As a sex educator watching the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon unfold was like watching a beautiful flower bloom (sorry to be so airy fairy, but that is how it felt).
For the first time since women fought for her right to orgasm in the 1960s, en masse 100 million women (and counting) unabashedly put her sexuality out there for anyone to see. Women read Fifty Shades on the bus, beach or on the playground; discussed it; blogged about it; and bought adult products to try light S&M out. Women felt a little more empowered to talk about her sexual needs; willing, wanting and inspired to try new bedroom techniques.
A sexual win/win for everyone concerned.
As well, instead of the press focusing on all things sex-negative -- sex addiction, cheating because of social media, or how porn rocks the foundation of marriages, etc. -- the press jumped on the band wagon and discussed how fun sex could be for the average couple, creating a sexually healthy momentum that gave couples permission to experiment.
And now in Canada it would seem the innocence of the Fifty Shades movement has come to a screeching halt. The unproven allegations and subsequent witch hunt and mob mentality surrounding Jian Ghomeshi's firing from the CBC has tainted this idea of women and couples happily and boldly dabbling in light S&M.
I'm not interested in discussing Mr. Ghomeshi's sexual preferences; this situation is too complicated to manufacture quippy sound bites of "truth" or opinion.
What does concern me is whether all this negative press will scare women and couples back into their sexual shell. Are they now hesitating to go see the much anticipated Fifty Shades movie, feeling guilty instead of empowered if they choose to indulge their sexual senses in this pleasure.
Consensual sexual experimentation is healthy, fun and tremendously good for long term happiness. It's important for us to keep our collective heads and understand what may or may not have happened behind closed doors in the privacy of Mr. Ghomeshi's bedroom should not represent the intent of the Fifty Shades of Grey book trilogy.
My plea: Do not let this incident dampen your sexual enthusiasm. We were on such a good sexual roll, let's focus on keeping that positive sexual momentum going in the right direction.
ALSO ON HUFFPOST: