The Fifty Shades phenomenon

Dr Ruth Deller, ACES r.a.deller@shu.ac.uk, @ruthdeller

In the UK, Fifty Shades of Grey, sold 4.46m copies, …Darker 3.16m and …Freed 2.9m, with an estimated 1.7m ebook copies of …Grey – in the UK (Flood, 2013). Worldwide the series sold over 65 million copies in 2012 (Deahl, 2012)

http://sexualities.sagepub.com/content/current

Why research Fifty Shades?‘Our interest in the books as a phenomenon arose from our own backgrounds as academics with an interest in studying media, sexual cultures, gender, literature and audiences. We were fascinated not only by the phenomenal success of the books and the way they had been discussed in public, but also by the different questions the books and the reactions to them raised about readership, gender and sexuality… We argue that the ‘Fifty Shades phenomenon’ offers much for us to consider as scholars of sexuality, gender and culture. In bringing together this collection of papers, we hope that this special issue contributes towards the public debate about the significance of these novels and what they might ‘mean’ for the ways in which women, in particular, publicly express and discuss sexuality.’ (Deller, Harman and Jones, 2013)

BDSM

ondage

isciplineomination

ubmissionadism

asochism

‘Consent is a grey area? A comparison of understandings of consent in Fifty Shades of Grey and on the BDSM blogosphere’ – Meg Barker•Discussion of how consent operates in the novels and within the BDSM blog scene.•Looks at how different people categorise abuse in relationships.•Looks at how books highlight BDSM practices whilst also depicting a heteronormative form of relationship.•‘The Fifty Shades series (James 2012a, b & c) has recently brought BDSM to a far larger audience than any previous media product (see editorial, this issue). The books include explicit references to BDSM contracts, safewords, and checklists of activities, drawing on common understandings and practices from BDSM communities. Several conversations between the lead characters centre on sexual consent, reflecting this sense that it can be relatively easily negotiated between autonomous individuals. At the same time, BDSM communities themselves have undergone an interrogation of such previously accepted understandings of consent.’ (Barker 2013)

‘Fifty Shades and the Law: Regulating Sex and Sex Media in the UK’ – Feona Attwood and Caroline Walters•Discusses recent obscenity trials, contrasting public profile of the acts in the Fifty Shades series and the problematic legality of some acts in practice.•Looks at problems of trying to regulate sexual acts and sex media.•‘While Fifty Shades appears to represent a broader mainstreaming of the sexually explicit, it is also situated in a context of proliferating attempts to regulate both the sexual and mediated forms of communication’. (Attwood and Walters 2013)

Flogging sexual transgression? Interrogating the costs of the ‘Fifty Shades effect’ – Alex Dymock•Relationship between gender, sexuality and commodity•‘It is perhaps emblematic of the mechanism of transgression at play in the Fifty Shades phenomenon that as well as mobilising a ‘boom’ in the sale of sex, media sources have anticipated a boom in childbirths and pregnancy as a result of the novels’ – and presumably its accompanying erotic consumer goods’ – success. ‘Mummy porn’ has quite literally fulfilled its most conservative function. It is not a fantasy of transgressing the limits of femininity and female sexual desire that has been revealed to be its most persuasive selling point, but that it recovers the heteronormative narrative thought to be universal to women’s lives, and sells it as a subversion of feminism.’ (Dymock 2013)

‘Fifty Shades of Sex Shop: Sexual Fantasy for Sale’ – Amber Martin•Adoption of brand by sex shops•Rise of Fifty Shades… merchandise and erotic nights out•Fifty Shades branded goods almost identical to own brand… except the price!

•‘The rise of the Fifty Shades trilogy as a mainstream work of erotic fiction has created a specific Fifty Shades brand of BDSM that re-positions it from being perceived as an extreme, marginalised and stigmatised sexual practice (Hoff and Sprott, 2009) to one which is fashionable and socially acceptable… Fifty Shades has become a particular brand of BDSM that is presented as female friendly, fashionable, exciting and safe as opposed to extreme, marginalised and dangerous’ (Martin 2013)

‘Consensual Non-Consent: Comparing E. L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey and Pauline Réage's Story of O’ - Angelika Tsaros•Compares presentation of gender, consent and sex in the ‘classic’ erotic novel vs EL James’ series.

•Looks at the problematic depictions of BDSM practices in Fifty Shades and the conventional romantic narratives present.

•‘Where Story of O is a fantasy, not transferable to contemporary life, Fifty Shades has managed to find a compromise for mass appeal by shrouding a conventional romance in 'kinky fuckery'.’ (Tsaros, 2013)

‘Pre-reading and failing to read Fifty Shades of Grey’ – IQ Hunter•Discusses reading the series as a male reader – coming with certain expectations and encountering problems in reading.

•‘With foolish arrogance I agreed to write this before I’d read a single page of E.L. James’s ‘mommy porn’ trilogy. It was essentially a bet with myself. I’d researched porn and women’s cults before, so surely I could contribute something to the debate about these massively popular yet fiercely hated books, which my partner and her friends had shared and devoured and which, on holiday in Tenerife, I had seen countless women of all ages reading around the swimming pool? Well, as Julia Roberts says in Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990), ‘Big mistake. Huge.’ After only ninety dreadful pages of the first book I knew I was in trouble. I couldn’t think of anything worth writing about it, let alone anything scholarly and original. And I still had over four hundred pages to go of brand-fetishism and simpering internal monologue (I certainly wouldn’t make it through the whole trilogy).’ (Hunter, 2013)

‘When Religious 'Mommy Bloggers' Met 'Mommy Porn': Evangelical Christian and Mormon Women’s Responses to Fifty Shades’ - Deborah Whitehead

•Looks at (mainly US) religious women’s responses to the books via blog discussions.

•Readers negotiate issues of class, religion, gender, ‘secular’ society, sex, marriage and cultural value.

•‘For some conservative religious women, scripture and Fifty Shades complement one another in their positive and educational celebrations and explorations of heterosexual monogamous sexuality. For others, these texts contain antithetical messages and hence Fifty Shades must be rejected. In all cases, a nuanced process of textual interpretation and cultural hermeneutics is at work in the individual and group discussions surrounding the books.’ (Whitehead, 2013)

‘Fifty Shades of Ghey: Snark fandom and the figure of the anti-fan’ – Sarah Harman and Bethan Jones•The role of humour and parody in reading the series. •The importance of ‘snark’ and ‘anti-fan’ communities in reading the series.•The role of ‘taste’ in particular groups forming cultural judgements.•‘We structure this analysis of the anti-fandom's denigration of Fifty Shades as 'bad literature', and furthermore 'bad eroticism' to be consumed by an imagined female reader. We suggest that anti-fans position themselves not only against and in opposition to the novels but also as superior to fans, drawing on distinctions of taste as defined by Bourdieu (1984), and utilising forms of subcultural capital (Thornton, 1995)… engagement with the trilogy happens not just through a rejection of the text, but in fact through a close reading of and critical engagement with it, which is performed and then shared over differing media and modes. We further contend that in doing so Fifty Shades anti-fans position themselves as gate-keepers, thus reinforcing their subcultural capital which in turn enforces specific taste cultures’ (Harman and Jones 2013)

‘Fifty Shades of Ghey: Snark fandom and the figure of the anti-fan’ – Sarah Harman and Bethan Jones•"the physical pain you inflicted wasn't as bad as the pain of losing you" Yes! That's why we do it! We put up with being hit to keep our men (…) OH NO WAIT! THATS (sic) NOT BDSM, THAT'S *ABUSE* Oops! Easy mistake though, eh? #RAGERAGERAGE @50shadesofROFL, 2012a)

•Note the stereotyping: old Dommes are 'impossibly glamorous.' Old subs are pathetic and broken. (@50myoutergodess, 2012b)

‘Reading the BDSM Romance: Reader Responses to Fifty Shades’ – Ruth Deller and Clarissa Smith•Look at both the press responses to the novels and the responses of a range of readers.

•Comparisons with Janice Radway’s (1987) work on romance readers

•Explores role of social media and conversation in readers’ relationship to books.

‘[It] is not to say that we view Fifty Shades… and their sexual content as beyond criticism, or parody. It is, however, important to recognize the various distinctions being offered in the different critiques, few of which acknowledged any defensible pleasures in reading James’ works… critiques reflect a denigration of ‘women’s genres’ and the 'chat' they produce’. (Deller and Smith, 2013)

Newspaper responses to Fifty Shades

‘A nice girl’s nasty book; imagine a low-budget porn film involving a plumber – well, at the end the bog gets fixed and the plumber stops fiddling his tax. So despite the continual filth hum – “his long finger presses the button summoning the elevator…” – the effect is strangely innocent, like Bambi wandering into de Sade’s 120 Days of Sodom, begging for an engagement ring.’ (Gold, 2012)

Newspaper responses to Fifty Shades

•Writing as ‘ridiculous’ or banal•Construction of it as ‘dangerous’•Or, conversely, not that sexual•Women’s talk depicted as chatter over tea and cake•Denigration of womens’ pleasures in reading the series

Reader responses to Fifty Shades•Survey of 83 readers: 81 female, 2 male.•Hosted online, snowball sampling via Facebook, Twitter and blogs.•Series of questions including: motivations for reading; opinions of the books, characters and events; Fifty Shades and readers’ sex lives; modes of reading; talk about the novels.•Mixture of quantitative and qualitative data.

Who is reading Fifty Shades?•84% heterosexual/straight; 4% bisexual; 4% other (asexual, masturbate); 8% did not disclose. None identified as gay, lesbian or queer.

•75% in a relationship; 55% married.•Age 21-53.•Range of occupations – many professionals.•Most lived in the UK, one in Eire, three in the USA, one in New Zealand and one Australia.

•24% regular romance readers; 14% regular erotica readers. 59% had read romance before and 39% erotica.

How did you hear about Fifty Shades?•Facebook (23%)

•TV, newspapers and radio (21%)•Friends (19%)•Twitter (10%)•Colleagues (9%) •Other web platforms, (blogs, forums and Tumblr) (9%).

How did you read Fifty Shades?•55% read in paperback•42% had read in ebook format:

•Kindle or similar e-reader device (21%)•mobile phone or tablet apps (13%)•computers/laptops (8%).

•All had read Fifty Shades of Grey•58% had read Fifty Shades Darker•51% had read Fifty Shades Freed

How did you read Fifty Shades?•40% bought books online•20% from a supermarket•12% from a bookshop•17% borrowed from friends/family•6% were given it•6% got it for free by other means•Two purchased ‘elsewhere’, one borrowed from a library

The visibility of Fifty Shades•68% Facebook•66% Bookshops•61% Supermarkets•43% Online shopping sites•41% Twitter•37% Newspapers•33% Radio•26% Television•23% Blogs•24% News websites•16% Online forums•10% Other websites•8% Tumblr•4% Adult shops

Reasons for its popularity•It has allowed women's sexuality to be brought into the mainstream. It allows for women to be more sexually curious or adventurous and lets them be more sexually expressive (Reader 87)•Women got to read erotica in public and it made talking about sex at the water cooler acceptable at work (Reader 38)

Reasons for its popularity•It made a lot of people feel that their sexual preferences were justified and gave them a chance to discuss these in an open arena whilst hiding behind the premise of discussing the book. (Reader 18)•I think it has bought erotica in to the mainstream and shown that it can be done tastefully. (Reader 23)

Reasons for its popularity•It provides a relationship for women to fantasise about having and some escapism from the familiarity of their own relationship. It's a simple love story which women can read about and is one of the first mainstream examples of women's erotica. (Reader 52)

•people like sex but are embarrassed to talk about it. The book made sex accessible and acceptable to talk about. Also the "shock factor" was intriguing to people. People also like "keep up with the jones‘ (Reader 84)

Reasons for its popularity•The fact they were selling in the grocery stores for only £3 each. The over - hype. discussions - everyone wanted to read and discuss them, to give their own opinions. (Reader 65)•ebooks. you can read it on your kindle and nobody knows that you're reading it! The classy covers also help because they don't look like genre fiction, more like literary fiction. (Reader 5)

Reasons for its popularity•Because it started with a strong fan base as an 'underground success' if you like. The internet and very active Twilight communities allowed word to spread quickly and easily. Being able to buy it on Kindle did enable more people to buy it who might otherwise have been too embarrassed too. Facebook and twitter took it viral and suddenly everyone else wants to know what the fuss is about. Someone makes a documentary about it, the Daily Mail run an article a day about it telling us it is a run away success and thus it becomes so... (Reader 9)

Being ‘in’ on the conversationFor Radway’s readers, reading the romance functioned as a ‘declaration of independence’ (Radway, 1984: 11), for ours, it becomes clear that reading Fifty Shades is, in part, a declaration of participation – participation in the phenomenon itself but one which also brings particular pleasures through the taking up of a position on the quality, sexiness or importance of the texts. More particularly, they were positioned as for women. Written by a woman, from a woman’s point of view and for a female audience… to read them was to engage in public debate about female sexuality. (Deller and Smith, forthcoming)

Being ‘in’ on the conversation•69% of readers cited ‘curiosity’ or ‘needing to know what the fuss was about’ as their key motivations for reading.•Resisted for a while then gave in to see what the fuss was about (Reader 64)•I was so sick of hearing about this book that I just had to find out for myself what it was all about (Reader 70)

Being ‘in’ on the conversation• 67% had discussed the series either ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’ more than other books.

• Every respondent had discussed the books with other people via some means: • 77% face-to-face with family or friends• 63% face to face with a partner• 62% with friends and family online• 48% with work colleagues• 43% with friends or family via telephone or text message,• 12% at a book club• 12% via another hobby or activity• 6% with other parents at school• 2% with members of a religious community

Being ‘in’ on the conversation•On Facebook, 41% had shared, commented on or liked others’ posts relating to the books, 39% had discussed them on a page or in a group, 34% had made a status update about them.•24% had discussed them on Twitter, and 12% had followed relevant hashtags. •5% had blogged about them and another 5% had discussed them on internet forums. •Four readers had blogged or shared about them on Tumblr and two had created Fifty Shades boards on Pinterest.

Being ‘in’ on the conversation•A group of us at work ripped through all three books at the same time. Naturally we were all female. The jokes, incredulity and humour that arose was incredibly bonding (emotionally not with cable ties) (Reader 17)•Only read part of the first one to see what the fuss was about, decided it was rubbish and stopped reading (Reader 39)•if it wasn't for them probably wouldn't have known about the books as soon as I did. They all told me how great they were and that I should read them! (Reader 16)

Being ‘in’ on the conversation•An entire FB group was created to discuss the book and share stories from around the internet. (Reader 31)•I made up my own mind to read these books. I am always warey of what others say as I have often done something on their recommendation, only to be disappointed with outcome (Reader 69)•I read them as I needed to see it for myself rather than rely on others comments (Reader 87)

Being ‘in’ on the conversation•It was the fact that a close friend and colleague had read it and had a copy that finally prompted me to read it, notwithstanding the less than ringing endorsement: "It's awful. You will hate everything about it. But you have to read it.“ (Reader 54)

Loving to hate‘What is unusual in the case of Fifty Shades is that the ‘recommendations’ were often incredibly negative about the object – here was a book you must read but weren’t really supposed to like, in fact, the best response was to be superior, to recognize its failures as a novel, its inability to get the sex or BDSM relationship ‘right’ and particularly, its failure to be properly erotic.’ (Deller and Smith, forthcoming)

Loving to hate•Pleasures of anti-fandom (see Gray, 2010; Goletz, 2012; Gilbert, 2012; Harman and Jones, forthcoming) – reading it to share in the ‘mocking’.•Resistance to the ‘hate’ – reading in spite of it.•I figured it couldn't be as bad as everyone said when it had sold so many copies. Had to check for myself... People said it was poorly written erotica… It was poorly written erotica (Reader 77)

What is so bad?•Umm... predictable. I hated it when she got pregnant that made me really angry. But it's a traditional Mills and Boon, really, it's just working how all those books always work - crazy sex, stable relationship, marriage, baby, crazy sex while married. (Reader 10)

•Not really any different to any other romance genre novel and its clearly trying to be Jane Eyre (and failing). (Reader 5)

•It was just another love story in which the woman was weak and needed to be saved by a man. Boring... (Reader 88)

•Far fetched and very unlikely but that's what romance readers want isn't it? (Reader 64)

What is so bad?•I was surprised how quickly this sex became boring. And MOST OFFENSIVE?? No woman comes every time, and no woman comes on demand. That part actually made me angry pretty quickly. Big turn off. It was okay but got increasingly more boring. When you start praying for some anal sex (Chekov's Gun! He mentioned anal and then never did it), you know a book has turned you into a cold monster. (Reader 30)•The attempts to link them to Grey's childhood frustrated me as I don't think there needs to be justification for someone to have dominating tendencies. (Reader 18)

Responses to Anastasia•I hate her intensely. She is so moronic and wet. And I hate her internal monologue. If I hear about her salsa-ing internal goddess one more time I shall scream! I also hate the way that all of her limits are hard limits but she will not acknowledge Christian's hard limits and feels that she must demolish them. (Reader 5)•She was pathetic, petulant and self-obsessed. She seemed to keep trying to convince us (and CG) that she was independent when in fact she was a foolish little girl. I imagine they'd be divorced in 10 years as Grey could do better. Ana was too demanding, self-obsessed and insecure. (Reader 18)

Responses to Anastasia•I liked her character even though she was naive and rather geeky, but I can relate to that. She was ordinary and ended up with an extraordinary life, which is generally everything a girl dreams of so I was rather jealous! (Reader 2)•She has more balls than Bella Swan, her lip biting and inner goddess monologues came across as funnier and self knowing in the original. Sometimes in 50 shades she comes across as just wet. (Reader 9)

Responses to Christian•If someone bought me a new car after the first date I'd assume they were 4 dates away from going psycho. (Reader 42)•[Christian] seemed like an odd mix between abusive and harmless. His stalking tendencies were genuinely disturbing, but his dark secret (the Red Room of Pain) was rather vanilla compared to what I was expecting. (Reader 11)•Christian comes across as a sexual predator with unresolved psychological issues, who preys on an innocent / easily malleable young woman. (Reader 51)

Responses to Christian•He's pretty much the perfect man in my opinion! He's a extremely attractive, a sexual expert, very intelligent, obscenely rich and powerful and obsessed with Ana's happiness and safety! He does, of course, have issues with control etc and a murky past but I think the good certainly out weighs the bad, especially as there are good reasons for his less admirable attributes. (Reader 2)•I found him appealing, desirable and admirable. His character had far more depth than Ana and I would have much rather heard his internal monologue than hers. (Reader 18)

What was so good?•Any story that advocates a man being so in love with any ordinary, although quite physically attractive, girl is quite appealing! (Reader 2)

•I liked the romance side and liked the fact that Ana managed to win Christian round to a relationship… After a while the sexual parts became just a small part of the story for me (a bit like an added extra) because I was just so engrossed in the storyline and their blossoming romance. (Reader 67)

•A relationship I fantasise about having! The sweeping off one's feet and falling so in love that that person completely changes your life and becomes your everything. (Reader 52)

What was so good?•Words more erotic than pictures, the acts being described were appealing. (Reader 17)•Some of it was good. Some was fantastic. I don't go for all the extreme stuff, but it definitely held my interest. :) (Reader 80)•It was really enjoyable. I think it was hyped up to be [more] "full-on" that [sic] it really was. When you first read the sex part of the contract you are lead to believe you would read sex scenes of that nature but it really was more about the teasing and dominating nature of Christian. (Reader 23)

Sex and Fifty Shades•86% of these said the books had influenced their attitudes to sex in some way.

•67% found them a turn-on. •87% had heard of BDSM before reading the books and 38% had previously engaged in BDSM practices.

•22% said the books had encouraged them to try (further) BDSM practices.

•24% had used the books in their personal masturbation or fantasy.

•One woman said she had used them with her partner

•Two had bought new sex toys since reading them.

Complex readings•Reader 2 enjoyed the romance yet called James’ writing ‘appallingly terrible in some places’ •Reader 67 complains about the repetitive nature of the writing but even though ‘I didn't find the book to be particularly well written in the literary sense, it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book’•Reader 53 found them ‘boring’ and ‘repetitive’ and would not re-read them, but had read all three books and considered them a turn-on.

Complex readings•Covers as clever and subversive – yet everyone knows what they are!•Subversive nature of e-Books•Acknowledgement of the complications associated with the series without denying the pleasures of reading and participating in the discursive culture around them.

Conclusion – why Fifty Shades?•Visibility – in mainstream media, shops, erotic outlets, social media, entertainment news…•Role in making BDSM and erotica more visible•Origins as fan-fiction, self-published work•Problematic representations of women’s pleasures•Status as ‘badly written’ in a number of ways•Scale of sales, readership and discussion•A problematic text, constantly negotiated•A global brand

References• Sexualities 8 (1) (December 2013) - special issue on Fifty Shades• Gilbert, A (2012), Between Twi-Hards and Twi-Haters: The Complicated Terrain of Online "Twilight" Audience Communities. In: Morey, A (ed), Genre, Reception, and Adaptation in the "Twilight" Series. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing: 163-179.

• Gold, T (2012) Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James: Audiobook review. Daily Telegraph, August 20. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9480183/Fifty-Shades-of-Grey-by-EL-James-Audiobook-review.html (accessed 10 January 2012)

• Goletz, S W (2012) The Giddyshame Paradox: Why Twilight's 'Anti-Fans Cannot Stop Reading a Series They (Love to) Hate. In: Morey, A (ed), Genre, Reception, and Adaptation in the "Twilight" Series. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing: 147-162.

• Gray, J (2010) Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers and Other Media Paratexts, New York: New York University Press.]

• Harman, S and Jones, B (forthcoming) ‘Fifty Shades of Ghey’• O’Hagan, A (2012) Travelling Southwards. London Review of Books 34 (14), 19 July: 29.

• Radway, J A (1984) Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and Popular Literature. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press.