Move over Red, the new color for Valentine’s Day is GREY.
Move over Red, the new color for Valentine’s Day is GREY.
The movie, 50 Shades of Grey, hits theaters February 13, 2014. This movie follows the trilogy that has sold over 70 million copies, worldwide. An innocent college student, Anastasia falls for a suave, handsome and smooth talking billionaire Christian Grey. The story line hooks every romantic who longs for this nice girl to win the hurting, lonely man who “can’t do love and romance” over to the light side and out of the dark. We want the innocent girl to win the bad boy but the problem is, that’s just the beginning. Christian Grey seduces Anastasia into darkness so deep and lurid that, as much as we want to believe that no one really participates in this kind of stuff, we become fools because the reality is they do. Try reading Stolen by Katariina Rosenblatt, PhD about the very real sex trafficking of girls in the U.S. Are you ready to be entertained by something that is wrecking lives of innocent girls beneath our very noses? We can say the story line justifies the sick behavior but who cares? What makes the story so popular is just that; a “romantic” story line between the good girl and bad boy who is pretty darn attractive.
Women-sane, clear-thinking, smart women- are hooked on this twisted story because it combines just the right amount of hope and goodness that we put up with the trash. But we mustn’t ignore that the trash not only stinks, it hurts people very badly. The least offense is that all who watch become desensitized to the marriage of sex and violence and the worst is that young girls may be sexually violated even more than they currently are. So, in the name of entertainment, are we really willing to risk that?
And that is exactly what we do when we watch “Mommy porn” as the trilogy has been dubbed. No matter our excuses for being entertained by Mr. Grey, we must be willing to admit that since we are supporting the normalization of sick pornography, then we are in part responsible for the fallout on our kids and our society. The truth is, the vast majority of healthy women are not going to start engaging in sadomasochistic sex, but that’s not the point. Supporting the movie ushers in public acceptance of a darker layer of pornography that will inevitably change all who watch and even many who don’t.
But I’m not here to pass judgment on any of you who like the stuff. I’m writing to talk about the effects of this movie on our kids. There is no question that any child under 25 who sees this movie will be negatively affected by it. Young boys will see graphic S+M and be titillated by it. They will come to understand that on some level, it’s OK. After all, Christian Grey, whose money, looks and lifestyle appeal to them, does it. And young girls, simply by seeing it on a screen that is larger than life, will see that if a cool, attractive man behaves this way toward a lovely innocent girl, maybe that’s OK for them too. Why not? Many young girls won’t have a father to go home to who will tell them otherwise.