[callout]A version of this post originally appeared on RelevantMagazine.com in 2012. I’m re-posting now, in advance of this weekend’s release of the movie Fifty Shades of Grey.[/callout]
I knew there wouldn’t be a second date the moment the guy asked this question: “How do you feel about strip clubs?” Not for ‘em, I said. “What about porn?” Are you kidding?
In the conversation that followed, I rebutted his defenses of both. He, a Christian (nominally, at least), was a consumer of erotic media, convinced that using it can be good. He is the only Christian I’ve met who has defended pornography. But he is not the only Christian who defends other kinds of erotic media.
When bestselling erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey and the movie Magic Mike, about a male stripper, simultaneously swept the female half of the U.S., Christian women spoke up. Some criticized the book because it promotes lust and sexual violence. Some criticized Magic Mike because it promotes the objectification of men. Others criticized the critics. Continue reading “Is there room for ‘Fifty Shades’ in Christianity?”