So…

A wife and mommy herself, one that serves as an amazing supportive advocate for this ministry, sent me an email on yesterday that said this (the subject heading was entitled “unbelievable”, by the way):

“I am watching Good Morning America right now and they are heavily promoting a book called ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’.  They are saying it is an erotic fantasy and it has been helping marriages. They are openly talking about this viral book for moms that is very steamy. A mom literally just said, ‘It’s mommy porn’. They are being so open about how it’s so popular and how woman need to go to that space in their head to have a break from their daily lives. Have you heard of it?”

I don’t know if it’s because I’m not a mommy (yet) or that I have late hours that keeps me from watching Good Morning America *or* being that I’m not even close to being a Twilight fan (I’m more like a Twilight enemy, actually-Proverbs 30:14), personally, I don’t think that it’s a ringing endorsement for a book to be “the Twilight for adults”. Therefore, somehow, I’ve missed it. “Fifty Shades of Grey” has not been on my radar.

I did do a bit of quick research on it this morning, though. I know that it’s an erotic book; one of a trilogy. I do know that the e-book downloads has made it a New York Times Best-Seller. I do know that it has been coinphrased as “mommy porn” and I did find this quote to be quite…revealing:

“One Long Island woman, who insisted on anonymity so that she would not embarrass her employer, said the book had gained an obsessive following among her friends, the first erotic novel they have ever discussed.

‘Women just feel like it’s O.K. to read it,’ she said. ‘It’s taboo for women to admit that they watch pornography, but for some reason it’s O.K. to admit that they’re reading this book.'”

Well, I’m glad to know that the woman who is scared to admit that she’s reading pornography (there’s *privacy* and then there’s *secrecy*) is willing to call it for what it is. A lot of people don’t believe that *reading about illicit sex* is basically the same thing as *watching it*; in some ways, it may even be more detrimental based upon what your imagination can come up with. But if we take statistics seriously (I do) and we look at a few of them, shouldn’t a book that’s getting so many women hot and bothered (literally and figuratively) be something that should cause us to be a bit alarmed?

• 70% of women keep their cyber activities secret
• Women, more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.

• 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography.
• 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust

But here’s the one that I hope we really pay a lot of attention to:

• Women, more than men, are likely to act out their behaviors in real life, such as having multiple partners, casual sex, or affairs.

So “mommies” are backing a book with pornographic content and research reveals that women (that would be mommies) are far more likely to act out their fantasies than men are. Yeah, talk about *shady*. And what is the reason behind the allure? Is it that they are simply enjoying reading a fictional tale *or* should we see this as a call for help that a lot of mommies are wishing that they they were experiencing some of what they are reading?

What are your thoughts about it?