Fifty Shades of Commercialised Hype, and you're all falling for it

I work in a library, and yes I did notice the popularity of the Fifty Shades series.

As part of the fabulous service that you can expect to receive at our library, you can put your name down to reserve a book when it becomes available, and in some cases even order it in to be reserved.

Needless to say, many folk put their names against this title, the books being hastily passed from one reader to the next, usually not even hitting the shelf before ending up back on the reserved pile.  It was crazy. People were phoning and asking about it, wondering when it would be their turn.

The audience? Well, mainly older ladies who use the service anyway and were curious to see what all the fuss was about.  Many, and I mean many, handed the first book back with a groan, pushing it over the desk and mumbling something about 'what a load of rubbish', or 'too far-fetched'.

'I'll stick to the Mills & Boon,' one lady giggled, 'it's a much better read!  That one was terrible, the grammar was awful!'

Some carried on to read the trilogy, remembering to pick up the second or third book, but very noticeably, there are now a lot of half-thumbed through second and third books of the series on the shelves compared to the few battered and well-read first books that were actually returned and didn't actually just end up under someone's bed, never to come back tot he library again.

I suppose, for those who read, Fifty Shades just didn't really hit the mark. They were much more inclined to pick up a dark classic or some of the other romance fiction (of which there are many, in various shapes and forms) to tickle their tastebuds.  The verdict seemed to be that Fifty Shades was just another well-publicised, over-hyped fad. The various comments about it ranged from "poorly-written", to "fifty shades of crap!

Curiosity did get the better of me, and I had a look at one of the reserved books one day, thumbing through one on my lunch break. I wasn't shocked, or even remotely perturbed - I'd spent time working in a high street sex shop which had worse things on the shelf than this.  Just picking out random bits of text turned me right off anyway. I mean, seriously - I didn't have to look far for some hilarious text to back up my view that no person who truly enjoyed words in their art form could subscribe to this as a serious storyline with serious outcomes.

I wrote it off as yet another book that would have it's time and then leave as suddenly as it came. No pun intended.

It floated away for a while and then the rumours came of a movie. It was no real surprise - after all, it was clearly a commercialised hit already.  People who never usually bother to pick up a book had picked up three. Which is quite profitable for your 'supermarket sellers', the ones you pick up along with your shopping or with your lunchtime sandwich. Cheap and cheerful pick-me-ups, right?

The search was on for a man to play Christian Grey, a character whom every critic was holding up on a pedestal as one who would be difficult to perfectly portray.  Who, if the casting was wrongly done, would ruin the very image of man.  The supposition was that these would be very difficult shoes to fill.

He should be at once sexy, but commanding. 

Lusty and serious.

Hot and unforgiving.

Women were going crazy for this guy, so I decided to do a bit of investigating.  After all, I'm not adverse to a bit of perving over fictional characters in movie format.  I've seen Magic Mike (to my eternal shame. What? Channing Tatum is unbelievably smooth in that film. Those dance moves are UNbelieveable!)

After skulking around various film boards, newspaper articles and feminist boards, I was kind of a bit worried as to the kind of character this Grey man was.  After all, if any of my friends or family started going out with or dating a guy who treated them like that, I'd be staging an intervention, complete with identity papers and a house move to another country.

I'm perplexed - how are normal, seemingly functioning and sensible, modern, women even subscribing to this notion of a man so poisonous and degrading to the very core of femininity?

Talk about one step forward ten steps back.

I get the BDSM thing.  I get the allure of bondage and handcuffs and I can even imagine how sexual contracts like the one Grey gives Ana can be a bit of a turn on to the usual lady lounging at home with her day to day life. It's thrilling. It takes away from the normal wishy-washy will-she-won't-she mundane storylines that crop up time and time again in other 'romance' novels.

It pushes a boundary, a social contract even, and it makes it seem legitimate, because ultimately, by the end of the third book, Ana gets her child and her man and her life with them. So, it's like saying, 'oh yeah, well, sure, they have a weird relationship to start off with, but they work it out, yeah?'

I've had several conversations with my fellow women about Fifty Shades, and I have to say, it's not the books, it's not the characters, nor is it the plotline which shocks me the most; it's the reaction of normal, seemingly forward-thinking women to some of the darker undertones of it.  The really, terrible, awful, abusive stuff that, seriously, there can be no excuse for.

It's also the fact that they are willing to normalise this behaviour to such an extent as to jump behind the commercialism, to invest in 'girly nights out' to see the film all together, to fantasise as to which guy is going to play Mr. Grey so perfectly in the film, to shout down the women who point out that sexual fun and antics is entirely right and good, but that a man who takes advantage of a woman in such a way is a bit of a git.

I've heard all the arguments as to how to legitimise Grey's acts - "it's sexual slavery and that's how that works", "Ana saves Christian from himself, so she's the stronger one", "don't be so vanilla", "it's just a bit of fun".

Come on, who are we kidding here? 

At the same time, I'm torn; I remember such over-reactions to similar things like how evil Freddy Kreuger was, how corrupting video games were to young children, the reaction to awful porn like Deep Throat - all of which make us laugh now and say, 'really? That's nothing!'

But isn't that where the real problems lie?

The problem with things like Fifty Shades of Grey is that it does normalise and legitimise.  It raises a bar that the next person has to hit in order to shock, and trust me, this will come too. There will be a time where we look at Fifty Shades and laugh at how ridiculously sweet it was.

And what about the real people in real abusive relationships?  What do they do with this information? Does a woman caught in an abusive relationship now have a chance to romanticise what is happening to her instead of breaking free, in the hope that she too will find her Mr. Grey?  After all the work that has been done by various groups all over the world to say that such behaviour is not right, is dangerous, is wrong, doesn't Fifty Shades somewhat court responsibility for hat happens here too?

Apparently not as long as the people behind it are making their fifty shades of moolah.

Of course, the commercialization which goes along with such a box office hit is phenomenal.  There's Fifty Shades promos on everything.  Hitting the Valentines day market, you can even but Fifty Shades sex toys. Albeit, very poorly made sex toys. Seriously, don't waste your money. That stuff will snap in two if you even attempt to use it harder than a wee bit.

Christian Grey is like a metaphor for commercialism alone - even if you move to Antarctica, it'll find you, right?  Maybe that's the joke here? 

I'm no prude, I have a wicked imagination and I could tell most folk a thing or two about, you know, 'stuff'.

But there's a reason why it's hitting a lot of people's moral compasses and raising red flags.  Reasons I sincerely believe I don't really need to outline here.

Everyone is entitled to explore their sexuality in whichever way they see fit - that's fun and healthy and good.

I think the definition of healthy is what's at stake here.

That time I worked in a sex shop while pregnant

Student days were the best!

Student jobs are the pits aren't they?

I've done a lot of jobs in my time (I was a student for six years and have been working since I was 13 years old!), all of them menial, most of them degrading in some way and some of them just unbelievable.

In my last year of University, I decided to apply for a job at a shop my friend managed.  She was looking for part-time staff to help her over the Christmas period.  I dutifully signed up.  Eight hours a week.  Just a wee bit of extra money in my pocket over Christmas.

In a high street sex shop.

Here are 5 myth-busting facts about people who work in your local high-street sex shop

1. They don't care about your sex life.
2. They don't want to help you tie up a see-through nipple covering bra (I.e NOT nipple-covering) in the changing room.  That is not 'customer service', that is 'way beyond the call of duty' and if they do assist you with such a thing, they should be commended.  Greatly.  In all walks of life.  Forever.
3. They have normal, often very creative, intelligent lives outside of work.  They are probably into high-brow art, great literature and are probably all very well-read, very intelligent and can see through all kinds of bull-shit.
4. They don't care about what you are buying, as long as you are buying and they can meet the targets that are pushed onto them by management.  They are good at making you do this.
5. They don't think dildos are a big deal.  They don't think crotchless underwear is a big deal.  They don't think that lube in any flavour is a big deal.  Unless it is in a disgusting flavour, in which case, yes, they are probably judging you.  Nothing in the high street sex-shop is a big deal because it's in a high-street sex-shop, which pretty much means that unless you are a complete prude and/or blind to the effect of media, you are more likely to be shocked at the contents of Rhianna's latest music-video than what is on the shelf in your local high-street sex-shop.  They are not allowed to be on the high-street unless they are confirming to strict laws and rules about certain kinds of merchandise.  So don't get your (pardon the pun) knickers in a twist.  It bores the staff, who just can't look pseudo-shocked everytime someone gasps dramatically at PVC vests. Once you have helped an 80 year old lady pick out sex-aids, nothing is shocking.

Like most of my life seems to be, this job was poorly timed, as about six weeks into my new job, I fell pregnant for the first time (I'm realising the hilarious coincidence here - I swear it has nothing to do with staff discount).

Suddenly I was faced with a dilemma: become a poor, destitute pregnant lady who had to look for a job straight after having said baby, or stay at work in said sex-shop and get, at least, maternity benefits.

I stuck with the the sex-shop - it was a job in retail and I really had no other option.  Plus, you know, I'd worked in worse places.  Cutting up returned dildos before they have to go in the bin is only bested by scrubbing the rim of a toilet, or picking used condoms out from soiled bed-sheets (the time I was a housekeeper in a hotel - that's a whole other blog post).

My hours were upped, and, believe it or not, I was allotted a space on the training programme, which included trips away to different stores to learn more about the 'science' of vibrators, which was actually quite interesting; I learned more about the female body here than I did from my antenatal classes, that's for sure!

As my bump grew, my manager friend left the store for pastures new, and our new manager assigned me the task of teaching my colleagues all of the lovely facts I had learned on training about our new dildo range, and assigned me the post of 'vibrator expert'.  Thus, whenever I was in store, I had to stand in the vibrator section, and convince customers of the different attributes of each vibrator, helping them to choose the right one.

Here are five types of customer you can expect in your local high-street sex shop:

1. Men shopping for a 'gift' for their partner.  It never failed to amaze me how many men thought that the hugest, most expensive, most terrifying dildo in the whole shop - coupled of course with horrific all-in-one body stocking and a TUB of lube, gift-wrapped of course (no expense spared) was the perfect gift for birthdays, Christmas, or even anniversaries.  They didn't wait to hear the science or the benefits of the dildo in question, they were just working under the line of 'bigger is better' and went with it.  And invariably, the next week would produce an embarrased and angry wife or girlfriend, who marched in, gift box and tissue paper intact, demanding a refund or an exchange for some of the flowery, feminine underwear sold at the front of the store.
2. Men shopping with the right idea, but with no knowledge.  I'm speaking here about the stand up guys who genuinely want to buy something with a bit of thought for their loved one, like a silky thong or beautifully laced corset, but who have no idea of size or shape of the lady in question.  'She's about your size' is not a great line - I was never keen to divulge my (somewhat impressive for my size) bra size to strange men, regardless of circumstance, but when the guy is really struggling and just wants the best thing for his partner (that's not a dildo or nipple tassles, I felt obliged to help him out.  And again, a week later, the woman would be back exchanging for a much bigger or much smaller size.  Poor guys.
3. The creepy Sunday morning customer.  We opened our doors at 9.30 a.m on a Sunday.  No other store would be open in the city centre, except chain coffee shops, and no customers ever really entered the shop until about 11.30a.m - except the creepy Sunday morning guy.  We only ever saw him a few times, but each time, he waited until the shop doors opened, marched straight up to the sale dildos and purchased about ten of the most horrific-looking and faddy things ever.  Like, the dildo that you can plug your I-pod into and vibrates to the beat ('you are aware this isn't an I-pod sir?'), or the big fleshy finger dildo, or worse, the double-headed rabbit-eared ones that were glitter-pink and about 15 years old in 1980's style dog-eared boxes. Never a word spoken.  Just casually buying tons of horrible old discount dildos on a Sunday morning, y'know?
4. Women with young children.  Who are not actually allowed to take their children to the dildo bit of the shop - strictly over 18's to comply with regulations.  It isn't always possible to stop women who are desperate for a dildo from pushing the buggy all the way in, and to be honest, the children were always below eye-level of the aforementioned goods, thus I was never too worried - if the kid was walking, that was a different matter.  One incident that stopped it all sticks in my mind. A Woman wheels a toddler in a pram to the back of shop.  Toddler s clutching a Wall-E robot doll, straight from the Disney store, still in it's box.  Woman picks up shiny, mechanical, rather large rabbit dildo, also in shiny box.  Toddler looks at it in awe and says 'Mummy's robot!'  That was my breaking point in that whole matter - no more kids in the vibrator area.
5. The Expert.  These come in many forms - from the cute doddery old lady with a wry grin on her lips,'looking for something discreet', to the unassuming gent in a business suit who knows which particular brand of cleansing wipe he needs for his newly purchased anal beads.  these folk know what they want, and will not be swayed by sales patter or special offers.  They know what works, and can they can often be engaged in serious discussion about the merits of particular sex-aids.

I'm leaving out a particular kind of customer here - mainly because they are in a league of their own - The Joker.  Everyone is a joker when they spy a heavily pregnant girl trying to tout dildos.

I have to say, it doesn't matter how much science you know, how much knowledge you have, nobody is taking you seriously when you are six months pregnant and trying to sell faux-penii to the masses.

Needless to say after I left (as early as I possibly could) on maternity leave, I never went back.  It wasn't so much the selling of sex items as the soul-less dirge of retail, targets and pushing store-cards onto customers that turned me off.

I have to say that it was worth it though - if only for some of the awesome stories I can now tell to people who never believe that I once worked in a sex-shop.

With 30% discount.

Which is great for buying the family Xmas gifts with, let me tell you.