I feel like trying to acknowledge that women being attractive and smart aren’t mutually exclusive has turned into ‘hot girl reading list’ ‘Rory Gilmore aesthetic’ and the whole vibe of working to be the ‘prettiest AND smartest in the room’- like intelligence is only worth anything if you’re hot too? Similar to aesthetics of spirituality, things just become ways to enhance how attractive you are, a new level to confine yourself to
yes! it is all so draining and it makes me feel crazy, but I think some people are waking up and are tired of the hot girlfication of everything. in a couple of year’s we’re gonna look back and think: wtf was all that?
This!! I've noticed in the tiktok and instagram book world that you would have to be beautiful holding the book, or the book to be beautiful itself in order to gain thousands of likes. I see smaller creators have a curated book recommendation but gets neglected because the post wasn't "aesthetically put" enough
It is exhausting to exist as exclusively a woman and not just a human. I love the comradery of “girlhood” discussion but like you said it can be so creatively limiting. You have to fit this perfect mold of aesthetic or else you are some type of fraud. I just wanna live. Will forever be infuriated that men are not categorized the same way we are.
Hey Luisa, loved this essay! I’ve also always thought it’s a bit weird the way TikTok has turned books into another pastiche-y aesthetic. I think I mostly agree with your conclusion about certain canons of lit satisfying our desire to be admired. But I also wonder if the "literary it girl" springs from something else that's changed in the culture. People have always desired admiration but books and signals of “intelligence” haven’t always been the chosen way to acquire this. I’m curious if you have thoughts (maybe for another essay) on why this kind of old-school cultural cache is springing up now? Especially since the books that literary ‘it girls” read are so homogenous, which would seem to signal a lack of unique intellectual talent on the part of the reader. Is it just a desire to be “in” or has something in the environment changed to prize this specific type of status -seeking?
Such an interesting question, Sara, I don’t know if I have enough to say about the subject to write an essay about it, I do think it as combination of things. First, a lot of people want to be part of a community, and calling themselves “literary it girls” gives them the illusion that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. Second, status. Cultural capital gives you an upper hand when you are trying to make connections on an industry, and the publishing industry seems to care about the same authors and stories, so I guess them reading the same books by the same authors and marketing themselves as a “didion girl” or a “sally rooney girl” is them trying to connect with the industry. Is a long discussion, and we could spend hours talking about it. You are more than welcome to write me whenever and we can keep discussing <3
i relate so much with what you’ve said about contradictions and the impact worrying has on you. thank you for voicing and articulating what i feel so deeply
I feel like the Venn diagram of those of us who took pride in being gifted in school and those of us now struggling to find an identity outside of "being smart" is probably just a GIANT CIRCLE.
I started this substack to put my work out in the world but hit a wall with the language to write in and chose, same as you, to write in English rather than my mother tongue. I’ve had a hard time continuing this endeavour. It feels like self-betrayal? But if I wrote in French, it would be like speaking into an abyss lol... so the thoughts stay in my head. The “discourse” is so anglo-centric :( anyway really resonated with what you wrote
I’m glad to know I am not the only one that feels like this. Especially because the platform we are using is made by english speakers we believe is also just made for english speakers. We need to be the ones who change it, even if it feels like speaking to a wall at first.
I love how you draw the link between girl writers and the connotation that 'girl' implies 'hot' - not something I thought about before. Really interesting read
everything is so chaotic and complex and we will forever find ourselves in the midst of it! i don’t know! thank you for sharing this, such an interesting read.
so interesting reading this from your perspective, love it!! really excited for your next post!
Love love this!
I feel like trying to acknowledge that women being attractive and smart aren’t mutually exclusive has turned into ‘hot girl reading list’ ‘Rory Gilmore aesthetic’ and the whole vibe of working to be the ‘prettiest AND smartest in the room’- like intelligence is only worth anything if you’re hot too? Similar to aesthetics of spirituality, things just become ways to enhance how attractive you are, a new level to confine yourself to
yes! it is all so draining and it makes me feel crazy, but I think some people are waking up and are tired of the hot girlfication of everything. in a couple of year’s we’re gonna look back and think: wtf was all that?
This!! I've noticed in the tiktok and instagram book world that you would have to be beautiful holding the book, or the book to be beautiful itself in order to gain thousands of likes. I see smaller creators have a curated book recommendation but gets neglected because the post wasn't "aesthetically put" enough
“I can’t help but wonder if we will ever be free as women, as female artists. I wish we could just exist as humans”
!!! such a great piece
tysm for reading!!
It is exhausting to exist as exclusively a woman and not just a human. I love the comradery of “girlhood” discussion but like you said it can be so creatively limiting. You have to fit this perfect mold of aesthetic or else you are some type of fraud. I just wanna live. Will forever be infuriated that men are not categorized the same way we are.
Hey Luisa, loved this essay! I’ve also always thought it’s a bit weird the way TikTok has turned books into another pastiche-y aesthetic. I think I mostly agree with your conclusion about certain canons of lit satisfying our desire to be admired. But I also wonder if the "literary it girl" springs from something else that's changed in the culture. People have always desired admiration but books and signals of “intelligence” haven’t always been the chosen way to acquire this. I’m curious if you have thoughts (maybe for another essay) on why this kind of old-school cultural cache is springing up now? Especially since the books that literary ‘it girls” read are so homogenous, which would seem to signal a lack of unique intellectual talent on the part of the reader. Is it just a desire to be “in” or has something in the environment changed to prize this specific type of status -seeking?
Such an interesting question, Sara, I don’t know if I have enough to say about the subject to write an essay about it, I do think it as combination of things. First, a lot of people want to be part of a community, and calling themselves “literary it girls” gives them the illusion that they’re part of something bigger than themselves. Second, status. Cultural capital gives you an upper hand when you are trying to make connections on an industry, and the publishing industry seems to care about the same authors and stories, so I guess them reading the same books by the same authors and marketing themselves as a “didion girl” or a “sally rooney girl” is them trying to connect with the industry. Is a long discussion, and we could spend hours talking about it. You are more than welcome to write me whenever and we can keep discussing <3
This makes a lot of sense, thanks for the answer!!
i relate so much with what you’ve said about contradictions and the impact worrying has on you. thank you for voicing and articulating what i feel so deeply
thanks for reading, atanda
love your take on this soooo much!
I feel like the Venn diagram of those of us who took pride in being gifted in school and those of us now struggling to find an identity outside of "being smart" is probably just a GIANT CIRCLE.
Love this!! I relate so much. Women can be contradictions too & I will stand ten toes down on that!
I started this substack to put my work out in the world but hit a wall with the language to write in and chose, same as you, to write in English rather than my mother tongue. I’ve had a hard time continuing this endeavour. It feels like self-betrayal? But if I wrote in French, it would be like speaking into an abyss lol... so the thoughts stay in my head. The “discourse” is so anglo-centric :( anyway really resonated with what you wrote
I’m glad to know I am not the only one that feels like this. Especially because the platform we are using is made by english speakers we believe is also just made for english speakers. We need to be the ones who change it, even if it feels like speaking to a wall at first.
Facts... much to think about
FELT this
I love how you draw the link between girl writers and the connotation that 'girl' implies 'hot' - not something I thought about before. Really interesting read
this was such a beautiful read thank you 🫶🫶
everything is so chaotic and complex and we will forever find ourselves in the midst of it! i don’t know! thank you for sharing this, such an interesting read.
thank you, for reading <3
Thank you for this great read!