Almost a century before "Fifty Shades of Grey"

Some people seem to think of Fifty Shades of Gray's rampant popularity as something novel and a shift in the way women think. I really don't think that that's the case. Consider the following outline of a 1919 novel: An independent woman ventures out into the desert, is kidnapped by an Arab Sheik, raped repeatedly, manages to escape, is recaptured, decides she loves him, is kidnapped by some other guy, rescued by her original captor, and they then speak of their love for each other.

Sound weird? Obscure? Something immediately offensive to most women? It was actually a bestselling novel and the author's most popular book, resulting in a 1921 movie which

... was a major success with audiences, smashing attendance records where it debuted. In its first week of release it set attendance records at two of New York's major theatres, the Rialto and the Rivoli. The New York Telegraph estimated that in the first few weeks 125,000 people had seen the film.

The exception to the movie's popularity seems to have been not amongst women but amongst men. Here's how a 2008 NPR article described the lead male actor:

Valentino's playful treatment of the character captivated female audiences and established him as Hollywood's first male sex symbol. Mary Brewer Barkley, who was 13 years old when the film was released, recalls newspaper reports that young women were running off to the Middle East in the hope of being abducted by handsome Arabs.

Have things changed? Not much I'd argue. It's not just the purchase of novels such as Fifty Shades of Grey - there's actually a body of peer-reviewed research on the subject. I could say more, but sometimes the details are better unsaid.