Nicky Stokes reviews the steamy, controversial 50 Shades trilogy and wonders, is it much taboo about nothing?

I’m not saying the hype surrounding this erotic trilogy, written by British born EL James is over rated, it’s just… well… being a woman today is a lot easier than it was, say when our grandmothers were our age, especially in the western world.

Rewind 50 years, and the idea of a woman openly sitting on the beach, or in her favourite breakfast diner, or on a busy train, openly reading about a man named Christian Grey tying an innocent young lady up and doing unimaginably pleasurable things to her, would have been a sure way to get the poor woman condemned to hell and banished from society with a lot more than a few eyebrows raised in her direction.

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Our great-grandmothers would be turning in their graves if they could see how ‘in-your-face’ and proud their fairer sex descendants had become about sex and their sexuality.

Today, women throw ‘toy’ parties instead of Tupperware parties. Today, women are lucky enough to be able to empower themselves sexually.

Sex is not merely for procreation anymore, and women are embracing their sexual side and having as much fun as males.

Why should the men get to have all the fun, right? Up until recent years, it’s been men movies have been made for.

Think Demi Moore in Strip Tease. Think Bond girls. Think Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct, Pamela Anderson in Barbed Wire. The list is endless.

At the end of the day, it boils down to sexual objectification: Women put on screen to ooze sex so movies can sell.

But what have women had? How many male sexual objectification roles have been brought to the silver screen?

Sure we’re grateful for eye candy such as Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Ryan Gosling and the likes… but none have actually put themselves out there blatantly for women to look at in a sexual way and maybe even store a few mental images from hot scenes for moments when they’re alone in the dark and feeling the urge to fulfill their own desires.

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Not until Magic Mike anyway, and not until 50 Shades of Grey. Suddenly, western women around the world are sitting up and saying “Hang on a minute. I am a sexual being with urges too. This man gets me hot. Why should I have to hide it, and why should I have to be a shrinking violet about it?”

There is a flip side to the appeal of it all too: on a deeper, psychological scale.

Put aside the sexual objectification aspect of 50 Shades of Grey. The way in which pure, inexperienced Anastasia has this man – this powerful,  self-made, successful man – worshipping her is where the real power trip for women comes in, and the experience they’re really after.

As powerful as this man is, his strength is no match for the way in which he loses himself in her. And I bet women are charging forth into unchartered sexual waters in their relationships to get a taste of the power Anastasia holds over Christian Grey. Submission aside.

Worldette reader, Kerry Webb, says: “That such an inexperienced, naive woman could consume, change and bewitch a man is an empowering idea for any woman. It speaks to the power of women. And deep down inside, almost all of us have the desire to be seen as a vixen, a goddess, while at the same time being protected and looked after, almost like a child.”

What do you think? Do you agree with Nicky’s take on the 50 Shades trilogy? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!