{"id":86217,"date":"2015-02-05T19:26:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-06T01:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.austincnm.com\/?p=86217"},"modified":"2015-02-06T13:50:47","modified_gmt":"2015-02-06T19:50:47","slug":"86217","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atxcatholic.com\/index.php\/2015\/02\/86217\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Each Other Accountable: Fifty Shades of Grey"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"book2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I enjoy movies. A lot. I appreciate great story lines. I get drawn by both great cinematography. I become invested in characters when an actor\/actress does a good job.<\/p>\n

But this February, I won\u2019t be watching the Valentine\u2019s Day movie release Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Between the product description of the book on Amazon (which includes words to describe the main characters such as \u201cerotic tastes\u201d and \u201cpassionately physical affair\u201d), overheard discussions, Facebook status updates about Fifty Shades of Grey <\/i>ever since the book came out, and unexpectedly viewing the trailer during Mockingjay, <\/i>I\u2019ve been able to draw the conclusion that the story is most definitely not for me. Or any Catholic. Or Christian. Or, for anyone really.<\/p>\n

Despite the author\u2019s description of Fifty Shades of Grey <\/i>as an \u201cold fashioned love story,\u201d what I\u2019ve actually heard it called is more often is \u201cerotic romance\u201d or \u201cacceptable porn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"fraddmeme1\"<\/p>\n

A story with sexually explicit scenes of\u00a0domination\/submission, bondage\/discipline and\u00a0sadism\/masochism doesn\u2019t speak to the dignity of\u00a0the human person we believe in. It makes out the\u00a0female character, Ana, to be an object of desire and\u00a0lust, not of value, devaluing the dignity of the\u00a0female. Additionally, the male character Christian Grey hijacks the meaning of what it means to truly be a man. Instead of loving, caring and suffering for the woman he loves (as Christ did for us and as God calls men to do in relationships (Ephesians 5:25-28<\/a>), Grey dominates.<\/p>\n

Knowing all this, the fact that the Fifty Shades of Grey<\/i> movie is coming out on Valentine\u2019s Day seems like a perverse joke.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be a challenge to believe and speak against the excitement of this movie, especially in the coming weeks. And as Catholics and Christians we are called to help keep each other accountable in our faith journey. So why shouldn\u2019t we watch Fifty Shades of Grey? And how can we talk about it with others? Here\u2019s a great article and video on \u201c50 Things to Know about 50 Shades of Grey<\/a>\u201d that will help.<\/p>\n