Oh my Shades! (See what I did there?) New study reveals that women captivated by the the popular first edition of* Fifty Shades of Grey*, scored highest on the ambivalent sexism scale - eish
According to science, researchers revealed that young women who joyously read Fifty Shades of Grey cover to cover, have been proven to show sexist attitudes. On the off chance you’ve never heard of the book, it’s written by author EL James and plays on eroticism, tedious foreplay and a whole lot of spanking.
So, what does this mean? Well to put it simply, researchers carried out a study on a little over 700 women, aged between 18-24. The study required subjects to answer a number of questions regarding the book – the results came back and hey presto, sexism. In short, the study suggests that women who actually complete the first of the three Fifty Shades books (like read every single word), are more likely to advocate sexist beliefs. More so than those who either did not complete the book or those who have never read it.
Though some may class the novel as stimulating and or adventurous, others, class the novel as rather patronising, demeaning and a little belittling of Ana’s character – though of course, I can only base this judgement on Jamie Dornan’s overly submissive portrayal of Christian Grey.
Findings published in this journal reinforce the idea that there are stereotypical sexist representations of men and women - well duh. The study basically reveals the key stereotypical and sexist representations, demonstrating the idea that males must be represented as strong, in control and masterful beings. Women on the other hand, are typically viewed as unassertive, weak or fragile. Ugh.
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Follow Lauren on Twitter @lawrenrae_
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.