Some anti-domestic violence activists and anti-pornography activists, including Antipornography.org, the London Abused Women’s Centre in Ontario, Canada, and the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan, are calling for a boycott of the movie “Fifty Shades of Grey,” arguing that it promotes violence against women.
They’ve rallied around 50dollarsnot50shades and FiftyShadesIsAbuse, and are pushing the idea that people should donate $50 to women’s shelters instead of buying tickets for the movie.
Even Jamie Dornan, the actor who plays Christian Grey – the dominant character who introduces Anastasia Steele to his Red Room (that’s what he calls his den of iniquity) — expressed discomfort with “Fifty Shades.”
“Some of the Red Room stuff was uncomfortable,” Dornan said in an interview with Glamour about scenes with co-star Dakota Johnson. “There were times when Dakota was not wearing much, and I had to do stuff to her that I’d never choose to do to a woman.”
There’s a lot to unpack here because the coalition of parties opposed to this film is vast and their reasons for wanting to boycott can hardly be quantified as homogeneous.
“The idea of not supporting the movie 50 Shades of Grey is great but supporting these anti-sex work organizations is not,” wrote artist Creatrix Tiara, referring to Stop Porn Culture and Pornography Harms, two organizations that have also condemned the movie.
There are anti-porn and anti-BDSM (bondage, domination, sadism and masochism) activists who refuse to draw distinctions between physical abuse and consensual BDSM play. There are those who are fine with BDSM, but who think the specific relationship depicted between Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey is abusive.
And there are others who are horrified either by author E.L. James’s writing or her apparent lack of knowledge about BDSM and who think the book and the movie represent an irresponsible and inaccurate depiction of BDSM. Grey’s predilection for BDSM is “explained” by his abusive childhood, which makes it seem like people who engage in BDSM play only do so because they’re somehow damaged. People in the BDSM community argue that’s not the case.
— The Washington Post
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