to think that the popularity of 50 Shades of Grey...

[seeker]

...says something very depressing about the state of women's consciousness in 2112?

I could PM the ending thebigjessie

Go on then SGB - recommend us some well written (by you) smut of a similar level of kinkiness.

(I won't report you for advertising)

I do think it's quite insulting to the BDSM community that Christian has to have issues to enjoy BDSM and that he needs 'fixing'. No, he just needs to find a willing, mature, partner rather than stalking unbelievably naive virginal girls.

No, don't pm. I don't want Grey in my inbox!

I'm afraid I did refer to a character biting her lip as she was considering whether or not to buy an expensive dress. [shame].

Oh, and those who want something to read, I have dug out an ebook that I still own the copyright in. Plenty of kinkyfuckery. Villainous male dom who does bad things, various characters who are into BDSM and enjoy it, bit of a thriller plot. Of sorts, you might like it you might not.

But I also recommend this anthology as it's got different stories by different authors and I would pretty much guarantee that any reader will enjoy at least one of them and probably more.

bit of a thriller plot

What, an actual story?

oh my

I couldn't write 40000 words of smut without a story, I'd bore myself to death...

DD had a friend round yesterday evening and when her mum came to pick her up we got chatting over a glass of wine. She had just been on a hen do to Marbella (which sounded like a truly shocking experience) where all the hen doers had been ready that book.

She asked if I had read it and seemed really surprised when I said no. She admitted she had not read any books for the past 20 years. I find it so depressing.

What does fascinate me though is how the book has been marketed and how its popularity has gone through the roof. I think that will be worthy of study in a few years time.

reading

I think it's terrible that such bad writing is so popular. You can find erotic fiction that's not so horribly clunky. She's making out like a bandit.

I think it's rather sad that women need to read about I've heard is a pretty abusive relationship. Yes, it does reflect quite poorly on some women.

What doinmecleaning said

Well I read them purely for research I have never seen twilight so can't comment, but I was surprised by the similarity to pretty woman! He is in the same business, boat yards and all! And she clearly ripped off the sex on a piano scene!

I can't understand why people are buying it when Literotica has enough dodgily written smut to last you a lifetime.

SGB - thanks for the anthology recommendation. Am going to purchase it and then loan it to my friend who is raving about 50 shades of shite

They seem to be written in the same style as the Sweetdreams Romance novels that my friends and I used to read as teenagers in the 80s (but with shagging, Sweetdreams girls never lost their virginity). Which makes me wonder exactly who the target audience is, sexually active teenage girls or adults with low levels of literacy?

I suspect that the target audience is the those for whom being restrained with Anne Summers handcuffs is a racy night. One of my friends, who is very sweet and innocent, has been devouring the book and was very shocked when I said I found the bits I had read very tame "you mean there is more hardcore stuff than 50SOG ?"

I think that if you aren't into BDSM/fetish etc then it must be quite exciting. I have discovered that everyone else in my office clearly leads very boring sex lives as they all think it's very thrilling and extremely shocking !

Because I have spent a large part of my adult life reading and writing this sort of stuff, it irritates me quite a lot that so many people think this adolescent drivel is representative of erotic fiction. There is any amount of stuff out there which is well written, some of which is very well written. There is erotic fiction which is just a bit of fun, or just intended to get the juices flowing for those who have a particular fetish. Of course there's a fair bit of not-very-well written stuff, but you can say that about chick lit, horror, sci-fi and all those endless Squaddie On The Rampage war novels.

You can't generalise though.

I am a married woman who reads avidly and I am just finishing writing my first novel. I love Russian literature, the classics and I have a first class honours degree.

Why did I read 50 shades? Curiosity, the hype.

It is badly written and for someone who also is interested in feminist theory, well I felt a little guilty reading it.

However I did find it erotic and well my dh were each other's first sexual partner. I had no idea. I fantasised about being dominated by a man like Mr Grey!

Yet in real life I know it would scare me. My dh is not controlling at all and very gentle in bed.

What does this say?

Or is it an unattainable standard based on what we are brainwashed into thinking is the perfect ideal? All consuming love. Unlimited wealth and power etc

Rubberglove: One of the things that is irritating about it is that it's basically Beauty And The Beast, one of the oldest not-very-feminist tropes going: fiendish but troubled man redeemed by thick, passive, doesn'tknowshe'sbeautiful girlie.

I've not read it...but I might now because I realised when reading about it in the paper the other day that I used to work with the woman who wrote it. My jaw literally dropped open when I saw the picture and name. She is (or was when I knew her 10 years ago) a very nice and seemingly intelligent woman, but it's extraordinary to me that she wrote a book at all let alone this one. She really didn't strike me as a writer, let alone of this stuff. Just goes to show how little we really know about people. I liked her though, so good luck to her, I hope she's happy with her success and all this attention. She's probably having a good laugh!

As to what it says about us? the answer is not much, just that lots of women like a bit of soft s&m porn. So what? [shrugs].