"Obviously, this is all a massive performance: We live in the age of OnlyFans, and odds are that all of these men have seen actual porn that defies the laws of physics and God. So I don't buy that they're truly shocked by mere descriptions-however hot-of people having sex. It's pretty clear that what they're actually shocked by is the fact that women they know are reading about sex."
"The videos follow this format: Man reads on camera, or claims to have just finished reading, a spicy part of a popular book. The video shows the man's resulting giggles and gasps, then usually features him expressing something along the lines of "Wow, you girls are crazy!" In one video, a grown ass man declares "holy cannolis," in response to the book Icebreaker, a romance novel about a figure skater who falls in love with a hockey player."
"In another, two grown men read a famous scene in Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Silver Flame where the male character commands his female lover to "put your hands on the headboard." That scene is hot for sure, but for some reason, one of the dudes in the video declares, "I'll never trust a girl who says she 'reads for fun' ever again in my life.""
Bestselling romantasy novels like A Court of Thorns and Roses and Fourth Wing include explicit sexual content that many readers expect. BookTok has featured men staging performative reactions to spicy passages from these female-centered books, often feigning surprise and moralizing. The reactions typically involve giggles, gasps, mock outrage, and comments that frame erotic reading as scandalous. Many of the clips appear designed to attract attention and monetize through platform incentives rather than express genuine shock. Some videos show partners filming one another for entertainment value, reinforcing the performative and judgmental tone.
Read at Jezebel
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