At first, I thought of "Fifty Shades of Grey" as a positive thing,
despite its origin; Ideally, this would give the world of BDSM exposure,
which could be wonderful... Right? Then I realized what this actually
meant for kink.
The quality of writing aside, and the real reason for concern, is
that the "Fifty Shades" series ruins it for the rest of us who are
actually part of the kink community. As someone strongly tied to the
community, I know how fragile it can be - in the sense that general
public opinion on BDSM is touchy enough.
If "vanillas" or what-have-you read this and think this is what the
BDSM community is about, then it paints a bad picture (of abuse, for one
thing) of the lifestyle. We will then all be lumped in with that
negative connotation.
I will admit, I have not read it. Given the reviews on it from people
who also loathe the writing style that is Twilight-esque (as this was
based off of Twilight fanfiction), I have trusted when they say "it's a
poorly written story that masks an abusive relationship as 'BDSM'". I
will gladly read the book if someone lends me a copy so I can see for
myself and therefore maintain a valid argument.
But if - IF - the book does indeed follow this pattern as stated by
said sources and images I've seen online, then I stand by my argument
that it is a literary atrocity and will truly do damage to the real kink
community.
Lastly, and possibly most importantly, It's not just about
public opinion. It's also about damage from within the community once
the Fifty Shades of Garbage people come into it. Ignoring someone's safeword, making them experience or perform their hard limits and not practicing proper consent is not the true way of BDSM, and it's not how it should be introduced to newcomers. We've had more new
people attend kink events who didn't know the general rules or etiquette
of being a kinkster, which ultimately means more harassment. We don't
want people to come into the community blinded by misinformation, or it
wreaks hell on us. There are too many welcoming people who will be happy
to teach the basics of BDSM to newcomers to let something like this
happen. One
can only hope that instead they will be educated and nurtured, so that
they may enjoy their new curiosities with respect and knowledge.
