Anonymous #1 18h

Saying “it doesn’t matter what you read” is just straight up wrong. Reading impacts your soul and your worldview. If you read things that lead to the objectification of individuals, it will affect your soul to slowly begin to mirror that if you let it. People should be prudent in what they read, and to say otherwise is foolish

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Anonymous #2 18h

Yeah, no. Reading Death in Venice (a “classic” btw) is not going to make me a pedophile any more than reading dark romance is going to make me a rapist. This is a weird as fuck take.

8

Anonymous #3 18h

You are taking a balanced claim to the extreme. Do you agree that what you take in (media, experience, music, etc.) shapes your worldview? To say it doesn’t is ignorant. If a 14 year old girl beings reading romance books where rape is a common theme, it begins to form false expectations, and hurts her worldview. The same goes for a young boy being exposed to pornography.

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Anonymous #2 18h

I also don’t think it is good for anyone to be reading books where sex is seen as something casual, and danger makes it more “entertaining”. That’s distorted and perverse and wrong on so many levels.

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Anonymous #2 17h

There is actually nothing wrong with casual sex as long as both parties consent 🤨 You need to live in the real world before making sweeping claims. The vast majority of people know fiction from reality. It seems like you’re the one who doesn’t.

12

Anonymous #3 17h

Consent is necessary for healthy boundaries, but consent alone doesn't make an action morally good or healthy. Reducing human intimacy to casual entertainment, whether in real life or in literature, degrades human dignity. Dismissing the long-term impact of media on human empathy and expectations isn't 'living in the real world,' it's just ignoring basic psychology.

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Anonymous #3 17h

If your entire moral framework rests on 'anything goes as long as there's consent,' then we just have fundamentally different views on human dignity and morality. Pretending that the media we repeatedly consume has zero impact on our values or desires isn't realistic.

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Anonymous #2 17h

Okay buddy, whatever you say. I’m not going to keep discussing this with someone who is preaching like they’re barely out of confirmation, let alone high school. Because yes, anything does go as long as it’s consensual. I don’t know why that’s such a hard reality for you. People experience intimacy in a variety of ways and as long as it’s not harming anyone, it’s all fine. This is book club though, not a bible study where we cry about all those sinners having premarital sex. So I’m gonna move on

6

Anonymous #3 17h

Substitute 'I have no counterargument' with a patronizing and condescending speech about my perceive age and religious beliefs (which is blatantly discriminatory, btw), and you’ve summarized your entire reply. Next time, try engaging with the point instead of throwing a personal tantrum when someone disagrees with you. Have a good one.

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Anonymous #2 17h

I did engage with the point. You just refused to accept that your narrow view of intimacy is not the reality for every person on the planet, and that other people know the difference between fiction and reality. So I decided we were done. If you don’t want to be called out for being weirdly preachy, don’t be weirdly preachy. You can conduct your sex life however you want and you can read whatever you want, but claiming others are not moral or dignified bc of what they choose is not okay 🤷‍♀️

2

Anonymous #3 17h

You’re attacking a straw man. Pointing out that media consumption shapes worldview and that consent isn't the sole definition of morality is a philosophical critique, not a personal attack on your sex life. If discussing moral principles and media literacy feels like 'preaching' to you, that’s your projection.

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Anonymous #3 17h

You couldn't refute the core logic, so you took cheap shots about my age, made assumptions about my beliefs, and are now playing the victim because someone challenged your worldview. Critiquing a philosophy isn't an attack on your freedom. I’ve made my point clearly. You’re free to have the last word if you want.

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Anonymous #2 17h

Still trying to find where anyone asked you personally to tell them what is or isn’t morally acceptable in the bedroom, or what they should or shouldn’t enjoy reading 🤪 Your high horse is so tall that your head is in the clouds.

5

Anonymous #4 13h

I was the OP to the quoted post, and I will say that I was not making fun of other genres, I was more just sharing my disdain for smut. I also enjoy sci-fi, poetry, and non fiction books. I wasn’t claiming Classics were superior, but they certainly are when it comes to smut novels.

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