Decades of anecdotal evidence from husbands and boyfriends have demonstrated significant impacts of smut consumption on individuals, relationships, and society's collective understanding of Fae princes, hockey players, and morally gray monster boyfriends.
Since Fourth Wing took over BookTok, millions of women have decided they would absolutely thrive at a military academy where dragons might eat them. "I'd simply bond with a black dragon and fall for a brooding wingleader," they say, ignoring that they get winded climbing stairs.¹
Learn More →Women who previously couldn't name a single NHL team now have strong opinions about defensive positioning and "the way hockey players smell after practice."² Partners report a 340% increase in being asked to grow a playoff beard and fight someone.
Learn More →The bar for male love interests has moved from "kind and emotionally available" to "has killed people but feels kinda bad about it sometimes."³ Partners report feeling inadequate for never having growled "she's MINE" while threatening someone.
Learn More →What started as a niche interest has exploded into a full genre where readers enthusiastically rate books by "spice level" and debate the romantic viability of various cryptids.⁴ "He may be seven feet tall with tusks, but he's emotionally intelligent," readers explain to their horrified partners.
Learn More →BookTok has normalized rating smut content like restaurant heat levels. "It's only three peppers, very mild," readers say about books featuring mafia kingpins and dark rituals.⁵ Haunting Adeline has a 10/10 spice rating. Your partner has a 2/10 at best. Sorry.
Learn More →Romantasy has convinced readers that attending a magic school where powerful Fae princes want to destroy you is romantic rather than terrifying.⁶ "He literally tried to kill her for 200 pages," readers swoon. "And then he called her 'little human.' Obsessed."
Learn More →It starts with "cute beach read" recommendations and ends with annotated copies, pastel tab stickers, and heated debates about whether the stalker hero was "actually romantic."⁷ One 15-second thirst edit can catapult a self-published book to Kindle Top 100. No one is safe.
Learn More →Constant exposure to "enemies-to-lovers" plots rewires the brain to interpret red flags as romantic tension. "He threatened her life" becomes "he's just obsessed with her." This is not healthy, but it IS a five-pepper read.
Partners report feeling inadequate when they fail to deliver dramatic "forced proximity" situations, possess a tragic backstory involving a secret identity, or pin anyone against walls while growling possessively.
Studies show a direct correlation between "just one more chapter" and unwashed dishes, forgotten laundry, and 3 AM bedtimes. "The slow burn finally paid off" is not an acceptable excuse for missing work.
Phone screen time is 90% TikTok videos of people crying about fictional characters. "He called her 'little one'" they sob.
Now watches hockey/football despite zero previous interest. Cannot name actual teams. Only interested in "the tension in the locker room."
Unironic use of "morally gray," "forced proximity," "he's so unhinged," and rating everything by pepper emojis.
Sudden interest in military academies, dragon lore, and whether they could "definitely survive the bonding ceremony."
Owns more pastel annotation tabs than actual books. Every spicy scene is marked. The Kindle is 47% highlights.
Has expressed that they "understand the appeal" of orcs, minotaurs, or other creatures that should be concerning.