How Fifty Shades of Grey sparked the biggest baby boom in 40 years

It’s been a swell year — and one woman has dominated the biggest population boost for 40 years.  E L James put the nation in the mood, says Gavanndra Hodge
1/2
Gavanndra Hodge12 December 2012

Sociologists come up with all sorts of excuses for baby booms: recession, wars ending, cold winters, hot summers, national disasters, national successes, the impending end of the world (a weird one, that); but no cultural commentator could have predicted that an inexpertly written piece of erotic fiction could have created the biggest baby boom in 40 years. That’s right, 2013 is set to be a bumper year for bumps, with a large proportion due to hatch in February, directly correlating to the Fifty Shades of Grey sales spike in May 2012.

Fifty Shades of Grey, in which (as if you didn’t already know) an unfeasibly young and hot multi-millionaire business magnate embarks on a sexual S&M-based relationship with an unfeasibly virginal college student, is the fetid fantasy of E L James, forty-something, married, with two children. Unsurprisingly, the social demographic to have picked up on the 40 million-selling trilogy (Grey, Darker, Freed) most enthusiastically are middle-aged working mothers; many of whom had pretty much forgotten that they had ever had a sex life before Christian Grey arrived in his loose flannel trousers. Surprisingly, for them, many now find themselves expecting unexpected third and fourth children, going from one red room of pain straight into another.

“I was having sex about once or twice a month. You know how it is, you’re so tired and the weeks just whizz by,” reminisces Eliza, who has two children, a full-time job in the City and a three-hour daily commute. “I started reading the Fifty Shades series because a member of my book club suggested it. I took all three of them on a two-week holiday to the South of France and became obsessed. They are just like crack, a stereotypical female fantasy. My husband was getting annoyed because I was opting out of family activities. I was so engrossed, we’d be having a picnic and I was off under a tree reading.

But then, he couldn’t really complain, because we were having sex twice a day. I was so turned on. I do think it is amazing — just a few words on a page can make you want to do something that moments before really was not on top of your list of priorities.”

Back in the UK Eliza and her husband were still feeling the Fifty Shades effect. “It wasn’t quite as often but we were still doing it a lot. And then I started to feel sick, and realised, oh shit, I’m pregnant. We hadn’t been planning on having a third child, and for ages we’d been having sex so rarely I hadn’t worried too much about contraception.”

Eliza is now 14 weeks pregnant and is getting her kicks from Lindor balls and Strictly Come Dancing, rather than spreader bars and butt plugs.

But she is not ashamed that her child was conceived in a moment of erotica-induced lust. “I’m definitely going to read more, once I have had the baby. I love it.”

Internet chatrooms such as baby-centre.co.uk are buzzing with similar tales, particularly among the February, March and April Birth Clubs (“Yep we’re Fifty Shades too! Mr Grey’s got a lot to answer for! Ha ha xx” Cymraes2; “Yep... definitely a Shades of Grey baby... I finished reading the last book on the day my hubby impregnated me lol!” AmyCS1974).

And in anticipation, numerous wily e-tailers have started stocking Fifty Shades bibs and baby gros, with slogans including “Generation Grey” and “9 months ago my mummy read 50 Shades of Grey”, which will perhaps lose their lustre when smeared in Ella’s Kitchen Organic strawberry smoothie and romantic nights in with a Kindle are but a distant memory.

E L James, whose own children are teenagers and whose babymaking days are probably behind her, seems perfectly delighted to be fairy godmother to a whole new generation (in fact, expectant Fifty Shades mothers would do well to make James a real godmother, seeing as she’s got a bit of extra cash sloshing around for christening gifts and school fees).

“I have met quite a few women who got pregnant as a result of reading my books. I had one email from a couple in their late forties. They had the time of their lives reading the books, and then they found out she was pregnant. They were like, ‘Obviously it’s a gift from God’ and I’m going, ‘Don’t you use contraception!’” James even goes so far as to suggest that her books are a sort of natural aid to fertility, like acupuncture, to be practised by those who have not had babymaking success using more traditional means.

“I’ve met a few who’d been trying, and finally got pregnant after reading the books — if you can read something that feeds imagination and libido, why not?” Doctors will agree: frequency is the key.

Interestingly, the last time a literary hero made married mothers swoon there was not such a stampede to the delivery suite. The Twilight Series is the progenitor of the Grey books in every respect. E L James admits she only started writing Fifty Shades as a homage to Edward Cullen, the vampire who looks like an Armani model and who glitters like marble when exposed to sunlight (I have sometimes wondered, does his penis sparkle too? Only Bella knows, and she’s not telling).

Stephanie Meyers’ chaste, Mormonic fantasy was certainly no advert for babymaking — who wants a half-vampire freak foetus with a stupid name clawing its way out of their belly? Instead, it inspired women old enough to know better to fantasise about Robert Pattinson (one mother of two I know had a pillow with Pattinson’s face on it. Her marriage did not survive).

E L James’s take on girl meets boy was a more randy, Protestant affair. And like all good romances, unlikely as it may seem, after all that shagging and gaffer tape, Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey get married and get up the duff. So the real question is, who is going to help Ana rediscover her mojo when she’s been up all night feeding the baby, has spent all day sterilising bottles and just wants to snuggle down in front of Wallander with a glass of red wine?

2013: a bumper year

The Jubilee — June 5, 2012

Wham, bam, thank you ma’am.

Due February.

The Olympics — August 2012

Going for gold? According to Boris Johnson, the Olympic athletes not “only inspired a generation but probably helped to create one as well.”

Due April.

Andy’s big game — August 5, 2012

Murray mounts?

Due April.

CopyKate babies — December 2012

Do it like a Duchess?

Due September.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in