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errrmmm what the sigma😅

Romance fiction has been outselling all other types of novels since decades and decades ago. While I appreciate your viewpoint, your research was very limited to recent history and the Book Tok era. Something you failed to note is how the rise in self-publishing may have led to the glut of less-than-stellar books. While a lot of self-published material is of questionable quality, it has also leveled the playing field and gave folks traditionally (and wrongly) ignored by standard publishing a chance to have their stories heard as well. I'm guessing based on this video that you are a very smart person, so I'm assuming you've heard of archetypes. Tropes are just an extension of archetypes, and there's nothing inherently simplistic about them. I woild also challenge you to open your mind to more genre fiction. Colleen Hoover et al give romance a bad name--there are plenty of romance authors writing in ways that ask important questions and challenge readers to explore themes around gender and racial equality. Anyone in the comments who's saying "Ooh, Fabio, romance books are all trash" has a less-than-even-superficial understanding of the genre and what it has to offer. To conclude, I think we should all be more engaged and critical of what we read, no matter what that is.

This video has really opened my eyes. It weirdly wanted to make me cry, coming from someone who consumed spicy romance books and now can't stand reading them. I want to read books, but romance is such a big thing. I feel lost when I want to read something that isn’t romance, but I’m also sick and tired of reading romance. I want to read something else but don’t even know what. Please, someone, give me some recommendations.

This just is 90s trashy romances without Fabio on the cover

I love reading and i read all kinds of books, but i dont think every book needs to be a work of art. When i start a romance book filled with tropes i dont expect to learn anything, im just trying to entretain myself for a while. The same happens with all the forms of media, there are tons of movies and series that obviously dont carry any deep meaning they are just entretaining and that doesnt mean that there are still tons of movies that are works of art. I love reading deep books but i also enjoy trashy books once in a while. An important part of critiquing something is judging it for what it is, you cant use the same criteria for all books because different books have different goals. I love critical thinking but we cant judge everything by the same criteria. I understand that reading books that make you think deeper about their content are better, but the other kind aren't that horrible, they just have diferent purposes (Sorry for my english)

This is why we follow marblehead

SWAN LAKE IN THE BEGINNING I CANT

The rapid and overwhelming rise of anti-intellectualism is something I’ve been aware of and disheartened by for a while now… thank you for making me feel better about thinking critically and standing my ground about books that NEED that criticism. It’s fun and it’s healthy to express complex thoughts and feelings about books instead of just consuming them blindly and numbly

My high school offers a critical thinking class to juniors and seniors and I took it this past semester. It is single handedly the most insightful class I have ever experienced and I constantly looked forward to the periods i had it. Sadly, my teacher(literally the best I love him) shared with us that this year might be one of the last years he gets to teach the class because of a dying interest in wanting to delve deeper into the humanities and the aspects of our society. we are slowly falling victim to a normal that we are not aware of that makes us lose sight of ourselves as unique beings of individual thought. And while I and so many others often enjoy pink and "girly" things, we are becoming numb to individualism and blind to originality with every trend and commercially influenced thought that we put out into the world. A good "girl..." joke might be fun every once and a while, but we come to a point with the internet where we are effectively countering all of the progress we are attempting to make. I wish everyone could experience a critical thinking class because we would all be much better off than we are now.

This is maybe the best video I've ever seen on RUclips.

some very good points but where your video essay is weak is sometimes you obviously gloss over very deep and interesting things by resorting to automatic cultural theorist buzzwords that claim to appeal to empathy while actually muddling the problems. this is also a strain of anti intellectualism: no not every critique of female centered habit can be put in misogyny, no resorting throwing around the holy all encompassing concept of patriarcal society doesn't do much to explain away the problems, no throwing around capitalism doesn't do away with many of the problems of serialization and vacuity of books... you seem very politically passionate and that's fine, but only if your passion doesn't blind you to the substance of things. you shouldn't want to believe something before tackling it. the best proof of this is your attempt to link book bans (which are reprehensible obv) with booktok anti intellectualism. you don't make a very good case and i don't think the two are as closely related as you claim. but it seems you are very passionate about that particular subject and you absolutely wanted to fit it in your essay. as an academic, i feel like i should warn you about politics. there are a lot of politically blinded people trying to produce thought, but being unable to produce anything of remote interest

"Whatever happened to nuance?" ...You mean like the nuance of assuming that "sometimes the curtains are just blue" means that _sometimes_ a critical interpretation of something is misguided, or that your high-school English teacher wasn't necessarily a genius, rather than taking the stance that this statement is ruining literature and driving people to disdain literally all criticism? For someone who professes to dislike extreme attitudes about art and intellectualism, the opinions you express in this video about what TikTok is doing to people's reading habits seem pretty extreme. TikTok is not the entire book market, even if large retail bookstores use it as a gimmick to sell a few more books. As you point out, many of the people you're seeing with this trashy literature wouldn't read at all if they didn't have it, since the majority of people are not inclined to read books for pleasure. If they don't deserve praise for their reading choices, they don't really deserve condemnation either. I'd also like to point out that among the many things that can cause people to lose respect for authorities (whether intellectual, scientific, political, or otherwise) is the behavior and speech of those authorities themselves. I'm not denying that there's such a thing as anti-intellectualism, but intelligent people are far too eager to identify criticism of themselves as that based on nothing more than wounded egotism. By the way, since you seem to have a healthy respect for constructive criticism, I'm going to try to give you some regarding this video. You do far too much direct citation of other people's words here, rather than paraphrasing their ideas or constructing arguments from scratch. It makes you seem unconfident about your own opinion and conveys the impression that you accept all their opinions uncritically, which is at odds with your stance on independent thinking and, yes, intellectualism. If you're smart, make your case using your own eloquence; don't rely on other people to do it for you. Seriously, though, I wish you well in your hater quest. I'm actually much closer to being a hater myself than a Panglossian "all art is good" optimist.

As a dude, I'm slightly out of my depth on the subject, but from what I've seen and heard female friends say, it seems to me that Booktok, as well as other big sections of tiktok (one of my major fandoms being F1) have had LOUD segments that many women have said puts a lot of perception of equality of interests back decades - That is to say, the communities obsessing over smut and insane roleplay (often with weirdly predatory tones) being the face of/entire view of the female "literature community", (and with f1, the women and girls that thirst over the drivers obsessively for years and do the same... but the characters ARE NOT FICTIONAL AND ARE REAL PEOPLE) - all end up reinforcing ideas or creating new ones that women can't/don't enjoy the same things in the same way. Like if you were into Star Wars, and met someone of the opposite gender who got super excited and said "OMG SAME!" but then exclusively gushed to you about an actor/actress crush they have for hours. It makes the generalization easy to make, and especially in sports/motorsports (my main experience, not booktok) can really set a terrible precedent that "girls just like seeing pretty guys, and can't enjoy the actual racing or history" type shit. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade or claim this is morally wrong (except for with real life people, quit making up weird/creepy scenarios with actors/actresses and editing it into slideshows) - but at least sections of every fanbase this type of thing is big in are upset about it from the perspective of it being a terrible look. I think one valid position to take could be... better labeling of these types of communities? Because, not just with booktok but almost any group I've been in, when sexual stuff gets involved (not just themes or important stuff but, yk, stuff people are getting off to) it instantly spirals out of control and takes over unless it's sectioned off into its own space. I mean, look at how stuff like motorcycle tiktok just became thirst traps, or almost any video game fandom, much less... oh god... anything to do remotely with childrens media...

Damn, you wrote that at 16? Maybe this book shit IS good for you, huh?

You just summoned HaterTok Girly!!!

A little bit of respect and human decency? On the internet? Oh no. That's never going to happen. Asking for it probably made it worse unfortunately.

Great video! It inspired me to think on this subject for a while. I have some disagreements with your pov, but it is interesting how "female gaze" still exists within a duality of interaction subject-object. Your definition of a male gaze is polarizing, as if there is only male gaze in men (bad) and female gaze in women (good). I think that defining male and female gaze differently may be more helpful for people to shorten the divide between men and women: [Male gaze] what you as the subject can do to the object [Female gaze] what the object can do to you to be perceived as it intends to, not how the subject wants to perceive it Im trying to establish these definitions not entirely meaning "subject" and "object" as absolutes, but rather as roles in this "conversation" Liked your video on booktok and intellectualism!

"sometimes the curtains are just blue" I think is important to look at because sometimes it's true...but what is important is the context surrounding the curtains and I think that you are right; there is a lack of desire to analyze the text or engage in discussions and that does seem to stem from anti-intellectualism. "Just let people enjoy things" shouldn't mean never thinking critically about those things and spaces like booktok, bookstagram, and bookthreads are filled with people shouting that we should just let people enjoy things and we shouldn't "yuck someone else's yum" (*gag*). Also "You can’t ‘I’m just girl’ your way out of everything. You pay taxes and vote. You're not healing your inner child, you are regressing into ignorance" is probably my new favorite thing ever.

I loved your way of covering this topic! I´ve been thinking about it for quite some time

I don't feel like watching the video. Why was it suggested to me?

OK I’ll be a hater. Why does this video sound so bad with that big ass microphone in the shot

I maybe think that shaming people for reading fantasy porn novels because you think over-consumption is wrong and art is dying and people are dumb shows a lack of perspective on your part, and, dare i say it, brain rot.

There is nothing wrong with being intereste in erotic literature, but this thing of having an "intellectual reader" persona, but only being interested in smut is like if someone said they are a filmbuff because they watch a lot of porn.

I did not expect to watch this very long but every couple sentences I’m like “you tell ‘em!” 😂

Okay, cool, but do you still watch Marvel movies?

I used to think there's no wrong way of reading and then I had the misfortune of stumbling across booktokers and I have been disproven. Just like watching porn doesn't make you a cinephile, reading smut doesn't make you a reader.

Tldr: boo hoo I'm smarter than all of you i read better book and y'all are beneath me cos i read unpopular books and i rarely give good reviews.

It's always a book by Colleen Hoover or Hannah Grace too

Hi Alisha! I just spent the last couple hours watching all four of you videos and I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed them. I want to caveat this a bit. I'm an English Lit professor and cultural studies podcaster... so that colors my view of things a bit and while I don't necessarily agree with everything you've said, I think you're done a phenomenal job of expressing your views, especially as "an 18 year old barely legal adult." The great thing about academic arguments is that if you do them right, it shouldn't be about whether or not everyone agrees. It should be about finding your niche in the critical conversation based on your own arguments and view points. I think your videos are really great and I think it’s amazing that you’re wrestling with these complex issues at this point in your academic career and I just want to say… ƒµ¢& the haters!!!! Keep up the good work! Oh, and you're right... no one bragging about reading Dostoyevsky can spell it!!!! None of them!!!!

I’ve always seen the people on booktok as the girls that would bully other girls for reading fanfic but would read 1D fics on wattpad and never grew past wattpad or to other fanspaces, and now grown they are still reading, essentially, wattpad novels but paying for it because its aesthetic to have a shelf of books you havent read. Which is the same reason people are illegally selling physical copies of fanfics like manacled, aesthetic.

I need your goodreads account girl😭

When I go on book tok, I usually see a lot of people that look more on the “stanley cup, brandy melville” side of the world. However, when they talk about tropes and the fact they want to see the same tropes again, I can’t help but think these people would love fan fiction. And as a group (this is a generalization, I am aware) it feels like if someone were to recommend fan fiction, they would write it off and not take it seriously. But I genuinely think these people would enjoy fan fiction but may feel like they would be ridiculed for admitting if they did. Yet if they say they read a “real” (it’s in quotes bc yeah I really think some of the fan fiction I’ve read is better than some published books and the concept that a book is only real if it’s published is rubbish) book and it has smut-well then they are just people who want to enjoy things. Because it’s published, I feel like they might think it gives it credibility. But I bet if you told one of the people that reads published smut books that you read fan fiction, they would not say “let people enjoy things!!”. That’s my take, and I could be wrong, but I really get the vibe from some of these book tok readers bc smut is a trend now. which I see has some positivity bc since the market is mainly women, I think it’s great to see women be open about their sexuality and what they want. However, I don’t believe the people that read these books would be very open to people that read fan fiction and would look down on it, even a lot of the core elements of what they read and fan fiction smut are the same

this really fits into the concepts that guy debord laid out in society of the spectacle

Also, from my observation, being bombarded with shallow, short-form content all the time tires your brain out and makes it so much easier to give in to ignorance. So to have the energy to be critical means to be picky instead of consuming everything in sight to satiate your FOMO. But to people used to only perceiving things surface-level, pickiness may be taken for elitism.

not the “domestic abuse <3” at 11:05 🤦

The idea that the act of reading is inherently an intellectual pursuit is an outdated idea. Technology has given us more ways to engage with ideas and the prusuit of knowledge is not limited to words printed on paper. Yes, literacy is important, but you hit the nail on the head that reading has become more about the aesthetic and overconsumption. There is def a time and place to enjoy books like you would a reality tv show, but if we really love books as a medium, then we must commit to upholding good writing/storytelling. Even when we are enjoying it like reality tv, you don't need to think that deeply, but it can't be mindless. As you said, things women love have often been criticized for nonsensical reasons. As a society, we have worked on healing ourselves by pushing back and letting people enjoy things, but the pendulum has swung too far and we are at a place where it is serving capitalism rather than people. We need to take another step forward and be able to thoughtfully critique things people enjoy and not the people themselves. People must also accept that critiques of things they love is not inherently an attack on their value as a human being. It is ok to like things that others don't like, but we all need to come together and support each other as humans first and then have discussions about why we do or don't like things.

I really really enjoyed this video. Thank you

Im not on tik tok at all and haven’t read a book since “The Woman In Me” came out but i definitely watched this beginning to end and agreed with all your points.

how can i like it twice?

Wow this is an amazing video

I'm not particularly deep in the booktok sphere, but I want to mention how I awesome I think it is that the word Hater has been repurposed from "someone spiteful, overly negative" into being a person who critically regards the books they consume and to fight back against consumerism in the hobby. Awesome video Alisha!

Only 15 minutes in and I already notice this is one of the best videos on this. I've been rejected on pitching my historical fantasy novel set in 1920s Chile by publishers who market themselves as looking for new, fresh and original concepts (bc yeah, I haven't read a historical fantasy set in Chile), but they say something along the lines of "yeah... but is it romantasy? we want something like booktok". idc if that's to ensure sales, but if you market yourself as an avant garde publishing house and just want to dig out the booktok community trends... idk, it pisses me off so much.

Amazing video. You perfectly articulated some thoughts I've had for years about the character assassination death girls go through in media. A lot of writers reduce girls to a concept, to a tragedy or even a cheap motivation... Thank you for making this video, I'll definitely be checking a non fiction book or two to educate myself about the topic, it's definitely something I've been interested in but never really looked up, I just like learning about the ways sociocultural biases shape the way we write stories. I feel like I'm not explaining myself as well as I want to so I'll just applaud you again for this video, the amount of research and editing that was put into this is admirable, I really liked the format as well, i feel like you didn't miss a beat, and while I personally can't relate to that footage sat the end, it was very important and perfectly juxtaposed women's actual emotions with the ugliness of how pieces of media exploits female suffering for a narrative's sake, it really got to me Thank you for putting your time into this, I hope your work receives the praise it deserves 🌟

Ermm?? What the sigma?

It’s kinda funny that a few years ago ppl were scared the physical books were gonna die bc e-readers became a thing & now ppl are upset bc others buy too many books 😂😂 there was also a time when I was a kid when adults were freaking out that nobody reads anymore bc we’re all being raised by screens but now it’s outrage bc the books being read aren’t the classics they had in mind. It’s a silly revolving door & someone’s always gonna be upset about something

the book hauls and culture of overconsumption is the thing that gets me... when i was a kid, i did own all the books i read (well, that my parents bought for me and i sometimes saved up gift money for) but since i started getting back into reading in college, i've been using nothing but the library. i do wanna buy some of my absolute favs from the past few years once i'm done and moved out for good but libraries drew me back into reading after a rigorous high school program + developing a phone addiction took me out of it. most importantly in a low-risk way, where i could be adventurous with my tbr because i wasn't investing $20 i didn't have per book

I hate that A Little Life was dragged into the BookTok community. I nearly gave myself whiplash from the double-take I did seeing it in WALMART.

I tend to think about the "let people enjoy things" phenomenon more in animation and tv production than books just because I'm more familiar with that space but this gives me more appreciation for how it may just be a universal problem we're facing regardless of medium. Great vid! Edit: Okay you take it there later in the video mb carry on lol

the quoting gets annoying so fast, lol

“Now they have this outward behavior of intellectualism but they don’t care about what’s actually in the book in their hands” YEAH AND SPEAK ON THAT