'Fifty Shades of Grey' Trailer Launches, Sexpert Warns Film Will 'Normalize Pornography for Women'
The first official trailer for "Fifty Shades of Grey," a film based on the bestselling E. L. James book series, hit the internet last week like a tidal wave, spawning various reaction videos and a media frenzy.
The trailer shows the book's character Christian Grey seducing the young Anastasia Steele through various unconventional sexual encounters. He utters the words "I don't do romance" during the clip, setting the tone for what type of experience viewers should expect.
Dr. Juli Slattery, clinical psychologist and co-author of Pulling Back the Shades: Erotica, Intimacy and the Longings of a Woman's Heart, feels that the movie will add to a movement that has already been working to normalize pornography for women.
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"There are a lot of people who won't read, but will go see a movie," said Slattery to The Christian Post. "The fact that this movie is so mainstream and that it's on 'Good Morning America' and all over social media means that [our culture] is normalizing pornography."
"So people who would have a bad reaction to the word pornography that wouldn't go in an adult book store, this [movie] is kind of a gateway to make this an acceptable form of entertainment," she added.
Slattery, a professing Christian and leader of the non-profit Authentic Intimacy, believes the book and the movie normalize sinful behavior, making them harmful for the believing women who consume them.
"At Authentic Intimacy we constantly hear from Christian women that are defending Fifty Shades of Grey, they don't see the problem with it," she said. "Having read the book, not just the sexual content that's included, but the fact that the F word is used over 100 times in each of three books, that there are spiritual themes that are very dark [in them]. When Christian women are engaging in them and not having the discernment that there's something wrong [with them] there's a huge negative effect."
She believes the books and the movie encourage women to journey outside of their marriage to find sexual excitement and said eventually it will have the same numbing effect on females that internet porn has on males.
Slattery complimented E. L. James on her ability to "interweave" and "exploit" the needs of women throughout the series. She credits that skill as one of the main factors leading to the book's overwhelming popularity and Hollywood jumping on its bandwagon.
"She's created this character that's the fantasy of a lot of women," she said. "[James has also] given women permission to be sexual and I think that's a big part of why this is such a huge seller.
"But from a spiritual perspective I also see that sometimes as Christians we can identify when God is moving, but I think we can also say the same about when Satan moves. We can see a spiritual movement of evil and I really think that plays into what we are seeing here," Slattery explained.
Pulling Back the Shades: Erotica, Intimacy and the Longings of a Woman's Heart is currently available for purchase through various retailers.
