Global Community Rejects Normalized Violence in “Fifty Shades Darker” Movie, and Franchise

#FiftyShadesisAbuse and #50DollarsNot50Shades campaigns calling for support of women’s agencies

The London Abused Women’s Centre, Canada; Collective Shout, Australia; Culture Reframed, USA; and The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), USA are collaborating for the second time to reject the normalization of violence and abuse against women portrayed in the movie Fifty Shades Darker. Dozens of groups from around the world are speaking out against the Fifty Shades trilogy ahead of the release of Fifty Shades Darker on February 10^th, 2017.

The campaign Facebook page, www.facebook.com/50dollarsnotfiftyshades, highlights how the Fifty Shades franchise (based on the book series by E.L. James), normalizes and even romanticizes sexual and domestic violence. The campaign page also provides various actions that the public can take, including social media memes and donating 50 dollars—or any amount—to women’s agencies such as shelters or counselling centres and using the hashtag #50DollarsNot50Shades to promote the giving campaign.

London Abused Women’s Centre, Collective Shout, Culture Reframed, and The National Center on Sexual Exploitation issued a joint press release stating:

“North American girls born today have a 50 percent chance of being physically or sexually abused. Girls are born into a pornified culture where consent is rendered irrelevant. In real life, men use the same tactics as Christian Grey in the Fifty Shades trilogy to gain and maintain power and control over the women in their lives. This includes isolation, threats, physical and sexual assault. THIS is not entertainment. THIS is not sexy. THIS results in serious harm to women and in the worst case scenario, murder.”

In 2015 when the first movie of this series came out, the campaign went viral. Once again, the partnering organizations urge the public to support survivors of men’s violence and help educate the public on the realities of Fifty Shades relationships.