[Disclaimer: While this blog post discusses Rule 34 statistics, it doesn't contain explicit imagery, embedded links to pornographic material or excessive coarse language.]

It's the tenth of the month, so you know what that means. That's right! It's time for another in-depth analysis of clop!



My previous Rule 34 blog posts are available at the following links.

August 2012 / At the rate things are going...

September 2012 / Famous Bronies

October 2012 / Digimon

November 2012 / Equestrian elections

December 2012 / Top 11 Hottest Animated Women

January 2013 / General porn statistics

February 2013 / Touhou review

March 2013 / Season three wrap up

April 2013 / Idolm@ster

May 2013 / OC woes

June 2013 / Ribald Rivalries

July 2013 / A major announcement

August 2013 / Rule 34 Origins

September 2013 / Equestria Girls Review

October 2013 / Three years of MLP:FIM

November 2013 / Season Three Episode Retrospective

December 2013 / Twilight Sparkle's Rival

January 2014 / Passing the Bechdel Test

February 2014 / CP Atone

March 2014 / Loli and Stitch

April 2014 / The Binding of Wonder Woman

May 2014 / Cybersix Showdown

June 2014 / Sailor Moon and he Celestial Sorority

July 2014 / Misunderstood Monsters

August 2014 / Monogamous Malaise

September 2014 / All You Need is Love

October 2014 / Hub Homage Part 1

October 2014 / Hub Homage Part 2

October 2014 / Hub Homage Part 3

November 2014 / Rainbow Rocks Review

December 2014 / Top 10 Princesses of Porn

January 2015 / A Good Neighbor

Without further ado, here's the latest data from Rule34.paheal.net!



As of February 10, 2015, here's the state of Rule 34:

Pokemon still holds the lead with 91,134 images. 1,385 new explicit images were added during January, giving Pokemon a 1.5% increase in porn from last month. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is in second place with 65,364 images. 1,456 new explicit images were added during January, giving My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic a 2.2% increase in porn from last month. Touhou is in third place with 54,282 images. 533 new explicit images were added during January, giving Touhou a 0.9% increase in porn from last month. DC Comics is in fourth place with 25,717 images. 263 new explicit images were added during January, giving DC Comics a 1% increase in porn from last month. Street Fighter is in fifth place with 20,028 images. 194 new explicit images were added during January, giving Street Fighter a 0.9% increase in porn from last month. Naruto is in sixth place with 19,969 images. 349 new explicit images were added during January, giving Naruto a 1.7% increase in porn from last month. Marvel Comics is in seventh place with 19,080 images. 380 new explicit images were added during January, giving Marvel Comics a 2% increase in porn from last month. Sonic Team is in eighth place with 19,011 images. 423 new explicit images were added during January, giving Sonic Team a 2.2% increase in porn from last month. Digimon is in ninth place with 14,155 images. 90 new explicit images were added during January, giving Digimon a 0.6% increase in porn from last month. Super Mario Bros is in tenth place with 13,490 images. 272 new explicit images were added during January, giving Super Mario Bros a 2% increase in porn from last month.

Congratulations are in order for Pokemon, which became the first series on rule34.paheal.net to surpass 90,000 explicit images!



Street Fighter reached its own milestone by generating more than 20,000 pornographic pictures. Street Fighter only has 59 more images than Naruto. Marvel only has 69 more images than Sonic Team. There could potentially be a couple of major changes coming to the ranking of the top ten porn producers. We'll just have to watch and see if Street Fighter and Marvel can hold their respective positions, or if they'll be surpassed by Naruto and Sonic Team.



For the first time in six months, My Little Pony has produced more monthly porn than Pokemon! That's pretty incredible, considering the most recent episode of Friendship is Magic aired on May 10, 2014.



Since then, the only official pony-related animation we've seen was the release of Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks in September of 2014; and that was soon overshadowed by the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire for the Nintendo 3DS in November of 2014, which gave Pokemon a huge surge in new Rule 34. With the exception of Rainbow Rocks, there's been a dearth of official new substantive pony content. No new Friendship is Magic episodes for nine months! That's as long as the gap between season three and season four! The gap will only continue to increase, since there's no specific release date for season five. And yet, in spite of losing some steam, the brony fandom continues to keep on trottin'!



Let's take a moment to celebrate and remember the efforts of all the selfless fans who have created music, art and fanfics which sustain us in the breaks between new episodes.

Now that we've gone over the monthly update for the top ten porn producers, it's time to analyze the latest data regarding Rule 34 images for the mane six.

As of February 10, 2015, here's the state of Rule 34 for the mane six, according to Rule34.paheal.net:

Twilight Sparkle has 9,663 images. 220 explicit images were added during January, giving her a 2.3% increase from last month. Rainbow Dash has 7,912 images. 129 explicit images were added during January, giving her a 1.6% increase from last month. Fluttershy has 7,603 images. 135 explicit images were added during January, giving her a 1.8% increase from last month. Pinkie Pie has 6,868 images. 136 explicit images were added during January, giving her a 2% increase from last month. Rarity has 6,384 images. 150 explicit images were added during Januaryr, giving her a 2.4% increase from last month. Applejack has 6,249 images. 140 explicit images were added during January, giving her a 2.2% increase from last month.

Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle have both beaten Rainbow Dash in terms of porn production for five consecutive months. This is almost like a repeat of the data from last November. Rainbow Dash once again finds herself in last place in terms of porn production. It's really quite baffling how she continues to generate the least amount of new explicit imagery compared to her friends. One of Rainbow Dash's defining attributes in the early days of the fandom was that she was shipped with everyone. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore.



Special thanks to Infinion, who made these amazing graphs of the data I collected.



To start off with, here's the master chart of the top ten Rule 34 producers.



This chart represents more than four years' worth of Rule 34 data. In order to more closely examine the numbers, Infinion has broken the data into more manageable semi-annual charts.

Oct. 2010 - Mar. 2011.

Apr. - Sept. 2011.

Oct. 2011 - Mar. 2012.

Apr. - Sept. 2012.

Oct. 2012 - Mar. 2013.

Apr. - Sept. 2013.

Oct. 2013 - Mar. 2014.

Apr. - Sept. 2014

Which brings us to February 2015.



Here's a bar chart illustrating the monthly increase for the top 10 porn producers. (Total number; monthly increase)



To get an idea of how far My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has come since its premiere, here's a chart highlighting the monthly numerical data and moving average of MLP porn.



For those who desire a more consolidated look at the raw data, here's the numbers for the top ten porn producers, as well as their monthly increase.

Now let's take a look at the Rule 34 stats for the mane six. Here's their master chart.



In order to discover what these numbers mean, we'll need to delve deeper. In order to do that, we'll break down the data into semi-annual chunks.

Oct. 2010 - Mar. 2011.

Apr. - Sept. 2011.

Oct. 2011 - Mar. 2012.

Apr. - Sept. 2012.

Oct. 2012 - Mar. 2013.

Apr. - Sept. 2013.

Oct. 2013 - Mar. 2014.

Apr. - Sept. 2014.

Which brings us to February 2015.



Here's a bar chart illustrating the monthly increase for the mane six. (Total number; monthly increase)



For those who desire a more consolidated look at the raw data, here's the numbers for the mane six, as well as their monthly increase.

Defining Fanfiction



Before addressing this month's topic, let's first define fanfiction. Everyone on FIMfiction.net should have some cursory knowledge as to the nature of fanfics. For those who don't know, fanfics are stories about characters or settings from an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator. Fanfic authors count on fans of the original source material to be a ready-made community of readers for their stories. Those who write fanfics don't own the copyright to the characters in their stories, with the exception of OCs. For this reason, an implicit rule of fanfiction is that fanfic authors don't try to profit from their efforts. Fanfics are a labor of love; selflessly sharing new perspectives on familiar characters with fellow fans. Fanfic writers and legal scholars have argued persuasively that fanfiction meets the legal criteria for fair use, because it is both noncommercial (it poses no economic threat to the copyrighted material) and “transformative” (it adds novel insights or meanings to the source work).



Founded in 1998, FanFiction.net remains one of the most popular fanfiction forum on the Internet, with more than two million users who post and read stories derived from books, movies, TV shows and video games. Harry Potter is the most popular, with 705,000 fanfics. Naruto is in second place with 376,000 fanfics and Twilight is in third place with 217,000 fanfics. On Fanfiction.net, My Little Pony has a paltry 16,000 stories. Even if we were to use FIMfiction.net for comparison, there's roughly 100,000 stories on FIMfiction.net. It should be noted that FIMfiction allows explicit stories, while FanFiction.net doesn't. That being said, Mature-rated fanfics on FIMfiction make up only 15% of all stories on the site.



In a world where Pokemon is the only series to exceed MLP in terms of total porn production, it's humbling to realize that there are dozens of fandoms out there with more fanfiction than bronies. In spite of being dwarfed by Harry Potter, 100,000 stories is still an impressive achievement. That's over one billion words!

Harry Potter helped fanfiction to break into the mainstream, but it was actually the Twilight fandom which resulted in this month's topic, Fifty Shades of Grey.



Fifty Shades of Grey as Twilight Fanfiction

I referenced Fifty Shades of Grey during the Rule 34 update where I talked about Hasbro allowing authors to profit from their GI Joe fanfics by publishing them on Kindle Worlds.

Fifty Shades of Grey has attracted criticism due to its origin as a fanfic based on the Twilight novels, with some readers predicting copyright issues due to the connection. This resulted in a lawsuit after the movie rights were sold, with claims that "much or all" of the Fifty Shades material was part of the public domain, and that the federal copyright registrations for the books were "invalid and unenforceable," but the lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. In April 2012, the writer of the Fifty Shades trilogy, E. L. James, was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World."



The Fifty Shades trilogy was developed from a Twilight fanfic originally titled "Master of the Universe" and published episodically in 2009 by James on fanfiction websites under the pen name "Snowqueens Icedragon".



Despite the suggestive title, "Master of the Universe" doesn't include a crossover between Twilight and He-Man.



Instead, the story focuses on characters lifted from Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. Master of the Universe explores what might happen in Edward and Bella's relationship if they were unrestrained by Meyer's modest Mormon mindset. Like many fanfic writers, James uploaded her work in serial installments; a method which allows readers the opportunity to add comments as the story progresses and enables James to potentially incorporate this feedback into future chapters.

In the summer of 2010, James appeared with six other prominent Twilight fanfic writers on a panel at Comic Con. By 2011, James had rewritten Master of the Universe as an original piece, expunging all traces of its connection to Twilight with the principal characters renamed Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. She eventually removed the story from the fanfiction websites and published it on her own website, FiftyShades.com. James contracted with a small Australian press agency to publish it as the Fifty Shades trilogy, in ebook and print-on-demand paperback formats. The story was removed from FiftyShades.com prior to publication.

Although James changed the names of her central couple, the indelible mark of Twilight can still be seen throughout the narrative. Like Twilight, Fifty Shades of Grey is set in the Pacific Northwest, Edward/Christian has an adoptive family and Bella/Ana’s parents are separated, he initially warns her that she should stay away from him, he saves her from a threatening car/bicycle, and the emotional fragility displayed by the codependent heroine is particularly tedious in the face of her lover’s continued reassurances that she’s “flawless."



Despite James’ insistence that the Fifty Shades trilogy has been re-edited and is now a substantially different text to the fanfic it was based on, blogger DearAuthor compared both editions and disagrees. When she ran both versions through plagiarism-detecting site TurnItIn.com, she got a similarity index of 89%. Here's an example where the same words in both versions are highlighted in red.



"Everything's in red."

"Yeah, I know!"



On 1 August 2012, Amazon UK announced that it had sold more copies of Fifty Shades of Grey than it had the entire Harry Potter series combined, making E. L. James its best-selling author, replacing J. K. Rowling. Though in fairness, the Harry Potter series sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, compared to Fifty Shades of Grey's sales of 60 million copies. Having Rowling dethroned by James is like if the Beatles were overshadowed by the success of the Rutles.

Fifty Shades of Grey was number one on USA Today's best-selling books list for twenty weeks in a row, breaking a previous record of 16 weeks set by In the Kitchen with Rosie: Oprah's Favorite Recipes by Rosie Daley and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Let this be a lesson to those who write erotic fanfiction. There's clearly a market for it. In just six short years, Fifty Shades of Grey went from being a Twilight fanfic to a million dollar intellectual property, including a movie deal.

James' work originated as fanfiction, a genre that operates in online networks of fans brought together by a desire to write and read stories inspired by popular books, movies, TV shows and video games. Writing fanfics provided James with a built-in audience of thousands of readers, thus creating a market for her books before they were ever published. But fanfics are inherently collaborative in nature and staunchly noncommercial by conventional standards; attributes which make fanfiction's role in the evolution of her work both highly unusual and fraught with ethical complications.

If James used the Twilight mythos and fanbase in order to help create her own trilogy, does she owe Meyer any part of the millions of dollars she is currently making? Co-opting another person's characters and setting is nothing new, although most authors usually have the decency to wait until the original creator is dead and negotiate rights with the estate. Fanfics have also been around for a long time in massive quantities, but until the Fifty Shades trilogy started generating million dollar deals, no one was making any money from it. Some have argued that sanitizing a fan fiction for publication, aka filing off the serial numbers, constitutes a betrayal of fanfiction's noncommercial ethics and an invitation to legal trouble. Some accuse James of exploiting the Twilight fandom for her own gain.

Are we entering a brave new world where it’s acceptable to purloin another person's characters and setting without seeking permission, and where the creator of the material has no expectation of payment for the use of their intellectual property? Do writers and creators own their characters or do readers and fans? What if someone in the near future writes a Fifty Shades of Grey fanfic, develops a large following based on the popularity of the source material, changes 11% of the text, (just enough to replace all the proper nouns), and publishes it as its own entity? Or instead, simply do like so many others and capitalize on the popularity with an unauthorized parody.



There are at least three different musical comedies based on Fifty Shades of Grey.







Those who want a stage production which deals with bondage in a respectful manner are better off watching Lasso of Truth.



Copycat films are nothing new in Hollywood. For every successful Harry Potter, there's a Percy Jackson or a Billy Owens waiting in the wings to tap into that same market. But there's a big difference between a film being derivative of something popular and a story originating from within a fandom before severing the ties to emerge as its own entity.



Which brings us to the heart of the matter and the reason why this month's topic is Fifty Shades of Grey. The only thing about the Fifty Shades trilogy more infamous that its fanfic origins is its depiction of bondage.

Fifty Shades of Grey as BDSM Erotica

Sex seems to be inexorably linked with fanfiction. Authors of erotic fanfics possess a willingness to push boundaries by including perspectives and fetishes which occasionally deviate from the mainstream and may even mock certain concepts of the original series; often to the outrage some readers and the titillation of others. Some fanfics involve the writers taking what they love about a specific setting and reshaping it to fit their own world view. If the author is part of a lifestyle which is divergent from the majority, their activities can be reflected in their fiction, without having to worry about censorship or the constraints of commercial viability. This is especially true for those whose proclivities take them into the realm of taboo fetishes.



The Twilight series is the perfect sandbox for fanfic authors. It's easy to improve upon on the original, there are plenty of characters to work with and a reasonably detailed mythos to explore. Include the inherently Dominant/submissive relationship between Edward and Bella with the long initiation Bella undergoes to become part of the vampire lifestyle and it’s no wonder that the BDSM fanfic writers have had such a field day with the series. James isn't alone, either. There are hundreds of thousands of Twilight fanfic pieces online, many of them reimagine Edward and Bella as a human couple whose relationship isn’t defined by a Vampire/mortal dynamic, but as straightforward Dom/sub relationship. However, just as Meyer watered-down the vampire mythos by having them sparkle in sunshine, James tantalizes her readers with diluted kink.

Fifty Shades of Grey is a story that deals with a young, naive virgin who enters into a domination and submission relationship with an older, powerful, controlling man. Eventually she manages to bring out his softer side and the two fall in love. Fifty Shades of Grey introduced a whole new audience to the joys of kinky sex. While some bondage aficionados are excited that the popularity of the Fifty Shades trilogy has helped to "normalize" what was once considered an extreme sexual fetish, other practitioners are concerned that the fictional series gives bondage a bad name.



For the uninitiated, BDSM is a sexual practice that stands for bondage and discipline; dominance and submission; and sadism and masochism. Despite the power differential inherent in BDSM, bondage aficionados take the rules of consent and negotiated boundaries seriously.

BDSM has been called dehumanizing torture by its detractors, but aficionados of bondage know that it is the most nurturing and intimate form of human contact. It's not uncommon for people to have casual sex without any conversation, covenant or connection on an emotional level. They just go through the physical motions. That's not possible with BDSM. Those who engage in BDSM always plan things out in advance. There's no "winging it" when it comes to bondage. The safeword is sacrosanct between bondage enthusiasts. Those who fail to honor the safeword destroys their integrity and are shunned by the BDSM community. An estimated 3% of the US population engages in BDSM. That may not sound like a lot, but that's in the neighborhood of 5 million people.

In a recent survey of BDSM practitioners, over 80% of participants reported engaging in bondage and flagellation (i.e., whipping or flogging) in the past year. Most participants also reported making use of masks or blindfolds, as well as gags. However, an extremely wide range of behaviors was reported in this study, and these are just a few of the many activities that made the list. On a side note, it’s worth mentioning that more extreme forms of BDSM which may involve cutting, piercing or electric shocks tended to be pretty rare. For most people who engage in BDSM, just mild or symbolic pain is often the goal and the activities generally aren't violent or dangerous. When two people want to participate in bondage, the negotiations are up front. A safe word is chosen. When the word is said, the scene ends. Period. The colors on a stoplight are commonly used as safewords in bondage play.



"Red" and "yellow" are common safewords, since yellow conveys slowing down, while red requires the Dom to stop immediately. Too many people are caught up in the pageantry of bondage, with its whips and cuffs. People fail to realize the emotional undercurrent which flows through couples who engage in bondage. The desire to be sexually dominated cuts across both genders. Each person in a bondage relationship is fulfilling not only their sexual desire, but their partner's as well. It's a wonderful, symbiotic relationship. Submission is all about temporarily relinquishing control in exchange for a sexual high. BDSM is titillating and kinky; but most important of all, it involves trust, which is the linchpin of any meaningful romantic relationship. When personal control is relinquished to another person, that's a statement of trust.



Whenever bondage is depicted in popular culture, it's rarely in a positive light. For dramatic effect, the Dom will often "lose control" and hurt their partner without consent. Quite frankly, that's an outdated cliche meant to paint BDSM in a negative light. It's just like the attempts of Reefer Madness to show that one joint was all it took to turn a timid wallflower into an amoral succubus or coldblooded killer. "Don't do Reefer kids, or you'll end up on death row. Don't do bondage kids, or else you'll lose control and hurt your partner!" These two extreme lines of thought were both parodied in the Reefer Madness musical, which mocked overzealous drug paranoia and bondage stereotypes.

We need a more positive representation of BDSM in popular culture, which focuses on how healthy and fulfilling a bondage lifestyle can be. Show the safewords. Dispel the myths and paranoia of the past. Bondage isn't about an individual exacting their will over another. It's a measured balance of power evenly distributed.

The Fifty Shades trilogy is not the improved representation bondage enthusiasts have been waiting for. The fictional series has been severely criticized by the BDSM community for its inaccurate depiction of a bondage lifestyle. Christian's initial seduction of Ana breaks every rule in the BDSM book. Fifty Shades of Grey may be a best-selling romantic novel, but it's an abysmal introduction to bondage and rife with misinformation. It perpetuates the harmful stereotype that those who enjoy BDSM are broken in some way, which is not the case. Millions of happy, well-adjusted people enjoy bondage as a means of heightening their sexual experience.

James romanticizes the BDSM community in her novels by taking elements of ‘bondage play’ out of context and dramatizes what many would consider to be extremely unsafe Dom/sub practices. The female in the story enters into ‘scenes’ which she is unsure about, where limits have not been pre-discussed or agreed upon and where she is abandoned following the scene on more than one occasion with no care or conversation about what had happened during the session.



Fifty Shades of Grey completely ignores elements of safe play that those familiar with the BDSM community would immediately recognize. RACK stands for Risk Aware Consensual Kink. SSC stands for Safe, Sane and Consensual. The common word in both of those acronyms is "consensual." This topic is completely ignored or glossed over in James’ novels and, considering the popularity of the series, this is cause for concern. Virtually everyone in the BDSM community play by the rules of RACK and SSC. Most people are responsible for themselves, for their partners and there is a strong sense of ‘mentoring’ to ensure that new initiates to the community are watched over and are able to learn the ropes [pun intended] from those with more experience. Despite all of these safeguards, it’s still possible for things to be taken one step too far with disastrous results. If anyone reads the Fifty Shades trilogy and wants to explore the topics contained therein, don't imitate the actions of James’ characters. Take some time, find someone trustworthy and be safe.



BDSM or Abuse

James’ depiction of Christian Grey as a victim of adolescent sexual abuse is troubling. There are millions of perfectly well-adjusted members of the BDSM community who simply enjoy kinky sex, with absolutely no underlying neurosis necessary. Christian experienced an abusive childhood, was neglected by his "crack whore" of a mother, and had a Mrs. Robinson-like introduction to sex at the age of 15. The book’s implication is that these experiences helped to shape Christian’s dominant and sadistic sexual persona. However, this is one of the major areas where Fifty Shades deviates from reality. Contrary to popular belief, most people who practice BDSM are not psychologically disturbed. Research over the past few decades has consistently found that engaging in BDSM is not associated with an increased likelihood of having experienced childhood sexual abuse or reporting elevated levels of psychological distress as an adult. Just because someone enjoys light bondage or spankings or plays with sex toys does not necessarily mean that they have psychological issues or require therapy.

Christian’s backstory is an anomaly for a bondage enthusiast. It’s understandable that the BDSM community might resent Ana’s belief that Christian’s desire for domination is an illness caused by his abuse and abandonment as a child, which leads to her thinking she can “cure” him of it. The focus on climaxing from penetrative sex is also problematic, since much of BDSM philosophy is about the control and denial of lust and achieving mental ecstasy rather than physical orgasm.



BDSM is already largely misunderstood. A mainstream novel that equates BDSM with emotional abuse will only affirm false perceptions of what bondage and discipline really entails. Bondage aficionados have strongly criticized the Fifty Shades trilogy because it features an emotionally abusive man preying upon an insecure young woman and calls it a relationship. Christian is emotionally abusive and sexually exploitative. He has complete disregard for his partner’s comfort, experience, and emotional well being.



BDSM and abuse are not one and the same thing. Abuse can happen in a BDSM relationship, but it doesn’t really differ from an abusive relationship devoid of bondage. Abuse is still abuse, regardless of the nature of a relationship. Denying your partner the ability to participate in and enjoy bondage, discipline or submission is not BDSM. Denying your partner the care required to foster and maintain trust and intimacy is not BDSM. Disregarding your partner’s wishes entirely is not BDSM. These things are abuse. Power and abuse are not synonymous. Too often BDSM has been misunderstood or grossly warped and confused with abuse. Christian bribes a young woman with expensive gifts in order to purchase her compliance with not only his sexual desires, but also his refusal to engage her on an intimate and intellectual level. This is not care or respect or mutual. This is exploitative and emotionally selfish. James ruined bondage in the same way that Meyer ruined vampires. Only Fifty Shades of Grey is worse because it could get somebody seriously hurt or killed.

The Fifty Shades trilogy takes emotional manipulation and tries to depict it as something sexy. Christian throws a sexually inexperienced woman headfirst into the depths of what takes a great deal of trust and intimacy to safely establish, and gives her neither. This is not the basis of BDSM. While power certainly comes into play, as it does in all relationships, BDSM is not about using and abusing power over someone in order to get off. It is not about abusing someone’s trust or someone’s body.

BDSM is a community that believes in safety and comfort. Consent is always necessary, and partners take care of each other. After acts and roleplays, partners comfort each other to help transition out of that zone. Fifty Shades of Grey does not include any of this. Christian gives the virginal Ana an ultimatum: to sign a contract or leave. He manipulates her sexual inexperience to make it seem like the sexually violent things he does to her are okay. There are instances where after an act, he is mad at her for being upset, but does not comfort her. He uses alcohol to sway her consent, which tantamount to rape. There is also an instance where she uses the safe word, yet he continues. Christian ignores her retraction of consent. That's sexual assault.



Those are not the only problematic instances. Ana begins to hide things in fear of Christian’s anger. He becomes jealous and easily angered. Ana fears for her safety. Many have argued that the nature of Christian and Ana's relationship in the Fifty Shades trilogy isn't BDSM at all, but an abusive relationship. In 2013, social scientist Amy E. Bonomi published a study in which the Fifty Shades trilogy were read by multiple professionals who attempted to assess the characteristics of intimate partner violence using the CDC's standards for emotional abuse and sexual violence. The study found that nearly every interaction between Ana and Christian was emotionally abusive in nature, including stalking, intimidation, and isolation. The study group also observed pervasive sexual violence within the CDC's definition, including Christian's use of alcohol to circumvent Ana's ability to consent and that Ana exhibits classic signs of an abused woman, including constant perceived threat, stressful managing and altered identity. Seriously? This abusive rapist is the idol of millions?



The Fifty Shades trilogy completely throws people who participate in bondage under the bus by misrepresenting BDSM as a whole. Sometimes disreputable individuals can infiltrate a BDSM community as a means to facilitate their desires for violent abuse, but they are quickly ostracized once the community learns of their unwillingness to follow the rules. A majority of those in BDSM are not abusive, like James' book series would have you believe.



Fifty Shades of Grey romanticizes and fetishizes abuse and portrays rape as ‘sexy’ and ‘fun.' The series also depicts a BDSM enthusiast as a stereotypical villain, but by the end of the trilogy, he's saved by the love of a good woman. Ana is rewarded for enduring abuse and rape with a life of luxury and the reformed man of her dreams. It's like Beauty and the Beast, only with nipple clips. It's distressingly common for various forms of media to depict BDSM in a sinister or villainous light. You don't need whips or chains to abuse someone. Some of the most destructive relationships occur without any physical violence. Emotional trauma can leave scars, too. By that same token, the most rewarding and intimate relationships are built upon a foundation of communication and trust, which is exemplified in bondage play.



Fifty Shades of Grey should not be defended. It's dangerous to imply that accepting abuse and rape is somehow worth it when all is said and done. You know you've screwed up your characterization when you make the stalking Edward Cullen and obsessive Bella Swan look like a healthy and normal relationship by comparison. Some people who read the Fifty Shades trilogy will likely be influenced to dabble in BDSM, but not have an actual idea of what all that entails and they will get hurt. Bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, sadism, and masochism are part of a wide spectrum of sexual kinks and, like any fetish, should only be considered problematic to the extent that it causes genuine harm to ones self or to others. Here's an example of the stark contrast between bondage play and the cycle of abuse.



Given all this information, it's troubling to learn that Fifty Shades of Grey is the fastest-selling R-rated film in Fandango history. And let's not forget about all the merchandising, merchandising, merchandising! (Where the real money from the movie is made.)



Fifty Shades the t-shirt!



Fifty Shades the coloring book!



Fifty Shades the breakfast cereal!



Fifty Shades the bondage gear! (The kids love this one.)



Last but not least, Fifty Shades the doll. Adorable.



With Fifty Shades of Grey being made into a movie, awareness needs to be raised on how this book is not about BDSM, but rather domestic and sexual abuse. BDSM practitioners celebrating Christian Grey for representing bondage is like the trans community celebrating Buffalo Bill for representing transgenders. Both characters are mentally unbalanced sociopaths who exacerbate negative stereotypes, which ends up doing more harm than good to the communities they supposedly "represent."



[EDIT:Added 2/11/15]

I was curious to see how James responded to accusations that her book glorifies domestic abuse. Here's her response: “Nothing freaks me out more than people who say this is about domestic abuse. Bringing up my book in this context trivializes the issues, doing women who actually go through it a huge disservice. It also demonizes loads of women who enjoy this lifestyle, and ignores the many, many women who tell me they’ve found the books sexually empowering.”- E. L. James She's... she's actually defending her depiction of BDSM... (Sigh) As I mentioned before, the BDSM depicted in the books are pretty tame. The most memorable part of the bondage scenes in Fifty Shades is what's missing; specifically, a lack of even basic safety precautions and absence of any clear communication about consent. Buying your spouse’s company in order to spy on her emails, deciding what type of birth control she should be on without her consent because you “dislike condoms”, flying across the country to meet her when she specifically wanted to go on vacation to be away from you, and bruising your spouse so she has to cover her skin during a beach vacation is abusive. Abuse is also present during the bondage scenes, but it's not because BDSM is inherently harmful. It's just that Christian Grey is a fundamentally flawed character whose abusive tendencies extend to all aspects of his life. Some people try to defend the Fifty Shades trilogy by claiming that it's just fiction, or that it's been misinterpreted. They are discrediting the observations of people who have experienced serious abuse, and are furthering the cycle by trying to silence them. Fifty Shades of Grey is a textbook for abusive behavior, not bondage. People with even the vaguest understanding of BDSM practices tend to be among the most horrified at the sorts of behavior that this book presents as acceptable.

The Story of O

The 1954 French novel, The Story of O, does a much better job portraying the complexities of a dom/sub relationship.



Published in 1954 by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage. Desclos did not reveal herself as the author for forty years after the initial publication. Desclos claims she wrote the novel as a series of love letters to her lover Jean Paulhan, who had admired the work of the Marquis de Sade. The novel shares with the latter themes such as love, dominance and submission. The Story of O follows the progress of a nameless woman who is on a quest to understand the meaning of total submission. Her lover René brings her to the remote, members-only Chateau Roissy, where she is stripped naked except for a thick leather collar and bracelets, and asked to submit to all kinds of torture, penetration and restraint at the hands of the masters of the castle, but this is the way O wants it. She wants only to be loved, and to prove that she loves in equal measure.

One might think, in our porn-saturated culture, that a novel scandalous in 1954 might appear quaint by today's standards. But no. The most shocking thing about the Story of O is just how shocking it is, even now. Extreme bondage fetishes are delivered in full, and it's just as shocking now as it was sixty years ago. The book begins with O and her lover, René, as he directs her into a mysterious car and delivers her to a castle at Roissy, just outside the city. There, she is stripped, bound, and made to submit to the whims of a host of masked men.

After the doors of the castle at Roissy have slammed shut, we see O gangbanged for the first, but not the last, time. The scene is unapologetically brutal and the reader is given no context for it, nothing to lessen the abuse that leaves O "sobbing and befouled by tears" while "the furrow of her loins … burned so she could hardly bear it." Beyond the pure violence of these acts, it is O's attitude of unwavering consent that truly startles the reader.

During her first two weeks of training in the castle, O silently submits to all kinds of humiliations that would cause Ana to flee in terror. The reader gets a clear sense of O’s changing sense of self as the rituals continue, and her growing strength in subjugation.

"The chains and the silence, which should have bound her deep within herself, which should have smothered her, strangled her, on the contrary freed her from herself… Beneath the gazes, beneath the hands, beneath the sexes that defiled her, the whips that rent her, she lost herself in a delirious absence from herself which restored her to love and perhaps, brought her to the edge of death.”

Her survival earns her an “iron ring with a triple spiral of gold," a symbol that proves she is an initiated submissive. When she returns to work, her colleagues notice a dramatic change in her demeanor. She embarks on further erotic adventures, with a model-turned-lover, Jacqueline, and with a new master, Sir Stephen, accepting whatever kink comes her way with a calm smile. O is presented as being in control because she always has the agony of choice within her power. She can stay or go, stop or continue, agree or refuse; but in the end, she will always choose to give her consent. This puts her worlds apart from Ana, who resists Christian every step of the way, confused by his requests and nervous about his power over her. O owns every single degradation of her flesh. Every humiliation she endures is by her own volition.

Beneath the BDSM window dressing, the Fifty Shades trilogy is a fairly conventional romance about how two people negotiate the boundaries of a complex relationship into marriage. In contrast, O’s journey takes her to the ultimate depths of submission, a party where the other guests use her as a plaything, while acknowledging her transformed status. The Story of O is what it says on the box: one female submissive’s dark fantasy.

Better Bondage through Understanding

All sexual relationships require consent, regardless of kink. There is no such thing as having sex that is not based in consent. The only sex that happens without mutual consent is rape. BDSM is about mutual care, mutual pleasure, and mutual respect. A healthy and safe relationship that involves BDSM requires all the things that any healthy and safe relationship requires: trust, intimacy, vulnerability, respect. BDSM can be one of the most satisfying and powerful sexual expressions when done within a loving, committed relationship. Allowing your partner to control your body during sex demands deep trust. Bondage, discipline, submission—all of these things are highly intimate acts. And most importantly, BDSM is based on consent. When a person submits to the will of someone else, they are exhibiting trust that the one who dominates them will take them on a dark journey and bring them out safely. Restriction breeds intimacy.

BDSM doesn't always have to include sex. Sometimes it's just foreplay. Sometimes it's just for fun. For some people, sex is a very special thing which they don't share lightly with others. They may want to keep physical intimacy separated from the inherent thrills of bondage.

It's like that trust game, which is a popular teamwork-building exercise. One person falls back, while a coworker catches them. When a person submits to gravity, they are trusting in their partner to catch them before they fall. That's the essence of sexual bondage.

What's intriguing is that the sub is actually the one in charge. Even though they're the one tied up, they call the shots. They hold the power of the ultimate trump card: The safeword. The Dom may appear to be in control, but they have taken a vow to stop immediately if the safeword is invoked. The sub may be bound with physical cords, but the Dom is ethereally shackled by the safeword. Bondage is a game and every game has rules. A game is only fun when everyone follows the rules. Those who break the rules ruin the game for everyone else.



Bondage is like riding a teeter totter. The Dom and sub take turns relinquishing their power. The sub achieves this by being physically bound. The Dom achieves this by obeying the safeword. Don't play teeter totter with someone who violates your trust by getting off while you're still in the air and causing you to fall. Bondage is not the way to find out if someone is trustworthy. BDSM is for those who want to take their relationship to a more focused level of intimacy.

Bondage is never abuse when performed by an ethical and nurturing dom. The best doms have the most nurturing personalities. The dom's entire focus is on the needs of their partner. The Dom takes the sub to their limit, but never beyond it. BDSM offers a way for all those involved to experience an erotic intensity while feeling safe and nurtured.

To use another comparison, automobiles are only safe as long as people enforce the rules of the road. BDSM is the car. Don't accept rides from strangers. Only travel with someone who you feel comfortable with. When you travel with someone who obeys the traffic laws, they can take you to amazing places safely. When BDSM is done properly, there's no misery. All parties involved are fulfilled.

But what if the sub has a ballgag in their mouth? Some might view a permanent mute button as giving more power to the dom, but it's still possible to employee nonverbal safewords. When a ballgag is used during humiliation play, the sub is given something noisy, like a bell or keys that they can shake when they want the Dom to stop. Sometimes, a bell can be tied around the ankle of an unrestrained foot.

Sublime and Punishment

Punishments are an interesting aspect of BDSM. There are two kinds of punishments. The first kind are just a part of kinky play, while the second kind of punishments are there to curb bad behavior. One is just for fun, while the other is more serious. The fun punishments are all about the delivery. Things like spanking someone for showing signs of arousal. The punishments don't even have to make sense. The important thing is that everyone is having fun.

Serious punishments come from the nurturing aspect of the Dom's role. The Dom is there to help shape and mold the sub by increasing their tolerance for pain on their terms in an effort to heighten the overall sexual experience. Orgasm denial is a large part of serious punishments. The Dom trains their sub to come to the edge of an orgasm, only to bring them back from the edge without cumming. If the sub fails and cums to soon, the Dom establishes punishments. This is all about training the sub to gain more control over their body. Well-trained subs will only cum when the Dom commands it. No matter how much the sub is played with, they won't climax until they're given permission. For the sub, there is an amazing sense of accomplishment once they gain control of their body. For the Dom, they have control over the climaxes of their sub to the point where the Dom use only their voice to bring their sub to orgasm.

So, what are the serious punishments used in the training? In needs to be something the Dom enjoys to do, but the sub doesn't. You don't want to make the punishments a chore for the Dom and something that the sub secretly enjoys. You don't want your sub to be angry with you about being punished. Remind them that training is something they want as well. For example, one vanilla punishment might be having them stand in the corner for 15 minutes. Another might be to do the dishes or the laundry completely nude while wearing a butt plug. It's usually good for the punishment to be sexual in nature.

Again, it's all about communication. If the Dom makes up serious punishments as they go, the sub isn't going to have fun. On the other hand, if the sub is given a list of challenges to adhere to, they'll have a much better time following the rules.

While those reading this may not feel interested right now, consider maybe trying some light BDSM with your significant other. It's surprising how much a little kinky bondage can add to the intimacy while heightening your sex life.

It's a disservice to say that excessive intelligence invalidates someone from being a sub. Niceness is required for a dom; much like love is required for properly disciplining a child. Intelligence is required for a sub, because they are aware of their own limitations and are smart enough to surround themselves with people who will help them to improve.

It's important to learn that a sub and a Dom are equal in their relationship. It may seem counter-intuitive, but the two share the power and control evenly. From an outsider's perspective, the Dom is in control. For those that understand the relationship, they see that it's as even balance of two souls fulfilling their individual roles to help each other reach new heights of ecstasy.

It's been difficult to put some of my feelings into words before now. I want to thank Gabriel LaVedier, who helped me find my voice on this deeply personal topic.



To paraphrase a quote from Abe Lincoln,

"No Dom is good enough to dominate a sub without the sub's consent." -Bronystories

Bondage within My Little Pony



As far as a Dom/sub relationship goes, Applejack, the Element of Honesty, is a perfect representation of BDSM, because no intimate relationship can exist without trust. In addition, Applejack's skill with a lasso is quite effective at restraining ponies. I'm sensing a Wonder Woman corollary somewhere...



It was recently announced that the sequels Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed will also be turned into movies. This is good news for E. L. James and bad news for just about everyone else.

Thanks again for reading to the end of another Rule 34 blog! Hopefully, everyone was able to learn something and maybe get some new ideas for how to celebrate Valentine's Day.



Come back on March 10th, where we'll analyze Rule 34 data and discuss the importance of communication in intimate relationships.



