By Nice Daswani
February 3, 2015
Christianity Today
Fifty Shades of Grey is set to premiere over the Valentine’s Day weekend enticing moviegoers to see the adaptation of EL James’ bestselling book that has sold 100 million copies worldwide.
The movie follows an erotic romance between a college graduate Anastasia Steel and a controlling businessman Christian Grey. The film is noted for its erotic scenes that involves sado-masochism, dominance and submission, and bondage.
According to Charisma News, the controversial film has been slammed by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, which has launched an aggressive campaign asking people to sign a petition against the film, boycotting it and instead donating the cinema ticket price to women’s shelters.
NCSE, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., further put up a website fiftyshadesisabuse.com as part of the #50DollarsNot50Shades campaign which highlights 50 ways the film can do harm to viewers. The website urges patrons to raise their awareness of the realities of sexual abuse on women and to support survivors of such abuse.
The website also features news about real stories of violence and sexual abuse on women and asserts that the film romanticises domestic abuse to the point of making it excusable.
“Hollywood is advertising the Fifty Shades story as an erotic love affair, but it is really about sexual abuse and violence against women,” said Dawn Hawkins, executive director of National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
“The porn industry has poised men and women to receive the message that sexual violence is enjoyable. Fifty Shades models this porn message and Hollywood cashes the check.”
Hawkins noted that there is already a lot of sexual abuse and violence against women in real life and the movie industry should not glamorise it.
