Booktok
"Booktok" is harming the minds of young girls
Olivia Solorzano '26
Designer Editor
We’ve all heard of “BookTok”: a popular trend on TikTok where creators share their favorite books and read the currently trending novels. It sounds like a good idea, right? People sharing their favorite works of literature causes people to read more instead of spending time scrolling aimlessly through their phones! What’s wrong with that? While “BookTok” can have some pros, it negatively impacts the young adult audiences who are the primary viewers.
The most popular genre within the BookTok community is romance. Romance can be a fun, enjoyable genre for when you need a break from the realities of life. I’m a lover of silly, age appropriate rom-com books such as “Better Than the Movies” or “The Summer I Turned Pretty”, since they center around people the same age as me, and contain cute, swoon worthy scenes without being inappropriate.
However, BookTok romance novels often feature explicit, toxic relationships between characters, which can do lots of harm to the young women who are taking their time to read them. Many of the trendy books are written by Colleen Hoover and Penelope Douglas, both of whom write books that glorify and romanticize manipulative relationships where women are often mistreated, abused and degraded by men.
Louisville sophomores expressing their feelings on popular booktok books
These books feed off gross stereotypes and expectations, teaching misogynistic things to readers. One of the main themes of these “dark romance” novels is that a woman should be “small and submissive” compared to her 6’10 “mafia boss” boyfriend. But, if the story was the other way around, where the woman was the powerful one, people would have a problem with it since women can’t be given that much superiority and, according to these books, don’t have the capacity to be strong or independent.
These “romance” novels can hardly be considered romance, since they often glamorize horrible problems such as sexual assault. Because the main consumers of this media are young girls, they will go about their life believing that crimes and assault are attractive and romantic, and if a man assaults you, that must mean that he’s in love with you. Books and literature (though these books should not be called literature) should educate readers about current issues, teach about important themes and share life lessons and experiences. Instead, by glorifying issues, authors like Colleen Hoover are normalizing domestic violence and all types of abuse.
As fellow women, why would Hoover and other female authors want to create stories that minimize a woman’s abilities and strength? Young, impressionable women are picking up these books at their local Barnes and Noble believing that all they’re about to read is a cute rom-com. These girls are subconsciously manipulated into thinking that they are nothing without a dominant, masculine man who can protect them, even if that man is aggressive and violent.
Being at an all girls school, it is important to be conscious of what you’re reading, and supporting authors like Hoover or Douglas gives them the ammunition and support to continue writing novels with unacceptable themes and messages. Being mindful of the material you read is very important in this day and age of “BookTok”, especially as young women. If you’re looking for a place to find new, mentally beneficial books, try “goodreads”, the New York Times, or maybe even ask your English teacher!