No Baby Boom Following Fifty Shades of Grey

Anticipation caused by the book Fifty Shades of Grey (and its sequels) may have led to disappointment, suggests this new medical report:

“No baby booms or birth sex ratio changes following Fifty Shades of Grey in the United States,” Victor Grech, Early Human Development, vol. 110, July 2017, pp. 16-20. The author, at Mater Dei Hospital, Malta, reports:

“The Fifty Shades of Grey (FSOG) trilogy were publicised by the media as inflaming increased coital activity, and that this would result a baby boom. Furthermore, increased coital activity skews the sex ratio at birth (M/T) toward male births. This study was carried out in order to ascertain whether there were any spikes in total births or in M/T in the United States (US) circa nine months following the FSOG books.”

Grech obtained and interpreted a large amount of childbirth data:

“Monthly male and female births for the US were obtained directly from the website of the Centre for Disease Control (01/2007–12/2015). This study analysed 36,499,163 live births (M/T 0.5117, 95% CI 0.5116–0.5119). There are no discernible spikes in total births or M/T at annual level, or circa nine months after FSOG book releases i.e. 04/2012 and 01/2013….”

Grech draws a conclusion:

“This study highlights the importance of measurement of cause and effect since anticipated results may not always ensue from events.”

(Thanks to Gwinyai Masukume for bringing this to our attention.)

BONUS: Victor Grech is also known for his study “Infertility in Star Trek.”