Female sadomasochistic erotic fiction, ‘The story of O’ & ‘Fifty
Shades of Grey’: Patriarchal control, or sexual liberation?
I
will be looking at female erotic fiction, specifically focusing on the novels:
‘The Story of O’ by Pauline Reage and the current (2012) bestselling erotic
fiction novel ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ (the trilogy) written by E.L. James, both
of which are based on sadomasochism. I will look to see if these novels are
patriarchal and traditional in their content or are about women’s sexual
liberation and freedom. I will also be looking at why current society, specifically
women, enjoy this type of erotic fiction.
I will look at what these novels are saying and what message
they are conveying to their readers. I will look to see if female erotic
fiction can be empowering to its reader, who the readers are and what is it
they want from this fiction. I will explore why ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is so
popular with women today and whether anything has actually changed since the
1950s ‘Story of O’.
‘The Story of ‘O’’ 2
‘The Story of O’,
first published in 1954 and written by a female writer, Pauline Reage,* is an erotic
sadomasochistic novel inspired by the writings of The Marquise De Sade. Reage
wrote the book for her then lover, Jean Paulhan, a man who appreciated De
Sade’s writing and believed no woman could write about sadism as he did. Reage
set out to please Paulhan and show that a woman could indeed write sadistic
erotic fiction. Her theme is sadistic: a story of a woman, simply known as ‘O’,
journeys from a story of two lovers to ‘O’ being introduced to a secret society
of men whom take her as their masochistic slave and use her as an object of
their sadistic sexual desires. ‘O’ is subjected to repeated and extreme
beatings, whipping, chaining, piercing and branding along with her being used
sexually by whoever wishes to use her. But she is not forced, she willingly
agrees to the arrangement and she is told she can leave at any point she
desires. ‘O’ initially complies for love – her lover Rene is the one who
introduces her to Roissy, the place in which the majority of the story takes
place, and for him she will do anything. Her preference within the story is to
submit, but her submission is for the sake of her lover and later her ‘owner’,
Sir Stephen.
Later on in the novel there is a small twist. ‘O’ develops a
taste for her own sadism, although this is only in one scene, it is relevant.
She is asked to carry out a whipping on one of the other female slaves. At
first she is reluctant but, in keeping with her submissive character, she
follows orders and goes ahead. At first she is careful but after a few lashes
she finds excitement in it.
*Note:
Pauline Reage is her pan name, her real name as far as we know, (there is much
controversy around this) is Anne Desclos, but for the sake of argument I will
use her pen name within this thesis.
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‘For Anne-Marie had twice (but, up until now, only Yvonne),
handed her the whip and instructed her to strike. The first time, during the
first minute, she’d wavered, at Yvonne’s first scream recoiled, but when once
she’d begun again and Yvonne had screamed anew, louder than before, she had
been gripped by a terrible pleasure, a pleasure so piercing that she felt herself
laughing with joy despite herself, and had to overcome powerful impulses in
order to decelerate the cadence of blows she was delivering and not to strike
with all the strength at her command.’ (Reage, 1954, Kindle p: 210)
There is a question of who actually holds the power in the
relationships between the masochist and the sadist; when ‘O’ acts out the
whipping on the other submissive slave she has stepped into the role of sadist
and it causes her discomfort but also an uncomfortable pleasure. This would suggest
that the move from submissive to dominant is an important point to consider. This
I will look at later.
While ‘The Story of ‘O’ is erotic and pornographic with
extreme incidents of sadomasochism throughout, it is also a traditional love
story. ‘O’ wishes to be desired by each man she comes into contact with,
especially the two men she falls in love with. She sees desire as love. She
often feels disgust at herself for enjoying the treatment she receives but she
has a fear of not being loved or rejected by her lover and later her ‘owner’,
Sir Stephen. The fear of not being an object of desire would leave ‘O’ empty or
‘lacking’. This ‘lack’ is talked about by Jessica Benjamin in ‘The Bonds of
Love’ (and prior to that, Jacques Lacan created this theory), in which she
explains the need to feel whole by means of being recognized as an individual
by the other.
‘At the same time, and ironically, the fantasy of erotic
dominance and submission expresses the deep longing for wholeness. But as long
as the shape of the whole is not informed by mutuality, this longing only leads
to an unequal complementarily In which one person plays master, the other
slave.’ (Benjamin, 1988, 82)
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It is interesting to question whether the ‘Story of ‘O’’, which
is written by Regae, a woman, could be mistaken for the writing of a man. Would
a man, such as De Sade, include a theme of love in sadomasochistic fiction? If
we compare the writing of Reage and De Sade, we see that both
write about sadism and of women as objects, but does the
added element of love in Reage’s novel and De Sade’s extremist sadism make them
very different? Or are the same issues of control and objectification of women,
by men, even when love is included, just the same and therefore patriarchal.
‘As for the fourth supper, it was reserved for young maids;
only those between the ages of seven and fifteen were permitted. Their
condition in life was of no importance, what counted was their looks: they had
to be charming; as for their virginity, authentic evidence was required.’ (De
Sade, 2008, Kindle P: 119)
Here De Sade makes it plain that women are merely object but
Raege too does the same:
‘Listen,’ he says. ‘You’re ready. Here’s where I leave you.
You’re going to get out and go to the door and ring the bell. Someone will open
the door, whoever it is you’ll do as he says. You’ll do it right away and
willingly of your own accord, else they’ll make you, if you don’t obey. What?
No, you don’t need your bag any more. You don’t need anything, you’re just the
whore, I’m the
pimp who’s furnishing you. Yes, certainly, I’ll be there,
sure. Now go.’ (Reage, 1954,kindle loc: 11)
The Story of ‘O’ was written in the 1950s, an era before sexual
liberation, freedom and the second wave of feminism (which took place in the
1970s and 80s) was acceptable and
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the book was banned in many countries. Anne Desclos’s use of
the pen name Reage was to protect her from the anger and criticism that flared
up around the novel. But even today Reage’s novel attracts less interest than ‘Fifty
Shades of Grey’, which may be due to its extremity of sadism and degradation or
simply less public hype and knowledge of the novel.
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
6
The ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ trilogy by E.L James, released in
2012, has been a massive best seller. Many articles in the general press have
reported on the phenomenon, ‘The Independent’ newspaper stated that 14 million
copies have been sold to date (The Independent, 10/12/2012) in the UK alone.
Like ‘The Story of ‘O’’ this is a story of sadomasochism,
but it unfolds into a love story. Although a lot less sexually and sadistically
extreme, and certainly miles away from De Sade’s writing, it is still based on
sadomasochism and ultimately love. The story is set out to be erotic and
’kinky’ rather than sadistic in content, and more focused on sexual
gratification in a ‘loving’ way.
Christian Grey, the male character, is described as
powerful, rich, ‘extremely’ good-looking and yet complex. He is portrayed as
the ideal example of masculinity and male power, in all areas of his life, his
career, his achievements and his sexual preferences.
He has a series of women who are his ‘submissives’ but none
of who are forced into the ‘arrangement’ and relationship, and none of them
have claimed his love until the main female character appears in his life.
We are introduced to Anastasia, a young, attractive, slightly
awkward virgin whom Grey is attracted to and pursues in hope of having her as
his next ‘submissive’. The initial ‘arrangement’ between Grey and Anastasia is
one of his desires only to dominate her. He leads her into his world and she
follows, if a little resistant. He educates her sexually and gives her his
wealth, but is emotionally complex and detached. Anastasia takes on a maternal role;
she feels his complex pain and slowly, motheringly, nurses him into an
emotionally healthy place that no other has been able to reach. And so the
story unfolds, Grey falls in love for the first time and the two end up in a
classic love story.
An important aspect of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is the history
of the hero, Grey. The story reveals that a drug addict mother has damaged him
in his childhood. He was adopted at a young age into a loving family, but still
the damage had been done. The story suggests this is the cause of his sadistic
desires, and that both the reader and Anastasia can
7
forgive him, because it suggests ‘it is not his fault’. The
happy ending shows how she rescues him from his mental torture through her love;
through her submission and love she wins his love.
It can be argued therefore that ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is
simply an erotic love story with a little more ‘kink’ than the average
bestseller romance and not a novel based on women’s liberation sexually. This
‘Mommy porn’, as it has been labeled, is actually a way of reinforcing
patriarchal values but under the guise of sexual liberation. However, it has
been incredibly popular and clearly James has tapped into something that women
want, or at least, think they want.
Femininity 8
Within both ‘The Story of ‘O’’ and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
there is an emphasis on femininity in the form of appearance, and, also on the
male characters’ masculinity, but for now I will look at the female characters
of ‘O’ and Anastasia. Both are portrayed as not intimidatingly beautiful, both
are ‘quiet plain’. This is particularly, in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ interesting,
seeing as the male character, Grey is described as extremely attractive and is
constantly noted for his great looks whereas Steele is not. Both women (‘O’ and
‘Anastasia Steele) are told how to dress and how to make up by the male
characters in the books. They conform to the classic image of femininity as
defined by male desire that is set out by current and previous society in
western culture. Both women are fascinated by their own appearance in the
mirror and their pleasure in dressing to please the men in the novels. This is
talked about in E. Wrights book ‘Feminism & Psychoanalysis’ where Wright refers
to Margaret Atwood’s writing. She says:
‘Atwood’s
writing engages with psychoanalysis in its exploration of forms of self-abuse
and fragmentation: madness, eating disorders (For example, Lady Oracle, 1977),
religion and indeed the masquerade of femininity itself. Women’s relationship
with their own appearances through their mirrors, as well as their own
fictitious constructions of themselves in language (derived from others) is
seen to be a kind of alienation.’ (Wright, 1992, 230.)
In Reage’s novel she has created a character, ‘O’, whom is a
female object for male desire and use. The story is, to me, patriarchal, from
the plot and themes of sadism and masochism, to the ideals of femininity, to
the actual characters. For example, the men are all described as well off,
upper class, both powerful in their social status and in their subject status
within Roissy, they are very masculine, in terms of popular cultures ideals of
this. Although ‘O’s character is a successful photographer in her outside,
public life, and she has a sense of power in this profession, she is seen as ‘less’
in many ways –
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even by another of the female character’s within the story,
Jacqueline, a model who is pursued by ‘O’, but is rejected as being inferior to
Jacqueline, especially in her appearance, Jacqueline is a model and so
described as incredibly beautiful, unlike ‘O’ who is fairly plain.
The ideals of femininity in current society are very much
shaped by popular culture and old traditional patriarchal views. Women have
been given a mould to fit in regard to how they should look and act, this is
under a patriarchal social model that has been shaped by men and men’s desire.
Women fit this mould by conforming to it and are told that if she does she will
be worthy of men’s attention and be loved and desired by man.
How
women read 10
It must be considered how women read, how society influences
them, how they interpret a novel and how they respond to it. It seems
impossible to escape reading from a male perspective due to social conditioning.
In Wrights book ‘Feminism and Psychoanalysis’ she points to this ‘way of
reading’ and suggests that women cannot read as women but are reading as
‘male’. She says:
‘The implicit assumption in this alternative position is
that reading is a socially acquired and culturally conditioned act, shared by both
men and women – moreover, that woman has always been forced to read ‘as men’.
For women to read ‘like women’ requires an intentional and voluntary act of
‘unlearning’, an act of ‘defamiliarization’ with their gender roles.
(Similarly, if men want to read ‘like a woman’, they must overcome their gender
based habits and assumptions imposed on them by a patriarchal culture).’
(Wright, 1992, 372.).
So it appears that in the novels by Reage and James that these
female writer’s have written like a man, they are influenced by male writing,
especially consciously in Reage’s novel. They both write from a male
perspective, particularly in relationship to femininity and masculinity laid
out by popular culture. Reage and James, to me, have written patriarchal novel’s,
they have not escaped patriarchy as they write from a traditional male
patriarchal perspective. Freedom can only come from women being in equal status
to men, and only when men and women are both the subject and the object can
they become equals, which they are not in either novel. There is little freedom
in being an object of desire.
Some feminist writers do choose to write about women as
lesser than men in their novels, their heroines portrayed as being submissive
to their male ‘heroes’. The reason some do this is a way of showing what is
really going on in society, patriarchal society. It can be seen as enlightening
its readers to the true nature of women’s status but also it is
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conforming again to patriarchal society. Elizabeth Wright
talks about this in her book ‘Feminism & Psychoanalysis’.
‘A number of
feminist writers choose to show women who are victims of patriarchy, some of
whom collude in their own victimization, partly on the account of ideological
(as well as material) structures which dominate in their lives, partly out of
laziness (a disinclination to engage with the public sphere) or, worse, out of
masochistic and self-destructive tendency. Presenting negative images of women
living secondary lives may be problematic enough, but can be justified
politically as a consciousness-raising exposure of female oppression. To reveal
the part women play in collaborating with their oppressors, with the conditions
of their oppression, and even in oppressing men by their very weakness, is
inevitably more problematic since it may seem to play into the hands of the
enemy, albeit enlightening for women true. . (Wright, 1992, 229)
I would agree that within ‘The Story of ‘O’’ and ‘Fifty
Shades of Grey’ we can question the idea of raising awareness of women’s
oppression within a story that is patriarchal in content, we could say Reage
and James achieve this by making the point of women’s oppression, but under the
guise of a women exploring her sexuality & object status, liberating
herself. In this case, it could be argued that Reage and James are writing from
a feminist viewpoint, but also that they are simply writing classic patriarchal
traditional love stories, but I will look at this further.
What
is Sadomasochism 12
Freud discusses sadomasochism as two separates, one of
passivity, which is masochism, and one of activity, which is sadism. But
believes that both can be present in each person, but one will be more dominant.
Jacques Lacan believed that these two separates, sadism and masochism were
actually both sadistic; he believed that masochism is actually a form of
sadism, but as coming back against the self. So if it is as Lacan suggests,
then it would point to the fact that sadomasochism is not empowering, but a
form of abuse, particularly by the masochist on themself.
‘A person who feels pleasure in producing pain in someone
else in a sexual relationship is also capable of enjoying as pleasure any pain
which he may himself derive from sexual relations. A sadist is always at the
same time a masochist, although the active or the passive aspect of the
perversion may be more strongly developed in him and may represent his
predominant sexual activity.’ (Freud, 2005, 303)
Lacan talks about ‘the lack’, a void that needs to be filled
within a person’s psyche to make the person feel ‘complete’. But the void can
never filled, the lack is never sufficiently satisfied for long and so more is
needed.
In both ‘The Story of ‘O’’ and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ this
can be seen in the male characters and their constant need for their sadistic
needs to be satisfied by the female characters, the constant need for power and
control over the female.
The only thing that satisfies the female characters is the
approval and, ultimately, the love of the male. And for this she must submit
herself to him, she becomes the masochist. This submission of the female to the
male is exactly what patriarchal society enforces, the masochism of herself. This
would mean that both of ‘The Story of O’ and ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ are in line
with patriarchy and not actually liberating like they say. Both novels have the same basis of
patriarchy which shows that not much has changed from ‘The Story of
13
O’ til the current ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, nothing has
changed since the 1950s, at least not within these novels.
Feminism
today, pop feminism and the return of traditionalism 14
Natasha Walter, a popular culture feminist, discusses in her
book ‘Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism’, how society has moved from the view held
in the 1970s and early 80s, that gender differences were explained by social
construction to the seemingly widespread view of today that believes in a more
biological explanation.
Walter suggests that in today’s society boys and girls are
seen as being born fundamentally different, that boys will exhibit aggression
and pull toward liking cars and soldiers whereas girls are sweet natured and
prefer to play with dolls and fantasize about becoming princesses. This then
would imply that women are naturally submissive and masochistic in their makeup
and men sadistically inclined by nature. She call’s this ‘the new
traditionalism’ and sees it as a big difference from the ideas that were around
in the 1970s and ‘80s. She writes:
‘…And this new
traditionalism is taking on extra strength by the renaissance of biological
determinism: the theory that the differences we see between boys and girls are
not created by social influences, but laid down for them by the time they are
born by genetic & hormonal differences. In the 1970s, during the heyday of
second-wave feminism, biological differences between boys & girls were
often questioned & explanations from social influences became more popular.
It became generally accepted among educationalists then that Simone de Beauvoir
had a point, & that if we wanted to move towards greater equality we had to
be prepared to challenge the ways that femininity & masculinity were
encouraged among girls & boys by influences around them.’ (Walter, 2010,
137)
French feminist writer Simone De Beauvoir saw women as
socially constructed by men. She believed it would be unlikely to be able to
change this power status quo unless women themselves were to act as men, they
could not be equal or dominant as long as they were ‘feminine’. When writing
about De Beauvoir, Wright says:
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‘Until women could learn to abandon the narcissism,
triviality and essential ‘bad faith’ that De Beauvoir identified as central
characteristics, they would never escape from the kind of unrealized, and
partial, existence that she saw as the lot of women.’ (Wright, 1992, 101)
This would suggest that for women to become equal or
dominant they would have to stop being feminine in the way society is defining
it, stop being an object of desire, they would have to change the traditional,
popular definition of being a feminine woman. They would have to find a new way
of being ‘feminine’.
In ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ the female character, Anastasia is
seen as the ultimate feminine woman as set down by patriarchal society, she is
submissive and controlled by her man, Christian Grey. If what Walter says, that
a ‘new traditionalism’ has become so popular and normal in today’s society,
then I can see why this book is so popular; it makes women comfortable in their
role. While it is saying it is liberating, it is actually re-enforcing women’s
role under patriarchy.
Some of the cultural and economic outcomes reported since
the release of ‘Fifty Shades’ are interesting, it is reported that the divorce
rate is increasing and reports show the reasons for this are sexual
dissatisfaction from women. Also sales in Ann Summers (a ‘female friendly’ high
street lingerie and sex shop) have increased remarkably, specifically in their
dedicated ‘Fifty Shades’ section, a section selling ‘female friendly’ sex toys, in other words, approachable sex
toys and accessories that have been mentioned in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’. These
facts and figures seem to be a sign of women wanting to experiment sexually and
improve their sex life.
‘Ann Summers have reported an increase in sales of the sex
toys which appeared in the books including blindfolds (up 60%), rope ties (35%)
and paddles (up more the 30%). The big sellers, however, include Ana’s favorite
sex toy: the jiggle balls, which are up a
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staggering 200% (in fact Ann Summers are struggling to keep
up with demand!) as it appears women want their very own Christian Grey
effect.’
Fifty Shades of Grey increases sex toy sales. (Briggs, 2012)
If women are identifying in this way with the female heroine
of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ it would seem that they want to experiment but also
to feel safe and ‘normal’, this is made possible by the fact that the novel is
traditional in terms of patriarchy and is ‘normal’ in terms of what is going on
currently in society. They are assured by this novel that the role of a
feminine woman is to be submissive and controlled by men, and the reward for
this is love.
This all suggests that current culture believes that
tradionalism in terms of male dominance, female submission is popular.
Nature
versus Nurture: the ongoing debate 17
The question I would like to look at now is the nature
versus nurture debate that has been much discussed for many years. I will look
at this question regarding human characteristics, especially those connected to
the female being passive and submissive whilst male is aggressive and dominant.
Are these generally thought to be so and if so, is it by biological
determination or is it social conditioning that says these characteristics are
appropriate for the genders.
Freud believed that it is nature, a human’s anatomy, biology
that determines how a man and a woman will act and that will dominate their
character.
In Freud’s essay on ‘Sexuality’, he believed that biology
determines a persons characteristics, so a man being dominant, assertive and
aggressive and woman being passive, submissive and nurturing.
‘He was convincde that anatomy determined whether
predominantly male or female qualities would be developed and prepare the
individual for his or her differing future life tasks.’ (Freud, 2005, 275)
But later on Freud actually points out in his essay on
‘Femininity’ that social conditioning does play a part in women’s role as being
‘feminine’. Freud believed that masochism is related to women’s femininity, in
the sense that women need to suppress any anger they have to fit society’s
model of the ‘feminine’ woman. And that this suppression causes her to invert
her anger onto her self, just as Lacan talks about. This inverting of self-sadism
is now called masochism.
‘The suppression of women’s aggressiveness which is
prescribed for them constitutionally and imposed on them socially favors the
development of powerful masochistic impulses, which succeed, as we know, in
binding erotically the destructive
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trends which have been diverted inwards. Thus masochism, as
people say, is truly feminine.’ (Freud, 2005, 415)
It seems that the view of biology determining the gender
roles, has been becoming more popular again in current society. This I spoke
about earlier, when looking at Natasha Walters book ‘Living Dolls- The return
of sexism’. It seems we are going backward, the feminist movement of the 1970s
and 80s has almost been forgotten, or is far less popular. We can see this by
looking at how similar the two novels ‘The Story of O’ and ‘Fifty Shades of
Grey’ are in their very much patriarchal views and the popularity today of
‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, today’s society is conforming to patriarchy by buying
this book. It seems that today’s model of gender roles is much the same as that
written about in the 1950s.
In Tony Myers book on Slavoj Zizek, he quotes Zizek on his
comments on the writings of Otto Weininger and his interpretation of sexual
difference and sexuality. Weininger suggests that women do not know the truth
about their own desires because social conditioning is so deeply ingrained, and
in her desire she is more likely to want to be desired by means of being object
to the dominant male subject. This has been socially constructed over many
years. Woman, may or may not realize this conditioning, she may not think she
is conditioned. She may want to fit in socially so accepts the general
understanding and traditional view of sexuality, femininity and gender roles.
‘Even if she tells the truth, she does not tell the truth
for the sake of the truth, but to impress a potential mate. For Weininger, man,
on the other hand, is being torn from his senses and his spirituality, between
sexuality and love.’ (Myers, 2003, 80)
He goes on to say that if woman fights her femininity, that
of an object, with a submissive status, then she will suffer from hysteria, so
he is saying that a woman is submissive, so socially conditioned, that it would
seem natural for her to take this position of object and will feel better satisfied
in this position. Zizek believes that women must remain object to
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be satisfied & generally, in society, and as Weininger
suggests, this feeling of satisfaction is achieved by social conditioning and
is common due to lack of conscious understanding.
In Jessica Benjamin’s book ‘The Bonds of Love’ she suggests
that women’s desire is based on the desire to be desired. The status of being
the object of desire, rather than being the subject who desires another. This
fits in with the theories of Weininger and Zizek.
‘What she enjoys is her capacity to evoke desire in the
other’ (Benjamin, 1988, 89)
This would suggest that women are conditioned into object
status, she has no desire of her own except that of desiring to be an object of
male desire, or if she does, it has been suppressed. Woman is conditioned to
believe this, being of object status, is ultimately what she needs to be to be
content and fulfilled sexually, and otherwise. For this she will feel content
and is rewarded for her submission and compliance with love from the other, subject,
the male.
Within ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, specifically, we see this
fulfillment, the woman, Steele is fulfilled and rewarded with the love of the
powerful and dominant male, Grey only once she offers herself as his submissive
object. She is then content. The novel fits the patriarchal model.
Sadomasochistic relationships often involve negotiation, of
power, of desire, before acting them out (Seen in terms of the contract of
‘hard’ and ‘soft’ limits set out in ‘Fifty Shades’). So one could argue, if a
woman chooses to submit herself, specifically in a sadomasochistic
relationship, then she has power, the power to ask, to specify her desire. But
if women are socially conditioned to the point that Weininger suggests, then
really she is simply going along with the patriarchal model; it is just that
she is unaware of it. This model is deeply ingrained, but very well hidden
under the guise of sexual liberation. This is especially so in ‘Fifty Shades of
Grey’, and within current society.
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Women believe they are being liberated by reading such
fiction and by acting out these fantasies in their private sexual life, but
they are simply conforming to the traditional patriarchal model.
It must also be mentioned, as I think it important, that it
is not just women that are socially conditioned, it is men too, men are
conditioned to believe they need to be dominant and
aggressive to fit societies model of masculinity, they are
seen as fit human beings if they fit the patriarchal social model. So pressure
is on both men and women. Even within the mentioned novels, men are given the
dominant status and to be outside of this would make them weak and de-masculinised.
Men must also conform to society’s patriarchal gender roles.
I believe there has been some uncertainty and mixed messages
sent out by society around gender roles with the introduction of ‘the new man’
and ‘the career woman’ specifically between the 1980s and current years. Men
were being seen to be taking on a more equal share of things, like household
duties and childcare, and women were being given opportunities to get out to
work as well as have families. There was a shift in traditional roles, men were
seen as more caring and nurturing toward their families, it was acceptable for
a man to stay home with the children and cook dinner. There seemed to be a move
toward some kind of possible equality, thanks to the second wave feminists. But
since such books as ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ men have been firmly put back into
the traditional role of dominance, and women to submissive roles, with no
mention of equality, and so replacing uncertainty of one’s role. Patriarchy has
once again triumphed. A new movement against patriarchy is much needed to bring
back the work of the second wave feminist movement. A way of creating equality
and changing socially constructed traditional roles will be the only way to
escape it.
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Female
sadomasochistic erotic fiction (‘The story of O’’ & ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’):
Patriarchal
control, or sexual liberation? : The conclusion.
Looking at the two novels, ‘The Story of ‘O’ and ‘Fifty
Shades of Grey’, which were written more than fifty years apart, you would
expect them to be very different due to changes in society. You would expect that
society’s attitudes towards women would have changed since the 1950s,
especially since the second wave feminist movement of the 1970s and ‘80s. You
would expect women to be far more equal to men, and maybe on the surface, it
seems to be. But actually it appears that this isn’t the case.
In the ‘Story of ‘O’, Reage set out to write like a man, to
write sadistic, pornographic, erotic fiction like the Marquis De Sade. She
wanted to prove that a woman could write such sadistic fiction just like a man.
Her attempt is, seemingly, successful. She does write extreme sadomasochistic
fiction, which fits the patriarchal model of men being dominant and women
submissive and passive, men as subject, woman as object, just like De Sade did.
But what she adds, which De Sade did not, is a love story. This is not
surprising, because, however liberated she wanted to appear to be, she was
influenced by her own experience of being a woman in 1950s society. A society
that saw women as passive. To be housewives and mothers, loving, submissive and
nurturing. The reward for her compliance with this given role was that she wins
the love of a man. So simply, Reage wrote about patriarchy from a traditional
view.
The only part of the novel that challenges patriarchal
influence is in the scene where ‘O’ carries out the whipping on another, but
interestingly, the other is not a man, it is another woman. Would making the
whipping against a man have freed Reage from patriarchal influence, if she had
whipped another man she would have moved from object to subject status and visa
versa. In an active position she would have become the empowered one, but as it
was toward another woman she did not become equal to man, she was still
carrying out the male’s desire.
22
In ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ the female character, Anastasia
Steele, appears to be an independent career woman, who willingly goes into a
sadomasochistic relationship with Christian Grey, the hero of the novel, and
for this she is rewarded by his love. The novel suggests that Steele is
becoming sexually liberated, but what we actually see is her letting herself be
controlled by the man, she s submissive so that she can win the love of the
Grey. Anastasia Steele is conforming to her role of object; she desires to be
desired by the subject, the man, Christian Grey. The story ends with marriage
and children, which also fit the traditional patriarchal social view of the
ultimate ideal. The book appears to be giving the female character, and the
reader, sexual liberation, but what it is really doing is simply re-enforcing
the patriarchal model. James has written traditional romantic fiction. in line
with patriarchy.
The massive success of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ is very
revealing. Women today, it appears, seem to think of themselves as being
sexually liberated and wanting to explore their sexuality but actually they are
accepting the patriarchal traditionalism that this book is really giving them.
The reader it would seem, feels liberated by reading the novel, (the increased
divorce rate and sales of sex toys since the publication of the novel may
suggest this). The reader may feel she is choosing liberation but really she is
simply conforming to the patriarchal status quo.
Both novels focus heavily on physical appearance, femininity
and masculinity. What the writers, Reage and James, give us is very traditional
ideals of how a man and a woman should be, not just in their character but in
the way they look. These appearances, these ideals, of the feminine and masculine
both conform to society’s views, views which again are in line with patriarchy.
Women are seen as pretty objects that desire to be desired, and so, the women
in the novels, conform and enjoy conforming to the male desires. And the men
within each novel, desires a particular type of woman, he sets out how she
should look physically as well as her temperance. He dictates her appearance;
he dictates what is the ideal of femininity.
23
The female writers in both these novels have not been able
to escape their own social conditioning, that of their traditional object
status within society, both back in the 1950s for Reage and more currently for
James. Each woman has not been able to move into a new way of writing, and so
the reader will only be able to take a traditional, patriarchal influence from
the books. Both women write as men and so can only be read as men.
The general theme being that of sadomasochism is the more
obvious sign as to what these novels are telling their readers. Sadism toward
the female from the male characters is very much an obvious way of telling the
reader that man should control woman, that woman should be masochistic in order
to be desired, to be feminine and to ultimalty be loved. It also suggests, as
Lacan spoke about when talking of ‘the lack’, that she will need to continue to
submit herself, and maybe become more extremely objectified to satisfy the man.
And that her only happiness, her filling of her on ‘lack’ will be to win the
love of the man, and this, within both novels, is that she submit herself wholly.
It appears that not much has really changed since the 1950s,
or even from the strong push of the 1970s and 80s second wave feminist
movement. It seems that, as Natasha Walter has suggested, we have gone
backwards, or did popular culture ever really move forward into a more equal
society of men and women. Women
are still willing to go along with patriarchal society and continue to support
it by reading, and in fact, writing books such as ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, women are given yet more confirmation
of their place when they read novels such as this. Whether they realize this or
not. These novels seem to both suggest that it is nature that has dictated the
roles of feminine and masculine, as they portray conforming to these roles as
ultimately satisfying, so basically these novels are telling their reader to
submit to nature, as dictated within the novels, is to find contentment and
satisfaction. They are not as liberated as they think or is suggested, traditional
values seem to still be held. And what women are, seemingly, wanting is to be
desired, and the ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ trilogy is certainly giving them this.
If women are ever to achieve equality with men, they have to
change these socially constructed roles and find new ones. We need to be given,
in relation to this essay,
24
fiction that is written from another perspective, a woman’s
perspective or an un-gendered perspective, that is not in line with the
patriarchal model, the reader needs to be given real
liberation.
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Female
sadomasochistic erotic fiction, ‘The story of O’ & ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ :
Patriarchal
control, or sexual liberation?
Harriet Hoff
Chelsea College of Art &
Design BA Fine Art
2013
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