‘Fifty Shades’ normalizes violence: advocate
The film adaptation of the wildly popular “Fifty Shades of Grey” book series is a setback to the hard work being done to prevent violence against women, says Connie Pike.
As the executive director of Coalition Against Violence Avalon East (CAVAE), Pike works with and advocates for victims of many kinds of violence, including women who have been abused by partners.
She doesn’t plan to see the movie, which is about the relationship between a 22-year-old student, Anastasia, and Christian, a 28-year-old billionaire who “is consumed by the need to control everything.”
“I feel it would be supporting that culture of violence against women, so I refuse to participate in that,” she said.
Pike is one of many critics who say the movie normalizes violence in intimate relationships.
“This story is not about romance. It is about fear, domination, degradation and coercion. These components are never based on, or congruent with, respect and trust,” she said.
Pike said CAVAE is not suggesting people shouldn’t engage in BDSM (an acronym that combines “bondage and discipline,” “domination and submission” and “sadism and masochism”) if that’s what they want.
“That is ... a choice between two consenting adults,” she said. “However, people may need to be reminded that harm or injury occurring as a result is considered a crime. The very words associated to the acronym BDSM should signal that this is not for everyone. Oddly enough, Jian Ghomeshi referred to ‘50 Shades of Grey’ while defending his abusive actions.”
She said people in the BDSM community have also criticized “Fifty Shades,” saying it doesn’t accurately portray BDSM.
“It’s really putting a lot of misinformation out there ... which speaks to the whole problem of people not having the right information, and not making decisions that are well founded or based on correct information.”
Pike said the movieglorifies inequality in a relationship, and she worries about the influence it could have on young people.
“The way that it is glorified and the way that it is glamourized, with the billionaire and with this young woman who’s working at a hardware store trying to support herself through school … it’s a fairy tale gone bad, to me,” she said.
“Fifty Shades of Grey” opened in St. John’s Friday. An evening showing at Scotiabank Theatre St. John’s was sold out by noon and there were lineups to see it.