50 Shades was hilarious.

Yeah, those older ones were the ones couldn't stand and thought were ridiculous when I was younger.

50 Shades read more like male fantasy to me, even though it was written by a woman. The appeal to women on a sexual level, I can't explain other than tbat it was funny. On a relationship level, it ties back (to me anyway) to religious ideas about divine femininity. About the power of your love, your unconditional love, changing a violent man. About how female love bringa forth a man's potential.

Don't forget 50 Shades was based off Twilight and Twilight's author is a devout Mormon. You see this is no boundary dynamic in Twilight too.

The protagonist just decides to love the male interest because he noticed her. The love is a job as much or more than a feeling. She tolerates his rages and questionable behavior knowing her patience through those challenges will wear him down eventually and he'll be the man he's supposed to be and you'll have earned his love and respect.

It's The Taming of the Shrew in reverse. Or that Buddhist proverb about taming the tiger in your cave.

It's an antithesis of objectification. Because men only value women for their beauty, real love and respect has to be earned through pain and sacrifice or any attention will be fleeting. This is a very very old idea that's still around.

Of course, IRL it rarely works out that way. I think the fantasy is the wish that it did.