“Whatever You Do, ‘Don’t Call It “Mommy Porn”’: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fan Culture, and the Limits of Intellectual Property Rights

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  • “Whatever You Do, ‘Don’t Call It “Mommy Porn”’: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fan Culture, and the Limits of Intellectual Property Rights
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  • 12/19/2025
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  • Beginning with Fifty Shades of Grey, E. L. James' trilogy of romance novels has become a major phenomenon in popular culture. Fifty Shades of Grey stands as the best-selling book of all time in the UK as well as the fastest-selling series in the US. This paper aims to highlight some reasons behind the Fifty Shades phenomenon and its impact on the romance novel genre. In addition, this essay will address the series' effect on fan culture as well as its role in the debate over the publishing of fan-written stories based off an existing work, or "fanfiction," and intellectual property laws. As a result, this discussion raises questions about the future of romance publishing and fanfiction communities that have been significantly impacted by the Fifty Shades of Grey series.
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  • Infinite Earths

MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Guthrie, Meredith. “whatever You Do, ‘don’t Call It “mommy Porn”’: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fan Culture, and the Limits of Intellectual Property Rights. Infinite Earths. 2013. d-scholarship.pitt.edu/concern/generic_works/4d307407-04b3-42ac-989c-577958cd91ed.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

G. Meredith. (2013). “Whatever You Do, ‘Don’t Call It “Mommy Porn”’: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fan Culture, and the Limits of Intellectual Property Rights. https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/concern/generic_works/4d307407-04b3-42ac-989c-577958cd91ed

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Guthrie, Meredith. “whatever You Do, ‘don’t Call It “mommy Porn”’: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fan Culture, and the Limits of Intellectual Property Rights. Infinite Earths. 2013. https://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/concern/generic_works/4d307407-04b3-42ac-989c-577958cd91ed.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

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