50 shades of grey
The trilogy Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James, has now sold well over 20 million copies in the United States and Canada . The total number has reached more than 31 million in the rest of the world. It’s the Harry Potter sales phenomenon all over again. We have no interest in promoting this type of degrading literature, but bestsellers do indicate, if nothing else, what our culture values. Bestsellers can be viewed as a window into understanding our post-modern culture and ourselves. James’ erotic tale with the huge number of sales makes the unstated message clear: our society has become obsessed with exploitive, self-gratifying sex and the degradation of the human person as a commodity. This book celebrates greed, profits, pride and the objectification of people. In short, sex sells and perverted sex sells even more. If this were not true, nobody would want to want to write, read and buy what is in fact pornography. Playboy and its sister have already proven the marketing succ...