What does "shades of gray" mean?
In the debate over what’s acceptable and what isn’t, she said there are definitely “【shades of gray】 that we want to be aware of.”

What does it mean by "shades of gray"? It is NOT a reference to the movie Fifty Shades, is it? Does it mean that there are different things between acceptable and unacceptable?

Here is a link to the full article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/04/16/instagram-updates-its-rules-to-explain-how-it-deals-with-nudity-and-abuse/

Thank you for your help.

Question

What does "shades of gray" mean?
In the debate over what’s acceptable and what isn’t, she said there are definitely “【shades of gray】 that we want to be aware of.”

What does it mean by "shades of gray"? It is NOT a reference to the movie Fifty Shades, is it? Does it mean that there are different things between acceptable and unacceptable?

Here is a link to the full article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/04/16/instagram-updates-its-rules-to-explain-how-it-deals-with-nudity-and-abuse/

Thank you for your help.

Answer

We often speak of "shades of grey" in terms of something that's not "black and white". 
"Black and white" means something that's clearly right or wrong. "Shades of grey" is all the stuff in between, that you come to your own conclusion about. There is no right or wrong in a "shade of grey" because it is neither "black" nor "white".

Answer

"Shades of Gray" means that the issue does not have a clearly right or wrong position. Another phrase is that an issue is not "black and white."  The "gray" plays off the "black and white" meaning because gray is a gradient color between the other two extreme colors.

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