Fifty Shades of Bootleggers and Baptists

Any time two despicable groups who hate each other agree on something, know that your freedom is at stake.

Economists have long observed a phenomenon that, in their jargon, they simply call "Bootleggers and Baptists."  You should probably Google it to get the whole story, but here's the nutshell version:

As it became more and more obvious what a colossal mistake Prohibition was in the United States, two groups remained steadfastly opposed to the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment:  religious busybodies whom God had anointed to stick their noses into other people's personal choices and pleasures -- and the criminals who profited enormously from supplying the forbidden drug.

Here were two groups that hated each other, working toward a common goal.  Note that the goal was the loss of personal freedom.

And now we have another Holy War, again waged by two despicable groups joining forces to deny you the freedom to make your own personal choices.  I would like to call this one Feminists and Fundamentalists (or "F&F" for short) in the hate campaign currently being waged against the movie Fifty Shades of Grey that will be released later this week.

Both groups really do not want you to watch that movie.  Or, apparently, read the book.

I saw the trailer and, frankly, it's boring:  well, duh, it's a "chick flick."  And I've heard that the novel isn't exactly high prose.  But nobody is complaining about the movie being boring or the novel being poorly-written.  No, they're complaining that it "promotes" (i.e., exposes people to forbidden ideas) a sexual practice that has been around since humans first evolved from the apes:  BDSM (Bondage, Dominance, Sado-Masochism).  And therefore, you shouldn't watch it.  Nobody should watch it.  Because, well, "vanilla" sex is the only kind that is Approved By God.  Or something.

The feminists hate it because, well, Doms and Subs*.  And any time the Dom is male and the Sub is female, then we have a problem.  Because, you know,  oppression and exploitation and hegemony and all the rest of that huge steaming pile of Marxist crap that is called Postmodernism.

Now, it isn't likely that I'll ever read the book or watch the movie.  Which saddens me a little bit because I love seeing Holier-than-thou Christians and Postmodern feminists suffer.  But I have a feeling that the movie will be a great success without me.

BDSM isn't for everyone.  But there are some people I count as friends who derive great pleasure from it, and who have taken the effort to explain to me what they do and why.  I shan't go into details here, but there is a well-known physiological basis to the pleasure that a "Sub" derives from BDSM play.  And it is all consensual:  all of the people I know who do this kind of play have a rather strict set of rules governing consent, and of ensuring that consent is continuous throughout the play session.

So, if you don't like BDSM, don't engage in it.  But what other people do with their genitals between or among consenting adults IS NONE OF YOUR GODDAMNED BUSINESS.

If you don't like Fifty Shades of Grey, then don't watch it.  If other people want to watch it, that's their business, not yours.  Leave them alone.

And -- dare I suggest? -- if you think other people's sexuality is any of your business, you need a spanking.

* Not gonna explain it.  Go look it up.  NOT at work!