Whips, cuffs, collars, bondage, and beatings: E.L. James’ best-selling novel reads like a circus trainer’s handbook. But unlike the consenting couple in the book, elephants in circuses don’t have a choice when it comes to being dominated. And if beating elephants into submission and forcing them to perform painful acts isn’t 50 shades of wrong, then my safe word’s not “PETA.”
