To the Critics of Fifty Shades of Grey....

I recently commented on a post on Facebook about a new Faith Based movie called "Old Fashioned". I found the idea of a movie based on an old fashioned, faith based courtship refreshing. I was really excited about seeing how that movie would fair in theaters. Then I started seeing posts comparing it to Fifty Shades of Grey. Then even more about how Fifty Shades of Grey dehumanizes women and makes them look like objects and cheap. Christian was looked at as an abuser, stalker and a creep. According to some of the comments and things I read he was the worst kind of man. One thing became very clear to me; that none of these people had read the book and that they made some assumptions. 1) That Ana was forced or manuiplated into becoming Christian's Submissive and 2) That Christian was abusive. The issue with this is that Ana was given a Choice. We see this over and over again. We see her battle with her emotions on the subject over and over again. We see Christian reassuring her that she can walk away. Secondly; Ana knew exactly what she was getting into. She signed a contract to that affect; not to mention we had to read several chapters based on what she would and would not permit Christian to do to her. Last but not least; Ana was a stronger woman then these critics think. To her credit she became  more assertive and took charge of her own destiny. Author E.L. James did a wonderful job at developing Ana. What really bothers me is that there are books with the same themes that better fit the criticism that Fifty Shades has recieved. One such book is the Story of O by Pauline Réage; in the story O is offered up as a slave to be trained and broken and molded into a submissive. At one point O is branded and falls in love with her master Sir Stephen. Who does not love her; and who is also the step brother of the boyfriend that turned her over for training. O was forced; plain and simple. She was manuiplated. Made to please men she did not love or want. This was not the case with Ana. She clearly loved Christian despite his faults; and she gets through to him over time. Another book that is equally unsettling is The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice. I will admit that I never finished the book because it was to much for me. In the book Sleeping Beauty is awakened not with a kiss but after sexual intercourse; did I mention she was asleep and could not give consent. The man who does this strips her naked and makes her walk through the surrounding villages to his kingdom where she is trained among other men and women to become a sex slave. Again; this is not something we see in Fifty Shades of Grey. Those latter books contain sexual violence of the worse sort; and someone taking problem with that will hear no complaint from this book worm. However; I will complain when others condemn and shame others for reading Fifty Shades of Grey. I was told I was not a true Christian because I had read such a vial book. It dawned on me through this experience that these types of people are the same ones that ban hundreds of books every year and all because they have faulty assumptions about what is right and proper. So good bookworms...I say take up all the Banned books you can and read them openly. Thrust these despised books into the hands of anyone who is willing to read them and lastly make sure you fight back against the ignorance people spout against these books. Protect the FREADOM to read!