Fifty Shades Final Update (I mean it this time)

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Right. That's it. No more. Finito.


http://archiveofourown.org/works/2408453/chapters/6032564

Comments

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...Personally I think there is still a great deal of stigma attached to S&M, particularly anything that goes beyond the kind of light bondage that most people will have experimented with (handcuffs, blindfolds etc). But to answer your question, I don't see it as being especially taboo in this AU. Rimmer is overly paranoid about being 'outed' but that's because he's Rimmer, and shame and paranoia come naturally to him. Neither of them really want their sex lives broadcast to the world (who does?) but the fact they're celebs means that if it gets out they'll be in for a lot of hassle. Even if people dont care, the media will. Would it affect the business? Maybe, maybe not. Would their kids be taken away? Doubtful. Would it cast doubt over their suitability as parents? Yes, to some people it certainly would. That may seem like an extreme point of view but bear in mind that in a murder case in the UK some years ago, the parents of a teenage girl were considered suspects simply on the basis that the police found bondage mags in their bedroom. Yes. They were suspected of having killed their own child because they engaged in consensual kink as a married couple.

So yeah, it may not be as big a deal as they're worried it would be. But it's a concern and it's something they would much rather avoid if at all possible. Does that help it make sense?

[lala-sara.livejournal.com]

Well, the same goes *now* for same-sex couples. But the question was why if *there* (not now, I wasn't talking about our society, I was talking about society of future in your fic) is no indication that it's still going on for same-sex marriages it is still going on for BDSM. If your society got rid of that issue how it still in 20th century on that issue? It's pretty close and it comes from the same base sex question. How come then that there were never even slight disturbance in opinion about homosexuality (except Rimmer's family but even them seem have no real base in that opinion even on conservative Io) but still stigma about BDSM? I just don't think it's realistic. If society understood that consensual sex, however strange for some it could be, is normal, then it understood it in whole, not partly, you can't understand it partly, it's the principal. If not - there should be also hints on lingering prejudices for same-sex couple, too. These issues are clearly not equal here, it's not just Rimmer's paranoia. If it was like that and the issues were equal he wouldn't even consider marrying a man, too. So why he never gave even a slightest thought about that (despite conservatism of his upbringing) but BDSM is still a secret?

[felineranger.livejournal.com]

Your argument is based on the assumption that just because society has moved forward in one respect with regards to sexuality that it will have automatically moved on in all respects, which I don't think necessarily holds true. Even today, in places where gay marriage is legal and there are high-profile same-sex couples, S&M generally remains something secretive and shameful, so your argument doesn't really hold up. Also, I'd like to point out that just because homosexuality is more widely accepted in this fic it doesn't mean they are living in a prejudice-free utopia where 'anything goes'. There are references in both this story and the first one that highlight that although homosexuality is less of an issue in this setting, it is still an issue. Lister is initially quick to deny any homosexual leaning and Rimmer initially won't publicly acknowledge ANY sexual interest at all. He only 'comes out' when he's already made the decision to marry Lister, so he knows it's all or nothing. It's not a decision he takes lightly.

I would also point out that even in today's society there are openly gay couples who are out and proud but probably still wouldn't want the exact details of their sex life made public - whether the details are kinky or boring. It's one thing to be open about who you're having sex with but something else entirely to be open about exactly how you like to have sex with them. So I don't think you can directly correlate the two things as 'if that's ok, then why not that?'. Society is full of illogical conflicting social constructs so why should the future be any different?

But if you want the short answer - because it's my story and I say so ;-)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

To use a modern example, there are plenty of people now who have no problem with homosexuality or gay marriage, and accept BDSM at least to some degree, who still object to polyamory and/or poly marriage. She's right in that just because society accepts one thing in the bedroom doesn't mean they'll accept another.