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Between 40 and 60 shades of Grey
Between 40 and 60 shades of Grey It's recently been pointed out to me that despite my belief that I'm conventional sexually that I do have a kink that makes me unusual compared to other men. I like to read - there I've said it - the taboo is finally out in the open. I'll happily read blogs that have no pics and no explicit sexual narrative. Sometimes if I'm really in the mood I'll spend hours reading without a break, I'm pretty insatiable like that! Reading erotic fiction is still very much a niche activity for men but has seen a spectacular resurgence amongst women in the last few years. The mainstream evidence for this is in the 5 million+ UK sales of the Shades of Grey trilogy of course but this success did not come out of the blue. About a year before SoG broke big the New York Times ran a story about the revival of erotic fiction which was being driven by the uptake of the e-reader. I'd read some contemporary erotic fiction on the sly when I was a - the paperbacks had covers with soft porn images - women with corsets, frilly knickers and<b> fishnets </font></b>on. If you were reading a mucky book in public it would be pretty obvious, and you'd need a very high embarrassment threshold to carry it off, at the same time more more slushy sentimental erotic fiction was deeply unfashionable. E-readers make it possible to read anything without the rest of a crowded bus or tube train knowing what's on your screen, making the deeply unfashionable or uncool accessible and acceptable again. The desire to read a book with several depictions of sizzling hot sex never went away, despite the accessibility of internet porn. It was noticeable to me how ubiquitous Shades of Grey became - pretty much every girl in my office read it, including some very prim and proper ones - they'd never be seen dead with the saucy cover books I'd read before but one about a kinky billionaire was just fine. When women read Shades of Grey men at first were rubbed up the wrong way when the staid nature of their sex life was pointed out to them. Then it became a bonus - women became pre-occupied by the trilogy of the course of a few months freeing guys up to go down the pub or play Medal of Honour for hours without being bothered. In many cases it really turned up the heat on couple's sex lives, despite the man not lifting a finger, there is apparently a generation of 50 Shades babies dating from early-2013 onwards. I've always found the use of 50 Shades imagery on dating websites to be funny - yes 5 million books were sold - it's a cultural phenomenon, but the number of straight men who've actually read it is minute. Women who are really up front about their love of 50 Shades actually betray a lack of dialogue with men - if you love the book, great, but it's not part of our world and it never will be. It has the same resonance as a man mentioning their favourite beer, football team or porn star. It's a massive 'So what?' moment. Mention Wuthering Heights on the other hand, and I'll be putty in your hands . . . * Users of e-readers no longer have to face tough questions about cover pics like this one *Subject to the criteria set out in my profile |
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