Women and Fifty Shades…

Our guest blog post is by T.M. Souder author of Freedom Road.

Women and Fifty Shades…

I wanted to pop in and write a quick post today about something that was generally brought up in an author group of mine and something I have been wondering about for quite a while. What I want to know is, where are all the radical feminists and women’s rights groups for Fifty Shades of Grey?
*Tilts my head to the side and listens* Nope, nothing. All I’m hearing is crickets these days from their camps.
Seriously though, I’m curious. This post is not to debate erotica, S&M, BDSM, or anything related. I don’t want to discuss the appropriateness of certain types of literature because I figure what you read is your own decision, and I don’t have strong feelings on books like Fifty Shades one way or the other. You read what you like and that’s the end of it.
I’m just truly curious why I’m not hearing outcries from women’s groups admonishing books like this that not only portray women as submissive sexually, but actually have them being beaten and somewhat abused in the bedroom. I get that this is all consensual, and again, I’m not debating that part. I’m just rather shocked that I have not heard anything anywhere about boycotting these books or putting them down as being degrading to women.
Heck, even at the height of the Twilight books’ popularity, there were rumblings about the message of violence and being rough with women. And that was in reference to a “clean” scene that didn’t even go into detail or describe what happened. They sorta started the bedroom scene, then the next morning they hinted at everything. Bella had bruising everywhere, the pillows were torn to shreds, and the bed was broken. Bella’s enrapture and dependence on Edward was also something criticized. I heard stuff about that, about people questioning what kind of message this was sending young adults.
Yet, I have heard nothing about the Fifty Shades books. Maybe I’m living in a box, and somewhere out there is this huge debate going on about the books and the message it is sending about women. That’s entirely possible.
Most days, I feel like I do nothing but break up fights with the kids, write (if I’m lucky) and work on the computer, read (again, if I’m lucky), feed my family, and then go to bed. So, I don’t know. Tell me if I’m missing something. Have any of you heard even a word about these books in a negative light, as to how it portrays women? (Not the writing, I’m tired of hearing about that.)
I’m actually quite dumbfounded about the silence in regards to that aspect of these books. Again, I’m not debating the subject matter. I do have some opinions on how these kinds of portrayls affect the way women are viewed, but I’m not even about to get into that. I am only asking to satiate my own curiosity.
I’d love to hear from you…