heroines being "taken" forcefully (i.e. raped) by men for whom they go on to develop a steamy passion? There are lots of women who privately indulge in these rape fantasies while reading these books, who nevertheless manage to avoid "normalizing" rape as part of their sexual experience. Does this moralizing matron think so little of women that she believes they are unable to separate fantasy from reality?

A charity for abuse victims will use donated copies of an erotic bestseller as compost and toilet paper, it said.

Clare Phillipson, of Wearside Women in Need, originally asked people to donate their copy of Fifty Shades of Grey to be burned on 5 November in a bonfire.

She said the themes of sadism and masochism were "vile". The charity received about 24 copies and said they will now be cut up and recycled.

Publisher Random House said: "The sex scenes are entirely consensual."


The books are about a steamy romance between a businessman and a student.

The charity, based in Washington, originally planned to burn the donated books on a bonfire.

Ms Phillipson said: "There were a range options.

"We discussed the book burning while getting the message across that this book is a dangerous trend.

"I think we've got a culture now which has completely sexualised women and in which women feel obligated to take part in that culture. We want to draw a line under that.

"We will be cutting them up, using them for toilet roll and sticking them on our compost heap and they will go back into the ground... although the ideas they represent will continue."

Ms Phillipson said in August that money used to buy the book would be better spent supporting victims.