This chapter deals with more explicit discussion of BDSM than previous chapters have. I doubt you’re reading this review if you aren’t up for that kind of thing, though.
Recap: Christian dropped Ana back at her apartment, and Kate helped her prepare for her date that evening. Christian then picked Ana up and flew her in his helicopter to his place in Seattle. After dinner and drinks, he asked Ana to sign an NDA (which she did without reading it first) and then showed her to his playroom.
Fifty Shades of Grey - Chapter Seven
Ana takes a look around Grey’s playroom. There’s a lot of description which I’ll try to summarize in brief: It’s a big room, dark burgundy walls, varnished wood floors. Some sort of ambient lighting. Various kinky shit — large wooden cross with restraining cuffs fastened to the wall, iron grid with various ropes, chains, and shackles hanging from it on the ceiling, a very large assortment of paddles, whips, riding crops, etc, a whole rack full of canes — how many canes do you need? I’m no expert, but I was sort of under the impression that a cane is a cane is a cane, at least when it comes to whacking people on the rear with it.
The entire room seems a bit… showy, and I’m sure Christian is the sort of guy to be all about presentation, but I’m not sure how practical any of this is. What with everything on display, it seems like the room is there more to be looked at than to actually be used. Makes you wonder how long it’s been since Christian had a submissive, and if the room’s actually seen any use or not.
There’s also a very large bed in the room, with a red leather mattress, which is just downright disgusting. You really wanna fuck on that thing? Christian better have some wicked powerful air conditioning.
Ana feels as though the room is “Christian’s version of soft and romantic” due to all the moody lighting and dark, warm colors. I’m not sure how to react to this. First of all, I don’t think “soft and romantic” has been a part of Christian’s sex life. Sounds like he’s mainly just had women who sub for him on weekends, or something like that; no actual romances. Second, I think the author is trying to make us feel better about the situation by having Ana think the playroom is “romantic” when, really, it’s a playroom. A positive reaction to this room would be Ana getting excited by all the various things in the room and what they might be used for. Instead, she’s ignoring that part and trying to romanticize it. I… yeah, this isn’t giving me a good feeling.
Ana walks around the room a little more, observing various things, running her hands over them. She’s shocked and not sure what to say. She’s starting to feel freaked out, and, in her own words, afraid, though not of Christian — more of the BDSM stuff itself, I guess.
Honey, if you don’t want to do this, tell him and get out.
Christian asks her to say something — no, he “commands” her to say something, actually. She asks him if he’s the dominant or submissive partner (does she really gotta ask?) and who he does this stuff with. The way she phrases it is much more awkward than I just made it sound. Christian answers that he’s the dominant one and that he does this with consenting female partners.
Ana has a thought:
I wander to the far corner of the room and pat the waist high padded bench and run my fingers over the leather. He likes to hurt women. The thought depresses me.
She ought to just leave at this point. Ana’s clearly not a masochist. The idea of Christian using this stuff on her doesn’t turn her on, she finds it depressing that this is what gets him off. It’d be one thing if Ana felt conflicted here; I wouldn’t be bothered if she thought something like “wow, this is kinda freaky and I don’t know if I’d be into that, but it’s also kind of exciting.” She doesn’t seem to find it exciting at all. Even though there’s mutual attraction between these two, this reaction from Ana sure makes it seem to me like there’s a fundamental sexual incompatibility. I actively do not want them to have sex with each other now.
Ana asks Christian what being a Dominant means. He explains that he wants her to willingly surrender herself to him. She asks why, and he replies, “To please me.” No clarification that the submissive is also supposed to enjoy the act of submitting to a dominant partner and that relationships like this don’t work otherwise. Ana’s response to being told Christian wants her to please him is “yes I would like to do that,” but that’s clearly just because she thinks he’s hot, not because she finds the idea of submitting to him hot.
Christian explains how he’d like this to work: He has rules he’d like her to follow, and if she does follow his rules she’ll be rewarded. If she doesn’t, she’ll be punished. We’re taking the “be as vague as possible” route, I see. Ana, exceeding my expectations, asks what she’s going to get out of this. Christian, living up to my expectations, simply tells her “Me.”
I’ll just copy+paste the next bit, because… well, because:
He’s dangerous to my health, because I know I’m going to say yes. And part of me doesn’t want to. Part of me wants to run screaming from this room and all it represents. I am so out of my depth here.
Okay, if you want to run screaming you should either a) do that or b) say something to the effect of “Wow, this is kind of overwhelming, could we take things a lot slower? I don’t have any experience with this kind of thing.” It’s normal to be a little overwhelmed your first time trying something. It’s not normal to be so overwhelmed that you want to run for the hills; that means you probably shouldn’t be trying that thing.
This next quote almost made me laugh:
“I’m not going to hurt you, Anastasia.” His gray eyes implore, and I know he speaks the truth.
Like, come the fuck on. Dude basically just finished explaining he’s a sadist, and now he’s telling Ana he’s not going to hurt her? If I were as clueless as she is and a guy who had just shown me his room full of canes and whips told me that he wanted to use them on me, then added that he wasn’t going to hurt me, I’d think that was bullshit. On the other hand, if I was into the idea of being caned/whipped by this guy, I’d also consider “I’m not going to hurt you” to be bullshit for different reasons. It’d be so simple for Christian to explain that the type of pain he likes inflicting sexually is supposed to be fun for his submissives too, that it’s not actually about causing serious pain or injury but a way of enhancing the experience for both of them (obviously this isn’t something everybody is into and Ana might nope out if it were properly explained to her, but he’s denying her the opportunity to make an informed decision by not explaining this, and he’s also hurting his own case by not clarifying that this is something that’s supposed to be fun for both people involved).
Christian leads Ana out of his playroom and into another room; a sparsely furnished bedroom with a glass wall looking out over the city. He tells her that if she were to agree to be his sub, this would be her room when she stayed with him (weekends).
Hold on a second here. They haven’t yet established if Ana is into (or open to trying) this type of sexual relationship, so it seems incredibly preemptive to talk about sleeping arrangements. Christian’s treating this like it’s a job offer and he’s telling Ana about her employee perks, but he hasn’t even determined if she’s qualified for or interested in this position yet. He supposedly has plenty of experience with this, but this seems incredibly clueless; has he really not noticed that Ana’s a complete newbie?
Ana asks about she and Christian not sleeping together. He explains that he doesn’t sleep with anyone. I get the feeling that this is going to be important, mostly because this book possesses all the subtlety of a bullet to the skull. (This doesn’t have to mean anything, of course. Not everyone enjoys sharing a bed; some married couples even prefer having separate beds, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t happily married or don’t have an active sex life. But Christian doesn’t say anything about why he prefers sleeping alone, which makes me think there’s some Important Reason — tragic backstory, probably — that we’ll find out about later.)
Christian leads Ana back downstairs for some food. As he arranges a tray with all the bougie snack foods — grapes, cheeses, a baguette — he explains that he and Ana need to agree on a contract. He’s kind of vague about what this contract actually entails, but I take it that it’s a set of guidelines for how their scenes will go — limits, etc. — as well as what Christian expects of his subs in general both in the playroom and outside of it. (I’m 99.99% sure that he’s angling for a 24/7 D/s relationship, meaning his control over her extends outside of the bedroom.)
Ana asks him what happens if she says no. He says it’s fine if she does, but that they can’t have any other type of relationship. She asks why. He answers:
“This is the only sort of relationship I’m interesting in.”
I think you mean interested in, though interesting in is perhaps more accurate.
Ana asks him how he became this way — her phrasing, not mine. He dodges the question by saying that it’s difficult to answer that. Now, in real life, if you ask someone with unconventional sexual interests why they’re into whatever it is they’re into, they probably only have a vague idea of what the answer might be, since naturally many different factors could be in play. However, I did read this entire book and part of the next one and as such I’m well aware that specific events in Christian’s life gave him a taste for BDSM. We’ll get to that in time.
Ana refuses to eat but has another glass of wine. What a fucking brilliant strategy; getting drunk because she’s uncomfortable with a situation. Again, it was previously established that Ana isn’t an experienced drinker, Christian even scolded her over it, so why is he still offering her wine when he knows she doesn’t know her limits and is refusing food?
Ana asks Christian how many subs he’s had previously (fifteen), if he’s been in long-term relationships with any of them (yes, some of them), if he’s ever hurt a sub (yes), badly (no), and if he’ll hurt her. The last question is a little harder for Christian to answer; he tells her that if she breaks the rules he lays out for her, he’ll punish her, and that the punishment will be painful. He does not tell her that this pain is for her enjoyment as much as his. I don’t know if that’s an oversight on his part or if he just doesn’t give a fuck what his subs are feeling as long as they don’t tell him no, but I’m starting to get uncomfortable with how he hasn’t once made it clear to her that a relationship like this is supposed to be enjoyable for both partners. The sub is supposed to enjoy being submissive. May seem obvious, yes, but not to someone like Ana, who clearly knows little to nothing about BDSM.
Feeling faint, Ana takes another sip of wine. Don’t like that.
Ana asks if Christian’s ever been beaten. He tells her yes, but changes the subject before she can ask a follow-up question.
Christian takes Ana to his study and hands her a sheet of paper. The paper contains a list of rules, all of which are in the book because… I don’t know, it looks like we’re just padding the length here.
Brief summary of the rules: The sub (I’ll use Ana’s name for convenience) is supposed to obey any instruction she receives from Christian, and to agree to any sexual activity he’d like unless that activity is a hard limit for her. Ana is supposed to get at least seven hours of sleep a night on days she isn’t with Christian. There’s a list of foods (thankfully not detailed here) that she’s allowed to eat from — I assume healthy foods, because it’s also mentioned that she’s only allowed fruit as snacks. When Ana is with Christian, she’s only allowed to wear clothes he approves; he’ll provide a clothing budget for her and go clothes shopping with her. Ana will meet with a personal trainer four times a week for hour-long exercise sessions. Ana is expected to keep herself shaved/waxed (it’s not specified where; I’m going to assume legs and armpits, maybe crotch as well), and to visit a beauty salon of Christian’s choosing when Christian decides she needs to. Ana is not allowed to drink to excess, or to smoke, or to take recreational drugs, or to put herself in unnecessary danger. She’s not allowed to have any other sexual partners, is supposed to behave modestly and politely, and should remember that her behavior is a reflection on Christian. Failure to comply with any of the rules will result in punishment, the nature of which will be determined by Christian.
Okay, before we get to Ana’s reaction to this, how about my reaction? You guys like me more than her anyway, right?
Without getting into what it means for a man to tell a woman he’s going to control her body, her behavior, and her life to this extent (BDSM discourse is a can of worms I’d like to avoid as much as possible in this review), this is not a good way to establish ground rules. Christian handed her this list of rules and told her that if she wants to be his sub, this is what she has to do. Does she get to negotiate on any of this? What if there’s something not in this contract at all that she’d like added, or something she wants removed entirely? This book doesn’t seem to recognize that, regardless of the agreed-upon dynamics in a D/s relationship, both partners are supposed to be equals. Christian obviously is a bit older, considerably more experienced, and vastly more wealthy, but a healthy D/s relationship is playacting at power imbalances, not actually depriving the submissive of power.
If the two of them sat down together and came up with this list of rules, that’d be one thing. But Christian handed a list of rules to Ana and told her “this is what I expect of my subs,” and didn’t even indicate he’s open to negotiation.
Ana tries to negotiate anyway. First she takes issue with the “accepting money for clothes” bit, because it would make her feel like a “ho.” Really? We’re gonna go there? Christian says that he’d like to spend money on her, and that she probably can’t afford the kind of clothes he’d like her to wear. He also clarifies that she can wear what she wants when she isn’t with him, at which point she agrees to the rule.
Then she tries to get her exercise sessions bumped down to three a week. Christian argues with her about it but eventually gives in. (If you’re wondering, the rule is there because Christian apparently needs his subs to be in decent shape — I guess some of the kinky stuff he likes to do requires stamina and/or flexibility.)
They don’t go over the rules too exhaustively, though, because after the argument over exercise (Christian doesn’t get angry with Ana during the negotiations — thank god. I was half expecting him to, though) Christian changes the subject to hard limits. He hands Ana another piece of paper detailing his own hard limits. It’s a pretty short list and I’m not sure why he felt the need to write them down, but regardless: no fire play, nothing that could cause bleeding (such as knives or needles), nothing involving bodily waste, no gynecological instruments, nothing that will leave permanent marks on the skin, and nothing involving children or animals (good, but why did this need to be clarified?). Also no breath control, because he’s a wuss.
Christian asks Ana if she’d like to add anything to the list. Naturally, she has no clue, and is speechless for a minute while she thinks it over. He prompts her again by asking if there was anything she didn’t like doing when she had sex in the past, at which point she finally admits to being a virgin. Christian, angry, asks Ana “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?” End chapter.
Holy Cow! Alert: Not this time, but there’s one “Holy crap!”, one “Holy shit!”, and one “Holy fuck!” It’s the Holy Trinity!
And Now, A Word From Ana’s Subconscious Alert: Only one, shockingly.
[After Ana sees Christian’s playroom] My subconscious has emigrated or been struck dumb or simply keeled over and expired.
Padding Alert: This chapter is eight pages long. One and a half pages are devoted to Christian’s list of rules and his list of hard limits.
Thoughts So Far:
I’m not sure what there is to say that hasn’t been covered already. Christian needs to tell Ana exactly what he’d like to do with her, and, if she’s okay with it, they need to do a few scenes before she agrees to anything. Ana needs to be more assertive and to tell Christian what she wants and doesn’t want, and, if she’s really so freaked out by his kinks that she wants to run, she needs to just give up on him and get out of there. Basically, these two need to start communicating with each other.
On the positive side, the prose in this chapter isn’t nearly so bad as in previous chapters (hence why I didn’t bother doing a “Great Prose Alert” this time around — nothing jumped out at me as outstandingly bad, other than the typo I already pointed out), and both Ana’s “subconscious” and “inner goddess” are being remarkably quiet.
Next chapter: sex. (Probably.)