Sunday Times 2
‘Fifty Shades is abuse!’
Domestic violence campaigners are calling for a boycott of the hotly-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey film because they say it ‘glorifies’ and ‘romanticises’ abuse against women.
Protesters gather in London’s Leicester Square: The film is getting a big thumbs-down from religious and other groups who say it's degrading to women and endorses sexual violence (Reuters)
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has launched a campaign titled Fifty Shades Is Abuse, which urges people to donate to local women’s shelters instead of buying movie tickets.
And Dr. Gail Dines, a professor of sociology and women’s studies at Wheelock College in Boston, says she will definitely not be seeing the film because any ‘woman who’s ever met a real-life Christian Grey does everything she can to avoid repeating it.’
She adds, in an article for verilymag.com, that the plot ‘eroticses violence against women’ and renders ‘invisible the predatory tactics the ‘hero’ uses to groom, seduce, and abuse a much younger woman.’
Amanda Smith, who is helping run the Fifty Shades Is Abuse initiative, agrees with Dr Dines’ standpoint.
Commenting on the upcoming release, which contains scenes of bondage and sadomasochism, she told the Associated Press: ‘It’s such a lie.
‘Telling women that they should want to endure this kind of physical abuse and telling them that women want it, and also pushing the lie that if women are obedient and subservient enough, then they can fix a violent and controlling man.’
American Family Association President, Tim Wildmon, also believes that Fifty Shades of Grey topic is not one that should be mainstreamed to audiences aged 17 and up.
A pedestrian walks past an advertising placard for the movie 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in Berlin (Reuters)
‘We’d like to see theater chains refuse to take the movie,’ he said.
Thistle Pettersen planned to join picketers outside Marcus Point Cinema in Madison, Wisconsin, on Thursday during a protest organized by the feminist Radical Alliance of Women.
She said the group would carry rainbow-hued signs in contrast to grey and distribute Valentine’s Day cards with information about domestic violence abuse intervention.
‘I was really prompted by hearing stories of women who have survived that kind of abuse,’ Pettersen, a musician and environmental activist, said.
Religious groups have also slammed Fifty Shades of Grey.
In a letter to members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Buffalo Bishop Richard Malone said the film provided an opportunity to remind the faithful of the church’s idea of marriage and ‘the moral reprehensibility of all domestic violence and sexual exploitation.’
‘The contrast between the message of Fifty Shades of Grey and God’s design for self-giving and self-sacrificing love, marriage and sexual intimacy could not be greater,’ Malone wrote in his role as the conference’s chairman of the committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.
Despite the outcry, theaters are unlikely to take the film off their playlists.
The ticket-buying site Fandango has said pre-sales have propelled the movie, which stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, into the company’s all-time Top 5 for R-rated selections, and fans of the book are giddily building the big-screen version into Valentine’s weekend plans.
The movie – which is set to gross more than $100 million at the box office – opens in theaters Friday.
It’s based on a best-selling book by E L James about a college student and her torrid affair with a 27-year-old billionaire with a penchant for bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.
James, who wrote the erotic trilogy that launched the film, has heard the backlash and says the critics have it all wrong.
‘Who is interested, as a woman, in reading about abuse? Why have these books taken off if they are about abuse?’ said James, who discussed the film with the AP over the weekend.
‘Domestic violence, rape, are unacceptable. They are not entertaining in any way.
‘Let me be absolutely clear. Everything that happens in this book is safe and consensual . . . What do I need to do to convince people?’
© Daily Mail, London