Abusive and Stakerish Partners

[Angela]

There is a study which is published in the Journal of Women’s Health. Which says "Fifty Shades readers are 25 per cent more likely to have a verbally abusive partner, 75 per cent more likely to diet harmfully and 34 per cent more likely to have a partner who exhibits stalking tendencies." Direct Quote. Do you agree?

[Christina]

I don't think that is accurate. It is possible to read and like the books while still recognising that they have a very unhealthy relationship, and it is also possible to enjoy the books without wanting a relationship like theirs.

However, if we're talking about the women who actually DO want someone exactly like Christian Grey in real life (sadly, there are quite a few women who feel that way), and who don't think the relationship between Anastasia and Christian is sick, then yes, I definitely think there is some truth to that.

So I think the article/study ought to distinguish between "readers" and "fan girls".

[Bonnie]

Angela wrote: "There is a study which is published in the Journal of Women’s Health. Which says "Fifty Shades readers are 25 per cent more likely to have a verbally abusive partner, 75 per cent more likely to di..."

I do not agree at all!

[Mochaspresso]

I don't think it's accurate either. Mainly because the study was not conducted scientifically or empirically. It was conducted via an online survey among female students at Ohio State University. It asked 655 students if they'd read the books and then some questions about their health behaviors. (ie...about binge drinking, use of diets aids, having more than 5 sexual partners and/or more than one anal sex partner during their lifetime.)

Then, there is also this direct quote from their "study"....

Study limitations

Our study is cross-sectional, including the administration of a one-time-only online survey and lack of time-specific data about when Fifty Shades' readership occurred relative to the health risks we measured. We are therefore unable to report causality in the relationship between Fifty Shades' readership and the health behaviors examined in the study (violence victimization, binge drinking, sexual practices, and disordered eating). Namely, we cannot state whether reading Fifty Shades caused women to experience some of the health indicators we assessed (e.g., disordered eating), or whether women predisposed to these health indicators were more drawn to read Fifty Shades than other women.

The actual study is available to read online. http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full...

Whether one decides to agree or disagree, I would suggest that people read the actual study before deciding and not just news reports and commentary about it.

[Kristin]

Statistics are nothing but politically correct stereotypes. Sometimes there's a grain of truth, but mostly it just offensive.

But seriously, even when the statistics are accurate they only represent a portion of a population. Human error and bias are always a factor.

[Nuran]

Surveys are not always accurate, there are limitations, especially if all they surveyed was students from a midwestern university. That doesn't even come close to surveying the whole range of people reading the books, from people who have full-time jobs to stay at home mums.

And the survey doesn't cover anyone over 25, yet the book was marketed as mum porn, so plenty of the audience would generally be older than 25. So that in itself shows this survey targets only a small minority of the readers.

I've read all 3 fifty shades books but I've never heard or taken part in this survey and I eat healthily, never diet, hardly ever drink alcohol apart from a few nights a year and don't have anyone stalking me (unless they're really good at it).

The people who were interested in taking part could easily represent a minor or majority part of the fifty shades audience because no one else cared to take part or were allowed to take part.

Surveys always need to be taken with a pinch of salt.