The female sexual liberation presented in Fifty Shades of Grey is a falsehood
Anastasia and Christian Grey are two very familiar names. Fifty Shades of Grey, the best-seller that has now sold 20 million copies worldwide, "combines the usual traditional discourse about romantic love with a full and free experience of female sexuality, but it makes it a commodity," said researchers Meritxell Esquirol, from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), and Cristina Pujol, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). In their analysis of the female sexual imaginary portrayed in Fifty Shades of Grey, they found that "femininity continues to be used for its commercial value; although the book seems to democratize the representation of women, in fact, it portrays a feminine ideal consuming sex in the same way she would purchase a glamorous or sophisticated object".
By Núria Bigas
Although "the story focuses on the sexual pleasure of the female protagonist, there are gender differences and social distinctions. Grey models Anastasia in terms of a dominant perspective, hyper-sexualizing her through desire, sophisticating and glamorizing her." In the words of Pujol and Esquirol, "promoting this female sexuality maintains the white, male and heterosexual perspective".
"In the book, female sexuality is designed as a sophisticated product", from a chauvinist perspective. It is portrayed "as a lifestyle or a product that is consumed like a lifestyle," they said. This model of femininity has gone from submission to hyper-sexualization and it is here, in the opinion of the researchers, that "a narcissistic femininity [is constructed] where being self-demanding and disciplined becomes vital: be sexy, like being sexy and always be prepared to be sexy".
The book has been able to articulate this perfectly in today's cultural market. "It plays with a subterfuge of female sexuality in terms of its commercial exploitation and creates a blend, an experience that sways between the romantic model (based on female sentimental education) and the feminist discourse (of sexual liberation)," which has been well received by the market, explained Esquirol and Pujol.
Along these lines, both researchers consider "the new female sexual imaginary that is omnipresent in the media and social networks leads to hyper-sexualization and the promotion of a 'striptease culture'". They add that women are increasingly identified as sexual consumers and support the thesis that there is "a continued androcentric perspective in the contents and representations in the media". These representations in media and advertising "emphasise women, empowered women looking for pleasure and exhibiting their desire, without inhibitions and almost aggressively, in a context that comes from pornography and glamour". In short, they stress that "it is the leisure and entertainment industry itself that promotes this representation of femininity, because it is a market that they want to exploit for merchandising, in the same way that they promote the gay, but not the lesbian, market".
Meritxell Esquirol is a lecturer in sociology of communication in the Information and Communication Sciences Department at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and a cultural analyst.
Cristina Pujol is a lecturer at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).
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