For Immediate Release
Washington, D.C February 18, 2015 — National Council of Catholic Women decries 50 Shades of Grey and Offers New Domestic Violence Resource.
For more information, please contact Laraine Bennett at 703-224-0990 or lbennett@nccw.org
Nearly 1 out of every 4 U.S. women are the victims of severe intimate partner violence, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women are much more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence with 85% of domestic abuse victims being women.
This past weekend, the highly publicized movie 50 Shades of Grey was released, with two sequels planned. This film normalizes intimate partner violence and glamorizes sexual exploitation of women. “The National Council of Catholic Women has written a letter of dissent to Universal Studios and I urge you and your parish Council of Catholic Women to write editorial letters and contact your movie houses to ask that they not allow the film,” says Dr. Rebecca Woodhull, President of the NCCW.

In her letter to the President and CEO of Universal Studios, Dr. Woodhull emphatically denounced the vigorous marketing of sexual violence, domination and submission to impressionable movie-goers, in whose minds deviance, sexual exploitation, and violence against women will become normalized. She stated in the letter, “I have encouraged our national membership to not only boycott this movie but also to speak out against it and every other type of pornography, morally illicit or sexually explicit media.”
Since NCCW’s first Resolution on Pornography in 1970 and the first Resolution on Domestic Violence in 1993, the National Council of Catholic Women has worked to raise awareness about the dangers of pornography and to protect women from domestic violence. Domestic Violence affects women, children, the workplace and legal systems; it is a critical health-care issue and a right to life issue.
A new 51-page resource, Women Healing the Wounds , provides everything women need to know about the issue and what we, practically, can do about it. It is available to download free of charge, at nccw.org. Women Healing the Wounds includes a customizable safety flyer, a section on teen dating violence (a growing problem), resources, Church teaching, and more. Please visit the website, www.nccw.org.
For more information, call Laraine Bennett at 703-224-0990 or email lbennett@nccw.org.