The College Fix

A hotel in England has made news by replacing all the Gideon’s Bibles in its rooms with copies of the highly-overrated “mommy-porn” novel, 50 Shades of Grey–a dim-witted book that glamorizes misogyny as well as naive, codependent behavior and the self-deceiving mentality of a willing abuse-victim, and tries to make it “sexy”–so I hear.

Do yourself a favor: Save yourself the trouble and pain of reading this book and simply read this scathing book review instead (Warning: NSFW), which will tell you all you need to know. Here’s a brief excerpt from the review:

The only thing that made the first 4% of this book tolerable was the fact that I read it aloud to my younger brother, and his frequent commentary was amusingly distracting. Once he gave up, however, I had to travel the rest of the road alone. What a painful journey it was…

I’ll be totally honest, the biggest issue I have with Fifty Shades… is neither the sex nor the horrible writing. It’s the plot. Thin as it is, it’s still there, its core message being that, given enough time, you can change someone. While I don’t have any problem with this if all you’re trying to do is help them to lose weight or quit smoking, when you’re talking about an emotionally and (dangerously close to) physically abusive relationship, sending that kind of message is ridiculous and irresponsible. Christian is controlling, possessive, condescending, and cruel. He doesn’t allow Ana to behave as she normally would, and Ana just puts up with it, insistent that if she can give him what he wants, when he wants, as often as he wants, she can eventually begin to pull his strings…

Women who defend this book are, however unwittingly, participating in some of the most blatant misogyny I’ve ever witnessed, giving the impression that some women enjoy being debased, abused, and controlled…

If you happen to be headed for England, and need a decent place to stay, I recommend that you steer clear of the Damson Dene Hotel. I hear the bedside reading material there stinks.

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