What ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ Says About the Modern Sexual Condition

What is the sexual milieu, the sexual world-surface onto which Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels have crash-landed so spectacularly? As always, we are very, very confused. Should we be swinging, opening up our marriages, going three or four in a bed like the writhing nonconformists on Showtime’s reality show Polyamory? They seem to have the same problems with jealousy, lust, and so on as we poor monogamous bastards do. Or should we ironically and expertly self-gratify, like the anonymous sex diarists in New York magazine? “6:18 p.m. Kids just got picked up by ex-husband. Commence me time, meaning: buzzing myself into oblivion with my bullet vibrator, followed by yoga and mindless tweeting.” The sex enjoyed by, endured by, the young women on HBO’s Girls is abrupt and disorienting, like bumping into a lamppost.

Read more. [Image: Yuko Shimizu]