Thread: 50 Shades of Grey

So, I just read a rant by someone going through a detailed account of why the book doesn't represent a real BDSM relationship as if it were supposed to be a biographical account. Yeah, and Fight Club wasn't an accurate account of people with DID either. It's just a story, in my opinion, portraying something that commonly happens - a man taking on the title of Dom when he doesn't deserve it. Just because Christian Grey says he's introducing Ana to the lifestyle does not mean that the book is trying to portray an accurate account of it. It is telling the story of a virginal girl being victimized. What is your opinion on the book 50 Shades of Grey and the supposed glamorization of violence against women? What is your opinion of fiction in the world today and people's right to write their own stories, about good characters, about bad characters and about unsavory topics putting their own perspective and slant on it? Should we socially or politically policecensordemonize these people's right to write stories even if stupid people may be influenced inappropriately? Please, before you state your opinion or go off on a rant, state whether you've read the book or not. This was posted on Tumblr by user akairiot and it sums up my viewpoints on this subject perfectly. It is okay to dislike 50 Shades of Grey or any other work of art or media or fiction. It is not okay to tell me what I should be allowed to do because you think you know better or you wish to protect me. Theres a certain attitude that scares the shit out of me lets call it destructive sensitivity. Its the philosophy that, if an idea is uncomfortable, it needs to go away. If an image upsets you, or reminds you of a bad experience you had, then not only should you not have to look at it, no one should be allowed to look at it. And if you cant eradicate it completely, it should at least be buried so deep that a casual viewer would never stumble upon it. This kind of censorship is nothing new, but I feel like its becoming more and more common. So, why do I think its a problem? FICTION An important question we need to ask ourselves first is, what is the purpose of media, and particularly of fiction? Why do we read, why do we look at artwork, why do we watch movies? To only see happy things? As escapism? Thats certainly a valid interpretation, but its not the only one. For the artist or creator, fiction can be a way to communicate the inner self to the outer world, through the use of symbols. Its a means of expression. What they express might be deep, might be simple, might be beautiful or disgusting, might be for a niche audience or the whole world, but in the end, it is the artist taking pieces of their own experience and creating something new. For the viewer, fiction is a way to understand things that are outside their experience, and a way to expand their experience safely. Fiction allows us to go places and do things that we cant or wouldnt in our own lives, without risk, without physical harm, and without causing harm to others. Fiction can teach us what we fear, what we love, what were missing. It can show us how others live, how others see us, how we see ourselves, and were free to engage with it as shallowly or as deeply as we want. But fiction is not equal to reality. Watching Friday the 13th doesnt make you a murderer, and it doesnt kill you. Reading Lolita doesnt make you a pedophile. Writing a story where a character is raped is not the same as committing rape, and reading that story is not the same as being raped. Thought is not crime. CENSORSHIP Censorship is a way to force your interpretation of material on others, to reduce or destroy anothers experience by prejudging it as harmful to them. But part of becoming a well-rounded human being is accepting that not everyone has the same sensibilities, and not every experience needs to be positive. What you find offensive, some might find enjoyable. What you find traumatic, some might see as an exercise in empathy, or a means of catharsis. Sad songs can be beautiful. Horror stories can be fun. When you decide to silence the things you dont like, youre cutting off others from that same experience. Youre making decisions for others, and youre essentially saying that your feelings and the feelings of people who agree with you are more valid than anyone elses. I find this darkly ironic, because the audience that holds these particular sensitivities also tends to be the first to champion acceptance and non-traditional viewpoints, while organizing witch hunts for those they feel disrespect them. So, why is this important to me? Why does it scare me? Well, as an artist, the complaint of one sensitive viewer can erase my work in an instant. When complaints are made, content is removed first and questions are asked later. Artists are guilty by default, and viewers are treated as victims. No content host wants to be the one to stand up for freedom of expression at the risk of being seen as supporting offensive material. Most alarming of all, this is all seen as totally acceptable, or even justified. When an artists work is taken down, I see comments like, Well, thats the risk you take when you post stuff like that. Cant be helped. Even the people who disagree with censorship just shrug their shoulders. SENSITIVITY To those who are sensitive, Im not trying to say, just get over it. Emotional hurt is real, traumatic experiences are real. I would never belittle someone elses pain. But you have to realize as well that your experience is not the be-all, end-all of the world. Not all content is made with you in mind. It is inevitable, if we want to exist in a world with other people in it, that well be exposed to things we dont enjoy. The answer is not to destroy or degrade those things, but to try to understand them and if that fails, at the very least, we can allow them to exist on equal terms. It is that frightening desire to homogenize the world, to eliminate that which we fail to understand or which causes us emotional distress, that can lead as to real prejudice, to real violence and real crime. Please understand that allowing content you dislike to exist is not the same as advocating it. THE ANSWER What I would love to see is a perspective shift. I want to see a world where responsibility is on the viewer, not the creator or the content host. If you have a problem with something, its up to you to not see it, not for the artist to hide it for you, or add unavoidable warnings that prejudge a work. I want a world where, rather than censorship by default, censorship is a conscious choice for those who want it. No work is hidden until a user hides it themselves. Artists are not punished for merely posting content that some find offensive, only for not tagging it correctly. Freedom of expression and variety of content is seen as more important than protecting viewers from fiction, from discomfort, from viewpoints that dont mesh with their own. Accept others. Take responsibility for yourself and only yourself. Understand that not all content is meant for you. Understand that fiction is not crime, and fiction does not equate to real-world harm. Thats all Im asking. Click to expand...