by Chinwe Okafor

We have a sinking feeling Nigeria would too.

Malaysia’s Film Censorship Board has banned the Fifty Shades of Grey movie from screening in the country, says The Hollywood Reporter. The board’s chairman described the film as containing “scenes that are not of natural sexual content,” and “sadistic” even. It’s “more like pornography than a movie,” the ban stated.

“Scenes of a woman being tied to a bed and whipped” were mentioned specifically in the board’s ruling as troublesome. Meanwhile, however, Malaysia practices judicial caning as a punishment for primarily male criminals; the country’s Syariah, or Sharia, law courts (Malaysia operates with a dual legal system, with secular or religious laws applicable in different cases) in 2010 ordered three women be caned for the crime of adultery — a punishment designed “to be shaming” rather than painful. So make of that dichotomy what you will.

Ada Igboanugo