There is perhaps no title that defines literary overkill quite like Fifty Shades of Grey. The purpose being to seemingly fulfill the intimate fantasies of the every day woman, it was the book on everybody’s lips last year. However, a direct response to James’ novel (although probably unlikely to achieve the same level of fame and a potential clothing line) proves that Mr Christian Grey simply wasn’t for everyone.

Fifty Shades of Feminism is a collection of fifty women’s thoughts on what being a woman today means to them. The book contains thoughts from politicians, youth and cultural leaders, barristers, actors and writers to name a few— from Siri Hustvedt and Jeanette Winterson to Ahdaf Soueif and Linda Grant.

Released fifty years after the publication of The Feminine Mystique, the book is a product of editor Lisa Appignanesi’s beliefs, “In any event, we were leaving Grey to become a spectrum of 50 vibrant varieties of feminism — women who can rally round Malala Yousafzai, or the victims of gang rape, acknowledge that the sheer accessibility of violence in sexuality is having terrible effects on our children’s lives, and speak out about sexist practices, while agreeing that our taste in books, humour, lifestyles or political parties can be quite different.”

Fifty Shades of Feminism is now available and published by Guardian Books. 

guardianbookshop.co.uk

Text by Beccy Hill