The "Feminism" in "50 Shades of Grey"

Being in a liberal arts college that encourages diversity and open conversation, I found that the opinion on some subject matters are pretty one-sided. For example, almost all of us deem romance novels as trashy and useless. The chintzy colors of the covers signal a section of the bookstore that a member of the academia want to avoid. Romance novels are looked down upon because the subject matter is women-oriented, and it often reflects a traditional, sexist gender dynamic. But media scholar Janice Radway have done serious research on this literary genre that's devalued as not so serious. (p. 278, Croteau and Hoytes, Media/Society)

In her book "Reading the Romance", Radway explores the act of reading romance novels. She found that the readership of romance novels mostly consist of women who're small town housewives, who abide by the more traditional gender roles. For them reading romance novels is a way to take breaks from housework as well as their realities. These women are rooted for the fictional heroines emotionally and finds comfort when they live vicariously through characters who get all their emotional needs satisfied. Reading romance novels is therefore an expression of women's dissatisfaction of their role as mothers/wives. It is not entirely an outright protest against their roles as much as a literal as well as figurative escape.