Fifty Shades of Grey and Consent Issues

I have recently seen the movie, 50 Shades of Grey and thought that it would be a good topic to discuss, in regards to rape culture and what not. 

First of all, I found the movie to be very graphic. However, that was supposed to be the case. However, I felt that the normalization of non consent, and rape culture could be found in almost every scene in the movie. The movie is meant to be a romance of some sort. At first the relationship between the two main characters seems to be completely sexual.  Christian Grey essentially stalks Anastasia Steele, he tells her what to do, he shows up at her house unannounced and uninvited. He even ties her down and continues to have sex with her when she did not want to. This kind of movie is romanticizing rape, and non consent. Christian Grey portrays the ideas that even though his partner did not want to have sex with him at first, she finally gave in and that is all that matters. This movie exemplifies moments like these and acts as though his behavior towards Anastasia is romantic. That is not the case. In fact, many other people who enjoyed the movie and the books still find it disgusting that this is a romantic film that portrays such explicit behavior. 

The truth is a lot of what happens in this book is rape. It is filled with non-consensual sex. The way it is portrayed is in a good and positive light. It is completely backwards thinking. Once again, it just adds onto the culture of rape and the grey areas of rape. 

Also, in the books and movie, Christian takes Anastasia without her content, and justifies it by saying that she wanted it undeniably and that there was physical proof of it. Even though they both shared some physical desire for the other, does not mean that consent does not matter. Just because two people "want it", does not make it okay to "do it", unless both participants have given consent to do so. Physical responses are not indicators of consent, a person;s verbal agreement is consent. This was not seen a lot of the time in the movie. It is concerning because it can be compared to rape too easily. It is for reasons like this, that makes it hard for rapists to be prosecuted.