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Analysing Agency: Reader Responses to Fifty Shades of Grey

Analysing Agency: Reader Responses to Fifty Shades of Grey. Lucy Jones and Sara Mills IGALA8, June 2014. Anastasia Steele – virgin, 21 Christian Grey – older, millionaire businessman BDSM vs ‘hearts & flowers’

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Analysing Agency: Reader Responses to Fifty Shades of Grey

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  1. Analysing Agency: Reader Responses to Fifty Shades of Grey Lucy Jones and Sara Mills IGALA8, June 2014

  2. Anastasia Steele – virgin, 21 Christian Grey – older, millionaire businessman BDSM vs‘hearts & flowers’ Despite the ‘kinky’ element of BDSM, the books are essentially a “classic romance (…) in which the female protagonist ostensibly ‘tames’ the wild, dangerous hero” (Downing 2013: 93)

  3. ‘Mummy porn’ Do fans of Fifty Shades gain agency, as women and sexual beings, as a result of talking about the books? How do fans negotiate the heteronormative stereotypes put forward in the novels?

  4. Social media facilitates a view of fans’ collective responses to the books 164 Facebook groups; 65 Facebook pages June-November 2012

  5. Female agency • Anastasia’s ‘pure love changed him for the better’ • ‘she made him see the world differently’ • ‘I read it as a beautiful love story about a man who is damaged and learns to love when the right woman comes into his life.’ • ‘Christian was changing…and the reason was Ana’

  6. Romance and narrative • ‘I love the love story in it’ • ‘it’s about love and it’s bold’ • The books are ‘a wakeup call for every inner goddess in every woman and every heart in a man’ • ‘there is a story if you can get past your own dirty thoughts about this book!’

  7. Sex and desire • ‘It makes you challenge your inner feelings which you can’t be bold about’ • ‘I’m re-reading the books so I can have Christian in my dreams’ • The series ‘gives me goose bumps’ • ‘if [my husband] was like Christian Grey, I’d have soooo many kids!’ • ‘my husband approves’ • ‘my hubby doesn’t complain no more’

  8. Heteronormativity and gender roles • ‘The books are like a drug!’ • ‘I’m addicted’ • ‘I need an intervention!’ • ‘every woman needs a little dominance’ • ‘[Christian]’s everything that a woman wants’ • ‘we appreciate a strong man that will (…) make us feel sexy’ Ideologically feminine woman (sexy) Vs Ideologically masculine man (strong)

  9. Conclusions • Fans of Fifty Shades construct a heterosexual female identity via: • Stereotypes of binary gender; essentialised femaleness; use of euphemism; adoption of passive role as readers • But do the women gain agency as readers? • The books facilitate this construction of identity • Readers are agentive in their reading of the books

  10. Analysing Agency: Reader Responses to Fifty Shades of Grey Lucy Jones and Sara Mills lucy.jones@hull.ac.uk s.l.mills@shu.ac.uk IGALA8, June 2014

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