“Why are you writing about Fifty Shades of Grey?” you ask. Good question. Fifty Shades is supposed to be erotic romance, and this is a review site focused on the horror genre. Well, first, it’s pretty much inescapable. The movie comes out here on Valentine’s Day, although it really doesn’t sound romantic at all. Second, I find them kind of horrifying. And, while before the books were published, most people were unlikely to ask for them at the library, as Sarah Dorrance-Minch points out below, they did make it a lot easier for the curious to admit an interest in learning more. So what’s a librarian to do?

However, there are a lot of people who find Fifty Shades of Grey disturbing on multiple levels. Beyond the bad writing, there are problems with presenting an abusive and frequently nonconsensual situation as a romantic one, and additional issues with the inaccuracy with which it depicts BDSM. The book has inspired some not-so-safe situations when readers try to put the actions into practice, and unfortunately the media has jumped on that bandwagon– as Redbook does here.

Sarah Dorrance-Minch is a freelance writer who has considered the many issues involved in the world of the book and movie, and has offered to share her thoughts on the books, followed by suggestions in both fiction and nonfiction for the curious reader.

Beyond Fifty Shades of Grey 

by Sarah Dorrance-Minch

The much-hyped movie of E. L. James’ best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey premieres this weekend; and despite the fact that most of the reviews seem to be in fifty shades of negativity, the movie will very likely be a box office smash. Like the books, the movie will most likely inspire extremes of love and hate on the part of its viewers.

In the interest of disclosure, I will admit up front to being one of the haters. As a reader, I dislike the prose, which does not seem to have ever been subjected to an editor, not even for basic copy editing. As a feminist, I dislike the relationship dynamics – and enough has been written elsewhere about the ubiquitous rape and abuse that I won’t go into detail here.
And as a dominant (in the BDSM community), I object to the way the sex scenes are written. Not only are they set up as coercive (coercion is not acceptable in the kink subculture) but when they do involve bondage or sensation play, they use set-ups that are extremely unsafe. The protagonist, Ana, is at one point suspended from a bedpost by her wrists in a way that would have resulted in tendon damage; in another scene, she is mounted on a St Andrew’s cross in a way that would have had her falling behind the cross due to being improperly positioned. The worst example of unrealistic, unsafe play is the “Spem in Alium” scene, which has Ana tied up, deprived of sight and ability to hear what is going on around her, disallowed the use of a safeword, and subjected to flogging on the genitals with a beaded cat-o-nine-tails prior to rough sex. This is described as intense but not painful. In real life, the beaded flogger would have not only hurt, it would have caused severe lacerations, because that is what beaded floggers are made for: causing intense pain and, if moderate force is used, breaking the skin. Do not try replicating that scene at home.

Some good has come of the Fifty Shades sensation, though, and that is mainstream visibility. It is becoming okay to admit to liking kink. Up to thirty six percent of Americans make use of bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism, and negotiated power exchange, according to one study conducted by Durex, at least to some extent , but until recently, it was seen as something extremely dangerous and edgy, and not at all acceptable to admit to enjoying. That has changed. When you can find Fifty Shades themed, limited-edition laundry detergent on a grocery store shelf, with complimentary souvenir handcuffs, BDSM must be a little more mainstream.

Also acceptable to talk about in public: enjoying reading erotica while being female. It used to be that people thought only men got into porn. E. L. James put an end to that. The readership of Fifty Shades of Grey, an overtly sexually explicit novel in the erotic romance genre, is overwhelmingly female.  Conclusion: yes, women do like smut. They like it a lot. Write it, and they will buy it.

But for those people who are interested in reading kinked erotica, or who are interested in reading up on the specifics of BDSM and don’t want to get their information from Fifty Shades of Grey, what alternatives are there?

Here are a few possibilities to explore. Please note that this list is not comprehensive, nor is it definitive.  It should, however, serve as a beginning point.

FICTION
       

Kushiel’s Dart, Kushiel’s Chosen, Kushiel’s Avatar  by Jacqueline Carey. This is, among other things, a highbrow speculative fiction series about an alternate Earth in which medieval France has been colonized by Nephilim. The series actually has nine books in it, but the first three have the most sadomasochistic sex in them, because the protagonist is a spy and a courtesan who also happens to be an anguissette – an extreme submissive who was born with a divine gift of craving, and being able to handle and recover from, nearly anything that can be dished out. There is a lot more to the plot of the series than just sex, but there is a lot of sex. And it’s all negotiated and consensual.

Macho Sluts: Erotic Fiction by Patrick Califia. This is a book of extremely hard-core pornographic short stories, one of which (“Calyx of Isis”), ironically, impressed E. L. James when she read it decades ago. The characters are all lesbians, because the book was written for the kinked members of the lesbian community-– used copies may be advertised as being written by Pat Califia, because the book was written before he came out to himself as a transman. Most of the stories involve characters that consent enthusiastically to whatever happens to them, and Califia is careful to make his set-ups workable and safe. Exceptions occur when the setting of a story is obviously fantasy or science fiction and it is clear, from context, that the story is meant to be nothing more than titillation or indulging in fantasy. There’s also a sequel, Melting Point, that is a little harder to find, but there are some pretty hot short stories in there, too.

Venus in Furs – Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Von Sacher-Masoch was the Stephen King of his era; then this novel got published, and his fortunes sank under a massive flood of public disapproval. This is unfortunate. At times, his prose is almost luminous. Venus in Furs is about a man who wants to be dominated and hurt by a woman, who he dresses in furs and worships as a goddess. It’s also the book that gave us the term “masochism.”

Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue (Oxford World’s Classics) by Donatien Alphonse Francois, the Marquis de Sade. I can’t mention a book written by von Sacher-Masoch without also mentioning something written by Sade. He was, after all, the fellow who inspired the term “sadism.” A mention is all I will give, though. I can’t give a recommendation. As a work of philosophy, and of dark humor, Justine is actually rather interesting – it reads like Voltaire channeling the as-yet-to-be-born Ayn Rand. However, as erotica, it leaves much to be desired, not least because the book is full of rape.

The  Sleeping Beauty Trilogy: The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty’s Punishment, Beauty’s Release  by Anne Rice. This trilogy (written under the pen name of A. N. Roquelaure) is considered a classic mostly because it was written by Anne Rice. The quality of the writing is very good. The situations described are frequently coercive, and even more frequently unrealistic, but it’s a fairy tale setting, and nobody expects realism from a fairy tale. Rice also wrote a somewhat more real-world erotic novel, Exit to Eden, under the name of Anne Rampling, that involves a switchable female starting as a submissive and eventually becoming a professional dominatrix at an exclusive sex club, and a submissive male who becomes one of her clients at the club and winds up falling in love with her.

The Story of O by Pauline Reage. Another erotic classic involving female submission. The plot is full of coercive situations and involves the systematic breaking of a woman’s body and soul, ultimately ending in her death. (How romantic!) That the writing manages to be erotic anyway is a testament to the incredible skill of the author.

NONFICTION

Screw The Roses, Send Me The Thorns! by Philip Miller and Molly Devon. This is considered a classic guide to BDSM.

The (New) Topping Book  by Dossie Easton. What the title says it is. Also a classic.

The (New) Bottoming Book  by Dossie Easton. Again, you can probably guess what this book covers by looking at the title. And again, considered a classic.

Sensuous Magic by Patrick Califia – In addition to his erotica, Patrick Califia has written various nonfiction books on the pragmatics and psychology of BDSM, also numerous essays for The Advocate on kink, queer rights, and other sex-related topics. This particular book is a good introduction to the basics.

— Sarah Dorrance-Minch is a freelance writer who lives in Indianapolis.