best pictures depict girls who look like they either just got laid or are about to. The eyes of a top model almost always express sexual arousal. When she’s looking deeply into the eyes of her lover, imaginary or real, suddenly the rest of the world no longer exists. Everything she needs to communicate is said through a look.
E. L. James vividly captures this reality in
Fifty Shades of Grey
. Christian’s eyes show his desire and need for Ana, just as hers do for him. Christian uses Ana’s looks as a barometer as to how far he can go with her. It’s the same for me. From the first kiss through orgasm I like to know what my partner is feeling. If we are looking at one another, we can adjust our movements and make those tiny changes that can increase the intensity of the moment. If we’re clamping our eyes closed, or looking somewhere else, we may never know when or how to do that one subtle thing that can make all the difference, and it is amazingly empowering.
Ana had power over Christian. It just took her a while to figure it out and make it work for her.
Just as Ana and Christian did, leave the lights on, keep your eyes open, focus on your partner, and let your mind and body follow the wave of arousal you feel. And, just as they did, you might find that new layer of sexual arousal you never dreamed of.
MARCI HIRSCH is Vice President of Vivid Entertainment, the world’s leading adult film studio, where she heads up production, licensing, and international sales. The second generation of her family to work in the adult industry, Marci lives in Southern California with her two sons.
JENNIFER SANZO
The Byronic Hero Archetype and Christian Grey
Why America’s Favorite Sadist Is Nothing New
Y OU KNOW THE TYPE: powerful, mysterious, brooding, and unbelievably sexy. He is the reason you watch period dramas even though you have no interest in literature or history. He’s the brilliant, cynical bad boy with a heart of gold—seemingly unobtainable, yet flawed just enough to make you think you stand a chance. In literature, he is referred to as the Byronic hero, and much to the dismay of feminists everywhere, women have been lusting over him for centuries. Now joining the ranks of literature’s sexiest protagonists is Christian Grey, the beautiful, twitchy-palmed control freak who has captured our hearts and excited other parts of our anatomy.
If you have a pulse, you have heard about the Fifty Shades trilogy and America’s favorite sadist, Christian Grey. I am astay-at-home mom, and this series has become the topic of conversation at every playground, story time, and ice cream social from Rochester (where I live) to Timbuktu (assumption not based in fact). Last I checked there were over 1,000 people on the waiting list for
Fifty Shades of Grey
at my library alone. So, what is all the fuss about? Why have so many women fallen in love with Christian Grey? Why the overwhelming obsession?
Honestly, it is nothing new. Christian Grey joins the company of some of literature’s most famous panty-droppers, including Mr. Rochester in
Jane Eyre, Gone with the Wind
’s Rhett Butler, Heathcliff in
Wuthering Heights
, and
The Count of Monte Cristo
’s Edmund Dantes. Christian Grey is Mr. Darcy with a darker past, a few more scars, and a more extensive sex toy collection. He’s the Rhett Butler who gets the girl. He’s a modern-day Heathcliff, sharing the crappy childhood but maintaining more self-control, less self-indulgence, and sparing us the ghost of his dead girlfriend. Think of Fifty Shades as your favorite epic romance with a touch of BDSM. With Christian Grey, E. L. James gives us the modern manifestation of the Byronic hero archetype—only this time the reader gets to know him more intimately than ever before. His allure is rooted in the qualities we have always been drawn to in our darkest romantic heroes, but now we get to go to bed with him (a lot), and women (myself included) just can’t get enough.
So,
E. L. James vividly captures this reality in
Fifty Shades of Grey
. Christian’s eyes show his desire and need for Ana, just as hers do for him. Christian uses Ana’s looks as a barometer as to how far he can go with her. It’s the same for me. From the first kiss through orgasm I like to know what my partner is feeling. If we are looking at one another, we can adjust our movements and make those tiny changes that can increase the intensity of the moment. If we’re clamping our eyes closed, or looking somewhere else, we may never know when or how to do that one subtle thing that can make all the difference, and it is amazingly empowering.
Ana had power over Christian. It just took her a while to figure it out and make it work for her.
Just as Ana and Christian did, leave the lights on, keep your eyes open, focus on your partner, and let your mind and body follow the wave of arousal you feel. And, just as they did, you might find that new layer of sexual arousal you never dreamed of.
MARCI HIRSCH is Vice President of Vivid Entertainment, the world’s leading adult film studio, where she heads up production, licensing, and international sales. The second generation of her family to work in the adult industry, Marci lives in Southern California with her two sons.
JENNIFER SANZO
The Byronic Hero Archetype and Christian Grey
Why America’s Favorite Sadist Is Nothing New
Y OU KNOW THE TYPE: powerful, mysterious, brooding, and unbelievably sexy. He is the reason you watch period dramas even though you have no interest in literature or history. He’s the brilliant, cynical bad boy with a heart of gold—seemingly unobtainable, yet flawed just enough to make you think you stand a chance. In literature, he is referred to as the Byronic hero, and much to the dismay of feminists everywhere, women have been lusting over him for centuries. Now joining the ranks of literature’s sexiest protagonists is Christian Grey, the beautiful, twitchy-palmed control freak who has captured our hearts and excited other parts of our anatomy.
If you have a pulse, you have heard about the Fifty Shades trilogy and America’s favorite sadist, Christian Grey. I am astay-at-home mom, and this series has become the topic of conversation at every playground, story time, and ice cream social from Rochester (where I live) to Timbuktu (assumption not based in fact). Last I checked there were over 1,000 people on the waiting list for
Fifty Shades of Grey
at my library alone. So, what is all the fuss about? Why have so many women fallen in love with Christian Grey? Why the overwhelming obsession?
Honestly, it is nothing new. Christian Grey joins the company of some of literature’s most famous panty-droppers, including Mr. Rochester in
Jane Eyre, Gone with the Wind
’s Rhett Butler, Heathcliff in
Wuthering Heights
, and
The Count of Monte Cristo
’s Edmund Dantes. Christian Grey is Mr. Darcy with a darker past, a few more scars, and a more extensive sex toy collection. He’s the Rhett Butler who gets the girl. He’s a modern-day Heathcliff, sharing the crappy childhood but maintaining more self-control, less self-indulgence, and sparing us the ghost of his dead girlfriend. Think of Fifty Shades as your favorite epic romance with a touch of BDSM. With Christian Grey, E. L. James gives us the modern manifestation of the Byronic hero archetype—only this time the reader gets to know him more intimately than ever before. His allure is rooted in the qualities we have always been drawn to in our darkest romantic heroes, but now we get to go to bed with him (a lot), and women (myself included) just can’t get enough.
So,
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