Well, allow me to put it this way:vun said:
"Story of O" by Pauline Réage is a proper take on softcore BDSM literature. The character of O is selected to be part of a reclusive community that shacks at a French château about once a month. For a week, the women are required to wear nothing but a red cloak, while the initiates have to spend their first week wearing an especially designed buttplug (yes). Past that, you're given detailed descriptions of what's going on between O and her main partner of the week, but you get the sense that she VOLUNTEERED for this, and that outside of that one week per month, she's a well-rounded career woman. She's essentially someone who has enough money and self-confidence to slip into a wholly submissive role, in order to get her jollies.
In opposition to that, you've got Anastasia Steele. She's completely subsumed by Christian Gray, has no real sense of Self when he's around, and merely kowtows to his every wish because, hey, he's just *that* drop-dead gorgeous. Who needs mutual consent when actual forceful detention is so much hotter, right?
What started out as an awful Harry Potter fanfic became an awful Story of O rip-off, and it clearly shows that the author has no real concept of what a decent sub/dom relationship implies. Trust is a major thing, honestly, as is the participants' continued ability to play it safe. "Shades" does away with consent and safety, because outright peril is apparently kinky to some. Go fig.
