important in an argument because if the audience can't trust you they will not believe in
your argument. In hopes to define ethos, I will be discussing the ethical issues with the
book Fifty Shades of Grey and romanticizing abusive relationships and rape culture.
Fifty shades of grey is a three part book series written by E.L. James and
published in 2011. In recent years, it has become a widespread phenomenon among
mainly women and is even being made into a movie. The book is based on a rich, young,
CEO, Christian Grey who is very involved in the BDSM lifestyle. He falls for an average
girl named Anastasia Steele and proposes Ana with a contract asking her to be
dominated by him. Throughout the whole book Ana is confused and unsure of what she
is doing with Christian. While the BDSM culture in real life may be relatively harmless
when practiced correctly, this book does not portray it correctly whatsoever, it portrays
more of a fantasy. Christian as a dominant should have a responsibility to respect Anas
boundaries but instead is constantly pushing them and getting upset when she doesnt
want to budge. Christian just took her virginity and then Ana is immediately rushed into
things that she is clearly not ready for. People are beginning to practice BDSM based on
this book, which is not a good thing because it does not provide any information on how
to practice it safely or correctly. Being a dominant does not mean stalking, isolating, or
abusing, all things Christian does numerous times throughout the book.
Laci Green is a woman who has a blog and a YouTube channel dedicated to sex
education She made a video on the ethical issues with Fifty Shades and has a lot to say
about the subject. In her video, she talks a lot about the issue in the book with consent.
In the book, there was never any clear consent and their Dom/Sub relationship does not
seem to have many boundaries as Ana is seemingly abused many times throughout the
book. Laci said in her video you need to talk about this stuff, you need to explore
boundaries in the open and communicate with each other. Sometimes in the book
enthusiastic consent is given other times its not. There were scenes that I read that left
assault scene and me feeling really weird, like I just read. And thats because without
enthusiastic consent it is assault. Laci explains the controversy perfectly in this excerpt
of her video. Without clear consent it is and should be considered sexual assault. This
book glorifies being abused by your sexual partner and turns it into a fantasy that now
girls and women wish for after reading. Katherine O'clare wrote an essay called "Why I
Hate Fifty Shades of Grey (It's Not for the Reasons You Think);" It is about how Fifty
shades glorifies rape culture. Here is an excerpt, Christian Grey is an abuser. He is
emotionally unavailable, emotionally abusive, and sexually exploitative. His complete
disregard for his partners comfort, experience, and emotional well-being are
contemptible: he gets his pleasure at the expense of his partner. All sexual relationships,
whether vanilla or kinky, require consent. There is no such thing as having sex that is not
based in consent. The only thing that happens without it is rape.
Not to mention Christian was introduced to the BDSM life at the age of fifteen by
an older woman! E.L. James is basically condoning and romanticizing the abuse of a
fifteen-year-old boy. Christian was abused as a boy and then he grows up to abuse other
women and this book glorifies it. Christians abusive relationship with his Dom can be
reflected in his and Anas relationship because like Christian as a boy, Ana is confused
and inexperienced and thrown into BDSM, almost with out a distinct choice.
Works Cited
Blakeley, Kira. "Is '50 Shades of Grey' Glorifying Rape?" The Stir.
CMI Marketing Inc., 30 June 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
Fincke, Daniel. "Fifty Shades of Grey Related to the Ethics of
Romanticizing Abusiveness for the Sake of Fantasy." Camels With
Hammers. Patheos, 22 Sept. 2012. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
Green, Laci. "50 Shades of WTF." YouTube. YouTube, 22 Sept. 2012.
Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
"What Is Rhetoric?" What Is Rhetoric? N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.