Civic groups yesterday criticized the movie Fifty Shades of Grey, saying it promoted the wrong attitudes toward sex, encouraged domestic violence and skewed perceptions of the sexuality of women.
The protagonist of the film, Christian Grey, is the son of a drug-addicted prostitute who grew up abused by his mother’s “clients,” which led to him developing a predilection for bondage, sadism and masochism (BDSM) as a defense mechanism, Alliance of Religious Groups for the Love of Families Taiwan secretary-general Chang Shou-yi (張守一) said at a press conference in Taipei.
The film is saturated with sexual sadism, which is not a normal or safe sexual practice, Chang said.
Photo: Reuters
If people who watch the film are unaware of this and are persuaded the sexual acts portrayed in the film are normal, it would greatly disrupt society and cause women to be viewed in an inappropriate light, he said.
A complete attitude toward sexual relations must take into account the satisfaction not only of the physical aspect, but also the psychological and ethical, with true climax being the conclusion to an act in which participants are completely immersed physically, mentally and spiritually, Chang said, adding that each participant should also take into consideration love, attitude toward the other and patience.
Chang said he was most worried about the possibility of moviegoers coming away with a skewed perception of the female gender, adding that women should not be wrongly treated or regarded with the wrong mindset, especially as the nation has passed the Gender Equality Education Act (性別平等教育法).
Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference secretary-general Chen Ko (陳科) said that as money was comparatively hard to come by for young people, and the movie did not really offer a great depth of English vocabulary, it was not really worth the price of a ticket.
If young people have time and money, they should spend it at events more worthwhile, such as book exhibitions, comic shows, learning how to engage in a proper relationship or learning about finances, Chen said, adding that if young people are misled by movies such as this, they would not be able to have a happy or fulfilling sex life when they grow older.
The movie is bad because it stresses the wrong values, such as the pain of masochism equating to pleasure, Chinese Confucius and Mencius Association director Chang Chung-ho (張中和) said, adding that he is afraid that the nation might be hit by a wave of abuse and violence after people watch the movie.
Students from the Protection of Family Values organization said the movie was carrying an embedded message encouraging domestic violence, adding that the film abounded with male dominance and sexual bullying.
According to Hsiao Lin (小林), spokesman of the BDSM Company, the nation’s first open BDSM group, many of the BDSM scenes portrayed in the movie were not consistent with real practice.
The most important aspect of BDSM is that the submissive partner’s safety and feelings must be guaranteed, Hsiao Lin said, adding that it was a difficult boundary to set and one which many BDSM practitioners are still trying to place.
OVERHAUL NEEDED: The government should improve its agricultural processing capabilities and expand to new markets to limit its reliance on China, an expert said China’s ban on Taiwanese pineapples was “unsurprising,” and Taiwan should have years ago altered its produce export strategies and target customers, experts said. China on Friday abruptly suspended imports of pineapples from Taiwan, saying that it had on multiple occasions discovered “harmful biological entities” on the fruit. Calling it an “unfriendly” move, the Council of Agriculture (COA) said that 99.79 percent of the pineapples sent to China since last year have met China’s import standards. Chiao Chun (焦鈞), the author of Fruits and Politics — A Recollection of Cross-strait Agricultural Interaction Over the Past Decade (水果政治學:兩岸農業交流十年回顧與展望), said that China’s announcement is clearly targeting
‘NOT COLD ENOUGH’: Schools are disregarding Premier Su Tseng-chang’s instruction that students may wear out-of-uniform clothing to stay warm, an association said An investigative report revealed that 72.5 percent of the nation’s senior-high schools and 95.6 percent of junior-high schools punish students for wearing unapproved winter clothes in contravention of educational guidelines, lawmakers and student rights advocates said yesterday. Speaking at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan, the Taiwan Youth Association for Democracy said there is an endemic disregard for the Ministry of Education’s regulations and that private schools are more likely to contravene ministry rules. The report is a compilation of 2,856 student reports about dress code reinforcement at 425 high schools and vocational high schools, the association said. Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌)
DECADES OF INFLUENCE: Over the past 20 years, China has made inroads with Aborigines, funding political campaigns and trips, a legislator said Lawmakers have called on the National Security Bureau to investigate claims of pervasive Chinese influence among Aboriginal communities. Legislators pointed to a surge in communist propaganda and Chinese-funded projects over the past few years, which they say are aimed at infiltrating and buying political influence among Aboriginal communities. “China has for decades carried out wide-ranging ‘united front’ tactics and propaganda campaigns targeting Aborigines,” said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩), a member of the Puyuma community in Taitung County. “Now, they are influencing elections for local councilors and village chiefs, offering money for candidates to mount their campaigns, and to
DISSATISFACTION? If the referendums collect more than 700,000 signatures each, they would have gotten the most signatures in the shortest time, the party said The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) two referendum petitions — one on banning the importation of pork with traces of ractopamine and the other on holding referendums on the same day as national elections — had as of Thursday gathered 691,398 and 674,497 signatures respectively, the party said yesterday. If the petitions collect more than 700,000 signatures apiece, they would have garnered the most signatures in the shortest time since the Referendum Act (公民投票法) was amended in 2017, party officials said. The KMT proposed the “anti-ractopamine pork” or “food safety” referendum just days after President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) announcement on Aug. 28 last