50 Shades Of Sears: Male Bondage Gear Dropped From Website As Survey Condemns Novel

Sears has removed bondage gear from its website after a picture of a man wearing a leather halter was circulated online.

The company featured erotic accessories on its Elegant Moments page.

Certain items are being continued but many of more controversial items for men – including the leather collar with chains and the 4 Piece Adjustable Harness – have been removed.

A Sears spokesperson explained: “The terms on our Marketplace prohibit images from displaying nudity and see-through clothing. Most often, we see third party sellers blocking out the nudity in the images … we perform ad-hoc content audits to remove inappropriate items and also take customer feedback and react very quickly.

Some of the mens’ items that don’t technically show nudity – such as as the collars and leather and mesh shorts – have been removed but leather G-strings, corsets, and sexy costumes for women remain available.

Sears action happens to coincide with the publication of a new survey, which concluded that the novel, 50 Shades Of Grey, perpetuates the problem of violence against women.

Dr. Amy Bonomi, reporting in the Journal of Women’s Health, concluded that emotional and sexual abuse is pervasive in the novel; the main female character sufferers harm as a result.

She said, “This book is perpetuating dangerous abuse standards and yet it’s being cast as this romantic, erotic book for women.”

But, it’s more likely that the Sears company took their decision for financial and P.R. considerations, rather than agreeing that 50 Shades Of Grey demeans women.