A Different Shade of Me

When 9 1/2 Weeks came out I was too young to see the movie, but I could read the book.  The current equivalent of the stir 9 1/2 Weeks caused in its day is the popular book series,  Fifty Shades of Grey.  And while I understand its titillating appeal after reading some excerpts on Amazon, I've made the decision that I won't be reading it.  And no one is more surprised by that decision than me.

I don't deny that the Fifty Shades series is quite engaging and a rather steamy, appealing read.  And that's just based on the excerpts that I read on Amazon and a couple of other online sources.  In the past, I would have been sucked in and read the books for their titillating story and to show how cool and hip I was for reading them, along with other, less noble, reasons.   But I've made a conscious decision not to read the books, and for me, my reasons are grounded in Faith.

First, the relationship that is the basis of the series begins as a master/submissive relationship.  Anastasia, the lead female character, signs over complete control of her life to Christian, the male lead character.  Every decision in her life, from what to wear to what to eat is controlled by Christian.  And throughout all the books Anastasia constantly worries about whether or not something she's done or has no control over will upset Christian and incite his anger or disapproval.  In essence, Anastasia makes Christian a god in her life, albeit a false god.  The last time I checked the Ten Commandments,  and despite the double entendre of his name, there's only one God, and his name isn't Christian.

Second, Christian treats Anastasia and the "subs" that come before her as objects for his pleasure.  Yes, the relationship between the two lead characters grows to include more aspects to it over time, but there seems to always be a part of it that's about her serving as the object of his pleasure.  And it doesn't take a devout Catholic to know that using another person for your own pleasure- sexual or otherwise- is a sin.  We're asked to treat each other with a much greater respect and dignity than that.

No one is more shocked or surprised than I am that I've chosen not to read these books.   If this was a year ago I would have been all over these books and torn through them like a tween reading the Twilight series for the first time.  But I'm not that person now.  I don't think or believe the same things about about sex, relationships, modesty or chastity that I did a year ago.  So no matter how tempting the books are, and I do understand how tempting they are, I've chosen to live my beliefs and not read them.