Today, finding a community of TikTok users who share your interests is simple, especially for readers. Those who are a part of “BookTok” (or book TikTok) often discuss the most popular books of each month, share recommendations, and provide news about upcoming film adaptations. With this, the community should be a safe space for those wishing to read more or are already avid readers.
However, I have noticed that BookTok has had several controversies. With the surge of sports and “bad-boy” romances, BookTok creators and followers have begun harassing athletes and innocent bystanders due to the rise in these genres. The increasing number of these novels has also greatly contributed to the disappearance of the “YA,” or Young Adult genre.
The YA section seems to be disappearing as more adult BookTokers look for “smut” (content with sexual material) in the books they read. BookTok creators are also recommending more of these explicit stories to teens. These recommendations cause bookstores and even publishers to market these sexually-charged books to YA audiences. With this, the YA section and its content are meant for an adult audience, not young adults or teens.
It’s acceptable for YA books to reference sex or sexuality, overall, as many PG-13 movies do. However, when the R-rated boundary is touched, problems can emerge as many of these stories deal with heavy topics and highly explicit scenes.
Graphic and sexually explicit books such as the ones circulating BookTok can give teenagers the wrong impression of sexuality and adulthood. These “smutty” books often include themes of abuse and toxic relationships, leaving teens desensitized and romanticizing that treatment.
The rapid and progressing impact of these novels is destroying the YA section. These books essentially turn the YA genre into another section for adults, with younger characters being the only difference. The YA section has been filled with books branded as being for teens but contain graphic depictions of sex and glamorization of abuse.
BookTokers looking for a story comprising more adult themes but with younger characters can venture into the New Adult section. This genre is tailored for readers in their late teens and early twenties, and these stories resemble the “coming of age” while including adult themes and material. However, it appears that the lines between New Adult and Young Adult are blurred.
These explicit books are not only causing problems for readers but also for unsuspecting people who have no direct involvement with these stories. Last year, BookTokers began sexually harassing Alex Wennberg, a hockey player for the Seattle Kraken, online; even after his wife made a statement calling for the inappropriate behavior to stop. At first, the Kraken encouraged BookTokers to attend games and make BookTok references. After people began to discuss the controversy and favored Wennberg’s requests, the Kraken lessened their BookTok content and praise.
Similar situations continued with a woman stalking a man in a Barnes and Noble after she spotted a motorcycle outside. Then, the woman walks through the store trying to find the man who owned the motorcycle and filmed the ordeal. The biker eventually made his own TikTok to announce that he wasn’t spooked by the encounter. Another incident like this occurred when a 16-year-old biker with the username @jesze.bee blew up on BookTok. The biker made TikToks with his face covered and people began leaving inappropriate comments on his videos before they knew his age. The once suggestive comments then turned maternal, with many BookTokers saying they want to “protect” him and be his mother. BookTok followers like these have created parasocial relationships with an unsuspecting and non-consenting child.
Even though BookTok has an isolated group of people who overstep boundaries, the overall community is not like this. BookTok has an informative and entertaining side filled with people who simply love books and sharing their opinions. “Smut” is not the problem, but it is part of the overarching issue — an online forum of people encouraging harassment and inappropriate interactions in their parasocial relationships.