FIFTY SHADES OF PROSTITUTION

I have given in. I have bought a copy of  Fifty Shades of Grey.   It sits opposite me as I work the deadlines.   I read a bit of it online and it made me laugh so I've bought it.   E L James, who's personal trainer I know, thinks of many more than fifty ways to call 'the rose bud'.   I wonder.  Was that what Citizen Kane's last words meant before he died?   Yup.

I haven't seen the film but want to. As my advertising friend said, its more an excellence in marketing than in literature, something which publishers should know about but failed to see when it first came out.

As stories go it is about a young woman who signs a business contract to be submissive and sexually subservient in return for financial support.   Isn't this a marriage contract?  Although of course that is not what its called. Perhaps it should be called this because then at least both sides would know what they are in it for. The fact they may feel emotional towards each other in some way is another layer of the onion but it is not the purpose of the contract.    I haven't read the book so don't know if Mr Grey had an exclusivity clause, or year by year clause or any clause which I've heard about in recent pre nup agreements.   Any way it is about back to basics.  Basic instinct that is, not basic values.   And as always the woman is still on top, the man just thinks he is. Bless.

BTW, I attended the book launch of comedienne Helen Lederer at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden. V nice lady v good book.  Lots of lovies, air kissing, herbal happy pills.    Got into conversation with someone who talked about Fifty Shades and said it was prostitution.   She said that the heroine wouldn't have allowed the hero to control her if he wasn't a billionaire and handsome.  I'm not sure. I'm writing about this sort of thing in psychology at the moment. I wonder if Anastasia had a pushy mother who told her to go out and find a rich man and then do anything he told her to.  I think women do what Anastasia does for a lot less.