50 Shades of Submission

I thought the 50 Shades of Grey book series was just fad that would pass quickly. But the popularity of the book series, rumors of a Hollywood movie and the continued interest in the books by an ever expanding audience has led me to take a closer look at the interest and appeal of this erotic trilogy. This is not a book review; instead, I am interested in how this erotic literature is impacting marriages and views on sex. More specifically, how women are responding to the 50 Shades of Grey. Here are a few of my observations and thoughts for your consideration...

Sex Appeal - It is hard to deny the frequent and strong sexual content contained in the 50 Shades of Grey book series. If you were to remove the sexual content from the book, there really would not be much left. There is a reason that some people are calling this book series "mommy porn" and while the romance and love story are important part of this book...the romance and love story is not what is selling millions of copies. Let's be honest, 50 Shades of Grey is appealing to millions of women because of the sexual content and the way it is presented. I believe the popularity of this series shows that many women are very interested in sexual content, when it is presented in the right manner.

Strong Dominant Man - The primary audience for this book is women and the main character has to appeal to the audience (women) for the book to do well. Christian Grey (main character) is a strong dominant controlling man that clearly appeals to the millions of women that are reading and fantasizing over it. Interestingly, Christian display traits and charactersitics that go against what feminists and popular modern culture promotes as the "ideal man". He is not soft and gentle, quite the opposite as he dominates, whips and even inflicts pain for pleasure on Anastasia Steele (main female character). The success of this book makes me question if the mood and interests of women are starting to shift back to a more masculine man that knows what he wants and takes charge.

Submissive Woman - What surprises me most about the popularity of this book among women is that the main female character, Anastasia Steele, is portrayed as a submissive woman. The book does not soft sell submission; rather, the main theme includes a master-slave or dominant-submissive role with bondage (tied up), punishment, rules and a lot of controlling actions. Anastasia's love, respect and trust in Christian allows her to submit herself to him and as a result she experiences great sexual pleasure that she has not known before. As women read this book, they often identify with the main female character who introduces them to a submissive role. Based on the popularity of this book, it would appear that women are at least intrigued by the submissive role and the possible pleasure that can come out of submission.

Right Balance of Submission & Dominance - 50 Shades of Grey demonstrates that with the right balance the idea of submission is something that can be appealing to millions of women (70 million copies had been sold as of March 2013). Actually, it is more than just appealing...there are many women fantasizing, getting excited and turned on by the ideas in this book. I'm not suggesting that every women that reads this series will be interested or excited about being submissive. But if this series can help submission look appealing to even a fraction of these women, then that is a step in the right direction and something to celebrate.