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50 Shades of Grey chapter 16 recap, or “Shit just got real.”

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I read an article this weekend on CafeMom that absolutely infuriated me, but I’m not going to share it here because my blood pressure will spike. Also, I’m saving it for my wrap-up post, because it fully encapsulates everything that is wrong with a culture in which a book like this can thrive. But in short, it was written by a dude saying, “Buy your wife this book, because you’ll have crazy good sex!” And then there were a bunch of ignorant comments about how great the book is and how it doesn’t matter if it promotes abuse because OMG IT’S FICTION U GUIZE DOEN’T LIEK DOEN’T READ!

It was the comments that got me, more than anything else, because I realized where I’ve read comments like these before. AT FANFICTION.NET. This is an utterly bizarre new phenomenon to me. This book is getting fanfic reviews. You might say, “Well, since it was once fanfic, that makes sense,” but it doesn’t, not really. I have a pretty big hunch that a lot of the women buying these books don’t have experience in the fanfic community, but they’re hitting every spot on the fanfic review bingo card, including the ever popular “DON’T LIKE DON’T READ”. Jesus Christ, I’m almost expecting E.L. James to pop up in an interview saying, “I had to write this for school so I don’t care if you like it or not!”
This might require further investigation.
Oh, and before we get started on chapter sixteen, look at what intrepid reader Alyssa made me:

So, you know. Don’t dive into your ass. Asses are not for diving into.
When we left our intrepid band of merry fellows, they had just finished having sex. Like they do. Ana thinks about how good he smells and how awesome it is to be with him, and she tries to touch him but he’s not having any of that nonsense, thanks.

“Don’t,” he murmurs, then kisses me lightly.
“Why don’t you like to be touched?” I whisper, staring up into soft gray eyes.
“Because I’m fifty shades of fucked-up, Anastasia.”

I love it when a character will say the title of a movie during the movie. Absolutely love it. Here, it throws me. We all know that this series was originally called “Master Of The Universe”. So, in this line, did Edward Cullen say he doesn’t like to be touched because he’s He-Man? Did this line change the title, or did the title change the line?

Pictured: the inside of my brain right now.

He can’t tell Ana why he doesn’t want to be touched, other than that he’s fucked up. Oh, and they have this conversation while his dick is still in her.

“I had a very tough introduction to life. I don’t want to burden you with the details. Just don’t.” He strokes his nose against mine, and then he pulls out of me and sits up.

Now, I’m not an expert in etiquette or anything, but don’t you usually have the conversation about being emotionally fucked up when you’ve already put your penis away? This conversation is taking place literally moments after orgasm. So, it’s basically been, Ah! Ah! Yes! Oh yes! Spurt, collapse, I had a fucked up childhood. WHO DOES THAT?

Ana is totally frustrated by his reluctance to share anything personal with her, but she makes “an enormous effort to smile at him,” and tells him that she knows she was never really in charge during the sex. In an exchange that doesn’t seem to follow her statement in any way, he reveals that he’s been keeping count (and creepy possession) of her orgasms.

“Miss Steele, you are not just a pretty face. You’ve had six orgasms so far and all of them belong to me,” he boasts, playful again.I flush and blink at the same time, as he stares down at me. He’s keeping count! His brow furrows.“Do you have something to tell me?” his voice is suddenly stern.I frown. Crap.
“I had a dream this morning.”“Oh?” He glares at me.Double crap. Am I in trouble?

Why would you be in trouble, Ana? Isn’t the man you’re sleeping with the totally normal kind of sex-contract guy who understands that there are things in this world that are out of your control, like the quality of wine at your graduation and whether or not another person calls your phone? Oh, shit, no, that’s right. You’re with Christian Grey. Luckily for her, she was dreaming about him whipping her with a riding crop, because he lets the sleepgasm slide. I guess it still counts as “his” orgasm if she was dreaming about him. He gets up and starts to dress, and Ana is totally bummed because she wants him to stay. He’s more interested in her lady health, though, demanding to know when she’s going to get her period. He hates wearing condoms (and actually throws this one on the floor. Pff, who the fuck are you, Chedward? My lazy husband?) and tells Ana, “‘You need to sort out some contraception.'” Of course she does. She’s the woman. If you have the vagina, that responsibility falls directly on you. Ana doesn’t have a gynecologist (because she’s a fucking idiot. I’m sorry, if you’re reading this and you’re twenty-one and you haven’t been to the gynecologist, please go. There seems to be this weird misconception that you only have to go if you’re sexually active and/or need the pill, and I’m so glad to see this pop culture juggernaut reinforcing that dangerous opinion), so Christian offers to have his doctor come over and see her at his place. In terms of romance, nothing says “I love you” like meeting with your boyfriend’s gynecologist.

Ana asks Christian why he’s leaving, because she’s hoping he’ll stay. She offers to drive him home, but he points out how much she had to drink.

“Did you get me tipsy on purpose?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you over-think everything, and you’re reticent like your stepdad. A drop of wine in you and you start talking, and I need you to communicate honestly with me. Otherwise you clam up, and I have no idea what you’re thinking. In vino veritas, Anastasia.”

And the award for fucking amazing rationalization for getting someone drunk so they’ll do whatever you say goes to…

Ana asks him to stay and have sex with her again, since, you know, they have that extra condom he can spunk in and throw on her floor. He says he’s crossed too many lines, and he has to go. So, I’m guess this is not the one night a week he kinda maybe sort of is her pseudo boyfriend? He also says he’ll have the revised contract ready for her to sign on Sunday, so they “‘can really start to play.'”

“Play?” Holy shit. My heart leaps into my mouth.
“I’d like to do a scene with you. But I won’t until you’ve signed, so I know you’re ready.”

Do a scene? Don’t sign that contract Ana! He gets off on torturing you by making him gear up for auditions!

Oh god.

Wait a minute.

That reminds me of something.

Christian Grey won’t take his shirt off, ever.

Christian Grey… is a NEVER NUDE.

This is, no shit, the exact pose I am in right now.

Ana seizes on that whole, “we won’t do BDSM until you sign the contract” thing, and suggests that she could eek out a normal relationship with him while he waits for her to sign. Christian advises her that waiting might be a bad idea.

“Could get really ugly.”
His grin is infectious.
“Ugly, how?”
“Oh you know, explosions, car chases, kidnapping, incarceration.”
“You’d kidnap me?”
“Oh yes,” he grins.
“Hold me against my will?”
Jeez this is hot.

NO IT IS NOT. Here’s why it’s not hot. Even though the author is striving for a playful tone, it doesn’t work when the hero has already exhibited threatening behavior in a way that has truly frightened the heroine. This is not some cute little exchange, because Chedward has already stalked and intimidated Ana. He has threatened to rape her, he’s locked her into a room with him. He took her from a bar when she was passed out, and brought her to another city that is hours away from her home. He has proven several times that he has the money and the power to exert his will over her, making this conversation so completely not funny, and totally not hot. He’s telling her that she no long has the option of consent in this relationship, she’s either going to sign the contract and do things his way, or he’s going to force her. The only way it would be funny or hot is if we did not already know he would be perfectly capable of doing exactly these things.


Of course, this all gets thrown to the wayside when Ana rolls her eyes at him.

“I told you what I’d do. I’m a man of my word. I’m going to spank you, and then I’m going to fuck you very quick and very hard. Looks like we’ll need that condom after all.” His voice is so soft, menacing, and it’s damned hot. My insides practically contort with potent, needy, liquid, desire. He gazes at me, waiting, eyes blazing. Tentatively, I uncurl my legs. Should I run? This is it, our relationship hangs in the balance, right here, right now. Do I let him do this or do I say no, and that’s it? Because I know it will be over if I say no. Do it! My inner goddess pleads with me, my subconscious is as paralyzed as I am. “I’m waiting,” he says. “I’m not a patient man.” Oh for the love of all that’s holy. I’m panting, afraid, turned on. Blood pounding through my body, my legs are like jelly. Slowly, I crawl over to him until I am beside him.

 Is it just me, or does this paragraph seem to imply that Ana is doing this BDSM stuff to keep Christian? I know, I know, it’s probably just me, because I’m uptight about sex or not getting enough sex or something. I hear that’s why I don’t enjoy the Anita Blake books anymore, so it’s obviously why I’m not enjoying reading about a woman making sexual compromises she’s uncomfortable with in order to keep a man’s interest.

The scene plays out pretty much how you’re thinking it does. He spanks her, it hurts like a motherfucker, she wants to ask him to stop, but she doesn’t because she doesn’t “want to give him the satisfaction.” Then he jams two fingers up her and says it’s obvious that her body loves being spanked, because she’s wet. Okay, but you did just have sex like, two minutes ago. Then he fucks her face down on the bed, and she thinks how awesome it is that she “survived” her first BDSM encounter.

“Well done, baby,” he whispers, quiet joy in his voice. His words curl around me like a soft fluffy towel from the Heathman Hotel, and I’m so pleased that he’s happy.

Are you happy, Ana? Oh, shit, that’s right, that doesn’t matter. Because this book is all about the fantasy of pleasing a man, not being pleased, yourself. Ana has a difficult time reconciling the way she feels post-spank-sex and the way she feels about the whole BDSM thing. She also slut-shames herself a little while Christian rubs baby oil into her butt. Then, he has to leave, because his man-servant has been waiting in the car this whole time, like that scene in Scent of a Woman where Charlie waits for the Colonel to fuck a prostitute.

Chedward also used to be on Lyndon Johnson’s staff.

After Christian leaves, Ana spends some time thinking:

I close the door and stand helpless in the living room of an apartment that I shall only spend another two nights in. A place I have lived happily for almost four years… yet today, for the first time ever, I feel lonely and uncomfortable here, unhappy with my own company. Have I strayed so far from who I am? I know that lurking, not very far under my rather numb exterior, is a well of tears. What am I doing? The irony is I can’t even sit down and enjoy a good cry. I’ll have to stand.

In other words, Ana is still not into this BDSM thing and doesn’t want to do it. Let’s refer really quick to that abuse literature Kel sent me, okay? Remember these universal red flags?

  • You feel uncomfortable about something he has said or done, and the feeling remains
  • You feel bad about yourself when you are around him.
  • You find yourself accepting him “for now” even though you have plenty of red flags that would help you to terminate the relationship if you paid attention to them.
I’m just saying.
Ana calls her mom, because she’s that shaken up and she needs to talk to someone. It’s an interesting conversation, so I’m going to excerpt it in little chunks for easier digestion:

“Ana? What’s wrong?” She’s all seriousness now.“Nothing, Mom, I just wanted to hear your voice.”She’s silent for a moment.“Ana, what is it? Please tell me.” Her voice is soft and comforting, and I know that she cares. Uninvited, my tears being to flow. I have cried so often in the last few days.“Please, Ana,” she says, and her anguish reflects mine.“Oh, Mom, it’s a man.”“What’s he done to you?” Her alarm is palpable.

Ana’s mom knows immediately that something is really wrong. It’s not mother’s intuition. It’s not some magical connection or someone worrying too much. Ana is so emotionally disturbed that her mother can hear it over the phone.

“It’s not like that.” Although it is… Oh crap. I don’t want to worry her. I just want someone else to be strong for me at the moment.

  •  You make excuses for his character and minimize his behavior.

“Ana, please, you’re worrying me.”I take a big breath.“I’ve kind of fallen for this guy, and he’s so different from me, and I don’t know if we should be together.”

  •  Your past and his are very different, and the two of you have conflicts over it.
  • You tell your friends you are “unsure about the relationship.”

“Oh, darling, I wish I could be with you. I am so sorry I missed your graduation. You’ve fallen for someone, finally. Oh, honey, men, they are so tricky. They’re a different species, honey. How long have you known him?”
Christian is definitely a different species…
different planet.

  •  You think no one else in his life understands him.

“Oh, nearly three weeks or so.”“Ana, darling, that’s no time at all. How can you possibly know someone in that kind of time frame? Just take it easy with him and keep him at arm’s length until you decide whether he’s worthy of you.”Wow… it’s unnerving when my mother is so insightful, but she’s just too late on this.Is he worthy of me? That’s an interesting concept I always wonder whether I am worthy of him.

  • You sense he is pushing too quickly for an emotional connection with you.

“Honey, you sound so unhappy. Come home – visit with us. I miss you, darling. Bob would love to see you too. You can get some distance and maybe some perspective. You need a break. You’ve been working so hard.”Oh boy, is this tempting. Run away to Georgia. Grab some sunshine, some cocktails.

  •  You wish he would go away, you want to cry, and you want to run away from him.
Ana can’t go, because she has job interviews, but she promises she’ll think about visiting. Then, Kate comes home, sees that Ana has been crying, and tells her to dump Christian.

The world of Katherine Kavanagh is very clear, very black and white. Not the intangible, mysterious, vague hues of gray that color my world. Welcome to my world.

 Of course, Ana. No one understands the special and unique, mysterious relationship you have with your abuser. You’re the first victim of an abusive relationship who thinks this way. I’ve been very careful to separate my comments re: abuse from consensual BDSM activities. I have to tread very gently here, because what I’m about to say is a minefield. Ana lies to Kate about falling down and hurting herself, so that Kate won’t know that Christian spanked her. Ana consented to be spanked, but her consent was forced by emotional manipulation, so it really wasn’t consent, at all. Now, she’s lying to her friend about what happened. Guess what we’re reading here? We’re reading a story about abuse, complete with the “I walked into a door” trope.

Kate suggests they drink some wine (because the state wide boil order has left the population with nothing but alcohol to drink, apparently) and Ana realizes that there were “warning signs” about Christian all along, she just wanted so badly to be with him that she ignored them. Rather than talk to Kate about it, she changes the subject to Kate’s day. As it turns out, Christian’s brother might be moving in with Kate and Ana at their new place in Seattle. Immediately, Ana thinks that Christian won’t like it, but then thinks he will have to suck it up. Good for you, Ana. You are not responsible for making sure the universe pleases Christian Grey.

Ana goes to bed and checks her email, and of course, Christian has emailed her to tell her she’s “The most beautiful, intelligent, witty and brave woman I have ever met.” I try to think back to a single thing Ana has said in Christian’s presence that could be interpreted as witty or intelligent, because usually she’s snide and childish. He tells Ana not to drive her car again, and warns that he will know if she does. Probably he’s put some kind of tracker on the damn thing, because that’s how much he cares. She tells him caning is a hard limit, and he accepts that and tells her not to drink too much. This, coming from the guy who was all, “Yes, I got you drunk so you’d do what I wanted you to do.” Ugh, this guy. He tells her Taylor will sell her car for her, and when she argues with him, he says he’s tempted to drive over to her house and spank her again. He also warns against making him angry, because he’s the Hulk. She tells him she doesn’t like him because he never stays the night with her, and then she goes to bed.

Then, we get this very telling paragraph:

 And then this evening, he actually hit me. I’ve never been hit in my life. What have I gotten myself into? Very slowly, my tears, halted by Kate’s arrival, begin to slide down the side of my face and into my ears. I have fallen for someone who’s so emotionally shut down, I will only get hurt – deep down I know this – someone who by his own admission is completely fucked up. Why is he so fucked up? It must be awful to be as affected as he is, and the thought that as a toddler he suffered some unbearable cruelty makes me cry harder. Perhaps if he was more normal he wouldn’t want you, my subconscious contributes snidely to my musings… and in my heart of hearts I know this is true. I turn into my pillow and the sluice gates open… and for the first time in years, I am sobbing uncontrollably into my pillow.

  •  You think no one else in his life has ever really loved him/helped him.
  • You notice he quickly discloses information about his past or present or his emotional pain.
Perhaps the most alarming part? She doesn’t think, “I just got spanked as part of a BDSM game.” She thinks, “He hit me.” That’s where I feel confident in saying that this is not a consensual BDSM relationship, but abuse. That. Right. There. Because Ana clearly feels that it is abuse.
Suddenly, Ana hears Kate shouting stuff like, “‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?'” and “‘Since she’s met you she cries all the time.'” Christian has shown up, Ana can’t stop crying, and Kate asks if she should throw him out. 

“Why are you here?” I ask, ignoring his question. My tears have miraculously ceased, but I’m left with dry heaves racking my body.

Wait, was she puking or crying? Christian explains that he came back because he should “look after your needs” and since she wanted him to stay, he will. Okay, except she wanted you to stay before, and you left. He makes her take some Advil, which is a GREAT idea, since she’s just drunk like two bottles of booze, right?

I stare down at my hands. What can I say that I haven’t said already. I want more. I want him to stay because he wants to stay with me, not because I’m a blubbering mess, and I don’t want him to beat me, is that so unreasonable?

Just wanted to highlight that she’s considering it beating now.

 Christian tells her that if he’s supposed to know what’s going on her head, she has to tell him honestly. So, she does, and she’s all, “I don’t want you to hit me,” to which he responds that she wasn’t supposed to like it. When she asks him why he likes it, his response is to intimidate her, although he tells her he won’t hit her again… tonight.

“I like the control it brings me, Anastasia. I want you to behave in a particular way, and if you don’t, I shall punish you, and you will learn to behave the way I desire. I enjoy punishing you. I’ve watned to spank you since you asked me if I was gay.” I flush at the memory. Jeez, I wanted to spank myself after that question. So Katherine Kavanagh is responsible for all this, and if she’d gone to that interview and asked her gay question, she’d be sitting here with the sore ass. I don’t like that though. How confusing is this?

I’m not entirely sure I can convey, in intelligent, rage-free terms, how I feel about this nonsense. So, instead of focusing on the homophobia, the markers of an abusive personality, the continuing Kate-blame and jealousy, I’m going to just let you watch this video of a star going supernova and you can interpret that as my shivering, full-body rage:

“So you don’t like the way I am.”
He stares at me, bewildered again.
“I think you’re lovely the way you are.”
“So why are you trying to change me?”
“I don’t want to change you. I’d like you to be courteous and to follow the set of rules I’ve given you and not defy me. Simple,” he says.

Here is a video you can watch of a nuclear explosion underwater:

Christian explains that the control he exerts over her gives him sexual excitement, and Ana finds that a somewhat satisfactory explanation, for the time being. Christian says he’s never had to explain his predilections to anyone before, because he’s always around like-minded people. To me, that just points to a stunning lack of self-examination in his life. “I like to beat people with canes and I’ve devoted a very expensive room to just that. I’m sure I don’t need to think about the whys or wherefores, right?” Even if the only conclusion he arrived at was, “It turns me on,” he should have at least thought about it before.

Ana confesses that she feels like she’s Icarus, and he tells her she has it wrong, he’s the one completely in her thrall. Oh, that makes it okay to emotionally manipulate her then, I guess. He stays the night with her, even though he doesn’t really want to, and suggests that since she communicates better in email than face to face, she should keep showing him her real emotions in email.

Because you can delete an email, see. You can’t delete a person crying in front of you.

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Here for the first time because you’re in quarantine and someone on Reddit recommended my Fifty Shades of Grey recaps? Welcome! Consider checking out my own take on the Billionaire BDSM genre, The Boss. Find it on AmazonB&NSmashwords, iBooks, and Radish!

17 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    Anonymous

    Hmmm. I'm feeling sad now. At first I hated Ana for being Anastupid, but now I feel for her something similar to what I feel about Gollum. She's a bad person, and deserves a smack over the head and a good scolding, but now she's gotten herself involved into a very bad situation she won't be able to get out of without help. She's now deep inside an abusive relationship, and that makes me feel pity for her misery. She's stupid, but even stupid people don't deserve such hell. And, you know, if the book had been marketed as something different and patched up in some parts, it would have been a touching tragedy.

    Nana

    May 7, 2013
    |Reply
  2. I’m not sure if someone else has mentioned this before, but I thought I’d throw it in here anyway.

    You noted how Chedward used the title of the book to describe himself. There’s a long history behind that. As you also said the fanfic was called Master of the Universe. When SQID posted the chapter where Edward describes himself as 50 shades of f*cked up it sort of caught on and became a term of endearment for Edward in the fanfic. He was known affectionately as 50 Shades.

    So you can imagine how it went down when she decided to call the book 50 Shades? It was just another allusion to the fanfic.

    I’m still seething over the whole plagiarising thing.

    July 17, 2013
    |Reply
  3. “Is it just me, or does this paragraph seem to imply that Ana is doing this BDSM stuff to keep Christian?”
    It isn’t just you. That paragraph does imply that Ana is doing this BDSM stuff to keep Christian.

    “Perhaps the most alarming part? She doesn’t think, “I just got spanked as part of a BDSM game.” She thinks, “He hit me.” That’s where I feel confident in saying that this is not a consensual BDSM relationship, but abuse. That. Right. There. Because Ana clearly feels that it is abuse.”
    Exactly…and I would like to share with you what I said about that on my LJ when I critiqued the series (I did that after I read all three books):
    “One thing in the book that made me grit my teeth is how Anastasia thought of BDSM as a form of abuse in the very beginning. Of course, this thought is a bit recycled in ways where Anastasia asks Christian if he’s “going to hit her again” when she refers to him spanking her or Christian says shit like “He wants to beat the shit out of her”. When they said shit like this, it put a very very bad taste in my mouth because shit like this reinforces some people’s opinion of BDSM that it’s a form of abuse or it’s like rape. Now, don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t put it past me that there are probably a very few people out there that most likely use BDSM when they really are abusing their partners/spouses. It just wouldn’t surprise me. However, there is ONE major important difference between BDSM and abuse/rape: CONSENT.”

    and…

    “The funny thing is that in the book, Christian does say that BDSM is something consenual. However, when they say shit like “I want to beat the shit out of you” or “Are you going to hit me?”, it makes people think of abuse. Hell, it makes me think of abuse whenever I hear “hit” or “beat the shit out of you”. People in BDSM DO NOT say shit like that when pain is administered because they know if they would tell someone about their lifestyle, that person will think abuse rather than BDSM. I mean, I frequent a couple BDSM sites through Kink.com and The Factory. The site directors NEVER say “We hit *model’s name*” or “We beat the shit out of *model’s name*”. They say “We spanked so and so. We caned whatshername. We paddled whoisthat. We used a cattle prod on BOO”. “

    September 13, 2013
    |Reply
  4. Isn’t it Ethan, Kate’s brother.. not Elliot, Christian’s brother who might move in with them? Since Kate’s parents own the Condo it was decided that both of their children might live in it. Maybe I’m wrong. Here I looked in my e-book of Fifty shades
    “I can’t talk this through with Kate without revealing too much, but one question on her
    day and Kate is off. It’s so reassuring to sit and listen to her normal chatter. The hot news
    is that Ethan may be coming to live with us after their holiday. That will be fun – Ethan
    is a hoot.”

    October 7, 2013
    |Reply
    • NDawn
      NDawn

      “…after their holiday.” Yet another of those amazing Americanisms. I admire how well the author picked up on our daily speak.

      Pip pip, cheerio and all that!

      November 17, 2013
      |Reply
      • For me at least I find it sometimes difficult to pick out Americanisms vs Britishisms. But I’ve been living in Europe for almost 3 years and reading a lot of writing that’s set in the UK. Sometimes I find myself forgetting the Americanisms that I grew up speaking and using Britishisms instead.

        November 18, 2013
        |Reply
  5. ColeYote
    ColeYote

    You know, for a book infamous for all of its hyper-kinky sex, it’s been pretty devoid of that through 16 chapters. Unless you’re leaving out details or I’m forgetting them, this is the first there’s been anything beyond two instances of ultralight bondage. And even then, spanking isn’t exactly too many steps above that on the kink ladder. There’s literally stuff a dozen times harder I’ve called cute! Why is the thing it’s infamous for *not* one of the most unintentionally abusive fictional relationships of all time?!

    Actually, wait, I have to wonder now; is it unintentional? I mean, I’ve read plenty of completely unambiguously nonconsensual erotica before. Kidnapping, slavery, etc. And almost all of it had huge BDSM elements. Not like that’s unheard of. Maybe it’s supposed to be an abusive relationship and people are just reacting completely the wrong way.

    I mean, people are reacting completely the wrong way regardless, but…

    >I’m sorry, if you’re reading this and you’re twenty-one and you haven’t been to the gynecologist, please go
    I’m gonna go ahead and make the completely reasonable assumption that I should insert “unless you’re a dude” somewhere in that sentence.

    October 24, 2013
    |Reply
  6. Rhiannon
    Rhiannon

    A friend directed me to this and I have been reading with interest – I am like pretty much all the others commenting, shocked that so many women seem to think this is at all romantic or kinky. And as a Brit, I don’t understand why Ms James didn’t go look for a female American English major to run this by and let her know what seemed like things that an American college student would say and do, and what didn’t. I am sure it is easy enough to put out a request on the Net and get someone to reply and do it for a small fee.
    The gynaecologist thing could also actually be because she is British – it is a lot less common for us British women to have seen a gynaecologist, basically because smears etc are performed by nurses in the UK, and your general practitioner doctor prescribes the pill. You normally would only get referred to a gynaecologist if things were abnormal.

    November 4, 2013
    |Reply
  7. Lola
    Lola

    Love your review, but I wanted to add the author’s lack of basic BDSM is disturbing. If Chedward were a true Dom he would not leave her alone after a spanking, there is more to aftercare than rubbing oil on her butt.

    December 9, 2013
    |Reply
  8. eva
    eva

    i just realized something, christian isn’t a dom-he’s a sexual sadist. A dom respects a safe word so when the sub says stop, they stop. Instead a sexual sadist is aroused by someone’s terror, in this case Ana’s terror. Half the time she’s nervous or scared of him and he really has to be aware of it otherwise he wouldn’t manipulate her into staying and then getting his own way (and arousal) by making her physically scared. This isn’t a book about a dom/sub relationship, it’s about a sadist who get off of controling and abusing an emotionally immature woman.

    December 11, 2013
    |Reply
  9. Has anyone else noticed that the book’s plot is so thin you can skip 5 chapters and not have lost anything?

    February 6, 2015
    |Reply
  10. Microraptor
    Microraptor

    And the burning question of this chapter is: why does Christian have a gynecologist?

    February 15, 2015
    |Reply
  11. RockinRarity
    RockinRarity

    I have to say how horribly uncomfortable I am with this book’s popularity, and how Christian is seen as romantic. I had an Internet friendship with a manipulative and selfish man who constantly
    -tried to establish strong emotional connections very quickly and abruptly, often revealing extremely personal information that I couldn’t bear to reciprocate
    -became angry with me when I would do things that he didn’t like (even when what I was doing had nothing to do with him)
    -saw me as this pure, undefiled angel and found the fact that I occasionally drank completely incongruent with his perception of me
    -made me feel guilty about how broken he was, and teased me into believing that I could change him or help him change
    -asked ridiculously personal questions, like “would it be better to be raped by a lesbian than a man?”
    -threatened suicide when I tried to cut him out of my life the first time
    -blamed his behavior on his past
    -justified his jerkish behavior by rationalizing it (not just toward me, but others), pretty much exactly how Christian justified getting Ana drunk
    -gaslighted me, interpreting situations to fit his own universe and lied to me in order to make himself right and make me look like a crazy, overzealous bitch (and unfortunately, he convinced some people).

    We never even met in person, so he didn’t even have the ability to touch me, hit me, convince me to have sex with him, etc. We lived too far away from each other to casually visit. The abuse was still so real. In fact, it happened just over FIVE YEARS ago and reading about Christian’s behavior makes it feel like it was just yesterday, even though I have been in a very happy and healthy relationship for four and a half years and married for just over one year. The good thing is that, this book, and what you are talking about, confirms everything about that relationship being abusive. I downplayed the experience, people said I overreacted, and that he deserved another chance, that it wasn’t really all that bad… but it was. It was torment. It was Hell. It was emotional abuse. Even though the guy was also a human person with complex emotions and reasons for his decisions, it doesn’t justify his behavior, and there was nothing that I could do in my power to make him a healthy, well-rounded individual who saw the world and his experiences for what they were rather than a self-centered distortion of me-against-the-world combined with putting a pretty girl on a pedistal and thrusting a savior complex onto her against her will.

    February 27, 2015
    |Reply
    • Al
      Al

      I’m so sorry that you went through that. That genuinely sounds horrible.

      September 18, 2022
      |Reply
  12. Mark
    Mark

    I’ve been really enjoying the series so far, even though I’m so late to the party. One thing I wanted to point out…Yes this is a pretty terrifying example of just straight up abuse, but people seem to forget these are characters, not real people. Bare with me here, I’m not excusing the vile content.

    In this chapter specifically, Ana’s mom reacts how you think a rational person would react when her child is in a dangerous relationship. But remember, she was _written_ that way. In other words, the author is telling readers “hey, if your mom seems worried about your new boyfriend it’s totally OK, and this happens in EVERY relationship!”

    I think that has to be even more insidious here…not just how she’s rationalizing all this abuse but the way she writes the people around Ana who are trying to look out for her best interests, and Ana brushes all that away, as if James is trying to play into the tired “everyone is just trying to come between your perfect union” garbage. It makes the whole thing so much more sad to me. I’m truly sorry that you had to go through all this.

    August 1, 2015
    |Reply
  13. Devil's Advocate
    Devil's Advocate

    Okay, I’m the same anon that played Devil’s Advocate a couple entries ago, and after reading through this incredibly depressing chapter, I wanted to emphasize that, despite my kinks, I really do think this book is truly awful.

    I may have fucked up interests, but there’s a big difference between that fear I enjoy and…whatever this is.

    I thought Ana had cemented herself as unsympathetic for me quite a few chapters ago. She just really got on my nerves.

    But this? This chapter is just sad, and I think I actually feel sorry for her.

    April 22, 2017
    |Reply

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