Fifty Shades of Grey has been one of the most influential pieces of fiction of the last decade. It might
not have won any literary awards and plenty of readers hated the clunky plot and formulaic sex
scenes, but it has certainly rocked a few boats.
Fan Fiction
The books began life as Twilight fan-fiction on an online website. E.L. James was inspired by
Stephanie James’ hit novels and decided she could write a novel, too. So she sat down and began to
flesh out her characters: emotionally damaged billionaire Christian Grey was loosely based on
Edward Cullen and naïve college student was based on Bella Swan. Many of the stories E.L. James
wrote were too explicit for the fan-fic website, so she began posting them on her own website before
going down the self-publishing route.
The rest is history and today the infamous trilogy has spawned a film, numerous merchandizing deals,
and a small fortune for its author. Well over a 10 million copies of the books have been sold all over
the world and there is still a huge demand for them. So much so that E.L James recently published a
new book, which was essentially the same story but told from Christian’s perspective instead; lazy
perhaps, but still profitable nevertheless. So how has Fifty Shades of Grey changed the world?
Bondage on the Menu
Before Fifty Shades, bondage was a largely hidden world where scary women in leather fetish gear
charged a lot of money to inflict pain on eager clients. Today women of all ages are aware of what
floggers and nipple clamps are. They are also more likely to consider visiting
https://www.sexelle.co.uk/sex-toys/sex-toy-gift-sets to buy some kinky sex toys without blushing.
Mommy Porn
E.L. James sparked a self-publishing phenomenon. Now millions of women have jumped on the
self-publishing band wagon and put their own erotic novels out there for eager readers to devour on
the train to work.
Put Sex Back on the Agenda
Reading the Fifty Shades trilogy has proved to be a life-changing event for many women. It has
sparked millions of conversation about sex, in the workplace, at book clubs, and over the dinner table.
Thanks to E.L. James, sex is no longer a taboo subject in middle class homes and we are all happy to
discuss the relative merits of cable ties as a sexual restraint.
Boosted the Birth Rate
Fifty Shades has certainly a caused a baby boom in the UK, where one leading supermarket has just
announced a 170% increase in maternity clothing sales nine months after the film version of E.L.
James steamy book was released.
Saved a Lot of Marriages
It’s probably fair to say that Fifty Shades of Grey has injected new life into a lot of stale marriages, by igniting the thrill of experimentation in the bedroom and making sex sexy once again.
The latest news is that the second film adaptation will have a new director, James Foley, but the
original two stars, Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan have signed up to reprise their roles as Ana and
Christian.
