A Strange Day on the Bus, and Inappropriate Reading Materials

Yesterday, something strange happened. I was riding the bus home from my place of business. Wait. That’s not the strange part. Riding the bus is normal, but what happened on the bus wasn’t. For those of you who have the profound privilege of riding the city bus frequently, you may be familiar with a very quiet and solitary ride. You get in your seat (or stand) and don’t’ talk to anyone, and get to where you’re going. Easy peasy. Not today.

I was sitting at the back of the bus, with my headphones in, concentrating hard on getting off at the right spot (only eleven stops to go!) when I noticed that the woman sitting in front of me (sort of at a 90 degree angle, so I could clearly see her, also let’s give her a name. How about Lucy?) was reading Fifty Shades of Grey. The man sitting across from her (we’ll call him Hector) kept making harrumphing noises often enough that I paused my music so that I could watch what was sure to happen. “I can’t believe that you can read that filth in public,” he said. I forgot to mention that Hector was with his probably sixteen year old daughter, who looked mortified.

The daughter in question looked more mortified when he started lecturing Lucy on “corrupting the youth” (side note: isn’t that what Socrates was sentenced to death for?). He went on for quite some time, during which time the bus got stuck in a traffic jam, thus lengthening this exchange. Lucy didn’t say a word this whole time. She had stopped reading her book, but hadn’t really responded. When Hector finished, looking a little flustered (the whole bus was watching by this point), she started her tirade. Lucy, it seems, is all for freedom of speech and feminist writes and (edited for language) “reading her goshdarn book wherever she frenchthellama wants to”.

At this point, Hector, his daughter, and I all left the bus. I thought about this little exchange the rest of my walk home. And then again as I’m typing this now.Due to the massive hysteria surrounding this truly pornographic novel, it’s at the point where you can’t really just have it out in public without people knowing what it is (Nerimon has a great video about this on youtube, involving a situation very similar to mine, but without the shouting match. You can look it up, if you don't mind his explicitness/language. I know I don't mind.). At the same time, I’m all for free speech and the liberation of women.

I read the book. You can read about what I thought of it here. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t even mildly good. It didn’t change my life, either. It was simply bad Twilight fanfiction. If anything, it made me never ever want to meet a ‘Christian Grey’ in real life. I wouldn't read it on the bus. I certainly wouldn’t pay money for this book, because I’m certain that there are similar ‘novels’ on the internet for free. I suppose what I’m asking is what you guys think about it.

Are we at the point where you can read your erotica in public without getting judged? Should you get judged for it? Have you read this book? If you have read it, would you read it on the bus? Or would you you be the Hector in this scenario? Difficult questions. I know that I would be the Cait, passively watching the whole exchange.

Have a great Thursday!