Fifty Shades of Grey has been called empowering and adventurous, but also toxic and demeaning.

A group of researchers set out understand if a person's view of the book has any associated with their personality - and concluded you could be sexist if you like the book.

The study, published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour, found that women who read the entire book and found it to be romantic have higher levels of sexism.

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A group of researchers set out understand if a person's view of the book has any associated with their personality, and found you could be sexist if you like the book. The study found that women who read the entire book and found it to be romantic have higher levels of ambivalent, benevolent and hostile sexism.

WHAT DID THE STUDY FIND? Women who read the entire first book in the series scored higher on the ambivalent sexism scale, compared to those who only read part or none of the book. The team also found that those who read all of part of the books and felt they were 'hot' or 'romantic' also had more sexist attitudes. The next part of the study looked at if these general sexists beliefs were hostile, benevolent or both, Researchers fed their findings into a different model and found a correlation between women how dubbed the books 'hot' and 'romantic' and hostile sexism. Advertisement

'Analyses revealed associations between Fifty Shades readership and sexism, as measured through the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory,' the team wrote.

'Namely women who reported reading Fifty Shades had higher levels of ambivalent, benevolent, and hostile sexism.

'Further, those who interpreted Fifty Shades as "romantic" had higher levels of ambivalent and benevolent sexism. '

In order to gather these results, Ohio State University recruited 715 females from the ages 18 to 24-years-old, reports Fusion.

The team asked each participant if they've read the books, how many in the series they read and other questions that gathered information about how much the readers enjoyed them and if they saw it as a romantic story or a demeaning tale.

The second portion of the study used the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory Scale, which was designed to understand levels of sexism among individuals.

This scale includes statements like 'Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist' and 'No matter how accomplished he is, a man is not truly complete as a person unless he has the love of a woman'.

Participants were asked to rate each one on a scale from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'.

Researchers found that about 40 percent of the participants read at least some of the books, while 60 percent had not ready any at all.

Those who read the books were asked how much they enjoyed them on a five-point scale.

Fifty Shades of Grey has been called empowering and adventurous, but also toxic and demeaning. The second portion of the study used the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory Scale, which was designed to understand levels of sexism among individuals. Participants are asked to rate each one from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'

They were given a set of 23 words and asked if they 'agreed' or disagreed' regarding their feelings towards the books.

These ranged from 'hot', 'sexy' and romantic' to 'abusive', 'stupid' and 'degrading'.

After pulling all of the data together, the team found several associations between the books and sexist attitudes.

Women who read the first book in the series scored higher on the Ambivalent Sexism scale, compared to those who only read part or none of the book.

ARE YOU SEXIST? The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory Scale was designed to understand levels of sexism among individuals. The more you agree, the more sexist you may be. 1. No matter how accomplished he is, a man is not truly complete as a person unless he has the love of a woman. 2. Many women are actually seeking special favors, such as hiring policies that favor them over men, under the guise of asking for "equality." 3. In a disaster, women ought not necessarily to be rescued before men. 4. Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist. 5. Women are too easily offended. 6. People are often truly happy in life without being romantically involved with a member of the other sex. 7. Feminists are not seeking for women to have more power than men. 8. Many women have a quality of purity that few men possess. 9. Women should be cherished and protected by men. 10. Most women fail to appreciate fully all that men do for them. 11. Women seek to gain power by getting control over men. 12. Every man ought to have a woman whom he adores. 13. Men are complete without women. 14. Women exaggerate problems they have at work. 15. Once a woman gets a man to commit to her, she usually tries to put him on a tight leash. 16. When women lose to men in a fair competition, they typically complain about being discriminated against. 17. A good woman should be set on a pedestal by her man. 18. There are actually very few women who get a kick out of teasing men by seeming sexually available and then refusing male advances. 19. Women, compared to men, tend to have a superior moral sensibility. 20. Men should be willing to sacrifice their own well-being in order to provide financially for the women in their lives. 21. Feminists are making entirely reasonable demands of men. 22. Women, as compared to men, tend to have a more refined sense of culture and good taste. Source: UnderstandingPrejudice.org Advertisement

The team also found that those who read all of part of the books and felt they were 'hot' or 'romantic' also had more sexist attitudes.

The next part of the study looked at if these general sexists beliefs were hostile, benevolent or both,

Researchers fed their findings into a different model and found a correlation between women how dubbed the books 'hot' and 'romantic' and hostile sexism.

Those who exhibit this type of sexism usually believe women are inferior to men, so that also means those who viewed the books as degrading and abusive did not hold this believe.

Women who read the first book in the series scored higher on the ambivalent sexism scale, compared to those who only read part or none of the book. The team also found that those who read all of part of the books and felt they were 'hot' or 'romantic' also had more sexist attitudes

The results were also similar for benevolent sexism, which suggests men should take care of women in a way that is degrading.

For example, in Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian monitors how Anastasia works out, who she is allowed to see and even what she eats.