--- description: Jamie Dornan responds to criticism over his upcoming role in the film title: Jamie Dornan Says "Fifty Shades of Grey" Is Not Misogynistic image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b7b0b6377be2824/698777dd2dce017fa69dcbc8/jamie-dornan.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Fifty Shades of Grey_ Actor Says Movie Isn't Misogynistic by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 2, 2015 12:11 PM CUT  Jamie Dornan attends the GQ Men of the Year awards at The Royal Opera House on September 2, 2014 in London, England. Jamie Dornan attends the GQ Men of the Year awards at The Royal Opera House on September 2, 2014 in London, England.Mike Marsland—WireImage/Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 2, 2015 12:11 PM CUT The hotly-anticipated February release of _Fifty Shades of Grey_ has many people wound up, but not necessarily in a good way. The film, which portrays a relationship between a sexually dominant man and his submissive partner, already has some advocacy groups criticisizing its storyline, saying it promotes sexual violence. But the film’s star, actor Jamie Dornan has defended not only _Fifty Shades of Grey_, but also BDSM (bondage, domination and sadomasochism) culture. “I can understand why people say tying a woman up and spanking her is misogynistic. But actually, more men are submissive than women. Very powerful men,” Dornan said of BDSM in an interview with _Elle UK_ magazine. “It’s a far bigger scene than I imagined: in pretty much any city in the world that you could name, people want to get spanked with a paddle with studs on it.” But in the film, he continued, “\[t\]he love story is more important than the BDSM aspect. I mean, we are going to tell a love story, you know, it can’t just be what happens in the Red Room, that’s not a film. There’s so much more going on than that.” His comments follow criticism from the U.S.-based group Morality in the Media, which [issued a statement last summer](http://pornharms.com/statement-by-morality-in-medias-dawn-hawkins-on-fifty-shades-of-grey-trailer/ "undefined") saying that the film “romanticizes and normalizes sexual violence” and “glamorizes and legitimatizes violence against women.” \[[_The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jamie-dornan-fifty-shades-grey-760904 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3651911/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-feminism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3651911/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-feminism/"},"headline":"Fifty Shades of Grey Actor Says Movie Isn't Misogynistic","datePublished":"2015-01-02T12:11:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:13:48.210Z","description":"Jamie Dornan responds to criticism over his upcoming role in the film","url":"https://time.com/3651911/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-feminism/","keywords":["movies","Books","Fifty Shades of Grey","jamie dornan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b7b0b6377be2824/698777dd2dce017fa69dcbc8/jamie-dornan.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8b7b0b6377be2824/698777dd2dce017fa69dcbc8/jamie-dornan.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GQ Men Of The Year Awards - Red Carpet Arrivals","caption":"GQ Men Of The Year Awards - Red Carpet Arrivals","creditText":"Mike Marsland—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3651911/fifty-shades-of-grey-jamie-dornan-feminism/","name":"Fifty Shades of Grey Actor Says Movie Isn't Misogynistic"}}]}] ```