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Sorry, I skipped a few pages of posts so I may be repeating others' thoughts, but my roommate and I were talking about 50 Shades just last night and I have to post.
I'm a female (as most of you already know) who will not read these books. I am offended by this "phenomenon". I mean, c'mon! A work of erotic fiction hits mainstream media / press and suddenly a bunch of women think they just discovered something new. Another bunch of women are all excited because, you know, they kinda want to read erotica but it was "dirty" until it became a segment on The Today Show. I personally know of two women who are reading it because, in a nutshell, it's popular and acceptable. Neither of these women would be caught DEAD reading Rice, Jong, Desclos's "O", not to mention some lesser known but far meatier selections. But because 50 Shades was on the news, it's okay!
HEADLINE: It was either already okay, or it's still not okay. That's an individual thing to choose for YOURSELF. What's really not okay is letting mass media decide what's acceptable to read. (I realize this isn't a new thing, but the overuse of the term "mommy porn" in conjunction with this book makes it a shining example. Porn for "normals"! Spare me.) (Also, when I hear "mommy porn", it conjures something else entirely. Just sayin'.)
I've read some excerpts out of curiosity and I think the writing is not very good. At all. But bad writing alone doesn't offend me. I've read, and even enjoyed, bad writing. And I hope the author enjoys her success. But while I'd like to hope that this leads to erotica being seen more openly than before, I fear it will just lead to more watered-down tripe that is a mere shadow of what erotica can truly be. Erotica should test my boundaries, not my patience.
Because let's be honest - if 50 Shades was truly revolutionary erotica, the headlines would be saying something else entirely. Or they wouldn't be saying anything at all, which has mostly been the case for how long now?
/rant
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