And all because of a book, Fifty Shades of Grey, which is now one of the fastest selling books of all time, beating Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160862/Fifty-Shades-Of-Grey-book-outstrips-Harry-Potter-fastest-selling-paperback-time.html#ixzz1yDpdkuVs

Sex toys and BDSM bondage sales are going through the roof as a result of the popular novel:
http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/health/love-sex/article/-/13905118/50-shades-of-grey-spurs-sale-of-sex-toys/

The novel is about a relationship between a young female virgin and her billionaire lover (a super rich good looking guy, go figure!), and it includes graphic sex scenes, including sadomasochism.

When I was in college a few months ago this book was optional reading for my human sexuality class. I managed to get through the first 8 or 9 pages before returning it to the library. I can't believe such a poorly written piece of literature (I almost feel ashamed to call this "literature") could become so popular. The book is roughly of the same quality you'd find in those cheap supermarket romance novels. Complete and utter trash!

Western culture has sunk to a new, pathetic low.

In the past (I have my eye primarily on the 1700's, but there were many centuries likewise worthy of note), only a select few (relatively few) had access to education, and boy what an education it was! The Classics (Greek, Latin, and respective myths, essays, and works), science, music, sportsmanship (fencing, hunting, etc.), and so on were taught, and from hired tutors who excelled in their respective fields. Tutoring was rigorous and wholly individualistic. Today, we have universal education. Regardless of idiocy, intelligence, etc. everyone is educated and in mass droves. Additionally, nearly everyone has a "shot" at publishing. Will we ever reach the heights of the literature of the past? Harold Bloom declares no. I am not disinclined to disagree with him. Fools abound these days, and, this time, they have something called "an education" to "boast" of.

I’ve been hearing a lot about Fifty Shades of Grey recently. I actually have this book on reserve at the library, but the problem is there are a thousand people in front of me, so I probably won’t get it in for another year. I just hope it’s as good as the first Twilight book, although I don't have a lot of faith. Seems like a poor man's Secretary, but we'll see.

I'm quite baffled that it's a real book. I first saw it mentioned in a webcomic, but I assumed it was fictional and didn't even bother looking it up.

I have to agree with James_Young in that promiscuous women seem to have an incredibly easy time publishing their stuff and making it well known, they don't necessarily have to meet quality standards. Aside from international cases like Belle de Jour, Melissa Panarello, etc, we had a woman in our country who gained fame and riches by telling her stories of her time as a sex slave in Japan (she wrote a book too). It always disgusted me how she was not only perfectly comfortable with her "job", but to this day she keeps popping up all over the TV and adopting highly sexualized poses in every magazine cover she's in. She could have taken a completely different path and become a voice for sexual exploitation victims in the East, but she chose this instead, she chose to spread the ridiculous message that you can be a hooker and still be cool. Now her teenage daughter is following in her footsteps by sleeping with celebrities and living off of the resulting gossip.

The fast food culture has infiltrated virtually every aspect of western society be it education or DSR.

Holy fuck, that's utterly disgusting. I sometimes wish such books were banned, unless all sexually explicit content is cut out. Henry Miller's works were banned for several decades, and it fairly worked, as none of them ever had such a devastating impact on hundreds and thousands of humans. Shit, a few centuries ago it would be practically impossible to come across a book containing a single graphic sex scene, let alone such a massive amount of filth.

And now, I will have to encounter even more masses of deviants engaging in such a lewd behaviour on a regular basis. They would never be ashamed of it, they'd rather scream it in my face. When will this come to an end?

Why the fuck did I happen to be born in this crazy era? I'm just asking, why?!

I think you guys are making this a much bigger deal than it really is. I don’t see anything wrong with saucy books written for house fraus. It provides a form of escapism that entertains while at the same time does so in a safe and confined way. It’s not any different than say, playing a violent videogame or watching explicit erotic cinema. The only sad thing to me about this fad is these women are living vicariously through a series of erotic literature, instead of actually talking to their partners about their thoughts and desires. Other than that, I don’t see how this is destroying civilization.

?

People are saying that somehow a bestselling erotic book containing BDSM is somehow emblematic of western culture sinking to a pathetic low, and that this is evidence that everyone associated with these books are deviants engaging in lewd behavior on a regular basis. I don’t agree with this. To me, it’s no worse than comic books or videogames. It’s just a book. A book isn’t a good or bad thing, and it has no intrinsic moral value, and it certainly doesn’t reflect on the people reading them.

Mr. Misanthrope going to bat for Western Civilization? I never thought I'd see the day.

Haha, I kid, I kid.

I see that point that violent vids don't turn people into raging sociopathic killers. But the thing is, even if people engage in consensual sexual acts involving BDSM from reading a novel, will that really be an indication of civilization crumbling? No, not at all.

It's just another form of porn, isn't it? It may be gross, but what's the problem? People get horny, folks.

BDSM is something that should be controlled(or banned).I still have problems with wiping it out of my life.

That's the funniest thing you've ever said Pavel

Tie up the protestors and leave them in suspension.