Hollywood's Anthem to Misogyny - "Fifty Shades of Grey"

Misogynists still have plenty of fight left in them….they slipped the “Fifty

Shades of Grey” film trilogy into our pop culture right smack dab in the middle of the

“meToo” movement. The “Good ol’ Boys” Network is seeing their stock rise yet again. The fact that any girl or women went to see this movie is a

sign that women are not, in my opinion, ready to take control of their

lives…they are willing to spend dollars to go to a movie and watch their own execution; they

acquiesce to being treated like property and objects. The misogyny is fed to us so matter of factly (and with a soundtrack) that it is swallowed whole, the way a fish can’t discern the bait from the hook. Women’s critical thinking skills should have been sharpened by recent events but not so. Hollywood bet that women wouldn’t be paying attention and they were right. This movie doesn’t just depict sadistic misogyny—it celebrates and glorifies it. Would the black community attend a movie that glorified racism?

After I saw how women were (finally) unwilling to stay silent about the sexual abuse that is

so pervasive in our society I was proud of them---for about 15 minutes.

Actually, I don’t hold much hope for the reorganization of the power

structure in American culture. The default is for men to be (and stay) on top. There is incredible gravity to that default

just as there was tremendous gravity to treating gays like they were blasphemous heretics. Gays had what it

took to put down the opposition at the gate but I don't think women have it in them to be as victorious.

How come this movie wasn’t protested by women’s groups the way a movie

that degrades animals would be protested by animal rights groups?

Primarily, because women have no organization, no “groups”. They lack

cohesion around the most basic principles that uphold their own

dignity. They can't hear the whistle when it is being blown. Jews have the Anti-defamation league, blacks

have the NAACP,

animals have PETA and other groups, The LBGT community is so unified

that they don’t even need any significant groups because they don’t

take any crap from anyone. Try and make a movie denigrating the gay

community and you will be protested until you can’t hear yourself

think anymore. The movie won’t even get made because of the fear of

countless protests and backlash. But, continue (actually expand) the

depiction of women in the most submissive and subhuman light possible

and it becomes a Valentine’s classic. It’s crazy. Even in the age of

Trump this is batshit crazy.

No big deal, right?…the lead female character has a leash on her neck

and is subjugated and tortured and treated like a toy by the male

character who is always in control, always holding the whip, and who wears perfectly tailored suits and probably smells like

Dolce Gabbana (another terribly misogynistic company). They make this fictional character a billionaire to

make him even more irresistible to women. The only scene they left

out was of the female character being dragged by her hair, naked, through the

streets by a "sexy" man wearing a tuxedo. It is a horrible profile of a horrible

relationship between a man and woman. It is one degree of separation

from the relationship O.J. had with Nicole. It makes “Mad Men” seem

like a world of feminist bliss.

Holly Richardson in the Salt Lake Tribune wrote: the book series and

the trilogy of films normalize rape culture and romanticize emotional,

physical and sexual abuse. Stalking, beating, cutting the victim off

from contact with friends and family, obsession, control and

manipulation are not romantic. They are abusive.

Katherine Blakeman, director of communications at the National Center

on Sexual Exploitation, said: “It is incredibly socially irresponsible

to uphold ‘Fifty Shades’ as mainstream entertainment, while at the

same time we express our outrage at Harvey Weinstein and his ilk, and

while we work to eradicate sexual harassment, sexual assault and the

rape myth mentality from our culture.”

Caitlin Roper, who calls herself a “campaigner against the sexual

exploitation of women and girls,” asks: “So what happens when a film

series of this magnitude frames domestic abuse and male violence

against women as sexy and desirable? What message does it send to

women and girls, and also to men and boys? Who benefits from

widespread acceptance of the belief women and girls secretly want and

enjoy sexual violence?” Clearly it’s not the women.

The organization Fight the New Drug lists five unhealthy things that

“Fifty Shades” teaches:

1. Affections can be bought and the more money spent, the more control

is “earned.”

2. Stalking and controlling are gestures of affection. Possessiveness

is loving, especially when manipulation is involved.

3. It is “romantic” to ignore or enjoy the pain of others for personal pleasure.

4. It is acceptable for sex to be used as a weapon, and coercion and

force aren’t abusive — they are expressions of desire.

5. Wealth and success plus a tortured past make an abusive

relationship acceptable.

In all honesty I think this movie is to misogynists what the original

“Birth of a Nation” (circa 2016) by D.W. Griffiths was to racism. The

difference being that blacks were lynched because the white

supremacists wanted them eradicated. If they could misogynists would

be lynching women too but then the game of subjugation, torture,

humiliation and eventual rape would come to a sad end.

I'm learning (quickly) to not be shocked by the behavior and appetite of men for power, sex, and money and, women's indifference to submit to the rules of that game. It is breathtaking for it's lack of civility (on both ends). I have to believe that we aren’t ready yet, as a society, to put an end to the degradation and subjugation of women. Perhaps we never will...

Food for thought....