LONDON—According to the New York Daily News, a British charity wants to conduct a mass burning of Fifty Shades of Grey, the New York Times best-selling book that has created a boon in sales of BDSM-related products.
Claire Phillipson, who runs Wearside Women in Need, an English organization that that battles domestic abuse, has scheduled a Nov. 5 burning of 50 copies of E.L. James' books, calling them vile. She also refers to the relationship between the main characters, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey, as abusive.
Phillipson told the BBC, which first reported the story, "I do not think I can put into words how vile I think this book is and how dangerous I think the idea is that you get a sophisticated but naive, young women and a much richer, abusive older man who beats her up and does some dreadful things to her sexually."
She also admitted she has not read the books in full.
Random House, which publishes the trilogy, told the BBC, "The sex scenes are entirely consensual."
Phillipson is not the first to speak out against the novels without reading them. Dr. Drew Pinskey, host of Love Lines and Celebrity Rehab, spoke out against the books, saying BDSM is anti-feminist, it glorifies subjugation, and it encourages domestic abuse.
Despite the negative attention from those who can't be bothered to do the research of reading the books they are condemning, sales of the books and items related to the sex scenes within them continue to soar.
According to recent statistics published by Adam & Eve, BDSM items account for 2 percent of all sex toys sales, but because of the recent craze of Fifty Shades, sales of bondage sex toys have increased by more than 50 percent, and sales of Kegel exercisers, like the "silver balls" mentioned in the books, have skyrocketed by 350 percent.
