Booktok was not as bad as it was made out to be

I’m aware I’m a little late to the party by like 1-2 year(s) but this topic is still in the back of my mind and I don’t have any time to yap about it to my friends this week since it’s finals week also again i apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes im dyslexic and also a trigger warning for mentions of rape and abuse 

Anywho, during the booktok craze and booktok hate train a year ago I was definitely on the hate train. And I still am, partially. I have a lot of my own criticisms towards booktok like how a lot of the popular books in the circle romantics abuse, rape and incest. I’ve also noticed how a lot of these books as a whole have patriarchal roles with a big, strong man and teeny, tiny, malnourished woman. But a lot of the hate I’ve seen is shaming women just for expressing sexuality.

I mean a lot of the criticism it faced was “Wow you women are so horny, you need to pick up pride and prejudice, you need to read a classic” from men. Which completely disregards the first recorded smut in history was in ancient Greece. Smut has been around forever, you’re just now shaming people for it because it’s women discussing sex and not men (I get it not all men) watching children get raped on pornhub. (I’ll also acknowledge porn addiction is not just a guy thing, women experience it too)

While on that topic, if you are so concerned about sex and sexuality being discussed why aren’t you speaking about porn, something that has and still does do a lot of harm? Smut, while taken in moderation is so much more healthy for you. And I’m not going to sit here and say that reading an explicit rape scene that sides with the rapist and shows it in a positive light is just fiction is a-okay, it has a lot less harm on real people than the porn industry does. And while yes two things can be true at once, if you are so concerned about women and sex I feel like the porn industry harming women and children and even men should be the top if your priorities. Not women flicking the bean to dragon smut.

And I obviously think reading explicit rape and abuse scenes gets to you but I won’t speak about survivors reading it. I obviously don’t think it’s a good coping mechanism but I’m not a trauma specialist nor do I have a degree in psychology. And I also don’t think survivors (or even non-survivors) are as bad as their perpetrators for reading this type of material and I’m tired of people treating them like they are.

I think what I’m trying to get at here is that while I don’t like booktok myself, participants shouldn’t be shamed for their sexuality. It says a lot about you if you shame women for flicking the bean to smut that does no harm but turn a blind eye to how much harm the porn industry does.