Entertainment

The hot sex text

Fifteen-year-old Jessie loves Zumba, biology and classic Disney movies such as “Beauty and the Beast” — but lately, her favorite activity has been reading. While she spent her school year slogging through classics like “Ethan Frome” and “The Tempest,” you won’t find Jessie’s favorite book on her 10th-grade-English summer reading list. That’s because she’s been reading the kinky sex trilogy “Fifty Shades of Grey” — “during school, out tanning, in bed, everywhere,” she says — on her Nook e-reader.

“This book is pretty popular with teens,” says Jessie, a well-respected baby sitter from Sullivan County, who asked that her real name not be used.

“One of my friends [brought] it to school — the actual book — and just reads it wherever. She takes notes so she could practice with her boyfriend. She’s 16.”

Jessie and her friend are part of a group of Lolita-esque literati who are eagerly reading the very-adult smut series, which centers on the erotic relationship between young and inexperienced college student Anastasia Steele and her 27-year-old billionaire suitor, Christian Grey.

The shelf life of the E.L. James trilogy, which is filled with explicit, S&M-tinged sex scenes — including bedroom bondage that leads Christian to whip Ana with a belt, and the indelible “red room of pain” where he brutally shackles her — seems to have formidable staying power.

“Suffice to say that the ‘Fifty’ trilogy has become an entity unto itself in book publishing. No trilogy in history has reached the 20 million [sales] milestone faster,” says Paul Bogaards, spokesman for Vintage Books, which publishes the trilogy. The physical editions have dominated (no pun intended) the top three spots on the New York Times best-seller list since April, says Bogaards. And since March, it has expanded rapidly from its original market — bored moms and housewives — to the new, unintended market of teens.

“The ‘Fifty Shades’ books are intended for mature audiences,” insists Russell Perreault, director of publicity for Vintage Books. “And as such, we have included a ‘Mature Audience’ label on all the novels.”

That’s not good enough, say parenting experts like Rosalind Wiseman, author of “Queen Bees & Wannabes,” who argues that books like these give teenage girls a completely warped sense of relationships.

“[‘Fifty Shades’] is teaching girls that this kind of story reflects a ‘normal,’ i.e. acceptable, relationship where virgins are ‘educated’ about sex from a male dominator,” says Wiseman.

Then there are teens like Cassie, a recent high school grad from Deer Park, LI, who didn’t have to sneak around to score her copy of the book: She simply borrowed it from her mom. “She’s good about letting me judge things for myself,” says the 18-year-old, who’s halfway through the second installment, “Fifty Shades Darker.” “The book comes up a lot in conversation. My friends mostly talk about the dominant-subordinate aspects of the books, and how relationships like that work.”

For Cassie, who asked to withhold her last name, the break from societal norms is the appeal.

“I love Christian because he’s a bit disturbed,” she says.

It all brings to mind another forbidden tome — “Forever,” a 1975 coming-of-age novel by Judy Blume best-known to a generation of girls for the moniker the protagonist’s boyfriend bestowed on his member (Ralph).

But compared to “Fifty Shades” — with its whips, chains and handcuffs used as basic bedroom accessories — “Forever” looks positively Victorian.

At one conservative all-girls Jewish private school on Long Island, there’s a lot less Talmud than there is tongue-wagging these days.

“Being in a Jewish private school, no one would ever be caught dead with it,” says 17-year-old Allison — who also asked that her real name not be used — of “Fifty Shades.” Allison has just finished her junior year — and the first installment of the trilogy. Of the 80 students in her grade, she knows of about 10 girls reading it — and 10 boys outside of her school.

Despite a pedestrian plotline and writing that makes the “Twilight” series look like Shakespeare, this teenage critic doesn’t mind: “I liked when Christian’s romantic side came out. Every one of my friends that read the book loved it,” she says, adding, “It’s been a topic of discussion,” as most of the phrases in the book were new to her. Still, she insists, she’s mature enough to handle the content.

“My parents would have a different opinion,” she says. “They still don’t know I’ve read it.”

Her parents would do well to heed a recent McAfee 2012 Teen Internet Behavior study, which revealed that 36 percent of teens have accessed sexual topics online, and 32 percent have accessed nude content or pornography online.

“There’s a place for erotica, but that place is not in the hands of young girls,” says Carol Weston, author of “Girltalk: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You.”

“So yes, of course I worry about the impact that an X-rated S&M book can have on the impressionable and inexperienced. It’s surprising to see college girls reading ‘Fifty Shades’ by the pool. Usually I think, ‘Hey, whatever gets people reading,’ but lately I’ve been thinking, ‘Really? The Red Room of Pain? In public?’ ”

Now there’s a film in the works from Universal Pictures and Focus Features, with high-profile producers of “The Social Network” recently attached — and little chance of “Fifty Shades” fever cooling off anytime soon. Casting rumors for the Anastasia Steele part have involved young actresses and teen favorites like Emma Roberts, Shailene Woodley, Kristen Stewart and cast members of ABC Family favorite “Pretty Little Liars.”

It’s a development that has many inside Hollywood and out concerned about the trickle-down effect that these underage starlets appearing in such a racy movie will have on their teen fan base.

“I’m sure there will be more than a few awkward conversations around the dinner table with kids about why in the world some adults enjoy, say, getting whipped by other adults,” says Janice Min, editorial director of The Hollywood Reporter and a mother of three. “And if that seems wrong, as most parents would characterize it, I can imagine some kids will ask, ‘Then mom, why are you reading that book? And why is my favorite actress starring in the movie?’ ”

Raquel, a 14-year-old freshman from Flatbush, Brooklyn, has been bugging her mom to get “Fifty Shades.” “She’s been nagging me to get the book!” says her mom, Milene, 40. “I told her, ‘When you’re 18, you can read whatever you want.’ ”

Logan Levkoff, a NYC-based sexologist, isn’t surprised by the surge in forbidden fiction. After all, she was a teenager once, too.

“I remember being a teenager, and going to the store to buy erotica — Nancy Friday, Judy Blume’s ‘Forever,’ ” she says. “It’s just a normal part of growing up.” And Levkoff might be heartened to hear that Jessie’s favorite parts of the book weren’t the moments when Christian was whipping Ana, but rather “when the scenes were light and fluffy.”

Jessie’s favorite quote from the trilogy? “You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.”

HERE’S WHAT YOUR TEENAGE GIRL MAY BE READING!

Racy excerpts from “Fifty Shades of Grey”

“He trails kisses up my belly, and his tongue dips into my navel. Still he’s heading north, kissing me across my torso. My skin is burning. I’m flushed, too hot, too cold, and I’m clawing at the sheet beneath me. He lies down beside me and his hand trails up from my hip, to my waist… He gazes down at me, his expression unreadable . .. ” — Page 115

“He reaches down, and from his pants pocket, he takes out his silver-gray silk tie . .. He moves so quickly, sitting astride me as he fastens my wrists together . . . I’m tied, literally, to my bed, and I’m so aroused.” — Pages 191 to 192

“Suddenly he grabs me, tipping me across his lap. With one smooth movement, he angles his body so my torso is resting on the bed beside him. He throws his right leg over both of mine and plants his left forearm on the small of my back, holding me down so I cannot move.” — Pages 273 to 274

“Slowly, he slides the mask on, pulling the elastic over the back of my head, and I’m blind. The elastic on the mask holds the ear-buds in place. I can still hear him, though the sound is muffled as he rises from the bed. I’m deafened by my own breathing — it’s shallow and erratic, reflecting my excitement. Christian takes my left attaches the leather cuff around my wrist. His long fingers stroke the length of my arm once he’s finished. Oh! His touch elicits a delicious, tickly shiver.” — Page 489