--- title: Morality in Media Criticizes R-rating for Fifty Shades of Grey description: Anti-pornography watchdog group Morality in Media has taken issue with Fifty Shades of Grey’s R-rating, arguing that the rating “severely undermines the violent themes in... canonical: https://time.com/3666760/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-14T06:25:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:33:14.789Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Morality in Media Criticizes R-rating for 'Fifty Shades of Grey' og:description: Anti-pornography watchdog group Morality in Media has taken issue with Fifty Shades of Grey’s R-rating og:url: https://time.com/3666760/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Morality in Media Criticizes R-rating for 'Fifty Shades of Grey' twitter:description: Anti-pornography watchdog group Morality in Media has taken issue with Fifty Shades of Grey’s R-rating twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Morality in Media Criticizes R-rating for _Fifty Shades of Grey_ by [Esther Zuckerman / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Esther Zuckerman / Entertainment Weekly Jan 14, 2015 6:25 AM CUT by [Esther Zuckerman / Entertainment Weekly](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Esther Zuckerman / Entertainment Weekly Jan 14, 2015 6:25 AM CUT Anti-pornography watchdog group Morality in Media has taken issue with _Fifty Shades of Grey’s_ R-rating, arguing that the rating “severely undermines the violent themes in the film and does not adequately inform parents and patrons of the film’s content.” Last week, the MPAA granted the film based on E L James novel an R rating for “strong sexual content including dialogue, some unusual behavior and graphic nudity.” Morality in Media takes specific issue with the MPAA’s [use](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2015/01/07/fifty-shades-of-grey-mpaa-r-rating/ "undefined") of the phrase “unusual behavior” to describe the content of the film. “What the term ‘unusual’ does not account for is the coercion, sexual violence, female inequality, and BDSM themes from which the entire _Fifty Shades_ plot is based,” the statement reads. “Such a vague evaluation puts viewers at risk, sending the message that humiliation is pleasurable and that torture should be sexually gratifying.” The group argued: “We’d like to change the MPAA rating for _Fifty Shades of Grey_ to read: ‘Promotes torture as sexually gratifying, graphic nudity, encourages stalking and abuse of power, promotes female inequality, glamorizes and legitimizes violence against women.’” The organization also targeted the film when the initial [trailer](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/07/24/fifty-shades-of-grey-trailer/ "undefined") was released, arguing that it “deceives the public with a visually appealing melodramatic love story that romanticizes and normalizes sexual violence.” [_This article originally appeared on EW.com_](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2015/01/12/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3666760/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3666760/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/"},"headline":"Morality in Media Criticizes R-rating for Fifty Shades of Grey","datePublished":"2015-01-14T06:25:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:33:14.789Z","description":"Anti-pornography watchdog group Morality in Media has taken issue with Fifty Shades of Grey’s R-rating, arguing that the rating “severely undermines the violent themes in...","url":"https://time.com/3666760/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Esther Zuckerman / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"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/3666760/morality-in-media-criticizes-r-rating-for-fifty-shades-of-grey/","name":"Morality in Media Criticizes R-rating for Fifty Shades of Grey"}}]}] ```