BookTok as a Women's Club

Before we look at BookTok as a by women, for women space, let's recount the history of American women book clubs. Anne Hutchinson was a member of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, a Puritan settlement which escaped to America seeking religious freedom, and she used her midwifery occupation as a way to connect with the women in her community and formed a reading group to discuss the bible and sermon (McDade). This could be considered the first women's book club, although Anne's meetings would eventually become popular with some of the husbands of the women who attended (Hutchinson). She was put on trial by the religious leaders of the colony in 1637, who described her meetings a "promiscuous and filthy coming together of men and women," because they critiqued long-held Puritan beliefs (Michals). However, the real issue wasn't the critique, but the gender of who was leading it; much like the popularization of "romantasy" and smut on BookTok, and the subsequent diminishment of those genres/elements. The eroticism and romance aren't the problem, it is who is writing it and who it is written for that's the problem. Who is the primary audience of women? Other women. Anne was able to form a community of women through shared experience in a way that wasn't possible with men because of societal rules; and then the only way she was able to reach men was through enough women being encouraged to use their voices as well. 

https://www.tiktok.com/@caroline_cares/video/7257183546362662187?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7581976681863546382

Now, an entire community of recommendations, opinions, critiques, and everything in between exists as a library of knowledge made mostly of women and their voices on BookTok. When you search up "BookTok" on TikTok, you'll see maybe one video made by a man in every 10-15 videos. This is not necessarily due to the lack of male readers, but the space that has been curated. There are a couple popular male BookTok creators, but there are countless popular female creators; and those male creators often focus on denser, "more manly," fantasy series from male authors, like Game of Thrones, The Way of Kings, and The Name of the Wind. It is not that women don't read these series, but I propose that there are enough women readers and creators that they would rather hear from a woman about a series they've enjoyed than a man. Additionally, perhaps because the space is dominated by women, like BeautyTok, men shy away from joining the space despite their likelihood of doing so surpassing BeautyTok. Are books and reading going to be considered "feminine" now by the patriarchy?  

https://www.tiktok.com/@tierney.reads/video/7366510523547962632?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7581976681863546382

BookTok often has a bad reputation for only recommending and talking about "spicy," or erotic, books, but that could not be farther than the truth. While that is one important aspect, and one that stems from being able to talk about female desire, there is a diverse range of recommendations (just as women are diverse!). This compulsion to generalize what a woman-dominated community is about is perhaps an indicator of just how influential and significant these discussions are to dismantling patriarchal restrictions. Like Anne Hutchinson's group, enough women got loud enough to get the men to listen, and while some of them are supportive, the rest scrutinize what they discuss and read for being too "smutty." But who gets to dictate what women are interested in and what they talk about? Certainly not men. And so, BookTok continues to talk about spicy books and dark academia books and classics, unapologetically. If the men don't want to listen, they don't have to, creators aren't curating their content for them anyways. That is also something special -- the freedom to express discourse without relying on men. We don't need them for opinions to matter, for people to listen to us, and certainly not to hit "post" on TikTok. 

Works Cited

Anne Hutchinson. https://rwu.shorthandstories.com/anne-hutchinson/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.

McDade, Monique. "Welcome Week Powerpoint." Canvas, 2025. 

    https://canvas.oregonstate.edu/courses/2018367/files/113803969?module_item_id=26083065

Michals, Debra. “Biography: Anne Hutchinson.” National Women’s History Museum, https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/anne-hutchinson. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.