the recent creepy booktok incident

[@WURLDSTAR]

I HAVE A LIBRARY CARD.

[@rainturtles]

WOOOHOOOOO!!!

[@DebonedAbsol]

YESSSSS CONGRATS

[@Goober-Delicious]

Now having fun isn’t hard!

[@CosmicVoid_S]

Even if the guy wasn't a minor this would still be fucked up. Age isn't consent, it marks the ability to consent. It's more fucked up that he is a minor, but I'm so tired of the internet acting like if someone is 18+ it's suddenly ok to sexually harass them

[@kurjaesitys]

Oh my god yes exactly, like stating that them being an adult is the bare minimum is so.. Like no absolutely not, get consent from the adult first. Like the person not being creepy is the bare minimum.

[@ilikecake3456]

Thank you so much for saying this!! "Age isn't consent, it marks the ability to consent" is so well put and describes the issue perfectly!! Thank you!!!

[@jazwhoaskedforthis]

👏 👏 👏 AGE ISN'T CONSENT. Thank you. It's super icky to recommend smut to anyone without them specifically indicating that they are open to the category.

[@ThiCC_Yosh]

Or its suddenly ok to bully them for disliking s*xual content or talking about it. My teacher bullied us for not discussing s*xual art in art history class yikes, its also an irl issue

[@MxSae]

Literally!! Thank you for this

[@debleb166]

Even if he wasn't 16 it's still really weird to give smut as a first reccomendation to someone you don't know. Imagine if someone asked for a reccomendation of a TV show to watch and you suggested a porno?

[@imdone9967]

Right?!

[@TiffWaffles]

I hate smut and have made it clear that I will not read it. However, even though I've made it a point to say 'no smut' when asking for recommendations, I still get the odd book rec that is an erotica and I am like 'WTF man?' The comments I get back whenever I say anything are 'Well, don't ask for book recommendations, you stuck up prude'. Funnily enough, however, I can read smut written by fanfic authors if it's tagged properly and doesn't exist to shock readers/cater to a specific audience. It's just I want a lot more plot than the smut. If it's just erotica with little to no plot, then I'm not interested... and I especially hate dark romance.

[@actualgoblin]

​@@TiffWafflesI love it when fanfic writers relegate all the smut to specific, skippable chapter(s), its super convenient

[@rxmz2386]

@@actualgoblin ive noticed alot of fanfic writers i interact with are insanely nice and they make sure people know about the smut or eventual smut etc.

[@katie5920]

Not even just porno, the more depraved types porno too

[@mapleismymoca]

Honestly, it pisses me off how booktok is ONLY about smut and shit. I'm a person who loves books, but smut is NOT my thing.

[@comp-lete3064]

Exactly! I'm not much into booktok but often when I see it it's smut or agnst, I love a good romance but I'll skip almost any part that has smut.

[@arkkon2740]

@@comp-lete3064 Weirdly enough, it feels as if the catagories are just bleeding into each other Romance has these weird toxic/super possessive undertones, but I can't tell if this is in the kinky sense or the "I want this in my life" sense. Dark Romance 99% of time is chalk full of smut for some reason. I guess people assume dark romance is strictly 18+ so they use it as an excuse to slip porn into it, like I have yet to see a big dark romance released in the last 3 years that isnt basically that.

[@cansum1buymemtndew]

literallyyy, like there are other romances? and other genres? & bc of that ppl on tiktok think that when i say i read that i only read smut 🙁

[@scarlettsilo6409]

Like smutt is great and all but it’s becoming a lil weird now with these booktok ppl

[@arkkon2740]

@@scarlettsilo6409 fr man. people tend to forget that they're spending money on this type of stuff not even for the story, mainly for the smut at this point. I've seen people compare bad books to junkfood but I think its better to call it 3 day old garbage than junk food.

[@seeuchan7227]

"Women who only read smut are slowly becoming the female equivalent of men who have pornhub addictions" you ate that up, i couldn't have said it better myself

[@LunaKushG]

Subbed right then

[@raccoonenjoyer01]

This is so real

[@Isabel-sr8ep]

FR

[@Kitkat_bar]

Guess what I do both 😊

[@BooksToAshes]

As someone who likes smut but not exclusively, I find it so creepy when it becomes someone’s life or personality and agreed with that line wholeheartedly

[@Heather_Duke]

The fact that they said that teenage boy was pure and innocent for liking The Hunger Games and Maze Runner is wild. Those are completely normal and popular books for a teenager to read. This kid: "I like The Hunger Games series". These grown women, apparently: "You know books that totally fit that? All of these erotic novels that are pretty hardcore!!" Like...I don't recall Katniss and Peeta ever doing it in the arena or on the train or whatever.

[@kimjongunsucksbooty750]

hunger games and maze runner do have dark themes theyre not like baby books 😭 these people are so desensitized

[@joshraid1550]

I love the idea that to be a fan of a book where a protester is shot dead by the military in a public area in front of the memorial of a teen girl killed by the state is to be “innocent” somehow.

[@Heather_Duke]

@@joshraid1550 Right? Like...have those ladies READ or even WATCHED The Hunger Games? Kids are forced to kill each other to survive. Snow sold a teenage Finnick to the Capitol. Peeta was tortured and brainwashed, etc. But I guess it doesn't count because it's not erotica?

[@joshraid1550]

@@Heather_Duke Wait right, Finnick was literally a teenage sex slave. What are these people on right now?

[@Heather_Duke]

@@queen-of-wonderland-333 Right? The books also have Finnick sold to the rich adults of the Capitol, starting when he's sixteen. And as you said, these kids have to kill to survive. It starts when they're as young as twelve that their names begin to put in to be drawn. But no. Because it isn't smutty, it's "pure and innocent".

[@jessicaroses9831]

I’d be more willing to let dark romance and romance booktok in general live if they didn’t constantly get weird with REAL LIFE people. “It’s only fiction!” ok patricia so stop harassing real life people because of your porn addiction

[@jessicaroses9831]

(and i say this as someone who enjoys reading smut! like!)

[@nanamiaunanamiau-dq3mi]

I'm so sorry but there's no comparison between porn addiction and liking complete fictional sexual stories? Did you even know that the porn industry actively uses the works of trafficked women and vulnerable women to exist? What a tasteless, disgusting and clearly dumb comparison. You should be ashamed of saying shit like that and comparing materially harmless media to the abuse of women.

[@_kaleido]

@@nanamiaunanamiau-dq3mi they said it's because they're being weird toward real life people tho

[@zetjet9901]

I agree with everything else, but I don’t think it’s cool to speak about addiction like this. It either seems like 1) an attempt to delegitimize it, or 2) just being overly disrespectful to those struggling with it. Edit: Yeah tbh the people replying to this are correct in most ways I misinterpreted the OP as using “addiction” unseriously and as a pejorative term when they were actually being literal. I agree with arkkon2740. Oh, but to the people who think I was ever defending the harassment and shit, I was not. I don’t blame you for thinking I was, but I’m making that clear. I was talking about the use of the word “addiction” just in general.

[@arkkon2740]

@@zetjet9901 To some degree i have to think that it is a sort of obsession with it, if not addiction. The dissociation between reality and fiction is what makes the genre so appealing, but there are so many examples of people acting out their fantasies on real people because they constantly read and talk about it non-stop and there's something underlying that we should probably talk about.

[@beeboopbop80085]

i say we bring back private journals where we keep our fantasies private!🔥

[@Ghs6]

Lets bring back therapy too!! 🔥🔥🔥

[@maryanntheconqueror]

"Don't say weird sexual things to kids" Booktok: That sign can't stop me because I only read smut!

[@littIekitten]

😭😭😭

[@gladitsnotme]

🤣

[@feb2810]

"Dark Romance" is no longer about having a dark romance, because that would require a plot. Instead, it's just the Fucked Up And Twisted Sex (just one look would drive most people to madness) genre.

[@ranchustars3050]

writing that wouldn’t even be bad, you just need to be self aware, no susan, that isn’t dark romance that’s just dead dove do not eat smut, learn from fic writers the proper terms jeez

[@feralcatgirl2169]

right and I wouldn't even have as much of a problem with it if these people didn't act like it was fucking Shakespeare level shit. like if youre gonna read porn, read porn but be self aware omg.

[@alicemadness999]

the lack of self awareness is what gets me

[@ettaetta439]

​@@feralcatgirl2169exactly like they read the most trashiest of porn but treat it like it's god tier level writing just because the author managed to write an abuse story that made them cry.

[@mittag983]

​@@ettaetta439It's so cringe

[@PoopySkyes]

Before he made the video about the books he likes, he had a video literally saying "no school=no problems" which should've been enough of a clue for these women to know that he's a child💀

[@stargirIll]

what’s his user??

[@atticusfinch7543]

@@stargirIll it's @jesze.bee i think

[@m4rl3nn3]

It really is sad when literal grown women treating little boys so creepily and disgustingly the same as if the gender roles were reversed aren’t taken as seriously as when it’s vice versa, it’s still disturbing regardless 🤮🤮🤮

[@maxspooky8991]

I mean even without the age problem, if there was a community of guys on tiktok constantly sexualizing women in books and talking about how much they wanna fuck these imaginary women and sexualizing real life women who reminds them of the book characters, it would (rightfully) raise some eyebrows

[@gem9535]

I've been called a 'pick-me' because I believe in men's rights as well as women's rights. Not men's rights as in "Take away women's ability to vote," but acknowledging the fact that SA against men and boys isn't taken seriously, men being more likely to off themselves, abuse against men being tolerated far more versus a women (which actually has misogynist undertones). Apparently you can't be a 'real' feminist if you care about men too. Being a leftist is embarrassing sometimes.

[@ratking927]

We don’t need to make it a competition. It’s not fair to insinuate female victims are taken more seriously when pretty much no one is. This sentiment is misogyny disguised as support for male victims.

[@rainy_days2316]

@@ratking927 thank you omg

[@VinVin_31]

⁠​⁠@@ratking927 Actually statistically boys are more likely to be told they should’ve liked it or the um… “You’re a boy not a weak defenceless girl.” (Insert something on the lines of your a boy, boys are horn dogs act like one.) I’m a girl, I have a dad who said something on the lines of that shit to my younger half brother, who was SA’d by my older half brother who is his full brother I was also SA’d by…. Basically what I’m saying for women it’s expected, for men it’s a bigger shocker people naturally feel less bad for men because they don’t express much emotion because of society and they also tend to get told to man up…. So in a way it’s kinda shit for both genders, the people I’m talking about would see girls as weak in all ways… and see boys and indestructible and see them as being able to cope with whatever bullshit gets thrown at them. Funnnnn! my dad was also sexist towards women and girls and always favoured the boys, and is a non convicted rapist. (I watched him rape my mom in the same bed… I have 11+ siblings all half the older one that SA’d me had his mom raped also I suspect he watched.) so society fucking sucks, I actually hate you all nothing new! I hate everyone.

[@monster-enthusiast]

Even if he wasn't a kid it's still pretty much harassment.

[@kurjaesitys]

Omg yes! I was like, it's absolutely so bad that it was an underage guy but even if it was an adult?? Like that's so disgusting.

[@Destiny-fx4my]

As someone who started reading smut at 13-14 yrs old, that shit fucks you up😭 And to have adults literally recommending smut books to a 16yr old!?!? This is absolutely crazy!!

[@jazwhoaskedforthis]

I fell into it way too young and it definitely primed my minor brain to be open to all sorts of uncool things that happened after that. Especially since smut isn't exactly depicting ethical and healthy situations usually.

[@yeahyeah3013]

so trueee i started to sexualize myself as a minor and it was just so bad bc it left me vulnerable to be sexually exploited by others bc i craved male validation that badly 🥲

[@redroserabbit5558]

I started reading smut at 11...I'm 14 now, but I'm wondering is it rlly bad for you? Im genuinely curious bc I'm worried abt it now

[@_Alibon_]

​@redroserabbit5558 As someone who's 21 and has struggled with it. It can get that bad. Sometimes it can consume your life and others it can end up being the only thing you wanna do. My advice to you is to quit while you're ahead and look for healthier options. I can't say it will 100% hurt you in the long run, but as someone who read so much of it when I was your age and younger, it can unknowingly make you vulnerable to some not so good stuff.

[@redroserabbit5558]

@@_Alibon_ Okay, thanks. I usually only read it when it's just part of the plot in some fanfic, sometimes I skip over it even. But I agree, a lot of exposure to it is probably not good

[@sarahclayton5845]

It's so fucking easy to just NOT comment raunchy stuff under someone's video regardless of their age. People need to learn that they don't need to say every thing that pops into their head. You can think he's hot and just scroll girl it is not that hard to keep that shit to yourself.

[@discoearrape]

Right? Write it down in a diary or tell your (assumingly willing) friends if the compulsion is THAT bad.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

It's so wild to me especially, I feel so self-conscious about dropping a friendly "your hair looks nice in this video!" once in a while, and then we have people who are making overt sexual comments directly online to people regardless of age.

[@immkk1125]

@@FrenkTheJoyi feel like that’s not even supposed to happen…the sexual thing i mean. it’s just so absurd to comment such shameless stuff about a REAL PERSON. it’s fun and funny when done with fictional characters but even then 😭 bring shame and diaries back istg cause the amount of explicit fantasies i read on public comment sections 💀 damn

[@creaturenamedalistair]

hey guys ‼️‼️ lets bring back safely talking about our kinks with only our significant other(s) and not exposing them to children online 🙏🏾🙏🏾 thank guys 🔥

[@chipkid]

facts

[@grzzlybear]

Over the summer there was another booktok incident involving the seattle kraken and this hockey fan. her name is keira lewis i think? i've seen a couple of her videos just to see what she posted and it made me disgusted. she made weird videos sexualizing the players to the point where one of the players saw it and was uncomfortable. the kraken even came out with a statement alking about it. booktok disgusts me sometimes

[@neivilde.1242]

what annoyed me the most about her situation was her attitude about it. because the team had been encouraging her behaviour, and just having fun with her in general, which was nice i guess, but the second that player's wife made her post about how the sexualization made her husband uncomfortable, she should've immediately apologized. but she just doubled down, going on and on about how that was 3 months ago, and they encouraged her , and it's online thirst it means nothing, just completely bringing up irrelevant points because the second that consent was revoked, she should've stopped and apologized. no matter her feelings, these people have explicitly said they are no longer comfortable with this so stop, don't try to double down or make this about something it isn't just shut up and move on

[@benamisai-kham5892]

​@@neivilde.1242you're asking for someone to take accountability and that seems to be in low supply currently 😭 people run away from shit they do to die on a hill that ain't worth it

[@FrenkTheJoy]

I know you mean the hockey team but I just like the idea of a literal sea monster coming out to be like "hey stop being creepy"

[@grzzlybear]

@@FrenkTheJoy love that 😭

[@PaizuruInsanal]

​@@FrenkTheJoy"hey can you guys stop sexualizing me, this is just the 2000s all over again, if this doesn't stop I'm calling Cthulhu"

[@yeeyeemfs7055]

You described "Haunting Adeline" and I couldn't take it seriously because it sounded like the fanfiction I would read back in 5th grade like 💀

[@my.fav.no..is.12.point.9]

fr 💀💀 poorly written smutty fanfics on wattpad were the best back then.

[@mirai5451]

Haunting Adeline isn't even "dark romance" it's the "dead dove do not eat " book , it's soo horrible the male lead literally r*ped the female lead and for some reason the booktok excuse his actions and call him a "daddy "

[@ajamaya0_0]

The guy is literally like an “elite hacker”. He can just hack into anything to get whatever he wants. So cringy.

[@mccringleberrytha3rd]

I’d say a good chunk of “ dark romance “ on booktok is smut you would have seen on Wattpad.

[@abrawolf]

Dont diss fanfics like that, theres some masterpieces on ao3

[@rileymichael2694]

dude i've been saying for YEARS that the booktok/general book community online has such a massive pedophile problem & an issue with adults being creepy to children & teens in general. i'm so so glad i'm finally seeing folks starting to talk about stuff like this.

[@kurjaesitys]

Literally! Like wonder why the books catered to predators get people to.. normalise these things!

[@FrenkTheJoy]

I could give some leeway to folks on other platforms - sometimes people don't say their age in their profiles and there's no way to know how old, say, I am here on youtube because there's no footage of me. You have no idea if I'm 10 or 90. But on something like tiktok where there ARE usually videos of the users, you can look at someone and think "Okay this kid looks young enough that he might be a minor. I should interact with him as if he was a minor and I was a responsible adult." If the user turns out to be an adult, then no harm done. If the user is in fact a minor, then good - you weren't creepy to that person because you guessed they might be based on appearance. Or like just don't be creepy to other users in general??

[@i.147]

@@kurjaesitys right its almost like fiction can have an impact on reality LMAO

[@kurjaesitys]

@@i.147 It's almost like what you consume.. gets digested.. by your brain somehow! Like.. jumpscares and scary movies actually.. scare people! History movies can actually.. inform people!

[@Ghostvix]

@@kurjaesitys my friend works at a book shop and on the daily refuses to sell books to minors and if they are with their parents actively shows/ informs their parents about the content of the book. They have almost always seen these books promoted on TikTok and they are full of abuse. Specifically sexual abuse/ toxic relationships.

[@katinthegetto2916]

i've always wanted to get into booktok but the fact i strongly dislike romance because I feel like its constatnly forced, and my aversion to smut because I think its boring, its hard to find any book from booktok worth reading. I'm sure many of the books are lovely and i enjoy harmless, fun entertainment but its tiring seeing the same romance played again and again. Especially dark fiction... unoriginal torture is not a worthwhile read.

[@WURLDSTAR]

it’s a very romance-heavy space and it can be hard to find your crowd but i promise that they’re out there! i’ve resorted to manually searching for specific genres and tropes bc my fyp is notoriously unreliable. also, bookstagram is really diverse if you have an instagram! i find a lot of good book recs there too :)

[@olkrai]

Same🥲🥲🥲 so far the only ppl on booktok that I trust are cybrgloss.jpg, mah1let and briana.glynn

[@alywayart]

finally, someone else who doesn’t like romance. my highschool library is filled with it and i find it so boring

[@Bella-pb6uk]

i know it's hard, but i still recommend book, just try searching for creators who do a lot more!! i really liked earlygreypls and grapiedeltaco, and I don't think they just read romance (though grapie does have a funny series reading cursed smut books, like that door romance book)

[@weteafart]

@@alywayartit feels like the same thing every time like enemies to lovers , friends to lovers ITS SO BORING

[@TiffWaffles]

It's my honest opinion, but I think that the age of the boy was always mentioned in the profile or somewhere on the account, and we had these women swarm onto the account and sexualize a child because he fit the image they draw up in their heads of what the perfect biker love interest looks like. Especially when you had comments pretty early on telling other commenters to back off and not corrupt a child and his innocence because they wanted him for themselves. That's disgusting to me. I am not on TikTok because it just doesn't interest me, but I have discussed books that I've read and loved on social media platforms and blogging sites. Before real life took over and got the better of me, I did have a large audience of people, a lot of them were minors because I was reading books specifically geared for their age groups. There is no way in hell that I didn't check out their accounts to make sure who I was dealing with, ESPECIALLY when they reached out to me asking for book recommendations. These women sexualised a sixteen year old boy (knowingly) because he plays up their fantasies of what a biker love interest looks like. That isn't just disgusting- it's predatory. Shame on these women. For actual shame.

[@RAAAUGHGUAGHAHA]

What gets me too is how a significant portion of them infantilized him for showing that what he was reading were two mainstream and extremely popular dystopian series which appeal to a teenaged demographic. Just looking at that, I'd think: "Oh! Those are some good series to start with. Maybe he just hasn't gotten much of a chance to branch out more since he still seems fairly young, and he's still testing the waters with this hobby and genre." I would have defaulted to assume that he's a minor, even as someone who doesn't read very often anymore. The women who wrote these extremely gross comments strike me as either willfully ignorant of their predatory brhavior or severely lacking in critical thinking - it's probably both.

[@catcloudstudios2732]

honestly whether he was 16 or 60 the fact that it's so normalize to see a male who rides a motorcycle or reads books and jumps so sexualize him?? not normal in the slightest and leads to these predatory behaviors

[@gab6031]

@@catcloudstudios2732this is what i’ve been saying!!!!! unless they’re pandering to the booktok audience then don’t act like they are

[@mccringleberrytha3rd]

“ because they wanted him for themselves????” Huh!! That just straight up sounds predatory especially when you recall most of those woman are likely 20+

[@chainsawscare]

@@mccringleberrytha3rd RIGHT?? THAT CREEPED ME THE HELL OUT

[@yooniecorn3682]

my biggest issue with smut in books is how a lot of these sex scenes give the wrong impression of sex in real life and could be harmful to younger readers. the way they ALWAYS feature an overly obsessive male love interest whose just outright toxic, and will beat, bruise, and borderline torture the woman during sex just because she made eye contact with another man, and we’re supposed to like it because “he’s just possessive and possessiveness is hot.” and i’ve been in the position where i was with someone overly possessive because i was under the impression that possessive behavior was attractive and the “standard” for a relationship, all because of what i read in books and watched on tv. i always wish i would’ve done things differently, so it’s infuriating seeing these grown women glorifying things like this because it’s “hot” and “fun to read.” nothings “fun” or “hot” about it when you’re ACTUALLY living it. and that’s my biggest issue. it’s always ownership and obsession, absolutely zero romance, sex in every chapter to the point where the woman LITERALLY acts as a sex slave for the man, and the entire basis of their relationship is “we had sex once and he told me i belong to him and that if i ever smile at another man, he’ll kill me and the man, he must love me so much.” and it’s made such an impact that if the smut isn’t like that, it’s not “spicy enough” for a lot of readers. i blame fifty shades of grey for this new phenomenon.

[@winniecat6453]

This 100%

[@ExpertContrarian]

You thought fictional books were like real life? 😂

[@yooniecorn3682]

@@ExpertContrarian it’s almost like when you’re a teenager, you can be easily influenced by anything 🤯

[@yeahyeah3013]

literally im so deeply impacted by the relationships they present in books and other media, because i believe my partner should be obsessed and devoted to me but that's just not normal, however that's always how it is in those stupid books

[@LunarRaevyn]

@@ExpertContrarian it's almost like fiction can impact reality and when you have little experience in relationships and little guidance but these books, you will interpret them as the standard! who would've thought

[@Kaileighblue]

Preface: I have read smut, but I don't prefer it. There's a corner of women that read smut that have a major persecution complex. I understand that there are people that attack romance, especially dark romance, but it doesn't give you the free reign to drag innocent people into your ongoing struggle with "prude culture." Don't get defensive whenever people tell you to chill out with the horny especially when you are undeniably in the wrong.

[@preppy.smores]

Fr like I like smut scenes(unless it’s like kidnapping and R1pe but I’m not gonna go up to a random person and describe and show them it.. and tell them to read it if I don’t know them like tf

[@haroldharold9042]

“prude culture” absolutely pornbrained

[@pizzadogma]

Female dark romance fans are the male equivalent of male extreme horror fans

[@destrious8133]

Was abt to comment about how Haunting Adeleine has warnings akin to extreme horror. What are we doing here

[@mischiefmanagedxx592]

As a smut book/dark romance reader (not primarily but I do read it lol) I don’t fucking understand how people can “recommend” these kinds of books to people THEY DONT EVEN KNOW. It took me forever to even get comfortable reading books like this because the trigger warnings alone are absolutely insane sometimes. So I don’t understand (underage or not) how someone can be like “hey you like books READ HAUNTING ADELINE (which I haven’t read cause no thank you lol)” like wtf is that? Also that kid has decent taste in books clearly hunger games is great…I really wish I saw more than just “smut booktok” when I’m on social media but you’re so right THEYRE TAKING OVER BOOK TOK! Lol

[@user74027nh]

Honestly tho! I don't think there's anything wrong with reading smut - I like to every so often. But recommending it to STRANGERS is beyond wild and imo borders on harassment.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

For real! I read smut, and other things, but I would never make smut my first recommendation to someone even if I DID know them unless they were specifically like "I've read this and this smut, what else would I like?" Just like if someone was asking for good tv shows I wouldn't recommend Borgia or Game of Thrones first off without knowing them, because there's not just sex but also extremely gruesome violence in both of them, and I would feel awful if I recommended that to someone who was squeamish or something.

[@claireattemptsatmusic7481]

Also from what I understand they were saying that the hunger games was ‘pure’ or ‘innocent’ ? Or that reading it was? When it is a very well-written series that is so much more than just a YA dystopian series, and offers so many things to think about in terms of the society they live in compared to ours, and has so many topics that can be critically thought about.

[@mischiefmanagedxx592]

@@claireattemptsatmusic7481 oh 100% my comment was more towards “don’t comment on other people’s books” cause to me their comments were dumb no matter what age the reader was you know? Even if they’re “pure” or “innocent” to you (which wtf they aren’t) why do you have to say that other than to make them uncomfortable? I don’t know if that made sense lol

[@mischiefmanagedxx592]

@@FrenkTheJoy lol literally “oh did you just finish Once Upon a Time YOU SHOULD WATCH THE BOYS ITS DOPE lol

[@kinglywaves1474]

Tbh this happening right after people talking about how dark romance readers never seem to turn their brains back on after they read smut. And then the whole tillie Coleman kkk dark romance nonsense they they were defending was the craziest whip lash in the span of 2 week because wtf is wrong with y’all.

[@WURLDSTAR]

the kkk book was so ???? how can anyone look at that author the same after writing something like that

[@kinglywaves1474]

@WURLDSTAR fr it got so crazy that rolling stone wrote an article on it

[@arkkon2740]

BRO I REMEMBER THIS like people were defending her too saying she was culturally ignorant of the KKK. Like bro, the Klan is the most infamous part of American history, and she knew about all of the racist shit they did because its *in the book*, you can't defend that, she doesn't even try to deny it cause we all know she knew.

[@kinglywaves1474]

@arkkon2740 My thing is people were acting like the kkk doesn't exist till this day. And the people getting mad because anyone with a common sense was like I don't need to read this book to know I don't want to support this were crazy

[@arkkon2740]

@@kinglywaves1474 i think thats a booktok thing in general, it happened with Colleen too. People talked about the whole incest thing in Ugly Love and at least on YT people were trying to defend it because its "step siblings" like that makes it any better. Common sense people, if the plot of your book is either bigoted or a porn plot then no one in their sane mind is gonna read it

[@wolfwatch9731]

not to kinkshame or anything but im at a point where any time these booktok dark romance women talk about how arousing they found a graphic r/pe scene im like. ok weirdo. stay far away from me. and they can't even keep their creepiness to their own community now ig like how hard is it to not talk about sexual shit to strangers, teenagers, and teenage strangers like.

[@preppy.smores]

I understand that bc sometimes it’s too much, personally I don’t have any triggers but if it’s rlly gory s3x scenes I think it’s really toxic and normalized abusive relationships which I hate

[@wolfwatch9731]

@@preppy.smores its like, exploring darker themes from the safety of fiction is definitely a thing, writing about darker subjects from the pov of an unreliable narrator who doesn't view what they're doing / what's happening to them as bad is definitely a thing, but at a certain point it ceases to be that and just becomes romanticizing r/pe and abuse. like im sorry to all those dark romance women but if you find the idea of SA arousing i think there's something wrong with you 😭

[@kurjaesitys]

Kinks are suppose to be consensual too, like bdsm is all about consent, and cnc is absolutely not an actual kink it's just nonconsensual but they fetishize it and agree to do that. Like they are quite literally just creeps trying to justify their fetishizes by going "it's not real" but you know, they fantasize about this type of stuff. Smut in and of itself isn't bad but most of these books so far as I've seen contain predators victims and just full of very creepy dynamics only pick me's would ever get into.

[@preppy.smores]

@@wolfwatch9731 fr liek if you like mafia romance that’s fine but if u wanna Be SA and stuff then maybe there’s a deeper problem.. and in the books there are NEVER safe words..

[@gloomybear.420]

fr it’s disgusting, sa isn’t something to be portrayed positively, if u really need to include it in ur book then put appropriate content warnings and don’t make it seem like it’s a kink or a good thing plus what if a young teenager read it and starts thinking that it’s normal and okay?? that could put them in horrible situations

[@Etherealzyo]

I just want the booktok community to start recommending regular books that don’t have smut/minimal smut because I feel like that’s all they talk about. And, a lot of the books that are popular have pedos, grape, glorification of horrible subjects like obsession and stalking. Idc if you’re are into obsessive people or stalkers but to make it seem like it’s ok to stalk or murderer for you is horrible.

[@quit3118]

I wanna also write and have books to see my fantasy sci-fi adventures with my quirky ass OCs with some romance but smut is big nowadays like fuck that I’ll just skip and go elsewhere

[@my.fav.no..is.12.point.9]

I'm a writer and I focus on books involving children. Maybe not books FOR young children, but books about them. Not in a creepy way, of course. However, I only do this because now it's impossible for me to write smut :)

[@kiplingwasafurry1108]

I tend to write about dark subjects like war but most of my main characters are teens so there’s no way I’m putting smut in there. I’m worried that if I decide to publish then I’ll get complaints asking for smut like NO!!!

[@romaeraegan]

they do recommend those - like said in the video, it's a vocal minority that recommends smut books.. personally ive not seen that a single time

[@hi.genevieve]

“that’s a big word for elmo.” the way i cackled, and then immediately felt bad because the topic is so serious. 😭

[@Mickeybitxh16778]

If a man did this to an underage girl everyone would get wildly mad (which they should) but when it's a woman and an underage boy it's not that serious.

[@isabear478]

lets not do that right now

[@wowamuro]

@@isabear478no, let’s. Women and men alike CONSTANTLY act like men and boys are immune to assault/rape etc. it’s weird and strange. Women are constantly believed and men are told to “stop being weak”

[@xoxo-aani]

@@isabear478literally like it’s genuinely sooo aggravating and annoying I’m not gonna say its one hundred percent wrong cuz we all know it’s definitely not in some instances but I hate that we can never actually address and talk about issues involving male victims of anything really without people constantly comparing them to female ones whether it’s true or not it does nothing but deflect from the actual issue and contribute more to male victims being ignored and overlooked just like people in the comments are doing rn

[@a-trainmr.fleetfeet2189]

@@xoxo-aanithere is a fine line between caring about women’s issues and ONLY caring about women’s issues. it’s still a real statistic that 1 in 6 guys before 18 are sexually harassed or assaulted

[@lemonadec0re]

@@xoxo-aaniEXACTLY WHAT I WAS ABOUT TO SAY! /nm

[@F0xtrat775]

13:39 FR, if any men were hitting on a 16(emphasis on 16) year old girl, they would be mass reported, there would be twitter drama everywhere!

[@goblinguy3103]

I’m so sick and tired of people not understanding dark romance. So many of these books ARENT ROMANCE. It’s just rape! Dark romance means plot and on some level, CONSENT.

[@ExpertContrarian]

If you don’t want any dark things though, then it’s not dark romance. Obviously, it’s not actual romance or it wouldn’t have the word dark in front of it.

[@goblinguy3103]

@@ExpertContrarian that’s just.. not true. The word “dark” doesn’t take away from the word after it. Dark humour needs to be actual humour, it can’t just be something bigoted. Dark romance needs to be actual romance, it can’t just be rape p0rn.

[@ExpertContrarian]

@@goblinguy3103 your strawman isn't true? Okay and?

[@loveydovey3631]

@@goblinguy3103this!! i feel like calling it romance is just stupid and these books are better off being called horrors or something

[@KittyTrackz]

wake up babe wurld just posted

[@riskydash11]

i am awake'd

[@KittyTrackz]

@@riskydash11 HALLELUJAH ‼️

[@L0user]

I’m awoken bbg

[@KittyTrackz]

@@L0user good morning pookie ‼️

[@L0user]

@@KittyTrackz mornin 🤭

[@raineawrooos]

Whenever I see people under 16 discussing A Court Of Thorns And Roses it makes me so uncomfortable. I only read the first book and about 1/4 of the second book in the series and there was a good amount of smut and according to people I've asked who finished the series there is more smut the further on you read. I don't care if adults read and discuss smut. I've read things smuttier and/or darker than ACOTAR, it just isn't the series for me. I've never seen an adult directly telling a child to read ACOTAR, but I would not be surprised if it has happened and the fact that there are adults ok with it is nasty to say the least.

[@sevikasstar]

the book is in EVERY single book recommendation 🙄. its so annoying

[@benamisai-kham5892]

I bought that book on sale without knowing anything about it besides good reviews and haven't opened it yet....thank you for that warning.

[@wooogie672]

i have seen comments of teenagers saying that their HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS were recommending the ACOTAR series and CoHo books 🤢

[@alicethemad1613]

I think teens should be able to engage with nsfw material if they want to, I mean puberty is a hell of a thing lol. But I cannot imagine a grown ass adult telling them to read it. That’s where it gets weird.

[@raineawrooos]

@@alicethemad1613It’s not the engagement with NSFW content itself that bothers me with minors, it’s that they discuss it in public internet spaces. I was a teen once, I know how it is, but there are dangerous people out there.

[@discoearrape]

BookTok has had a huge gooner problem for a while now, and the dark romance smut certainly doesn’t help. Great video, and good job calling these freaks out.

[@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943]

Catch-22 is the only good dark romance out there (its not dark romance)

[@arkkon2740]

I find it kinda odd that sexualization has just become such a big thing on booktok and book reading spaces in general Like if its contained to books, fine, whatever, keep your porn where you found it. As soon as you involve random men and women on the internet who want nothing to do with it, it should be a VERY big problem but it seems as if more people are participating it rather than actually talking about it as a problem. I remember on Twitter (I know) when Alinity and some other twitch streamer made an OF, women on Twitter were going around in droves either shitting on her or dying on the hill that she should take advantage of it despite the current "mini pool stream" climate at the time. Now we're going in reverse, people are expecting to sexualize random people because they're gooning over a goddamn book and suddenly its okay. This happened with Hokey not long ago and people were actively defending this woman who verbally harassed basically half the team but specifically went to a game to thirst over one of the players in public. Why has this become such a problem? And this might sound a little misogynist of me, but this seems like a problem women have been trying to dissolve for decades, and then other women on Tiktok decide to take back all this progress by another ten years because they can't keep their hypersexuality to their own bubble. Its disgusting and now you take it out on children? Are you kidding me???? I know people on the internet do weird shit because they can get away with it, but making comments like this about a young boy is too damn much, and unsurprisingly, no higher power is doing jackshit to stop it. And just a side note, when you find yourself in a community where people genuinely find Colleen Hoover and Haunting Adaline okay because its fiction, may I remind you that people like Shadiversity would get 50 times more heat for writing a similar story but in the view of the abusive dickhead rather than the woman falling for the abusive dickhead. I questioned him when he created that, I questioned Colleen when she continues to write the same drivel again and again, and I will stick with that till I *die*

[@sousleciel2416]

I was wondering if maybe those tiktokers feel that it's okay to express their hypersexuality like that because of how sexualized women have been in the media. Like maybe some people justify it because the male gaze has existed for so long and hey now it's our turn to sexualize men surely they'll be fine with it. (Like maybe some people think all men participate in that and think every man would be comfortable with being sexualized like how women have been) IDK if this stems from pop feminism maybe? Hopefully I'll get around to looking more into this because it genuinely intrigues me.

[@arkkon2740]

@@sousleciel2416 I thought about this but to be honest it's a childish mentality and I dont think there are many women out there immature enough to use their time like this. We're in a day and age where the sexualization of women is highly scrutinized, even if it's not exactly blatant or intended for men in general. To then turn it around makes it hypocritical and just as gross as all the dudes ogling women all these years. Not to mention the vocality of it (is that even a word lol) like I dont remember the last time a dude selected one woman in specific just doing their job to verbally harass and there wasn't some pushback on it. Plus this type of stuff is normally a sort of connection to books. It's like picking on red heads cause you liked black widow, or blad men because you thought Dom Toretto was hot, its always associating fiction with reality and treating it as one.

[@benamisai-kham5892]

Is it weird to say it reminds me of the yaoi girl craze in the mid to late 00s and early 10s? Because it reminds me of those girlies in the worst spaces (not all of them, just those bad apple stories that floated around from cons and online)

[@arkkon2740]

@@benamisai-kham5892 I feel like those people are still floating around. Like when killing stalking came out apparently EVERYONE was shipping those two and then things started going down, but every now and again when a new show blows up they just pop back up again somehow

[@bogbody]

@@benamisai-kham5892the yaoi girl craze hasn’t ended 😭 you just have 30 year olds on Twitter acting like they haven’t changed since they were 13

[@novaenby7823]

I love dark romance… without the SA. Give me the obsessive men but don’t make them a predator

[@novaenby7823]

And not even that dark, some of that shits crazy

[@drodlaren]

Yes, I just want twilight 2.0, not some 50 shades excuse of a book.

[@FirstnameLastname-zq8oy]

⁠@@drodlaren the relationship between bella and edward in twilight is also hella toxic, controlling and abusive lmfao, not to mention extremely poorly written. I understand the appeal of dark romance but surely there are better, more well-written options than twilight 💀💀

[@ExpertContrarian]

Sounds like you don’t want dark

[@beth4312]

what’s crazy to me is seeing books like A Court of Thorns and Roses and Colleen Hoover books in TEEN sections in stores. like hello???? Target???? do you know what kinds of scenes and content are in these books? as an adult, you can make informed choices about what content you consume, but content, especially like Hoover’s that normalizes and romanticizes abuse and non-consensual interactions, should not be easily accessible to minors

[@Wnderyrs]

This!

[@sh00t1ngst4rzz]

I saw a couple of Colleen hoover books in Sam's with my dad (even though it doesn't have a specific section like other stores that has book sections) Every book by Colleen should NOT be on stores due to show really horrible they are 💀

[@mirrorballer1313]

this is so disgusting, if a man did this to an underage girl the twitter drama would be fucking insane! thank you to your channel for putting this out into the world! (im not on booktok but take an interest in it and wouldn't of known this had happened if not for you)

[@reynardfox6135]

This is more about the infantilizing aspect, but as an aroace audhd person, I really despise people saying someone is ‘precious’ or ‘innocent’ because they don’t understand certain innuendos, or aren’t into smut. Also why are people just so creepy on the internet?

[@haroldharold9042]

it’s super gross and condescending and gives groomer vibes. they want to corrupt you. and if you know already what they’re referring to you get praised for being “mature” 🤮

[@jorrmum7511]

reminding me of when i looked at the comments under a girl's dance post and the comment section was just men saying "oh yeah, she's tight" "i know her grip game strong"

[@haroldharold9042]

or posting the hex code of a shade of pink 🤮

[@jorrmum7511]

@@haroldharold9042 omg yes that too, i literally dont think i saw a single positive comment and there were so many comments

[@EbonyIsAHellhound]

fellow parappa fan spotted?

[@ellreadsnrambles]

not so fun fact! i’ve been following the creator you’re referring to since ALMOST the beginning of his account, he had only had it almost a month before i followed him, as far as i can tell he has ALWAYS had his age in his bio 😇😇 these grown women need to get off the app atp

[@WURLDSTAR]

thank you for clarifying!

[@ellreadsnrambles]

@@WURLDSTAR of course!! i knew it had to be said

[@m4jima]

Can I have the creators @ so I can see the weird ass comments (I am 15 year old boy not a creepy weird grown woman)

[@ellreadsnrambles]

@@m4jima i don’t want to give out his @ in the comments because the video creator didn’t either, but if you search “biker booktok 16” his should be about the 4th video, you’ll know it’s him because his age is in his bio 🤞🏾

[@sneakysnek572]

Oh god. Booktok is just a subset of the pick me crowd. I’m being so srs. They think they’re so special and cool for reading dark romance, like it makes them better than anyone else. “Oh I’m so edgy” type beat **this section of booktok I misspoke a lil

[@kurjaesitys]

Omg yes! And most the mcs are full on pick mes who only pick boy failures and predators as their love interest because "it's hot" they're super disgusting..

[@lmao_tse_tung]

A subset of the "not like other girls" subset

[@lbwnova6654]

PLEASE make a video explaining how women who regularly read smut are akin to porn sick men. People don’t seem to understand that porn is porn no matter it’s form

[@loni1932]

Porn and smut books have gone down the exact same road. Starting from just regular sex and evolving into multiple categories that fetishize rape, incest, race play, lesbians, and much more. Dark romances are just books pumped full of criminal acts. There is absolutely no difference between watching step mom/ step sister porn, and reading about step father/ step brother smut. It’s so disgusting that some people think it’s okay to read and romanticize these books.

[@emitheorbit1118]

I need it so bad, I'm getting tired of them

[@professorm0riarty]

Yes!!! I'm so tired of people thinking bc it's a book it's fine. If a man was watching dodgy videos in public he would be lynched and rightly so, so why do these women think they're fine and dandy. Degenerates the lot of them

[@ExpertContrarian]

They already are porn sick women

[@TheRonnieaj]

But we’re not. I not only read it, but I write it. The tendency to conflate everything that’s romance as smut is exhausting. And particularly for some of us, is not worth responding to. Why I’m doing it now, I don’t even know. Romance is not the same as erotic romance is not the same as dark romance or the perversion it’s turned into is not the same as pure erotica. I’d ask people to be more clear, but that would require people to care about the distinctions, and they don’t. And trust and believe, lots of us actual writers, don’t bother with the levels of Booktok under discussion. The minute Colleen Hoover became the go to, we knew it was a wrap. Those books are unhinged.

[@danny-d3ad-on-arriva1]

some of these smut obsessed people need to get an ao3 account. and then read a normal person book

[@henryy1608]

Every time I tell someone from "booktok" that they are not readers, that they are p0rn addicts, I'm suddenly in the wrong.

[@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943]

I will recommend Catch22 to every one on there 22 times over.

[@BridgetGX]

Oh no, you're definitely right. They're coomers fr fr but in their minds, they're reading pr0n in books and not watching it on the hub so they think they're not coomers

[@F0xtrat775]

some people are gross and need help. have a wonderful day now!❤

[@ShugunYT]

you havent seen the vid yet tho 💀

[@F0xtrat775]

@@ShugunYT I have.... 2x speed exists and I need it for my VERY TINY attention span! now have a good day hun!

[@ariartsy9220]

These days I worry about how my book will sell when it's finished. It's nowhere near a romance, it's more like a coming of age type story about a bunch of friends figuring themselves out and also get pet dragons. More and more as I realize what's actually selling, I can't help but worry.

[@nicolelincoln4223]

Not that you HAVE to, just that it sounds like a cool premise and that it’s a book that deserves to be made

[@Blondie4404]

Dude when its finished send me the link and Ill buy it :)

[@PotatoWaffle-sl4xf]

That sounds like such a cool book

[@Avner1008]

Same 💀 I have a huge fantasy world in my head for like, half of my life now. I really want to write it down, but just like you it's nowhere near a romance. Just a guy being a general failure with 2 dragons who try their best to make his life hell.

[@Blondie4404]

@@Avner1008 i dont like reading romance books unless its background plot so yes please write it

[@worldwidelarry]

did some people just forget they have a digital footprint? 😭

[@summerzszsz]

booktok ppl will literally hype up a book with no plot and 100% smut because they're addicted to porn let's be real

[@jazwhoaskedforthis]

I am an aspiring writer and I was so hype about booktok, but when I saw a lot of this behavior I just felt so let down.

[@saeftuh]

i’m someone who started reading smut around 10-11 and i can still see the clear issue with recommending smut to a CHILD.

[@plushwishes]

Yes that's wild, i hate how reckless other adults are on the internet with minors. Especially on tiktok stay out young folks (18 and under) business !!

[@vlad5042]

yeah i think its a good point to just come out and say that a porn addict is a porn addict whether you're male or female and whether its pornhub or book porn.

[@mlk0-0]

Not-so-friendly reminder to those that apparently need to hear it: at least in the United States, the federal age of consent is 18. So when dealing with people online, it's always 18. It does not matter if the age of consent is 16 in your state, or even in the minor's state. It's 18. And 16, even if it's the age of consent in some states, is still a minor in *every* state. So, for the same reason, they're a minor, not an option, when being dealt with online. Share this info with your friends!

[@when-do-we-get-a-block-button]

ALSO! in states where it IS 16 that only applies to people close enough in age. so 18+16 is alright legally, especially if they knew eachother prior to one becoming "legal" but if you are 20+ you cant be with someone under 18, even if "the age of consent is 16." it usually covers a 2-3 year age gap. not a 25 year old and a 16 year old. it just proves they want any excuse to be near the youngest possible people

[@shioriluvsu]

"its basically a british version of gossip girl" okay im sold

[@WURLDSTAR]

you won’t regret it! (or maybe you will LMAO but i loved it)

[@SyllasPoecats]

I GENUINELY THINK that some readers are losing the plot bc they think they can treat REAL LIFE HUMANS the same way they treat fictional characters and we're sometimes getting to a point where people will have more to say about a book like Haunting Adeline being horrible than about actual people being treated like garbage or thirst traps or BOTH. Don't??? sexualize a stranger on the internet??? like you would your favorite fictional character??? read your books and let other people read THEIRS and dont come into those people's comments telling them to read hardcore dark romance smut they didn't ask for ESPECIALLY IF THEYRE MINORS

[@Jane-oz7pp]

This is what happens when 90% of your social interactions are fictional and in a story, or I guess with family idk I doubt they're very engaged with the people around them.

[@tianmishu]

i love how you use your platform to promote a ceasefire!

[@Makkiiii]

Im the type of person who adores a good romance. So it annoys tf out of me when all i see on my bookstagram feed is constant smut (borderline rape, sometimes STRAIGHT UP RAPE). Like what has reading come to?? It used to be such a small and nice community that read actual good literature and now its just wattpad fanfics 2.0

[@death_by_ranch1254]

I feel like as children raised by the internet, a lot of us stumbled upon a weird smut fanfic or twisted romance book by chance, but for an adult to RECCOMEND one to a CHILD?? is a LITTLE INSANE and INCREDIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE. I was a kid who read a LOT of stories that involved sex, especially on wattpad and the like, and at the time I didn't think it was serious, but things like that can do serious damage to a still developing mind💀

[@eggarino]

People have already addressed the content of the video so I gotta say the timing of your humor is fuuuuuckingggg impeccable. Immediate sub. Hilarious. Instant fan.

[@WURLDSTAR]

thank you! :D

[@saltydinonuggies1841]

Here’s an idea if you don’t wanna spend money on a book because you may or may not like it, get a library card. If the library doesn’t have the book you want usually they can order it. It helps the library, you don’t have to spend a dime until you know the book, there’s often online catalogues now as well, and you don’t actually have read you can listen to audiobooks.

[@nethertaxi3719]

oh my god thank you for talking about this. i follow the kid cause we're around the same age and i like motorcycles and watching this unfold in real time was absolutely INSANE. like the recommending smut to a child made me want to puke but at the same time the ones who kept going "we gotta keep him innocent" and "mama bear is here to protect you" were also really creepy. i think the kid mentions in a video or two that he's 16 and i know for a fact it says it in his bio (iirc it was there before the whole thing) yet these women don't care. he's playing into it and pandering to them because he's still a kid and he's going viral ofc he's gonna play into it he want's views and doesn't wanna lose followers. some of my friends (and me) want to post masked/bike content but this whole thing has made them really uneasy about it because they don't want to be nonconsentually sexualized but there's not a lot that can really be done when the people who are doing it aren't listening and would break boundaries if/when they're set

[@maxamillionsdingus]

poor guy…I’m the same age as him, if that had happened to me, I’d be deleting my profile and living in a hole for eternity.

[@lbwnova6654]

It’s extra sick that he’s a child, but it would still be wrong to sexualized him if he were an adult. Don’t be perverted unless the person gives you permission beforehand

[@kurjaesitys]

Yes! Exactly what I was thinking. There just is no boundaries with these people.

[@FallisLife]

I used to get booktok KZbin shorts (I don’t read I just thought the way they threw the books on their bed to record them was satisfying) and the more I got the more disturbing it got. It wasn’t about people enjoying books it was about about grown women drooling over disgusting books. I’m not their age so I was very concerned and grossed out. Sure, romance is nice to read and I read it sometimes too but not THAT kind of romance! That isn’t even romantic it’s just toxic and sometimes illegal 😭

[@kurjaesitys]

Literally!! They're just harbouring literal predators and defend themselves by saying "fiction doesn't affect reality" or "I would never let it get in my personal life" but then either they do this or people from their community do this and wonder why they're letting themselves do that when they're fantasizing about non consensual smut.

[@NeuroSpicy_Priestess]

Oh my lord, I was soooo disappointed. I’m an avid lover of most literature (mystery, horror, thriller, fantasy, romance, occult, smut/erotica, etc) and I was disgusted at the adult women, some older than my 25 yr old self. I am also in Biker Tok cuz, motorcycles are a common interest of me and my husband. Boundaries have ceased to exist with some older people. Some CONSENTING ADULT men in BikeTok love the increase in followers from women…but yeah Haunting Adeline is NOT for anyone under 18….even I am having to take a break from it. His account came across my FYP due to the cross over of BookTok and BikeTok and had to apologize on behalf of these GROWN WOMEN. I hope he is okay and these women cut it out

[@Gogoslittlesister]

You are so correct for saying everybody should age-check people they're going to thirst over. I'm born in '98 and got into kpop in 2014. During that time many of the youngest people in groups who were debuting were my age, so it wasn't weird if I found someone attractive. But I'm 25 now and I ALWAYS check ages now when I find someone in a group to be goodlooking. Bc my god, there are literal children out here

[@nat_to_world]

Honestly, learning about stuff like this happening on booktok really reinforces my choice to never download TikTok.

[@jojolyneee]

Fr the whole app is just terrible atp

[@may.127_]

I’m not even in booktok or bookstagram WHATSOEVER but whenever I’m scrolling i always come upon a video describing a sexual situation from a book with no warning whatsoever and I just get jump scared w/ a preview of smut 💀

[@CommanderStarscream]

the way i was on the receiving end of this kind of behavior from adults, when i was 13-14 and had my age plastered on my account i was STILL suggested porn artists and had nsfw accounts come onto my posts to thirst over the characters i liked, its WILDLY disturbing

[@grahamcrack]

Wish they would admit they’re consuming strictly erotica, I’ve read PWP-fanfics that had a more coherent plot than some of these books :/

[@grahamcrack]

First they’re harassing hockey players and now guys(or should I say children) with motorcycles, it’s completely insane

[@ey3_s0ckets57]

WURLD is the reason I’m starting to watch Bojack Horseman

[@WURLDSTAR]

in bojack we watch

[@wist.]

@@WURLDSTAR *salutes*

[@cupcakies222]

HELP i just finished that show and the obsession is going strong

[@w33dc8t]

girl when you brought up motorcycles i thought you were gonna talk about the woman who said UwU to the random man inside the Barnes and Noble because he had a motorcycle outfit on 😭😭

[@WURLDSTAR]

I SAW THAT VID LMAO nah that was just cringe, definitely not worth a whole video 😭

[@sarads7877]

Wait what the name of that video? 🤣

[@GamerZombieCupcake]

I haven't seen this child, but as a 31 year old lady. I can tell you, that child looks like a child knowing the age or not. You never grow out of that senior year shock. When you thought you were big and grown and entering high-school, and when you're a senior the freshmen look like lil itty bitty kids. The 30 year olds are looking at the 21 year olds like that. They knew good and well he was a child.

[@immkk1125]

THANK YOU! ppl act so clueless as if it’s not obvious, but okay let’s say they really couldn’t tell AT LEAST CHECK THE BIO ffs 💀

[@unordinary_artist]

I’m living, I’m laughing, I’m loving the Bojack references. Have a great day

[@WURLDSTAR]

im always open to book recs! i’ll add it to my tbr, thank you! :D

[@unordinary_artist]

@@WURLDSTAR no problem!

[@starlesssaint]

I second this recommendation I'm on the last book and omfg it's soo good ❤

[@r3ptomaniac190]

I really enjoyed the series

[@april-rain]

Second this recommendation and there is also a short story book set in the world called Gleanings which is one of the only short story compilations related to a main series that I actually like

[@SincerelyAlexandra]

This literally shows how some people out there REALLY shouldn’t be reading these type of books. Minor or not😭

[@solsomniac]

"Break Him In" uhhh?? what exactly are u going to do to this CHILD

[@gingerdog8203]

Can we talk abt the amount of people doing the whole “ill protect you” thing to him too? Ive seen ppl say they r going into “older sister mode” in his comments which to me feels just as weird as sexualizing him. Like a strange parasocial thing

[@gothamthisisyouronlywarning]

I know this comment is three months old but I agree so much. They are objectifying him. This is parasocial behaviour at best. They read all that "forbidden romance" (illegal crap) that gets to their head and when they're met with real life they just have to project all that stuff they love so much onto other people. I'm a minor, and in elementary school/ first middle school year I had a this strange older guy who was always trying to get closer to me and he told me the reason he even liked me it's because I reminded him of his favorite fictional character (Who I still have no idea who she is). like he saw me as this fictional girl and thought we were meant to be or something. This objectifying people and treating them like mannequins to decore with their obsessions and delusions is crazy and understimated as It causes enormous disasters. At some point it's not even a "guilty pleasure", it's the reason you should see a psychiatrist. He was, too, obsessed with stories like these.

[@celestialgemini]

I think the “do you check the age of everyone” excuse so weak because YES? …it takes like 3 seconds. It’s sad to me that he didn’t see the harm in the comments, especially because most underage individuals won’t. They’re getting influxes of positive attention, and often won’t question the intent or look further into the implications. Tbh…I wish smuttok treated people as people and not as individuals to project their fantasies onto, it’s a problem that finds itself being repeated a lot.

[@ninawinchester5125]

The way I am uncomfortable with kids' reels showing up on my insta page so that i immediately scroll past, meanwhile there are grown out adults, well in their thirties openly THIRSTING for a teenager, talking about corrupting him 💀 Some people need their dark romances taken away and given some self help books instead like jesus christ...

[@jenm3577]

the hunger games series is TIMELESS. they’re just mad there’s no smut in it 😭

[@janelleyao]

i have to agree with you, i myself skip a lot of the smut chapters in romance books because i find them awfully unnecessary! i really enjoy reading a lot of contemporary novels now and try to stay away from some booktok book recs

[@karastired]

Working alone in my little craft room and when you said “If you don’t know what dark romance is, don’t worry about it,” I literally said OKAY! out loud lol. Thanks for not going into detail. Also, if you like The Hunger Games & Maze Runner series, an teenage appropriate on up series is The Great Library series by Rachel Caine. And don’t recommend smutty stuff to strangers, both minors AND adults. You just don’t know them well enough or, like this situation, you could just end up being gross and borderline illegal.

[@Drastly]

The sexualization of everything on the internet is insane. People also excuse it because "it's the internet." They make it as if it is a part of internet culture to be a disgusting human being. Just like in the gaming community, when someone calls out all of the racism and misogyny going on, people will excuse it by saying it's gaming culture and just don't play certain games if they can't handle it. That anonymity makes people feel they can do and say whatever they want. I've also seen the rgb numbers and things like "it's bubble gum pink" or people literally describing what a man's genitalia looks like. DISGUSTING.

[@jellogirl2010]

I ALWAYS check the age of EVEN Discord users I converse with so I can know how to approach them. If I think I'm going to have a little crush on an actor, I look at their age, IF I'm going to recommend a book to someone, I ask their age or the very least what they've read. I always felt like it was common sense.

[@HitoLucius]

I saw a motorcycle guy talking about how he was being thirsted after by book-tok girls and it was a kind of video where you couldn't really tell if he actually disliked it or if he was just playing it up for a joke. One of the comments on the video was somebody from book-tok saying they'd "Take care of him", which is a pretty gross comment to leave but apparently the guy was SIXTEEN. The person who left the comment was told of this and their response was "he shouldn't be doing stuff like this if he didnt want it" with a kissy face emoji. Note that the person who said that had an IRL pfp and was probably 50-60. Like their hair was almost completely gray. It was so gross.

[@averyarnold7985]

got a motorcycle insurance ad in the middle of this

[@Axo151]

He had is his age in his bio prior to the situation,just for the confirmation,which gives none of them the benefit of the doubt,it was disgusting of them not to check their age before commenting something thirsty or smutty on someone’s post. But even if he was of age doesn’t mean it would be ok,some people could be very uncomfortable with that.

[@dive2love]

as a minor who absolutely adores the romance genre but cannot stand smut i rlly cant trust booktok reccomendations anymore since any time i read smut i either gag or die laughing😭😭 its so upsetting when i want to find a fluffy romance but i can only find crazy smut so its just like ughhhhh.. i also feel like dark romance has lost all its meaning on booktok bc i like the concept of dark romance but when you make the most popular reccomendation HAUNTING ADELINE. ive read a few chapters and i ended up crying it was soooo bad. i hate seeing ppl defend it bc ion wanna hear it but that book is literally romanticizing sa and i feel like its just not a good look for dark romance in general and i feel like romance booktok is less about feeding romance delusions and more about feeding porn addictions and using dark romance to excuse noncon and stuff i just dont think booktok is safe for minors anymore its so unfortunate

[@dive2love]

i also remember sport smuttok literally sexualizing irl hockey players to the point where one of them had to tell them to stop and one booktoker completely disregarded how uncomfortable he was and kept sexualizing the player, its disgusting how this smut addiction is starting to affect REAL PEOPLE so the "fiction doesnt affect reality" argument doesnt even work bc it IS affection real minors and even adults.

[@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943]

A good romance novel is Catch-22

[@user74027nh]

Honestly I don't think booktok was ever a safe place for minors. The Internet in general is not a safe place for kids and teens, it's beyond gross to see the grown adults in this situation act so recklessly.

[@FrenkTheJoy]

Honestly best place for recommendations is just on amazon. You don't have to *buy* from amazon, but the "other readers liked this" recommendations are pretty good, PLUS it usually says in the descriptions of the books if they're clean, and if not usually the reviews will mention if the book is or is not clean. But honestly the internet has never been "safe for minors." Idk what happened to everyone's brains, when I was a kid they were acting like if we so much as mentioned the country we were from online, we'd have predators at our door within an hour. So how exactly society went from that to minors sharing literally everything about their lives in spaces that have adults and then everyone is surprised when it turns out some adults are creepy? Minors have never been safe online outside of heavily moderated communities for minors.

[@HobieInTheBox]

I mostly read smut, on ao3. I'm not much of a physical book person. But every time I hear something about booktok, it's never good. 💀😭

[@sarasilva4722]

That’s a big word for Elmo took me OUT haha

[@tikimillie]

As a smut enjoyer i would never pay for that shit when i can have fanfics with reader inserts and my favorite characters for free

[@Ghostvix]

So many TikTok romance books and dark romance books are so toxic. My friend works at a bookshop and daily has to inform parents of minors trying to buy books that should be plastic wrapped and labelled as 18+ is getting more and more. The audience on TikTok reaches both women with mortgages and young teenage girls who should NOT be reading this shit.

[@CoffeeNini]

Damn, Ao3 really desensitized me. When you read out the triggers the first few sounded normal to me. To think they would recommend that to a 16-year-old is really concerning 😭😭

[@lmao_tse_tung]

The women talking down to the 16 year old about his book choices was a definite eye roll moment for me. Other than the edgy/smutty content of dark romance, there's nothing more "advanced" about their books over say, the Hunger Games and for them to act like they're intellectuals.... I read a review which said Haunting Adeline was like reading something written by a 16 year old who had just learned to swear. Sums it up for me

[@koalbent]

why dont they just read fan fiction

[@VarahiP]

I like book with spicy scenes but non spicy, fluffy romance book are just as fun to read! Even books without romance can be fun, but nowadays booktok is only about smut and romance and people forcing it on others is just worse.

[@dianaisme]

I borrowed The Cruel Prince from the library because I also had gotten curious, but I'm happy to say I could give it back no money spent. If I only had been that smart all the other times 🙃 I'm not saying it's a bad book, it's just not for me

[@jayofthedeadd]

Love the Mars Argo intro! Literally thought my Spotify was going off in the background because I wasn’t expecting it 💀

[@usgsnajs]

(Not-so) fun fact about the men commenting hex codes on woman’s posts: That stuff is commented on men’s posts too, just with hex codes for their parts (plus like, coordinates for veins, and descriptions of length + girth). Obviously bad for both genders, but what I found interesting was the fact that the comments on woman’s posts were justly called out, but the comments on men’s posts were treated as jokes and not taken seriously. I mean, I expect that stuff from the internet, but it was still disappointing to see. Luckily, I only really see the second type of comments on edits of anime boys now, so real people mostly don’t really see them anymore.