What does 50 shades of gray mean?

What does it actually mean. Is this just a name, or is it something more than that.

Anonymous2015-09-14T11:54:47Z

Oh, my. Have you never heard the metaphor "shades of grey," referring to answers to a question that are not 100% yes or 100% no -- that is, not purely "black" or "white"? It's often used in reference to moral issues: neither side is totally right; there are many opinions about it; the opinions are like shades of gray, some more black than white, but none of them purely one or the other.

It's an allusion to that.

And the author chose to name one of the characters "Gray." So the title is a connection between the saying and the character.

Mircat2015-09-14T12:37:15Z

I think it's symbolic: The main character's name is Grey. So there are the 50 sides or let's just say multiple sides to the character. People see one side but he's many different things.

The other thing is that grey is a neutral color so many of the sexual things he does are while not normal may not be illegal so sort of in a neutral area.

?2015-09-14T11:47:43Z

just a name