I think we’re all aware of the influence that the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy has had on most cultures, but if you were doubting it, consider, if you will, a mental revision: Fifty Shades of American Women magazine is out now. For those “Who Love the Book and Live the Life,” Fifty Shades comprises the true recipe for magazine success: part tabloid (with predictions for the actors that will play the novel’s characters in the eventual film), part Cosmopolitan (with tips on how to write a flirty email, a spread featuring 20 of the best-loved sex toys, and a feature from a woman who’s been both a domme and a sub, but prefers now to just “cuddle and makeout”), and part Shape (with tips on how to get Ana’s butt and how to “eat like a sex goddess”).
The magazine even takes a crack at defining why the series is so popular. Ariel Knoebel writes in “American Revolution” that Fifty Shades of Grey, in all its popularity, has given women permission to openly talk about sex, with friends, family, and partners. And isn’t it about time? Sex toy shops, according to the article, have claimed ridiculously large increases in sales, courtesy of E.L. James’ novels. Plus, everyone wants to know what’s next—if you enjoy Fifty Shades of Grey and don’t want the fantasies to stop, where do you go?
Well, you can start by reviewing Rachel Kramer Bussel’s list, which the magazine includes (thumbs up to Alison Tyler’s Cuffing Kate, which our own Lana Fox gave the stamp of approval to in Glo magazine), or you can keep doing what you’re doing—keeping the pulse on Go Deeper Press. We’re getting ready to meet all demands, and we promise you a wild and steamy ride.
Go Deeper Press 
Wow! I gotta find a copy of this magazine.
It’s funny, right? But it looks like it’s everywhere. You can do what I did: Go shopping for dog food, and find it right in between the juice box and paper towel aisles, front and center on the newsstand.
Why does it always take popular culture to make people feel as though they finally have permission to feel and desire? While I am thrilled more women and men are finally playing out their desires without shame, I can’t help but feel the residual sting from those who were judgmental of those of us who did so long before a book told us it was ok, but now claim sisterhood with their newfound sexual liberation.
Erogenous, I wish I had a rock-solid response to this, but I’ve got to admit when I’m stumped: I have absolutely no idea why Fifty Shades hit it so big. Well, there’s the big marketing budget and everything, and thus the pop culture influence, but the novel was a best seller before Vintage picked it up and got it into every grocery and department store. So, I usually attribute it to a cultural shift. You mention in one of your own posts that women (and men, too) are now wrapped up and embracing “darkness,” referencing the Twilight series (sexy vampires and werewolves, as if this was some new twist, which it just isn’t). Erotic lit has been around for centuries, but then E.L. James hits it big, and people start screaming for it.
And feel free to call me out on this, but I’m happy to welcome anyone in to the party, just as long as they don’t make a mess that they won’t clean.
I wish that this had come as a consequence of reading The Beauty series by Anne Roquelaure (Rice), as it did for me. I suppose because Fifty Shades is on the most “fluffy” side, it made it more accessible to women. And I don’t mean that as a slight to us ladies, but I am thinking of the woman who is the typical “Oprah Book Club” type reader when I say this.
As I said in my post (here for anyone who might want to read it: “Fifty Shades of Tickled Pink”) http://erogenousblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/fifty-shades-of-tickled-pink/, I am thankful that Fifty Shades of Grey opened up the mainstream erosphere to kink, and even if it seems to lack a certain authenticity, it is still never a bad thing to find people willing to explore their own sexuality more deeply, whatever the influence.
I thought it was SEX & THE CITY which had finally gotten women to openly talk about sex. At least in S&tC, the girls actually talk about sex, instead of calling their cunt “down there”… Ana/Bella never even gets on “first name terms” with Christian/Edward’s dick, since the words “dick” or “penis” never appear once in the whole trilogy. And “cock” is only used as a verb when someone “cocks their head”. What’s so open and revolutionry about that??!!
[…] you hear what we’ve found: There’s a Fifty Shades magazine! Go Deeper Press (heh) found this glorious text on the newsstands, and judging from their description, it’s part tie-in, part fanfiction: For those “Who Love […]
I never knew I needed the permission of a book series based on plagiarism and enforcing every shame and control program our culture inflicts to talk about sex.
where do i buy it?
Try your local bookstore, grocery store, newsstand, pharmacy…it seems fairly accessible!
This. Is. BULL SHIT. If you REALLY live the life, you don’t love the book.
How about consulting a REAL BDSM involved person instead of this garbage of a magazine.