Fifty Shades of Betrayal

On my way home from work today, I saw a poster for LuvLand, an adult store. It read, "Fifty Shades of Grey: Let the fantasy become a reality." It was advertising what they called their exclusive platinum collection, which I'm guessing is some sort of collection with mementos from the movie -- you know, so that you can let all of your wildest sex fantasies from the books or movie come true. Well, guess what. These little mementos won't fulfill you in any way; these toys will do nothing but destroy your life.

I'm a teacher at a girls' high school, and last year I discovered the first little bit of betrayal that Fifty Shades of Grey is bringing to society. A Grade 9 girl, probably about 14 years old, came to me very excitedly one day to tell me that she was reading Fifty Shades of Grey. "Ma'am, it's so brilliant! I love it so much! I can't put it down! Why don't you read it?" Her words were something along those lines, and she was extremely excited about this new discovery of hers. I told her that I didn't want to read something that was so inappropriate. "But Ma'am, you can just skip past those parts," she said. Well yes, I guess you can... but how long will it take for the curiosity to get the better of you?

This girl is one of the sweetest girls I know: she is innocent, kind, funny, smart and dilligent -- and yet, at the young age of 14, she is being told that this kind of literature is acceptable, and even brilliant. Mothers, how would you feel if your sweet and innocent 14-year-old daughter started to portray the kinds of behaviour that are in Fifty Shades of Grey? Well, guess what? They watch you. Every time a mother picks up that book or wants to watch the movie, her daughter thinks that it is acceptable.

The next scary realisation I had of this book's power over young minds came this year, just before the movie came out. I had a Grade 10 girl in my class, and I noticed that the cover of her English book said "Fifty Shades of Grey" on it. I asked her if she liked it, and she responded very excitedly, "Ma'am, I love it!" That adoration shocked me. I know this girl. She is also extremely hard-working. She has a great love for reading, and seems to be the model student. What have we, as a society, done to her?

When the movie was being released, the radio spoke about the movie for about a week before its first release, and for about two weeks afterwards. They discussed how excited they were to watch it, how they loved the books so much, and how they couldn't wait to see it all happening in real life. They discussed how many sex scenes are in the book, as well as what sort of props are used. They discussed taking their mothers to see the movie! I don't know about you, but even if I were interested in watching that kind of thing, I would never in a million years take my mother to see it! That is not an exaggeration, either. It is just never something that I would consider appropriate. Even worse, in my opinion, is mothers taking their daughters to see it.

What is it that has society so animated about these books? From what I hear, the writing isn't even that great! Allow me to share my opinion (as if you haven't already seen what I think):

Every time that we, as adults, allow something like this to enter society without commenting on it, we actually condone it. When we condone it, the youth think that this kind of literature is acceptable. I'm not exactly old, but I remember a time when this would have been given one name, and one name only: pornography. It wouldn't even be given the honour of being called literature.

However, the world seems to have forgotten that something like this used to be looked down on, because it has a vaguely decent story and it seems to answer to a number of people's fantasies. Then, because so many other people have decided that it's good, we have people who never would have been interested in it in the past, deciding to give it a try, because of that age-old thing called peer pressure. Then, because so many people are reading the books or watching the movie, all of a sudden it doesn't seem so bad anymore. After all, it can't be bad if everyone loves it, can it?

I'll ask the question that my mom always used to ask us as kids: If your friends jumped off a cliff, would you follow? Now, in relation to this so-called literature, if all of your friends are reading something that you know is bad, would you follow? You know what's right. You have values and standards. Do you really want to jeopardise your knowledge of right and wrong because of what society has decided is good?

Let's look back a little into the past: society has changed its mind so many times about what is good and what isn't. We need only look at the history of fashion to see that. How many times in the last hundred years have fashions gone and come back? How many times have we watched old movies and thought to ourselves, "Ugh! Why would anybody want to wear that?" Guess what? Those huge perms weren't that long ago! Society is fickle. Society loves to change. The world cannot decide on one thing for a long time.

There is one thing that does not change, though, and that is what is right. When we read books like Fifty Shades of Grey, it does not help us to know what is right. If you think it's called that because we're learning all about the different aspects of the guy called Grey, you're wrong. It's called that because it's saying there are fifty shades of grey between black and white. It blurs the lines. There is no longer black and white; there is no longer right or wrong. Would you really like to read something that makes you question what you already know is right?

When I was in university, we studied a book called Lolita. This is a book about a paedophile, and it's written in such a way that you begin sympathising with him and believing that he is in the right. I chose not to read this book the moment I found out what it was about. The reason I did this? I didn't want to be forced to question what I already knew was true. In the same way, I don't want to read Fifty Shades of Grey because I already know what is right and wrong.

If we decide to give in to this trend, we will be betraying ourselves. We will no longer have any respect for right and wrong. The longer this fascination with books like this continues, we will be betraying the youth and their futures. We will be giving them the impression that a life that is portrayed in Fifty Shades of Grey is acceptable and even desirable, and they will pursue lives like that.

Do you really want to see your daughters behaving like that? Do you want your sons to lose all respect for women? I know I don't, and I will stand up against books and movies like this for as long as I can, and for as long as I have a voice.