Ok, I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t yet finished reading the book Fifty Shades of Grey after I purchased it 3 years ago! I got halfway through the darn thing and got sidetracked with other things in my life. Sexy, hot, dark, twisted, contagious, and yet I guess the desire to finish the book didn’t supersede other desires and priorities in my life. I know, I’m pathetic to all those who finished the book a long time ago, and to the devoted fans of Christian and Anastasia. So, maybe now that I know the movie is premiering this weekend, I’ll just have to finish reading what I started before seeing the movie this weekend!
Now, my next thought… At what age is it considered appropriate to read and watch Fifty Shades of Grey? I understand every family makes their own personal decisions for their kids. If they choose to buy cell phones for their kids who are 5 years old, or allow them to go to the mall on their own at 10 years old, it’s not my business. But seriously, I can’t imagine any parent allowing their kids under 18 yrs. old reading this book OR seeing the movie without the content scarring them for life! Geez, of course, 18 is considered adult age. However, for anyone under 18 and knowing the pornographic content of this book of domination and submission, I’m thinking this sort of erotica may cause serious emotional damage to any child. Besides the fact that kids’ brains aren’t capable of understanding the behavior of such material, we might also wonder about the confusion to a child as to what is considered a healthy love relationship.
Like two people who fall in love and live happily ever after? Not exactly in this case. Reading or watching “Fifty Shades of Grey” for a child under 18 is instilling fifty years of confusion and turmoil all wrapped up with violence and abuse. My 13 year old daughter, the hopeless romantic, loves reading romance novels, and asked me just the other day, “so mom, since I haven’t read the book, can I at least see the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movie? My response, “perhaps in another 15 years or so when it’s on Netflix!”
So, maybe I’ll bump into many of my friends at the theater this weekend, but I’m seriously praying I don’t see any of their teenage daughters or sons there!