Fifty’s Narrative

Ok, so here’s the thing, I never, ever intended to write about Fifty Shades of Grey.  Oh the reasons for not writing about it are endless.

I’m a literature snob.  I do love a good trashy, low rent beach read from time to time, but my reading tastes lean to works that are more, shall we say artful?

Think pieces are not really my thing either.

Also, I’m not a prude; the sex in the book generally doesn’t bother me, and I’m intrigued by the zillions of interpretive dance think pieces on freaky sex, control based sex, sex abuse, sex assault, feminism, patriarchy, religion, etc that have been launched by the book. My commentary on the sex is simple: as a literary vehicle, the sex in the book is gratuitous, even if it is consensual.

The reviews and promotion of the books and the movie have been pervasive; I mean what could I say that hasn’t already been said? Really?

So much writing over a book that is as close to real literature as a frosted poptart from a box is to a slice of cake from the best cakery you can name? Chile, please.

The truth is that I’m trying to get back into pleasure reading post-dissertation, and my recent trip to St. Kitts [for work!] afforded me a few languid hours of beach time.  I left a new book at home by accident and didn’t find anything in the airport worth reading. So in scrolling through my trove of e-books the Fifty series came up.  Meh, it’s an easy, mind numbing read.  So I reread the first two books previously read while laying on a beach a few islands over a couple of years ago.

And I got to thinking… about Christian and his sexy shenanigans.

Spoiler alert for anyone living under a rock and doesn’t know much about the books: Christian Grey was adopted.

In fact, the whole premise for Christian Grey’s fifty shades of effed up is the neglect and abuse he experienced as a very young child.  And although he was adopted by an affluent, loving family, he went on to be a vulnerable teen who was further sexually abused by a family friend.  He became a successful entrepreneur who experiences wild mood swings, seeks to control every aspect of his environment, experiences night terrors related to childhood trauma and engages in sexual behavior that some may find deviant, but it allows him to control what happens to him and his body.

So, um, yeah.

Any adoptive parents out there see what I see here once you strip away all the sexy time distractions?

#ifyouveseenitandyouknowitclapyourhands

#clapclap

Hey, I don’t know what’s going on in your house, but as I reread the first book I thought, on a much smaller scale, I see some of these behaviors with Hope.  Yeah, I compared Hope to Christian Grey, don’t get your drawers in a bunch! #followmenow

Mood swings? Check.

Fear for safety? Check, but less so now.

Night terrors? Check, still have them occasionally.

Socially vulnerable? Check.

Full of shame? Check.

Control freak? Check.

Presence of some really hard limits? Oh yeah, triple check.

In fact over the last week I’ve been using a hard/soft limit/safe word framework for sorting through what Hope and I work through. We have hard limits–sooo hard they feel like emotional granite.  I’ve told the therapist what they are; I’ve encouraged Hope to discuss them, but nope.  Not going to happen.  She ain’t budging anytime soon.

I know when to push the soft limits now, and I know the safe words to soothe her and to make her relax a bit.

Troubled first families, adoption, childhood trauma and its lingering effects are major explanatory drivers for Christian’s behavior in this series, and I haven’t really seen anyone talk about it.  Really…are we so hopped up about the sex in the book that folks missed these elements?  I mean, It’s not until the later books in the series that Christian’s adoption narrative gets a bit more attention and his early abuse is really cast as the reason for his behavior, but the groundwork for this narrative is firmly laid in the first book.

As I had this epiphany about the storyline, I found myself questioning E.L. James’ use of adoption as this narrative thread through the books.  Why don’t interviewers ask her about it? Why aren’t there think pieces about adoption narratives as literary tools?  I wonder if James thinks that adopting an older child just leads to this kinda thing?  I mean…might this inadvertently reinforce that older adoptees are some how broken?  Or does it make folks think that this isn’t the picture of dealing with the drama of childhood trauma? Did she make Christian a poster kid for vulnerable, traumatized kids only to then paint him as somehow exceptional because this just doesn’t really happen with “truly committed” adoptive families?

So, I saw Fifty Shades through a lens that I didn’t have about 3 years ago.  I see Christian for what he is, someone still fighting the struggle to heal from the fifty effed up things that happened to him. I wonder how adoptees feel about this storyline?  I wonder how other adoptive parents feel about it?  It gives me fifty shades of feelings that are hard to parse out and describe.  It’s uncomfortable because purely focusing on some of Christian’s emotional capacity issues makes the book story plausible.

My daughter came to me emotionally much younger than her chronological years.  Hope struggles with the long term effects of childhood trauma.  She didn’t want to be touched at all when she first came home.  Some soothing behaviors were socially awkward at best, offensive at worst.  She works hard at healing.  We work hard at healing.

It’s hard seeing some of your story in the backstory of a book like Fifty. It’s also hard knowing how hard the child and parents are working to get to some sort of normal, because it doesn’t happen automatically at placement or finalization.  It’s hard seeing a characterization that all of the work might still lead to adult behaviors that give people the willies and make them write think pieces about your sexual proclivities.

I find myself wanting to sit down and have a drink with Christian and his adoptive parents.  Hey what therapies did you try?  What behaviors were the most challenging?  Mom, how did you not know your bestie was getting it in with your son?  How did you manage?  What would you do differently? You had resources for all kinds of stuff, but did you have the emotional support you needed?

I have so many questions about Christian’s life and healing.  99 questions and not one about sex.