Children are reading intensely mature content, and no one’s doing anything about it.
In a not-so-small corner of TikTok, BookTok has captivated billions of pairs of eyes, with over 200 billion views and over 35 million posts on the BookTok hashtag. The influence of the creators, or BookTokers, is immense.
British Bookseller, Sarah* says that this is contributing to the rising number of young people who are reading content beyond their years. She adds that the creators recommend both adult and young adult books in the same videos on BookTok, which is blurring the lines between the categories. In particular, she notes, “I’ve got children in the teen section looking for Colleen Hoover” — an author who has seen a massive increase in sales from social media recommendations. Sarah continues: “That is one I personally would not recommend a teenager read because of the damaging relationship storylines.”
What is Dark Romance?
@read.or.listen What is dark romance? ___ #darkromance #darkromancereads #darkromancebooktok ♬ original sound – Marisa Haartz
This is another issue for younger readers, but it concerns older readers, too. The relationships portrayed in some novels are incredibly unhealthy — specifically within the dark romance genre, which has been further popularized by BookTok. Defined as a sub-genre of romance with dark themes such as kidnapping, stalking, and abuse, the stories tend to revolve around women that are trapped, non-consenting, and controlled. Whilst these themes are also commonly seen in thriller and horror stories, the issue here is that they are intensely romanticized.
In dark romance books, the terms DubCon and NonCon are used to describe dubious consensual and non-consensual sexual relationships between characters. Such storylines can have a place in storytelling. For instance, they can act as social commentary on rape and abuse, thereby providing reassurance and comfort to readers who may have experienced these circumstances in their own lives. However, the glorification in the genre can be damaging and invalidating to the very same people. Painting traumatic experiences in a positive light for entertainment purposes is highly problematic — especially when the stories are finding their way into the hands of young people.
Why do People Enjoy Dark Romance?
Reading is an escape for many people, and dark romance fans claim that the genre allows them to feel in control of the situations, even though the characters are not. But this can swiftly turn into the romanticization of damaging male fantasies, which depict women as property to control.
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Sarah tells me, “my concern is that they don’t know what they’re seeing on the page are monumentally massive red flags.”
As young teens are beginning to form ideas about relationships, literature can have a significant impact. According to Sarah, if they enter a relationship which mirrors the words on those pages, “they may not think that’s unhealthy. They may think it’s fine because what they’ve read has okayed it.”
Regulating: Age Ratings v Content Warnings
Films are greatly regulated in the form of age ratings, but the process isn’t quite so simple for books. Iona, a keen reader from the UK, believes that age ratings should be implemented on books “if there’s even a hint of something potentially triggering or too mature.” She declares that “we’re becoming so desensitized to horrible things so young that it doesn’t seem horrific anymore.”
While hypothetical regulators would protect readers from triggering material, there is also a chance that they could restrict young people from reading more mature novels that they identify with. Sarah agrees: “I think if we start regulating straight dark romance books, it’s a very slippery slope to when we start regulating queer romance books – would a queer story end up being seen as too damaging to children?”
What can be done instead?
Some books in the YA section already include a note at the beginning indicating that the content is unsuitable for younger readers. Examples include Robert Muchamore’s Cherub series and the BookTok favorite ACOTAR series (which was initially classified as Young Adult until the more recent books started to include increasingly mature content). Sarah expresses her thoughts: “Whilst I wouldn’t say that age ratings are necessary as a legal requirement, I think these warnings could perhaps be more commonplace or at the very least — more books should be including trigger lists.”
Some authors already do this, like Namina Forna, who wrote the YA fantasy series The Gilded Ones. The author incorporated a very comprehensive trigger warning list that helps children and parents — as well as booksellers — assess the appropriate age range for the books.
Contrarily, while trigger warnings can be essential tools to ensure that readers are aware of the themes in a given book, it’s worth recognizing how they could also deter younger people from consuming books that will contribute to their development.
Whilst reading for pleasure is a common reason to pick up a book, research by MHFA England shows that reading improves mental health. Seeing ourselves and our stories reflected in literature can heal wounds in a way that therapy might not. Even if content warnings are listed, there’s not necessarily going to be a note on how the content is treated.
The Problem With Trigger Warnings
Dark romances typically do list trigger warnings, but they are often used as a shopping list for readers on what they want to read.
Does it make sense to list the same triggers for a book that treats abuse as a romantic storyline and a book that empowers victims of abuse by telling their story sensitively, emotionally, and with empathy? Despite the stigma of judging a book by its cover, it might be useful in the aforementioned scenario, because the outside of the book will hint at how the storyline is treated. If the cover is all black, with retro-Hollister style torsos and knives all over the place, it’s most likely a member of the dark romance family.
A Bookseller’s Responsibility
Whose responsibility is it to protect children from making poor choices? “I don’t think as booksellers our job is to tell people not to read certain books,” Sarah maintains. “Rather than be a gatekeeper, our job is to provide enough information that customers can make informed decisions for themselves.” She concludes: “It would be nice if we could have a bit more support from the publishers in terms of what they put on books.”
To find out more about trigger warnings and recommended age ratings, visit CommonSenseMedia for guidelines from parents and children’s reviews.
*Name has been changed at the request of the source.
