THIS IS A POST ABOUT SEX AND NOT CLICKBAIT.

I've been reading so many blogposts lately about 50 Shades of Grey vs Christianity that the amount of cookies on my computer with the words "50 shades" could probably single-handedly cure worldwide hunger. Let me explain this before I begin: I haven't read the book. I probably won't watch the movie unless I get tricked into seeing it like the second Edward Sparklepants vampire movie. My friends told me we were going to see an "action packed thriller," and I probably should have asked more questions. I can't say anything about how poorly written any of them are since I'm reading much more upper-level impressive Shakespearean books like The Harry Potter series. I have no idea whether the book is a total suckfest or intriguing, and don't really care to know. Anything based off of romance or bondage is usually up there in the "books I won't read" pile along with the Bird Watching for Dummies that somehow made it to my bookshelf when I got married. I have no idea how terrible the book is for my morals either, since I haven't read it. It could be the single worst erotica ever written compiled as a popout scratch-and-sniff, and I wouldn't know. I'm guessing you're noticing a trend other than my sarcasm. I can't write a long example of why something is bad if I have no reasons to back it up other than hearsay. I CAN say that I've watched a lot of movies out there that gave me a full "surprise!" of male genitalia, a lot of butts, and so so many boobies that were also rated R. So many boobies. Yet no one is writing long blogposts about how these popular comedy or action movies catered more towards men are evil. I mean, I'm just imagining me writing some long blogpost about how the last Transformers movie starring a 17-year-old girl as the eye candy is doing nothing but promoting pedophilia in an otherwise crappy movie that should have just ended already after Megan Fox left, but I would be laughed into oblivion. Writing how men are destroying morals and Christianity by going to a film with a hot actress and erotic scenes would involve me being called a "jealous bitch" and a prude. It wouldn't work. Sure, some women are writing blogposts on how dangerous the 50 Shades series is, but I'm honestly surprised at the amount of Christian men who are blasting women for seeing a movie based off of popular erotica when a majority of mainstream movies aren't exactly great either. Yet again, in a déjà vu of Magic Mike, I'm seeing the Christian world go absolutely crazy over a movie that is dedicated to women's sex drives. Heaven forbid. It took decades for popular Christian magazines and blogs to frequently post that maybe porn is bad (aside from some obscure posts here and there), and as soon as a female-oriented sexual movie that's not even full fledged pornography comes out, it's seen as controversial and any woman who goes to it is obviously living a life of sin. My point is that if you're not actively speaking out against pornography or even erotica, it's beyond hypocritical to be immediately pointing out a "sinful" movie simply because it's one of the very few sexual movies out there that doesn't cater to your own gender and sexual orientation. Welcome to our world.

The problem I'm continually seeing in the Christian world is this huge mind-blowing freakout at visual sexual stimuli catering to women. Over and over again, I'm seeing these long explanations with preachers or writers trying to convince me that I'm only turned on by emotions while single women everywhere slowly scroll by a half naked ripped male model grabbing his junk and thanking God that the mainstream media figured out otherwise. I shouldn't be too surprised at the confusion involving female sexual stimulation when the clitoris was mapped out more than a hundred years later than the penis.... In 1998 by Dr. Helen O'Connell to be more precise. Using studies with fMRIs, researchers in multiple different studies found out men and women use much of the same areas of the brain when turned on sexually. These involve the inferior frontal lobe, cingulate gyrus, insula, corpus callosum (communication between both hemispheres), thalamus, caudate nucleus, globes pallidus, and inferior temporal lobe (Park et al. 2001). Otherwise, what greatly differs is how one gets turned on in the first place. Men are pretty point blank when it comes to scientific research on sex, and women are sexually complex enough to usually end each conclusion with a vague "we don't really know." According to research, women have an easier time seeing themselves as the porn actress, and men usually objectify from an outward perspective (Janssen et al. 2003). Men have a higher correlation between genital sexual arousal and horniness, which is one main reason why the areas of the brain responding to visual stimuli appear more pronounced on a male fMRI scan since many of the same areas are also giving the go-ahead produce that erection (Chung et al. 2013). Both men and women are turned on visually, although women according to a study by Chivers et. al shows women getting more turned on by a female naked body than a male naked body to a statistically significant point. In fact, while heterosexual men are mainly turned on by male-on-female and female-on-female action, the female mind seems to be turned on by male-on-female, female-on-female, and male-on-male action as well as even chimpanzees mating. Women are more likely to have fantasies about orgies involving more than three partners, as well as sadomasochism (hello, 50 shades) though many admit they wouldn't go through with it. Women, like the stereotype, can also be turned on by emotions (a love story with erotica, for example) while men usually aren't (WS Chung et al 2013). Because of this, women are also more likely to enjoy pornography with a back story while most men wouldn't care. Men usually have a higher libido in general, which of course differs from person to person and evens out more as people age. I could go on. No research supports the idea that women are feeble-minded sexless creatures who are going against their nature when they get turned on by visual stimuli. It would have an easier time supporting the idea that a woman is getting turned on by a giant gay orgy with some sadomasochism thrown in there, and possibly a couple chimps.

Women are sexual beings. The major differences come from basic evolutionary psychology finding women more natural picky when it comes to partners in real life since they have to deal with that whole annoying pregnancy and child-raising thing. Erotica may be morally questionable, but not it isn't confusing or controversial. This isn't feminism's fault for "making" women more sexual. If you want to go that route, blame God for creating women who are turned on by weird love stories involving sex, control, and sadomasochism. Girls will be girls, amiright? There's also nothing wrong with finding a novel or movie bad. As Christians, we're supposed to be aware and keep attention to things that seem morally "iffy" to us when we're not busy screaming at LGBTs (that's my pesky sarcasm again). I didn't see Magic Mike because I was in a long-term committed relationship and would feel convicted for watching a movie I knew was pretty much there for me to ogle at half naked dudes. That's okay. Im sure it's not some terrible movie, but I listened to my own conscience and follow 1 Corinthians 10:23 that highlights the fact that what is legal for me to do doesn't always mean it's beneficial to my walk with God. However, this nationwide Christian attack on one single movie is beyond ridiculous. It doesn't mean I judge you or hate you for posting on your feed or even writing an entire article about it, but I do believe it needs to stop. Everyone got the point already that a majority of Christians think it's wrong. I'm also more confused about many secular blogposts highlighting the abusive relationship and misunderstanding of BDSM, yet many Christian articles are just highlighting the sexual nature of it and seem to not even care about the abuse. It's making women feel disgusting for having a God-given sex drive, and few are saying anything about other erotic movies. It's time to stop freaking out.