Journal article
Fifty Shades: ambivalence about birth control in an erotic bestseller and its cultural implications
Culture, Health & Sexuality, Vol.19(4), pp.515-527
04/03/2017
DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2016.1239275
PMID: 27760506
Abstract
The Fifty Shades trilogy by E.L. James has taken the world by storm and become a cultural phenomenon. The lack of contraceptive use in the erotic fiction, first pointed out by bloggers, is analysed in this article and compared to medical information. James may be praised for sexualising condom use. However, her protagonist makes poor choices in terms of hormonal contraception and is negligent about its use, resulting in an unintended pregnancy and resolved in marital bliss and motherhood. What is of more interest here than a possible message about contraceptive use, is the outcome that the fiction's negligence in birth control and responsibility affirms an ideology in which female sexuality and sexual experimentation can only be tolerated within the context of procreation and affirmation of motherhood. Subsequently, the cultural significance of the trilogy's popularity and its tension between sexual exploration, birth control and fertility is explored. In a globally popular fantasy published more than five decades after the introduction of the pill, the protagonist's lack of attention to reliable birth control leads to a telling dichotomy that combines adventurous exploration of female sexuality and affirmation of the nuclear family.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Fifty Shades: ambivalence about birth control in an erotic bestseller and its cultural implications
- Creators
- Waltraud Maierhofer - Division of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of IowaEmanuella Israel - Division of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Culture, Health & Sexuality, Vol.19(4), pp.515-527
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- DOI
- 10.1080/13691058.2016.1239275
- PMID
- 27760506
- ISSN
- 1369-1058
- eISSN
- 1464-5351
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/03/2017
- Academic Unit
- International Programs; German; Interdisciplinary Programs
- Record Identifier
- 9983983658002771
Metrics
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