Following the massive success of the naughty novel Fifty Shades of Grey, Kirsty Judge from the University of Warwick’s The Boar writes that the book that has bought the feminist lobbyists out in force does not signal the end of feminism:

I’m never quite comfortable with an article that seems to demand the opening phrase “As a feminist”. One might as well begin with “As a blonde” or, “As a 21 year old Zelda enthusiast with a penchant for Vogue cigarettes and ridiculous jumpers” (in case you were wondering, this is a perspective of undeniable authority which none can refute). One can almost hear less open-minded readers running for the hills, possibly shouting “Watch out, she’ll take off her bra! And demand maternity leave!”. Unfortunately, however, the furore surrounding E L James’ saucy Fifty Shades trilogy seems to demand this polarising and somewhat ridiculous declaration of intent. These badly written and frankly repetitive books seem to have brought the entire internet out in hives that spell “IS FEMINISM DEAD?!?!” across the forehead of society. And my answer is, (as a feminist): no. Don’t be ridiculous.

Now, before you scuttle away, either in sheer boredom at finding yet another Fifty Shades vs Feminism article or in fear of my endless locks of unshaven armpit hair, that I may or may not use as a lasso to capture unwary men, I must beg you to continue reading. Yes, there is much of the debate online already. Yes, your mum has probably already read it, and if, like me, you have accidentally logged in to her Facebook on occasion (shared computers are a bitch), you know that most of her friends have read it too. You may also be trying to scrub the memory of your primary school dinner lady raving over the joys of Christian Grey’s “playroom” from your Inner Gallery of Horrors. But, because I read the entire trilogy so that I could write this, and I refuse to suffer for no reason, YOU ARE GOING TO FINISH READING THIS ARTICLE…

Full story here.