Libraries Banning ‘50 Shades of Grey’ may Lead to an R18 Rating

Some libraries in the United States banned copies of E.L. James novels because of the steamy and erotic content. This may lead to an R18 rating to the upcoming film adaptation of the book.

Many fans of "50 Shades of Grey" under 18 years old may be disappointed to be not able to watch the film on theaters. Libraries started banning copies of the erotic trilogy that may incur strict rating preventing youngsters to watch the film.

Censorship may hinder some fans and viewers to watch the adaptation once it gets released. If the director of the film will strictly follow the book, the erotic scenes may call for a higher and stricter rating. The film may suffer since the original fan base of the books are young adults-- similar to that of the Twilight and Hunger Games trilogies.

"50 Shades of Grey" as well as other E.L. James' series, "50 Shades Darker" and "50 Shades Freed" settled on the top three slots on The New York Times' bestseller list.

However, library officials decided not to purchase James' erotic trilogy, which narrates the sexual adventures of Christian Grey, a 27-year-old billionaire businessman and college student Anastasia Steele. The erotic novel features scenes of bondage, domination and sadomasochism.

One of the libraries argued the books lack authoritative reviews, which is the basis for purchasing new novels. Moreover, the explicit contents of the book are another factor of banning it in the library.

There are reports that the trilogy encouraged bondage, domination, sadomasochism and submissive sex among young adults.

"50 Shades of Grey" was a story developed from a Twilight fan fiction titled "Master of the Universe." Originally, the piece featured characters named after Stephenie Meyer's characters in Twilight, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.

However, after comments concerning the sexual nature of the material, James removed the story from the fanfiction websites and published it on her own website, FiftyShades.com.

The author decided to rewrite the piece as an original piece with the principal characters renamed Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, and shortly prior to its publication withdrew the fan fiction version from her website for mass production.