Fifty Shades of Grey is coming to a university near you. What?! That sounds like fifty shades of Ah-mazing! Ok, well it won’t be at all the universities, just one. The America University will be offering a course next semester called “Contemporary American Culture: The Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy.” It goes without saying that there is a huge waiting list, primarily women of course. Unfortunately, the professor for the class is only taking 22 students. Huh? How can you offer such an awesome course and then say you’re only taking on a small number of students. Boo to you, Professor Stef Woods. Boo to you.
The course will focus primarily on domestic violence, female sexuality and objectivity, and social media marketing. I mean the book was born from Twilight fan fiction online (Twi-moms, you dirty girls. I love it!), so it is only fitting that social media play a part in the course. What I don’t agree with is that domestic violence will be source of contention. I mean this is BDSM (Google it) between consenting adults. Domestic violence is a non-issue in this trilogy. I would ace the debate portion of this course.
Professor Woods was kind of enough to include a syllabus of sorts on her website which showcased the following questions:
“Evaluate the relationship in the book in light of our readings on domestic violence. Are the leads in the trilogy in a healthy or abusive relationship? Why or why not?”
My hand is already raised to answer these questions. This isn’t the first time the “Shades” trilogy has been part of a college course. Brown University used the trilogy in a Human Sexuality course this past fall. I can imagine the blushing students now.
So tell me readers? Is there a college or university in your area that is either offering the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy as a course or required reading? Where? I need to be in that class.