‘Fornication’ TD defends erotic bestseller

The Mayo TD who claimed “fornication” was the single greatest cause of unwanted pregnancies in Ireland and that “in some instances abortion is being used as birth control”, has emerged as an unlikely fan of Fifty Shades of Grey.

Michelle Mulherin described the book, which has sold 40m copies worldwide and which features bondage and domination, as “a challenge that presents all relationships now”.

Fifty Shades of Grey features what Ms Mulherin refers to as “full-throttle violence” perpetrated on the female lead by the man.

Yet despite the erotic drive of the book, Ms Mulherin said other than having a “certain amount of interest in the eroticism in the first one or two scenes, after a while, it is actually a bit monotonous or boring or whatever”.

She was appearing on RTÉ’s The Saturday Night Show as one of three women asked to read the books. No doubt it was hoped that, given her past comments on the subject of sex, she would be the one to voice concern about the explicit content.

Yet when one of the reviewers raised comparisons between the relationship of the male and female characters and domestic violence, it was Ms Mulherin who voiced dissent.

“I think this is miles apart. It’s as similar to domestic violence as rape is to consensual sex. They are completely different because at every point this girl — OK she is young, naïve, she is actually very goofy and I think this is endearing — she is coming of age. She is only comes to terms with the fact that she is attractive.

“For a long time in the book she cannot acknowledge that this man finds her attractive even though all the signs are there for those of us observing it.”

Ms Mulherin continued: “I would see it as a challenge that presents all relationships now, male-female relationships or someone you choose to be close to. People are no longer contented with a stereotypical relationship — this is a marriage, this is how it should be because my expectation might be different than yours.”

She said that even in successful relationships and in marriage, which Ms Mulherin said “is the ultimate contract for relationships”, people get left behind. “We all change over time so you need to keep negotiating.”