{"id":10827,"date":"2016-09-30T10:25:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T14:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jennytrout.com\/?p=10827"},"modified":"2016-10-06T07:46:11","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T11:46:11","slug":"jenny-reads-fifty-shades-of-midnight-sun-thursday-may-26-2011-part-three-or-i-dont-understand-why-youre-interpreting-the-things-im-doing-as-the-things-im-literally-doing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/?p=10827","title":{"rendered":"Jenny Reads Fifty Shades of Midnight Sun: Thursday, May 26, 2011, part three or “I don’t understand why you’re interpreting the things I’m doing as the things I’m literally doing.”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Professor<\/a><\/p>\n

E.L. James announced via Instagram that she’s hard at work on a sequel to\u00a0<\/a>Grey<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>entitled\u00a0Fifty Shades Darker From Christian’s Point Of View.\u00a0<\/em>One hopes that is a working title and not catchy marketing that’s already been set in stone. If you read the excerpt, it’s clear that James didn’t care for the\u00a0reviews of\u00a0Grey<\/em>\u00a0which almost universally <\/a>denounced the man of her dreams as a psychopath. It looks like she’s\u00a0decided to give his characterization a complete 180 that we never saw evidence of in the original series. It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out, in terms of all of his internal “remorse” and “panic” not doing a goddamn thing to change the abusive behavior he’ll continue to exhibit throughout the series.<\/p>\n

In other\u00a0Fifty Shades Darker<\/em> news, the trailer for the next movie premiered<\/a>, and quickly passed Star Wars: The Force Awakens<\/i> as most watched trailer on the internet. Or something. I don’t quite remember. I do want to point out, however, that the trailer for\u00a0The Force Awakens<\/em>\u00a0was way easier to masturbate to.<\/p>\n

Let’s time travel back to Thursday, May 26th, 2011, or the day that will apparently never fucking end.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Christian has just asked Ana how she feels about receiving pain.<\/p>\n

She remains mute.<\/p>\n

I suppress a sigh. “You’re biting your lip.” Fortunately, she stops, but now she’s pensive and staring down at her hands.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, that should be the answer right there. She doesn’t like pain.<\/p>\n

“Were you physically punished as a child?” I prompt her gently.<\/p>\n

“No.”<\/p>\n

“So you have no sphere of reference at all.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This makes me ill.\u00a0Being spanked as a child isn’t the same thing as being spanked in a sexual context. Even if she\u00a0had<\/em>\u00a0been spanked as a child, she wouldn’t have a sphere of reference for BDSM. He’s just trying to pull his bullshit “I know more than you, so you should listen to me and do stuff you don’t want to try” act on her, and in the process sexualizing childhood experiences that some adults view as past abuse they’ve endured.<\/p>\n

“Do you have to do it?”<\/p>\n

“Yes.”<\/p>\n

“Why?”<\/p>\n

You really don’t want to know.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Goes with the territory, Anastasia. It’s what I do. I can see you’re nervous. Let’s go through methods.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Underlines = italics, as always.<\/p>\n

You know, for a guy who’s so desperate with this all-consuming need to fuck this one exact chick, he’s being awfully picky. She’s willing to do all this other stuff, but she doesn’t want to do the pain stuff? Then maybe you don’t do the pain stuff? Or, if you absolutely have to have that, then you do it with someone else? I feel like this is common sense. If you really like potato chips, and you really, really want potato chips, but all you can get is barbecue flavor and you don’t like barbecue flavor, what do you do? You either eat them anyway, knowing they’ll be barbecue flavor, or you don’t eat them because it turns out you didn’t want potato chips that much.<\/p>\n

That’s what makes Christian Grey the biggest dick in the universe. He spends so much time telling us that he could have literally any woman. Instead of going out and getting one of those who’ll be into getting paddled, he picks the barbecue chips and spends all of his time trying to manipulate the situation so they won’t taste like barbecue.<\/p>\n

“Well, you said no to genital clamps. That’s fine. It’s caning that hurts the most.”<\/p>\n

Ana pales.<\/p>\n

“We can work up to that,” I state quickly.<\/p>\n

“Or not do it at all,” she counters.<\/p>\n

“This is part of the deal, baby, but we’ll work up to all of this. Anastasia, I won’t push you too far.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You’re already pushing her too far. Look, this isn’t something like, I don’t know, oral sex, where if you’ve never had it performed on you, you don’t know what it feels like. People know what pain feels like, more or less. Christian tells Ana that they’ll keep caning “off the list for now,” but that they will do it when she’s more comfortable. But…what if she never gets comfortable? That’s not even an option to Christian. He will\u00a0make<\/em>\u00a0her comfortable.<\/p>\n

“Look, I want to talk about one more thing, then I’m taking you to bed.”<\/p>\n

“Bed?” she exclaims and color flushes her cheeks.<\/p>\n

“Come on, Anastasia, talking through all this, I want to fuck you into next week, right now. It must be having some effect on you, too.”<\/p>\n

She squirms beside me and takes a husky breath, her thighs pressing together.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In Ana’s POV, we know she wants to have sex with Christian because her “inner goddess is panting.” But in Christian’s POV, he’s just telling her that he’s going to have sex with her. There’s no asking here. It’s just, this is going to happen, because I want it. There’s also that charming body-language-equals-consent theme that runs through the entire book.<\/p>\n

“See? Besides, there’s something I want to try.”<\/p>\n

“Something painful?”<\/p>\n

“No\u2013stop seeing pain everywhere. It’s mainly pleasure. Have I hurt you yet?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yet. Have I hurt you\u00a0yet<\/em>. I’m definitely going to hurt you in the future, you know it’s coming, but don’t be anticipate it, even though you know it’s coming. WHAT PART OF ANY OF THAT MAKES ANY SENSE.<\/p>\n

Christian knows at this point that Ana is not going to be a good sub for him, but he’s forging ahead for no apparent reason I can see, beyond, “She’s there and she looks like my mom, whom I want to fuck.” The things he allegedly finds charming about her are things he complains about; he wants her because she’s so delightfully willful, but he hates that she’s willful. He loves the way she bites her lip, but he hates that she bites her lip. He likes that she’s not a gold-digger, but he’s mad that she won’t accept lavish gifts. There’s nothing about Ana that Christian seems to genuinely like. There’s nothing between them at all. Why is he so intent on being with her?<\/p>\n

Oh, right, because this is poorly written, wildly out-of-character fanfic.<\/p>\n

This is what I don’t get: why did this become such a popular fanfic in the first place? This is the most OOC thing ever. Bella\u00a0wanted<\/em> to be a vampire. Edward didn’t want her to be. So how did this somehow translate into Bella being afraid to be into BDSM and Edward desperately pushing her into it? I know my\u00a0Twilight<\/em>, okay? And I cannot recognize Bella or Edward in either of these characters. That doesn’t make it okay for James to have massively infringed on Stephenie Meyer’s intellectual property, but it does make me question how much other\u00a0Twilight<\/em> fans really enjoy\u00a0Twilight<\/em> if they though this was a great fanfic.\u00a0[A commenter on the last recap actually asked a nearly identical question, which I unconsciously copied here.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Well, then. Look, earlier today you were talking about wanting more.” I stop.<\/p>\n

Fuck. I’m on a precipice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, Grey, are you sure about this?<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to try. I don’t want to lose her before we start.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jump.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why don’t you want to lose her? We have seen no reason whatsoever that you are interested in her, aside from the author telling us that you are. None of your “obsession” with her is show outside of your head.<\/p>\n

But for whatever reason, he tells her that outside of Ana’s scheduled sub hours, he can try to do the “more” thing she’s been talking about. In other words, he’s reluctantly willing to try dating her, as long as she agrees to be his sub. Or whatever. And, she has to accept the car he bought her. She’s not happy that he bought the car, or that he mentioned it to her stepdad.<\/p>\n

Come on, Ana. You want more. This is the price.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is the price, Ana. If you want to date me, you have to do every single thing I tell you to, in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

Why is she so difficult? I’ve never had this reaction to a car from any of my submissives. They’re usually delighted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He’s already expressed relief once before that she’s not after his money. But now that she doesn’t want his money, then by damn, she’s going to take his money or else he’s going to emotionally withhold!<\/p>\n

I grab her and press her body to mine, her hair pooling in my fingers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pooling hair. Great, deep pools of human hair. Diving into a pool of hair. Hair getting in your mouth. You try to swim to the surface, but every movement drags you down, down, deeper into the hair.<\/p>\n

“You are one challenging woman, Ana Steele.” I kiss her forcefully, coaxing her lips apart with my tongue, and a moment later she’s responding, matching my ardor, her tongue caressing mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, how do you coax something forcefully? Coaxing is the opposite of forcing. Second, he’s like, all hot and horny because she’s “challenging,” but again, it’s something he doesn’t like about her. All of the qualities we’re supposed to believe he finds attractive are ones that he complains about constantly, to the point of anger.<\/p>\n

My body reacts\u2013I want her. Here. Now. In the open. “It’s taking all my self-control not to fuck you on the hood of this car right now, just to show you that you are mine, and if I want to buy you a fucking car, I’ll buy you a fucking car. Now let’s get you inside and naked,” I growl.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I honestly can’t tell at this point if Christian Grey just thinks he’s so hot and magnetic that a woman would fuck him right on the street in front of God and everybody, or if he’s really that cavalier about raping women. I’m guessing it’s some kind of hellish combination of the two. He’s basically saying that he’ll rape her in public to put her in her place.<\/p>\n

He drags her into the house and takes her to her bedroom, without asking if she’s into it anymore or not.<\/p>\n

“Please don’t be angry with me,” she whispers.<\/p>\n

Her words douse the fire of my anger.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry about the car and the books\u2013” She halts and licks her lips. “You scare me when you’re angry.”<\/p>\n

Shit.<\/span> No one has ever said that to me before. I close my eyes. The last thing I want to do is frighten her.<\/p>\n

Calm down, Grey.<\/span><\/p>\n

She’s here. She’s safe. She’s willing. Don’t blow it, just because she doesn’t understand how to behave.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wait, it’s\u00a0Ana<\/em> who doesn’t know how to behave? Really? It’s\u00a0Ana<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Here’s another place where\u00a0Grey<\/em> monumentally fails to counter the criticism of Christian Grey as an unrepentant misogynist, abuser, and rapist. In Ana’s POV, this scene isn’t much better:<\/p>\n

My blood heats immediately, and I’m returning his kiss with my own passion. I want him badly\u2013in spite of the car, the books, the soft limits…the caning…I want him.<\/p>\n

“It’s taking all my self-control not to fuck you on the hood of this car right now, just to show you that you are mine, and if I want to buy you a fucking car, I’ll buy you a fucking car,” he growls. “Now let’s get you inside and naked.” He plants a swift rough kiss on me.<\/p>\n

Boy, he’s angry. He grabs my hand and leads me back into the apartment and straight into my bedroom…no passing go. My subconscious is behind the sofa again, head hidden under her hands. He switches on the sidelight and halts, staring at me.<\/p>\n

“Please don’t be angry with me,” I whisper.<\/p>\n

His gaze is impassive; his eyes cold shards of smoky glass.<\/p>\n

“I’m sorry about the car and the books…” I trail off. He remains silent and brooding. “You scare me when you’re angry,” I breathe, staring at him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, the only thing we really have to show that Ana is at all into any of this is that at the top of this passage, she’s saying she wants him. But in Christian’s POV, we don’t get that at all. And it just makes him look like a rapist.<\/p>\n

Every once in a while, I’ll be talking to other readers or looking at reviews or something, and someone will complain that asking for consent makes the book less romantic or sexy or something ridiculous like that. It’s not happening as frequently, so I hope it’s dying out, the way the “condoms aren’t sexy” complaints seem to have become more infrequent. But this is the argument I’m going to use the next time I start seeing excuses like, “it’s not ALPHA enough if he asks,” etc. Because without Ana’s internal monologue or an expression of consent, Christian Grey is literally just dragging a woman into her bedroom, where she tells him she’s afraid of him and begs him not to be angry, before ordering her to strip down:<\/p>\n

Opening my eyes, I find Ana watching me, not in fear, but with anticipation.<\/p>\n

“Turn around,” I demand, my voice soft. “I want to get you out of that dress.”<\/p>\n

She obeys immediately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Again, no verbal confirmation. He just decides that he can tell by her expression that, despite the fact she just told him that she’s afraid of him, she’s not afraid. Then he tells her to do something and she “obeys immediately”…which could also be out of fear. We only know that it\u00a0isn’t<\/em> out of fear if we’re reading Ana’s POV.<\/p>\n

“You smell so good, Anastasia. So sweet.”<\/p>\n

Like fall.<\/p>\n

Her fragrance is comforting, reminding me of a time of plenty and happiness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Um…you’re like, a billionaire. Do you really need to long for a time of plenty? Do you not have enough?<\/p>\n

Lift your arms and put them around my head,” I order, my lips brushing her neck.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Put your arms around my head? That’s such a strange way to word that. The mental image is…odd. Maybe it’s just me.<\/p>\n

He feels up her boobs. The words “teasing and tugging,” as well as “pinch and twist” and “twisting and tugging,” are used to describe his nipple technique, as is a phrase we’ll recognize from the original trilogy:<\/p>\n

“Tell me,” I insist, continuing my sensual assault on her nipples.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Isn’t it amazing how in sync with each other these characters are, that they describe the same actions exactly the same way in both their heads? That’s totally on purpose, I’ll bet.<\/p>\n

Sensual assault. that would have been a great title for these books. They could have just left off the “sensual” part, actually.<\/p>\n

So,\u00a0I want to address the “tugging” thing. I’ve become a lot looser re: my standards for word repetition these days. I’ve noticed that it doesn’t seem to be as big a deal anymore, stylistically. A lot of books I’ve been reading lately have had a fair amount of word rep. So I’ve more or less mellowed out about it, both in my reading and my writing. But the verb “tug” is used in various tenses fifty four times in this book. Seven of them are in this scene alone. That? Is excessive, especially from an author who’s as in love with her thesaurus as E.L. James appears to be.<\/p>\n

So, he rips off Ana’s panties and sticks his fingers in her and it’s all very erotic, I assure you. Then:<\/p>\n

“Undress me.” I keep my eyes on hers. She tilts her head, processing my command, but hesitates. “You can do it,” I encourage her. She lifts her hands and all of a sudden I think she’s going to touch me, and I’m not ready.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, but…you told her before that you don’t like to be touched. Then you’re like, no don’t worry, this time it’s okay. Did it not somehow occur to you that she would have to touch you to take your clothes off? Either way, he grabs her hands and tells her not to take off his t-shirt. He wants her to be on top, and there’s a chance she might accidentally touch him if she does.<\/p>\n

So, remember how that whole, “I don’t like to be touched” thing was a big mystery in the original trilogy? Why is it a big mystery in Christian’s head? He knows why he doesn’t like to be touched, but I don’t remember it ever being even hinted at so far in this book. That said, I generally visit a government facility to get my mind erased after every recap I write, so who the fuck knows.<\/p>\n

“I want to be inside you. Take my jeans off. You’re in charge.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Good call, Christian, this is totally going to help her figure out how to be a sub. Command her to be in charge of you. That’s not at all confusing to a beginner. BONUS: when she actually tries to be in charge, you can get angry and make her feel bad. Maybe this is why people suggest that Ana is “topping from the bottom” throughout these novels. She never is, because she has no sexual agency whatsoever, but maybe that misconception is coming from the few times that he tells her to be in charge?<\/p>\n

Anyway, she tries to get his jeans unbuttoned and unzipped and it’s a struggle. Probably because of his mighty, mighty wang.<\/p>\n

Her na\u00efvet\u00e9 is captivating. It’s obvious that she’s never done this before. Another first…and it’s fucking arousing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What made it obvious? The part where she already told you a long time ago that she hasn’t ever fooled around with anyone or felt any sexual urges whatsoever prior to meeting you? I have this feeling that somewhere in his house he has a lovingly kept scrapbook of all these firsts. “Ana’s First Orgasm” written in bounce lettering on a page decorated with stickers of exploding dynamite or something.<\/p>\n

Ana unzips him and gets his cock out.<\/p>\n

Her eyes flick to my face and she reaches up and grasps me firmly, squeezing hard, her thumb brushing over the tip.<\/p>\n

Jesus<\/span>.<\/p>\n

She leans down.<\/p>\n

And I’m in her mouth.<\/p>\n

Fuck<\/span>.<\/p>\n

She sucks hard.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I asked Mr.Jen to read this scene and evaluate Ana’s oral technique. The word he used to describe it was “ill-conceived.” He also went on to state that “I don’t know. Maybe? Some guys like it weird.” But I’m in agreement with him; a lot of Ana’s handling of Christian’s penis sounds really rough and unpleasant. Then again, maybe it’s payback for all the pinching and tugging he was doing on her nipples.<\/p>\n

But she shows no mercy as she fellates me again and again.\u00a0Fuck<\/span>. Her enthusiasm is disarming. Her tongue is up and down, I’m in and out of her mouth to the back of her throat, her lips tight around me. It’s an overwhelming erotic vision. I could come just watching her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, I’m sure the blowjob would help, at least.<\/p>\n

He stops her and tells her to put the condom on him.<\/p>\n

She examines it with consternation, then rips the packet open with her teeth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don’t do that. It’s kind of a romance novel clich\u00e9, you see it everywhere (I may have even written it in the past), but in real life, don’t open condoms with your teeth. You could rip the condom, and then bad things could happen. This is your condom PSA for the day.<\/p>\n

He tells her how to put the condom on him, and while she’s doing it, he’s like:<\/p>\n

“Christ, you’re killing me here,” I exclaim through clenched teeth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

HEY BUDDY. Putting on condoms is difficult for the people who have the penis. Why should it be super easy for someone who doesn’t have a penis and who’s never done it before?<\/p>\n

Anyway, they have sex with Ana on top, and even in Christian’s super dirty, most-sexual-man-alive brain, the intercourse is as vague as ever:<\/p>\n

I hold her, letting her get used to the feel of me. Like this. Inside her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With my thingy. My thingy. In her privates. Like this. The feel of it. The feel of my thingy. Down there.<\/p>\n

She’s almost there, so I tighten my grip on her hands, and she ignites around me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Doesn’t she usually detonate?<\/p>\n

Then I tighten my hold on her hips and silently lose myself as I explode inside her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wait, now\u00a0he’s<\/em> detonating? I can’t follow these whiplash changes to the plot. My whole world view has been shaken. He’s going to have to redo that scrapbook page. Anarchy will reign.<\/p>\n

So basically, the super kinky thing they do in this super kinky scene is that she gives him a blowy and rides him. Why on earth hasn’t this book been banned world-wide for the high-intensity heat of all this scorching perversion?<\/p>\n

She lays her whole body on his chest, but when she puts her hand there:<\/p>\n

The darkness slithers, quick and strong, into my chest, into my throat, threatening to suffocate and choke me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wait, am I reading Hentai?<\/p>\n

Okay, guys. Are you ready?<\/p>\n

Get ready.<\/p>\n

Because here it comes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Why don’t you like to be touched?”<\/p>\n

“Because I’m fifty shades of fucked up, Anastasia.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I need a cigarette, because that was WAY more satisfying than the sex scene.<\/p>\n

Now let’s look at some dialogue that reads like total fucking gibberish:<\/p>\n

“I think that’s all the very basics covered. How was that?”<\/p>\n

For a moment she seems distracted, then she tilts her head to one side and smiles. “If you imagine for one minute that I think you ceded control to me, well, you haven’t taken into account my GPA. But thank you for the illusion.”<\/p>\n

“Miss Steele, you are not just a pretty face. You’ve had six orgasms so far and all of them belong to me.” Why does that mere fact make me glad?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because you’re gross.<\/p>\n

Anyway, how does that conversation even go? First he’s like, well, we’ve covered the basics. Which, you know, they really haven’t, they just had sex with her on top. But whatever. Then she answers by saying that she doesn’t believe he gave her control. Okay, I guess that fits. Then he’s like, you’re not just a pretty face, which would echo back to her GPA comment, but it doesn’t because he follows it up with the orgasms thing. Is he saying that she’s not a pretty face because he’s the only person who’s given her orgasms? As in, yeah, turns out you’re smart, Ana, because you’ve only ever had orgasms with me? I don’t understand this progression of dialogue.<\/p>\n

Ana confesses that he hasn’t caused\u00a0all<\/em> of her orgasms, though:<\/p>\n

“I came in my sleep.” She flings an arm over her face, iding from me, embarrassed. I’m stunned by her confession, but aroused and delighted, too.<\/p>\n

Sensual creature<\/span>.<\/p>\n

She peeks over her arm. Does she expect me to be angry?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why wouldn’t she? You spend all of your time finding reasons to get angry with her, and she’s terrified of you.<\/p>\n

She tells him that she dreamed about him using a riding crop on her, and he’s like, there’s hope for you yet, har har.<\/p>\n

Collecting the condom off the floor, I knot it quickly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t care how quickly you knotted it, you already got\u00a0nut all over her carpet.<\/p>\n

Now that she’s agreed to be mine, she needs contraception. Fully dressed, she sits cross-legged ont he bed watching me as I grab my pants. “When is your period due?” I ask. “I hate wearing these things.” I hold up the knotted condom and pull on my jeans.<\/p>\n

She’s taken aback.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Because you’re waving a used jimmy in the air all over her bedroom, you unhygienic weirdo.<\/p>\n

So, he’s decided that he now gets to make all sorts of demands over Ana’s body. Swell. I know she agreed to the contract, but I bristle so, so hard when heroes tell heroines what they’re going to do for birth control. It drives me up the wall. She’ll do what’s best for her and her body and it’s up to her, not you. There you go. Solved your problem.<\/p>\n

Anyway, Christian asks Ana if she’s got a doctor, and she doesn’t. He says he’ll have one make a house call, and she chooses to do it at Christian’s apartment. Then he gets ready to leave, and she offers to drive him home in her new car:<\/p>\n

That’s better. She’s accepted the car as she should, but after all that champagne she shouldn’t be driving. “I think you’ve had too much to drink.”<\/p>\n

“Did you get me tipsy on purpose?”<\/p>\n

“Yes.”<\/p>\n

“Why?”<\/p>\n

“Because you overthink 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.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is that not the most pretentious way of explaining why you got a woman drunk so she would fuck you?<\/p>\n

Seriously, I’m sitting here, baffled once again that someone sat down, wrote this in a book, and thought, “Yes. Yes, it’s fine that he got her drunk, because of these reasons.” They didn’t have to drink wine at all. This was all one big, made up fantasy. These aren’t real people doing these things and needing to defend their actions. And that’s what continues to just blow my mind. The author makes the characters do shitty things, then explains why it was perfectly okay for them to do the shitty things because of reasons that are still shitty. It would be way easier to just\u00a0not have the characters do the shitty thing in the first place<\/em>, especially if it’s not particularly important to the plot. If he didn’t get Ana drunk in this scene, it would only have improved the story.<\/p>\n

“I’d like you to stay and use this.” She grabs the other condom and waves it at me.<\/p>\n

Manage her expectations, Grey.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I have crossed so many lines here tonight. I have to go. I’ll see you on Sunday.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He definitely has crossed lines, but not the ones he’s worried about. Buying her a car without asking first? Cross that line. Getting her drunk so she’ll sign a contract saying you can do whatever you want to her, whenever you want? Cross that line. Have sex twice in one night? WHOA THERE I AM NOT READY FOR THAT KIND OF COMMITMENT.<\/p>\n

“I’ll have the revised contract ready for you, and then we can really start to play.”<\/p>\n

“Play?” she squeaks.<\/p>\n

“I’d like to do a scene with you. But I won’t until you’ve signed, so I know you’re ready.”<\/p>\n

“Oh. So I could stretch this out if I don’t sign?”<\/p>\n

Shit.<\/span> I hadn’t thought of that.<\/p>\n

Her chin tilts up in defiance.<\/p>\n

Ah…topping from the bottom, again.<\/span> She always finds a way.<\/p>\n

“Well, I suppose you could, but I may crack under the strain.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hey, guess what? She’s not “topping from the bottom.” She’s saying she doesn’t want to be your sub, and she’s looking for ways to get around being your sub. This is as clear as she’s ever going to state that she doesn’t want to sub for you, she wants to date you. This is the point where a person who was smart would go, “You know what, this is clearly not going to work out, because we want two different things.”<\/p>\n

She asks what will happen if he “cracks”:<\/p>\n

“Oh, you know, explosions, car chases, kidnapping, incarceration.”<\/p>\n

“You’d kidnap me?”<\/p>\n

“Oh yes.”<\/p>\n

“Hold me against my will?”<\/p>\n

“Oh yes.”\u00a0Now, that’s an interesting idea.<\/span> “And then we’re talking TPE twenty-four-seven.”<\/p>\n

“You’ve lost me,” she says, perplexed and a little breathless.<\/p>\n

“Total Power Exchange\u2013around the clock.” My mind whirls as I think of the possibilities. She’s curious. “So you have no choice,” I add with a playful tone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t know about anyone else, but if a dude came into my workplace, bought supplies that could be used for a kidnapping, then later joked about kidnapping me and forcing me to be his full-time sex slave\u00a0after asking me to sign a contract to be his full-time sex slave<\/em>, then I guess I would be like…maybe not amused? Maybe even a little nervous? Especially if the guy was so super rich he could just disappear anybody he wanted to?<\/p>\n

“Clearly.” Her tone is sarcastic and she rolls her eyes to the heavens, perhaps looking for divine inspiration to understand my sense of humor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I just wanted to point out that this same section from Ana’s POV is:<\/p>\n

“Clearly.” I can’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice as my eyes reach for the heavens.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Take me to church. Hozier wrote this fucking book.<\/p>\n

So, because Ana rolled her eyes at him, Christian is going to spank her.<\/p>\n

For a moment she stares at me, blanching. “I haven’t signed,” she whispers.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She. Does. Not. Want. To. Sub.<\/p>\n

Will she? Won’t she? This is it. Proof of whether she can do this or not. I watch her, impassive, waiting for her to decide. If she says no, it means she’s paying lip service to the idea of being my submissive.<\/p>\n

And that will be it.<\/p>\n

Make the right choice, Ana.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The right choice being, obviously, to sub for Christian even when she doesn’t want to. At the top of this damn page she basically said she’s paying lip service to the idea, but never mind that, because she might<\/em> let him spank her now, and people never do things sexually that they aren’t into out of fear of losing their partner.<\/p>\n

She lays the condom on my palm, and I grasp her hand and abruptly pull her over my left knee, so that her head, shoulders, and chest are resting on the bed. I drape my right leg over her legs, holding her in place. I’ve wanted to do this since she asked me if I was gay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Just when you thought these books couldn’t get more homophobic, SURPRISE! Seriously, he’s wanted to cause her physical pain since she asked him if he was gay? That is a totally normal and not at all homophobic response. And a little panicky. “What? Me? Gay? How dare you! I shall thrash you soundly!” Jesus, it’s 2011, Christian. “Are you gay” isn’t an insult, it’s a fucking question.<\/p>\n

The lengths to which James goes to assure us that Christian Grey is definitely, certainly, positively not gay would be comical, if the whole thing wasn’t so offensive.<\/p>\n

Christian tells Ana he’s going to spank her every time she rolls her eyes.<\/p>\n

She has a fine, fine ass. And I’m going to make it pink…like the champagne.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finally, the mystery that has plagued us throughout this chapter has been solved.<\/p>\n

He spanks her, and it’s all like, oh yeah, she’s into it, she’s anticipating it, fine, fine ass, etc.<\/p>\n

I rub her sweet flesh and start again, taking turns: left cheek, right cheek, middle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And it’s as repetitive a spanking as ever you’ll see.<\/p>\n

I spank her over and over\u2013the same pattern, left cheek, right cheek, middle\u2013and she yelps each time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like, thank you for clearing up what pattern you’re using when we’re something like two paragraphs and a couple lines of dialogue away from the first time you described it.<\/p>\n

I insert two fingers into her vagina.<\/p>\n

“Feel this. See how much your body likes this. You’re soaking, just for me.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, whether or not your brain was into it, that’s not important, Ana.<\/p>\n

Just for funsies, let’s look at how Ana describes this in\u00a0Fifty Shades of Grey:<\/em><\/p>\n

And he hits me again and again. From somewhere deep inside, I want to beg him to stop. But I don’t. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. He continues the unrelenting rhythm. I cry out six more times. Eighteen slaps in total. My body is singing, singing from his merciless assault.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are so many times in Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i>\u00a0(and the rest of the series) that Ana describes a spanking as an assault, as hitting. That has bothered me so much over the years of seeing women say, “Oh, well, she consented.” She consented before she knew what spanking was like. She agreed to sub for him\u00a0before<\/em> this trial run. And now he’s given her a car, a laptop, priceless books, he’s stalked her at her graduation, she’s afraid of him when he’s angry…and she describes spankings almost exclusively as hitting, beatings, and assault.<\/p>\n

What her body likes? That’s not as important as what her mind and her soul want.<\/p>\n

Anyway, he fucks her, and afterward he’s like:<\/p>\n

I stroke her hair. It’s a soft, rich mahogany, shining in the glow of her bedside light.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Ron<\/a><\/p>\n

You know what? I can’t just leave it there.<\/p>\n

\"Effie<\/a><\/p>\n

I had to. Elizabeth Banks has single-handedly turned an entire type of wood into a joke.<\/p>\n

Ready for a weird scent description?<\/p>\n

She smells of Ana and apples and sex.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apples and Sex is the least popular of the classic Bath and Bodyworks fragrances. Seriously, though, all I can think about is someone jizzing across a plate of apple slices.<\/p>\n

“You should be in silks and satins, you beautiful girl. I’ll take you shopping.”<\/p>\n

“I like my sweats,” she argues.<\/p>\n

Of course she does.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ha ha,\u00a0poverty.\u00a0<\/em>How very droll.<\/p>\n

Christian tells Ana that he has to leave, then he goes to her bathroom and just happens to see a bottle of baby oil there. He takes it into the bedroom:<\/p>\n

She’s dressed when I return, evading my gaze.\u00a0Why so shy suddenly?<\/span><\/p>\n

“I found some baby oil. Let me rub it into your behind.”<\/p>\n

“No. I’ll be fine,” she says, examining her fingers, still avoiding eye contact.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For a big fancy pro-am Dom, he sure can’t pick up body language cues from subs. She’s. Not. Into. This.<\/p>\n

He puts the oil on her butt and:<\/p>\n

“There.” I pull her sweatpants up. “I’m leaving now.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They go to the door, and she still won’t make eye contact with him. He tells her to look at him.<\/p>\n

Large blue eyes peek up at me through long, dark lashes.<\/p>\n

“You didn’t cry.” My voice is low.<\/p>\n

And you let me spank you. You’re amazing.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He doesn’t ask her if she’s okay, even though she’s clearly acting like she’s not. He’s just focused on his experience, and how great it was for him. If it was great for him, obviously it was also great for her.<\/p>\n

Once I’m in the car I look back, but she’s gone. She’s probably tired…like me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or, she’s emotionally fucked up because she just had her very first experience with BDSM ever, and even though it wasn’t as super hard and sadistic as Christian Grey allegedly is, she got no real aftercare. Rubbing baby oil on her butt and saying, “Okay, bye now,” isn’t enough.<\/p>\n

Closing my eyes, I see her riding me, her head tipped back in ecstasy. Ana does not do things halfheartedly. She commits. And to think she had sex for the first time only a week ago.<\/p>\n

With me. And no one else.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, we get it. We get it, Christian. Ana has never had sex with anyone else.\u00a0Would you like to brand her, so everyone knows for the rest of forever? Do you want it engraved on her tombstone? I’m seriously thinking that when Ana dies, her obituary will read, “Anastasia Rose Steele Grey, who has only had sex with one man her whole life, sexual god among unworthy mortals, Christian Grey…”<\/p>\n

When they get to the hotel, Christian asks Taylor:<\/p>\n

“Good. That reminds me. Can you collect her old Beetle tomorrow and dispose of it? I don’t want her driving it.”<\/p>\n

“Of course. I have a friend who restores vintage cars. He might be interested. I’ll deal with it. Will there be anything else?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Anger,<\/a><\/p>\n

You can’t just\u00a0take<\/em> someone’s car! THAT IS GRAND THEFT AUTO AND IT IS A FELONY. Christian is asking his employee to commit a felony. And that employee is like, “Yeah, sure, we can do that. I’ll totally steal her car and give it to my friend. Can I get you a glass of water, while I’m at it?”<\/p>\n

Fuck you, Taylor. I trusted you.<\/p>\n

Christian goes to his hotel room and writes Ana an email:<\/p>\n

You are quite simply exquisite. The most beautiful, intelligent, witty, and brave woman I have ever met.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I forgot about Ana’s bravery. That drove me nuts reading the original series. She doesn’t do anything brave until like, the last book, and she never does anything smart, but all of the characters around her are like, “You’re so smart, you’re so brave.” Her entire life is like one big fucking participation trophy.<\/p>\n

He warns her not to drive her Beetle again, and she emails back that she’s going to drive it to the dealership to sell it. She also tells him that caning is a hard limit now. He emails her back to tell her she should go to bed, and that Taylor is going to take care of her car. She emails him back:<\/p>\n

I am intrigued that you are happy to risk letting your right-hand man drive my car but not some woman you fuck occasionally.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She goes on to ask why she should trust Taylor to get her a good deal.<\/p>\n

What the hell? Some woman I fuck occasionally?<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to take a deep breath. Her response irks me…no, infuriates me. How\u00a0dare<\/span> she talk about herself like that?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, only Christian is allowed to talk about you like that. You know, with all of his, “we’re not dating, I don’t make love, I fuck hard, etc.” I mean, honestly. How did she get the impression that she was only a sex partner and not someone he valued? Because he came over, had sex with her twice, spanked her, then left immediately after without a single thought given to her needs?<\/p>\n

As my submissive she’ll be so much more than that. I’ll be devoted to her. Does she not realize this?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly not, and that’s Christian’s fault, not Ana’s.<\/p>\n

And she has driven a hard bargain with me.\u00a0Good God!<\/span> Look at all the concessions I’ve made with regards to the contract.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How dare she so ungratefully view this sexual relationship as an impersonal arrangement solely about sex?! Especially when I’ve treated it like an impersonal arrangement all along!<\/p>\n

Even though he’s looking at this and going, wow, this makes me super mad that she thinks this about herself, it’s not the fact that she feels that way that really bothers him. It’s how\u00a0he<\/em> feels about her feeling it that matters. He’s not thinking, “I really wish she wouldn’t feel this way, because I value her more than this.” He’s thinking, “I really wish she wouldn’t feel this way, because it makes me feel bad, and that’s not fair for her to do that to\u00a0me<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

He emails her back and tells her that he forgives her for the way she’s treating him, but he could just drive over and spank her some more if he wanted to. He says Taylor used to be in the army, so he can drive anything, and then goes on to say:<\/p>\n

Now please do not refer to yourself as “some woman I fuck occasionally” because, quite frankly, it makes me MAD, and you really wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Okay, Bruce Banner. We already know that Ana doesn’t like him when he’s angry. She’s terrified of him when he’s angry. So here he is, abusing her remotely via email.<\/p>\n

She doesn’t write back immediately. Perhaps she’s intimidated by my response.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Gosh, I don’t know why she would feel that way.<\/p>\n

Ana does write back and tells him that she’s not sure she likes him, anyway.<\/p>\n

I stare at her reply, and all my anger withers and dies, to be replaced by a surge of anxiety.<\/p>\n

Shit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is she saying that’s it?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No. We’re not that lucky. But at least next time we’ll be onto a different fucking chapter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

E.L. James announced via Instagram that she’s hard at work on a sequel to\u00a0Grey,\u00a0entitled\u00a0Fifty Shades Darker From Christian’s Point Of View.\u00a0One hopes that is a<\/p>\n

Read moreJenny Reads Fifty Shades of Midnight Sun: Thursday, May 26, 2011, part three or “I don’t understand why you’re interpreting the things I’m doing as the things I’m literally doing.”<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10827"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10887,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10827\/revisions\/10887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennytrout.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}