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Performative Reading, Tho***t Daughters, and the Luxury of Literacy in a Post-literate Age — Transcript

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0:00So, the internet has recently been in a
0:01frenzy over an article published last
0:03month by The Atlantic where the author
0:06Rose Horwich discusses the dawn of our
0:08post-literate society and the end of
0:11reading as we know it. Now, I highly
0:13recommend that you go read the actual
0:15article because it's fantastic and it
0:17has lots of stats and great insights.
0:20But, while most people online have
0:21focused on the first half of the
0:22article, which outlines all the ways
0:24that literacy is declining amongst
0:26Americans, how Americans are reading
0:28less for pleasure now, how reading
0:30comprehension skills are declining
0:32across ages and education levels, and
0:34how AI is now starting to supplant
0:36people's ability to think deeply. But, I
0:39want to focus on the latter half of the
0:40article and how the decline of reading
0:42has affected how our society views
0:44reading and how it relates to several
0:46phenomena we're seeing today with
0:48performative reading, with books and
0:50reading permeating luxury fashion, and
0:52the various identities being created
0:54online around reading and writing and
0:56critical thinking. Chief among them, the
0:58thought daughter. So, grab a drink or a
1:00snack or a pair of good earphones to
1:02listen and let's get into it. Hello,
1:04everyone. My name is Jenanny and this is
1:06my channel This Story Ain't Over where I
1:08like to dig deep into interesting
1:10questions related to books, media, and
1:12culture. On this channel, I will always
1:14give you my unsolicited but informed
1:16opinions if you care to listen. So, if
1:18you enjoy this video, hit those like and
1:20subscribe buttons and stick around for
1:21more content like this. So, before I
1:23dive into my thoughts related to this
1:25article, I do think I need to touch on
1:27some of its important points for those
1:29of you who can access it or have it yet
1:31read it. But again, please go read it.
1:33Horwich begins the Atlantic article with
1:35a story about the Library of Alexandria.
1:38How 2,300 years ago, Ptolemy I of Egypt
1:41envisioned a library that would
1:43safeguard the sum total of humanity's
1:45knowledge. Sounds enchanting, doesn't
1:47it? And indeed, Ptolemy's successors saw
1:49to it that the Library of Alexandria was
1:52filled with scrolls ransacked from
1:54visiting ships, that scholars were paid
1:56to live and work in the library and that
1:59anyone with a desire to learn should
2:01have the ability to do so. But by 400
2:04CE, the library had disappeared.
2:06Traditionally, scholars believed it was
2:08ransacked and some of its contents
2:10burned in war, another marker of the
2:12beginning of a long dark ages. Now, if
2:15you're unfamiliar with European or
2:17Western history, before the Dark Ages or
2:19what historians usually call the Middle
2:21Ages or Medieval Period, we have the
2:24period of classical antiquity. So, think
2:26ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. In
2:28this period, there was art, philosophy,
2:31law, and government. But with the fall
2:32of the Roman Empire, we entered the
2:34Middle Ages or the Dark Ages. And it was
2:37called dark because a lot of valuable
2:39knowledge was lost, like the Library of
2:41Alexandria. But also, a lot of these
2:44societal progress of the classical
2:46period seemed to be shunned in favor of
2:48feudalism and major global religions.
2:51The period after the Middle Ages is the
2:53Early Modern Era, where we get the
2:55Renaissance, literally meaning rebirth,
2:57and later the Age of Enlightenment, both
3:00of which looked back to the classical
3:01age as the paragon of society. Now,
3:05while some historians believe that the
3:06Library of Alexandria was destroyed due
3:09to fire and war, contemporary historians
3:11like Roger Bagnall, mentioned in the
3:13article, see its cause of death as
3:15something far more mundane, negligence.
3:19Horwich writes, "Maintaining the
3:20collection was an enormous expense.
3:22Humidity, mice, and insects slowly ate
3:25away at the papyrus scrolls. Scribes had
3:28to continually copy old texts before
3:30they deteriorated and became illegible.
3:32Eventually, the challenges of
3:33maintaining the library became greater
3:36than the will to preserve it. It's not
3:38that the disappearance of a library led
3:40to a dark age, nor that its survival
3:43would have improved those ages," the
3:45classics scholar Roger Bagnall has
3:47written. "The fact that the library was
3:49allowed to die showed that the Dark age
3:52had already arrived. Horwitz draws a
3:54parallel here between the negligence of
3:56a body of knowledge as vast and valuable
3:59as the Library of Alexandria to our
4:01current negligence when it comes to the
4:03incalculable amount of knowledge at our
4:05literal fingertips. In both cases, past
4:08and present, we've launched ourselves
4:10into the darkness willingly. It's not a
4:12matter of lack of access, but rather a
4:15matter of willful ignorance. The article
4:18goes into some disturbing stats and
4:20testimonies to this effect. We're seeing
4:22a decline of reading across all parts of
4:24society. Fewer than half of all adults
4:26in America reported having read a book
4:29of any kind in 2022, and the proportion
4:32of Americans who read for pleasure on
4:34any given day fell from 28% in 2004 to
4:3716% in 2023. The article mentions how
4:41the New York Times bestsellers today
4:43have sentences that are about 1/3
4:45shorter than they were a century ago.
4:48Now, longer sentences aren't necessarily
4:50better, but they do involve more
4:52complexity and usually require a higher
4:54reading level. Americans also get much
4:56less of their news through reading than
4:58they once did. Basic reading skills are
5:00declining amongst children in grade
5:02school. Adult literacy scores are also
5:04declining. Nearly 30% of all American
5:07adults cannot paraphrase or make
5:09inferences from a multi-page text. But,
5:12we're also seeing a decline of reading
5:13and critical thinking even amongst the
5:15best educated. This is probably the
5:17example that was both shocking, but also
5:20like predictable as someone who used to
5:21be an English major in university.
5:23Horwitz mentions the example of Margaret
5:25Renwick, Harvard's assistant director
5:28for humanities and social sciences
5:30support. She writes, "Renwick had to
5:32explain to students at America's most
5:34elite university taking a course in a
5:36discipline rooted in written
5:38observation, argumentation, and analysis
5:41that excerpts and summaries cannot
5:43capture the depth and sophistication of
5:46a complete primary text." Runnels told
5:48me that some students now view reading
5:50as an unnecessarily burdensome way of
5:54acquiring knowledge. By asking them to
5:56read, she said, "Professors are
5:57arbitrarily withholding information from
6:00students by forcing them to get it
6:02through this more difficult medium." Let
6:04me backtrack here and drill this point
6:06home. A primary text is any source that
6:08is produced in an original capacity
6:10versus a secondary text or source, which
6:13is something that is produced based off
6:14of a primary text. So, reading a summary
6:17of Pride and Prejudice from ChatGPT or
6:19from SparkNotes or even listening to a
6:21review of it from someone online is you
6:24engaging with the original primary text
6:26in a secondary capacity. You are
6:29literally hearing it secondhand, and we
6:31all know the game of broken telephone.
6:33People read and draw conclusions from
6:35text or speech in different ways. What I
6:37might consider important about a book
6:39may be irrelevant to you. What ChatGPT
6:41produces as a summary will not give you
6:43the depth of the original primary text.
6:46It's kind of like how we say to someone,
6:47"Oh, I can't describe it. You need to
6:49experience it." But the same goes for
6:51something that you don't like or feel is
6:53valuable. You will never truly grasp the
6:56extent of the thing without reading it
6:58yourself. And a lot of people like to
6:59complain on the internet about not being
7:01taught media literacy in school, but
7:03media literacy and what they actually
7:05mean more broadly, which is critical
7:07thinking, is taught in schools. It's
7:09your English literature class. Being
7:11able to discern a metaphor from
7:12something that is being said literally
7:14or understand something is being said
7:16ironically is reading comprehension,
7:19which aids you with critical thinking.
7:21But it's a muscle that needs to be
7:22exercised and trained. And if you're not
7:24doing the work yourself, you're not
7:26learning. Another thing I'll note here
7:27is that the fact that the New York Times
7:28best-seller list has a bunch of books
7:30that have shorter sentences is alarming
7:32because people are no longer using more
7:35complex language and complex words. And
7:38bigger words aren't necessarily better,
7:40just like how longer sentences aren't
7:41necessarily better. But what's lost in
7:43this quantifying of things as bigger and
7:45better is the fact that sometimes a
7:47longer, more complex sentence or a
7:49different, more obscure word is more
7:51accurate to the meaning you're trying to
7:53convey. If you talk to someone who can
7:55speak more than one language, you will
7:56often find that there is some sort of
7:58concept that they can explain in a
8:00different language, but not in English.
8:03And it's because language and the words
8:04that we use and how we use them
8:06literally shapes how we think and what
8:08we think about. have a word to name a
8:11thing, it's much harder to
8:12conceptualize. And this brings me to the
8:14example of 1984 by George Orwell. Yes,
8:17the book is about mass surveillance and
8:19totalitarianism, but it's also a book
8:21that is a lot about language. In this
8:23sort of party-ruled world, they have
8:25something called Oldspeak, which is the
8:27English that we speak now, and then they
8:29have Newspeak, which is the new sort of
8:32pseudo language that they've created,
8:34which basically dumbs down the language
8:36that we have today down to words that
8:38are very binary and have no nuance.
8:41Writing is also threatened now with the
8:43rise of AI. Early studies suggest that
8:45using AI to write is coming at the
8:47expense of mental development. One study
8:50in Brazil determined that undergraduates
8:52who used AI for studying performed
8:54significantly worse on a surprise test
8:57than those who studied without AI. The
8:59students trailed their peers even on
9:01questions that demanded reflection and
9:03effort instead of specific knowledge.
9:05Another study of hundreds of individuals
9:07in Britain found that frequent AI use
9:09for cognitive tasks is negatively
9:11associated with critical thinking
9:13abilities. And this is where I think
9:15things get really interesting. Horwich
9:16writes, "The skill of deep thinking will
9:19likely become rarer and rarer in a world
9:21where much of the population uses AI to
9:24avoid writing and reading. It will also
9:27become more and more important." AI is
9:29creating a superabundance of text. It
9:31has led to a threefold increase in the
9:33number of books released on Amazon each
9:36month since 2022 when ChatGPT was
9:38launched. Over the same period,
9:40scientific journal submissions have also
9:41surged. Many were written at least in
9:44part by artificial intelligence. What's
9:46at risk is nothing less than the ability
9:48to think for oneself. If people become
9:50over-reliant on AI to write for them,
9:52they could lose the capacity to
9:54interrogate or even develop their own
9:56views. Now, it's obvious we're living in
9:58what media theorist Marshall McLuhan in
10:001962 called a post-literate future. This
10:03was at a time when 90% of American homes
10:05had a television and electronic media
10:08was already replacing the written word.
10:10Obviously, this was a cynical prediction
10:11for the '60s when 2026 is far worse by
10:14comparison with the rise of social media
10:17and short-form content. All of us spend
10:19hours scrolling on our phones watching
10:21videos often at 2x speed. Watching a
10:24video is a far more passive activity
10:26than reading. Reading requires engaging
10:28your imagination while video supplies
10:30you with the images and often the
10:32thoughts and conclusions. But, this is
10:34something that's been on the mind since
10:36the advent of film and TV. In the
10:38dystopian classic Fahrenheit 451 by Ray
10:40Bradbury, which many of you probably had
10:42to read in high school, we live in a
10:44world where firemen aren't there to save
10:46people but to burn books because books
10:48have somehow become useless but also
10:51kind of harmful because they have ideas
10:53in them that are dangerous to this
10:55willfully ignorant society. In this
10:58world, people have earbuds or seashells
11:00in their ears all the time and they
11:02watch TV in what are called parlor rooms
11:04with parlor families. There's an
11:06excellent quote where the character
11:08Faber, who is a retired English
11:10professor, tells the disenchanted
11:12fireman Guy, who is the main character,
11:14"If you're not driving 100 miles an hour
11:16at a clip where you can't think of
11:17anything else but the danger, then
11:19you're playing a game or sitting in some
11:21room where you can't argue with the
11:23televisor. Why? The televisor is real.
11:26It is immediate. It has dimension. It
11:28tells you what to think and blasts it
11:30in. It must be right. It seems so,
11:33right? It rushes you on so quickly to
11:35its own conclusions your mind hasn't
11:37time to protest. And later in that same
11:40scene, Guy says to Faber, "My wife says
11:42books aren't real." To which Faber
11:44responds, "Thank God for that. You can
11:46shut them, say hold on a moment. You
11:49play God to it. But who has ever torn
11:51himself from the claw that encloses you
11:53when you drop a seed in a TV and a
11:56parlor? It grows you any shape it
11:58wishes. It is an environment as real as
12:00a world. It becomes truth and it is the
12:03truth. Books can be beaten down with
12:05reason, but with all my knowledge and
12:07skepticism, I've never been able to
12:09argue with a 100-piece symphony
12:11orchestra, full color, three-dimension,
12:14and I being in and part of those
12:16incredible parlors." Such an excellent
12:19quote, truly. We've all felt this
12:21before. You go watch a movie in theaters
12:23on the big screen with the loud
12:24speakers, and you are immersed into a
12:26visual masterpiece. You walk out of it
12:28thinking that that was the most
12:30impressive thing you've ever seen. Only
12:32to realize weeks later or when you
12:34rewatch it on a smaller screen that,
12:36"Wait a second, did I like that? Or did
12:38I just enjoy the light show?" Video is
12:41such a convincing format, and when we've
12:43already been convinced by one video
12:44media, we go on social media only to be
12:46convinced by another video media that
12:49someone else's opinion is the right one.
12:51In some ways, we are seeing literacy,
12:53reading, writing, and true critical
12:55thinking conferred among a small elite
12:57once more. We are riding the wave of
12:59late stage capitalism. Corporations are
13:01pushing their employees to use AI at
13:03work to supposedly increase their input.
13:06Humanities and social sciences
13:07disciplines are constantly defunded in
13:09place of STEM fields, which are seen as
13:11more useful to the workplace. Employment
13:14in newspapers has fallen by 75% in the
13:17last two decades. Not only that, we're
13:19headed straight into yet another cost of
13:21living crisis as it is, not to mention
13:23climate change. So, when people can no
13:25longer economically afford to pursue
13:27careers centered around literacy, and
13:29those in other careers are consistently
13:31under supported both financially and
13:33culturally to pursue literacy in their
13:35leisure time, we end up in a situation
13:37where only those with economic freedom
13:39are able to pursue what has become the
13:42privilege or the luxury of literacy.
13:45It's no surprise then that we're seeing
13:46luxury brands using books and reading as
13:49part of their marketing. Not simply
13:51because they want it to be associated
13:53with a depth of thought during a time of
13:55AI and endless scrolling content, but
13:57because scarcity breeds aspiration.
14:00Aesop, which sells a single tube of hand
14:02cream for $43 Canadian, has their annual
14:05queer library where they offer
14:07complimentary books by LGBTQIA+ authors
14:10and allies, no purchase required. Coach
14:13has partnered with Penguin Random House
14:15in the United States and independent
14:17publishers across China, Japan, and
14:19Korea to sell bag charms that are actual
14:22books in miniature form, sold for $95
14:25USD or $120 Canadian each. Dior launched
14:30their book cover collection, a line of
14:32luxury totes retailing between 3,700 and
14:355,100 Canadian, featuring the cover
14:38designs of classic works of fiction, and
14:40which now includes other accessories and
14:42apparel, including what are essentially
14:44graphic t-shirts with the cover designs
14:46retailing for over $1,000 Canadian. Now,
14:50would I say no to Dior gifting me a
14:52Pride and Prejudice bag if they wanted
14:54to? No. After all, I am not immune to
14:58the wiles of capitalism. But could I
15:00afford one otherwise? Also, no. Though I
15:03suppose if I ever became fabulously
15:05wealthy from talking about books on the
15:07internet, then I'd rather buy a Dior bag
15:10with the cover of a book I love on it
15:12rather than just some luxury logo.
15:15Though I'm not sure those who can afford
15:17one now would feel the same. But it
15:19doesn't end there. Saint Laurent has
15:21opened a bookstore in the heart of
15:23Paris. Miu Miu is on the fourth
15:25iteration of its literary club, which is
15:27aimed to strengthen Miu Miu's dialogue
15:30with contemporary culture, and which
15:32took its inspiration from Europe's rich
15:34heritage of literary salons. More and
15:38more brands are hosting book clubs or
15:40literary-themed activations, harking
15:42back to Europe's history of literary
15:44salons. But what is a literary salon? A
15:47salon is essentially the name for social
15:50gathering held by a host where a mixture
15:52of guests openly discuss topics ranging
15:55from art, literature, philosophy, music,
15:57and politics. It originated as a concept
15:59in Italy in the 16th century and later
16:02in France in the 17th and 18th
16:04centuries. These gatherings were often
16:05named after the rooms they were held in,
16:07hence salon after the Italian sala or
16:10salone for a reception hall or living
16:13room. Now, the history of salons is a
16:15bit complicated and it varies across
16:16countries, but they were especially
16:18important during the French Revolution.
16:21Steven Kale, author of French Salons:
16:23High Society and Political Sociability
16:25from the Old Regime to the Revolution of
16:271848, discusses how a whole world of
16:30social arrangements and attitude
16:31supported the existence of French
16:33salons. An idle aristocracy, an
16:36ambitious middle class, an active
16:38intellectual life, the social density of
16:40a major urban center, sociable
16:42traditions, and a certain aristocratic
16:46feminism. Mark Cartwright writes in the
16:48World History Encyclopedia media, "The
16:50salon guests came from varied
16:52backgrounds, and so, as there was a
16:54democratic, cosmopolitan, and tolerant
16:57atmosphere to the proceedings, salons
16:59were an opportunity to hear from
17:01different views from varied levels of
17:03society. They were also an opportunity
17:05to encounter new ideas, sometimes
17:07radical ones, in various fields, and so
17:10they contributed to the spread of
17:12enlightenment thought. Salon hosts were
17:14usually wealthy, well-connected, and
17:16with the required time, space, and money
17:19to pay for the refreshments. There were
17:21some male-only salons, but the most
17:23famous ones were led by women. Several
17:25hostesses, or salonnières as they were
17:28known, became internationally famous for
17:30their salons. It is noteworthy that in a
17:32period where husbands still dominated
17:34their wives in almost every aspect,
17:37many, but certainly not all, salonnières
17:39had the freedom to organize public
17:40events because they were widows or
17:42separated from their husbands. What's
17:44interesting is that these salons invited
17:47the mixing of various levels of society,
17:49but never the true breaking of class
17:51barriers. Cartwright continues, "Salons
17:54were for invited guests only, and if not
17:56known personally to the host, a
17:58prospective guest usually required
18:00letters of introduction from a person
18:02who was an acquaintance of the host." We
18:04see the idea of the literary salon again
18:07now in Dua Lipa's The Manifesto Library,
18:10which contains 100 titles that challenge
18:12power, censorship, exclusion, and
18:15dominant narratives. In other words,
18:17banned books. Now, while the mission of
18:19the library seems to support the fight
18:21against book banning, the library is in
18:23fact housed in the basement of one of
18:25the most famous and beautiful bookshops
18:27in the world, Livraria Lello in Porto,
18:30Portugal. As Sofia Nguyen writes in the
18:32Atlantic article titled Dua Lipa's
18:34Freedom to Read Crusade, "Dua Lipa's
18:36project highlights how the public
18:38discourse around bans has become
18:40detached from the ground reality of
18:42access to books, who has it, who
18:45controls it, and the stakes of the
18:47fight." Getting into Livraria Lello
18:49requires buying a timed entry ticket,
18:51the cheapest being a little more than 15
18:53euros, because it's so often mobbed by
18:56tourists. The Manifesto Library space
18:58itself is an auditorium with a
19:00wood-paneled conversation pit meant to
19:03again invoke the impression of a
19:05literary salon. And while the
19:06low-to-the-ground seating may suggest
19:09democratic leanings, it's actually an
19:11accessibility nightmare. Fighting book
19:14bans means stopping actual legislation
19:16that prevents certain books from being
19:18studied or even accessible to students
19:20for free in their schools. It means
19:22safeguarding diverse voices, but also
19:24preserving the sordid history of books
19:27so that we do not forget where we came
19:29from. So, we've got luxury brands using
19:31reading and books as an aesthetic to
19:34aspire to, and we have literary salons
19:36of the past being revived in a similar
19:39classist inaccessible fashion. And this
19:42brings me to Horr Which's next point.
19:44Now that being a reader is optional, it
19:46can function as an identity marker. When
19:48you see someone on the train reading
19:50printed matter, it feels like a
19:52statement. Perhaps inevitably, such
19:54statements have become the stuff of
19:56online ridicule. Brandish a book too
19:58ostentatiously in public and you might
20:00find yourself accused of performative
20:02reading. The label presumes the person
20:04is only trying to telegraph that they
20:06are highly educated or possess superior
20:09literary taste. Why else would they lug
20:12a book around? Where before reading and
20:13writing existed as things people did
20:15daily, they are now a persona that some
20:18people put on like clothes when they
20:20want to affect an air of elitism or
20:22wealth. Because let's face it, leisurely
20:25reading outside with a physical book is
20:27a luxury these days. Having the mental
20:29bandwidth to contend with a difficult
20:31text, having the leisure time to do so,
20:33having the money for physical books, and
20:35having the access to good libraries.
20:38Perhaps the most cost-effective and
20:40easily accessible way of consuming books
20:42these days is borrowing a digital copy
20:44from the library and reading it or
20:46listening to it on your phone. But that
20:49doesn't make for a good social post or
20:51to telegraph your superiority. But these
20:53days everything feels performative
20:55because with ubiquitous cameras around
20:57us and social media, we feel like did it
20:59really happen if you didn't get a
21:01picture? And even those who don't
21:03subscribe to that logic feel that they
21:04need to remain vigilant in case someone
21:06in their midst is recording. We end up
21:09performing our lives more than we
21:10actually live them in the moment. But,
21:12what about the people who are actively
21:14performing? Lately, I've been thinking a
21:16lot about the rise of the literary it
21:19girl. You know the one. Sometimes called
21:21the thought daughter. Aesthetics Wiki
21:23says that the thought daughter is an
21:25aesthetic largely based on niche memes
21:27on Pinterest that describe a persona of
21:30an intelligent, sophisticated young
21:32woman likely in her 20s. A site called
21:35Girls Like Me diagnoses the condition of
21:37the thought daughter as the following.
21:39Are your shelves stuffed with the
21:41writings of Sylvia Plath, Sally Rooney,
21:43Patti Smith, Dolly Alderton, Ottessa
21:45Moshfegh, Simone de Beauvoir, or Hanya
21:48Yanagihara? How about your walls? Are
21:50they covered in photo booth strips,
21:52postcards from years ago, or album
21:54covers? And are your ears filled with
21:56Phoebe Bridgers, Adrianne Lenker, Fiona
21:59Apple, Jeff Buckley, Mitski, Ethel Cain,
22:02SZA, boygenius, Gregory Alan Isakov, The
22:04National, or Sufjan Stevens? Is your
22:07closet filled with vintage clothing,
22:08jewelry, and cameras, niche tote bags,
22:11and hoarded clothing that you can never
22:13seem to get rid of? Consider this your
22:14formal diagnosis of being a thought
22:17daughter. Now, what's interesting about
22:19the thought daughter phenomenon is that
22:21it arose as a play on words to the viral
22:24TikTok questions asking if someone would
22:26rather have a gay son or a thought
22:29daughter, as if either of those things
22:31are even bad.
22:32>> Would you rather have a gay son or a
22:34thought daughter?
22:35>> Gosh, dude, that's a tough question, cuz
22:37if I have a gay son, then that means I'm
22:39most likely not going to have
22:42grandchildren. But, a thought daughter,
22:43it's just kind of tough to, you know,
22:45have your daughter going around and
22:46getting with a lot of guys. Like, lowers
22:48her value, if you want to say that. God,
22:50man, it's so hard to answer that
22:51question. I'll have a gay son. I think
22:53that's better than having a thought
22:53daughter, to be honest.
22:54>> Gay son.
22:55>> Why?
22:55>> He has good fashion and all that stuff.
22:57I'm not really worried about a bunch of
22:58dudes getting pregnant inside the house.
23:00And, you know, I really don't want to be
23:01having to pay for like diapers and all
23:03that crazy stuff. So, gay son.
23:05>> Gay son.
23:06>> Why? I'd rather him be like loyal and
23:08like doing his own thing.
23:09>> Ooh, that's hard.
23:10>> Gay son, I think.
23:12>> Why?
23:12>> It's just weird to think about my
23:14daughter being promiscuous.
23:15>> Thot, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is
23:18a slang term for a woman who's
23:19considered sexually promiscuous. It is
23:22often used in place of the word hoe or
23:24and it originated as an acronym
23:27for the phrase that hoe over there. Now,
23:30some thot daughters will tell you
23:31they're reclaiming the word thot into
23:32something positive, but I will tell you
23:34that Megan Thee Stallion already
23:36reclaimed it in 2021 with her iconic
23:39song and music video thot which
23:41called out how misogyny degrades women
23:43for the very things they seek out from
23:46women. But, the thot daughters on TikTok
23:48propose a sanitized white Sylvia Plath
23:51edition of women, which is nearly as
23:54misogynistic with a side of misogynoir
23:57as the original meaning of thot. And,
23:58one can't help but draw parallels to the
24:01literary salons of Europe's past. I
24:03talked about class before, but we didn't
24:05even touch race. Sure, literary salons
24:08were progressive for bringing chosen
24:09representatives of certain classes into
24:11the room, but we all know they weren't
24:13letting their slaves or their servants
24:15into the room to speak, and let's face
24:17it, thot daughters aren't interested in
24:19that either. If we truly cared about
24:21literacy or critical thinking, we'd be
24:23expanding our palate, learning new
24:24things, and examining the privilege that
24:26allows us to sit with our thoughts. The
24:29idea that a thot daughter cannot be a
24:31thoughtful daughter is so horrendous and
24:34damaging. It implies that only sexual
24:36purity can aspire to thoughtfulness and
24:38intellectualism. It's the same reasoning
24:40that sees a girl wear a full face of
24:41makeup and assumes that she doesn't
24:43read, or that someone who is not
24:45sophisticated can't possibly be smart.
24:48Social media glorifies the aesthetic and
24:50the wealthy. People don't care to see
24:52notebooks from the dollar store or the
24:54ballpoint pen you use to write with.
24:56People don't care to see the library
24:57books with a plastic dust jacket or a
24:59video frame of someone squeezing in
25:01their reading on a crowded commute
25:03looking like death after a long day of
25:05work. But, that doesn't mean that people
25:06aren't doing it, and it doesn't mean
25:08that that is the wrong way to engage
25:10with critical thinking and literature.
25:13One thing that Horowitz doesn't discuss
25:14in The Atlantic article is that literacy
25:16is deeply dependent on access, whether
25:18it's financial, regional, or social, to
25:21education, to books, to libraries, to
25:23leisure time to think. Global literacy
25:26has always been an issue. Worldwide, at
25:27least 739 million adults still cannot
25:30read and write, and two-thirds of them
25:33are women. And yes, the article focuses
25:35primarily on the United States, but even
25:37within the United States, marginalized
25:39communities face far more barriers to
25:41education. According to a report from
25:42the National Assessment of Educational
25:44Progress in 2019, which assessed the
25:47reading skills of grade four public
25:48school students, on average, 34%
25:51performed at or above the proficient
25:53level, and 65% performed at or above the
25:56basic level. But, when we look at the
25:58breakdown by race and ethnicity, Native
26:00Pacific Islander, Hispanic, American
26:02Indian, Alaska Native, and black
26:04students performed below the national
26:06average. And most tellingly, students
26:09who were eligible for the National
26:10School Lunch Program had an average
26:12score that was 28 points lower than that
26:16for students who were not eligible.
26:18Reading, especially reading complex
26:20literary works, feels performative now
26:22because it's become a scarce
26:24aspirational hobby that is starting to
26:26feel only possible for the wealthy elite
26:29to engage in. When you've been
26:30underserved by an education system and
26:32by your access to resources, even in
26:34adulthood, climbing the hurdles to reach
26:37a similar level of literacy as others
26:38can be wildly difficult. And I mean, I
26:41haven't even touched upon the emotional
26:42and mental labor required to engage
26:44deeply with texts when you're facing so
26:46many other pressures in your life. When
26:48you can't pay rent or your boss is an
26:50ass, or you're caring for children, or
26:52you're dealing with mental illness,
26:53having the bandwidth to pick up
26:55something above your usual reading level
26:57is infinitely harder. That doesn't mean
26:59you shouldn't do it, but it's still
27:00hard, and we should acknowledge that.
27:02Yes, people can access boundless amounts
27:04of knowledge on the internet, but that
27:05doesn't mean that they are set up with
27:07the critical thinking skills to actually
27:08engage with that content. Schools exist
27:11for a reason, and so do teachers. And if
27:13someone has been underserved by the
27:14school system, and then later does not
27:16get the help that they need to
27:18understand all of the vast amounts of
27:20knowledge that we have available to us,
27:22then it's like they're walking into a
27:23treasure trove blind. And yet still,
27:25despite an overall decline in reading
27:27among the masses, Horowitch writes,
27:29"Last year print book sales were higher
27:31than they were a decade ago. Barnes &
27:33Noble opened more than 60 new stores.
27:36Almost 400 independent bookstores sprang
27:38up in 2025. Substack has seen an
27:41explosion of subscriptions for long-form
27:43writing. Celebrities such as Dua Lipa
27:45and Reese Witherspoon have used their
27:47fame and influence to launch wildly
27:49successful book clubs. Audiobooks have
27:51become a billion-dollar industry." Now,
27:53she does follow this up with the caveat
27:55that 80% of books that are read are read
27:58by 20% of the population. So, the
28:00earlier points about reading being on a
28:02decline overall still stand, but the
28:05fact of print book sales increasing is
28:07an important point. Although I knocked
28:09Dua Lipa earlier, I do have to say that
28:11she is making reading hot again. She's a
28:14hot girl who reads interesting and dense
28:16and complicated books. She hosts
28:18engaging conversations herself with the
28:20authors for her book club, Service 95,
28:23and she's inspired so many to read.
28:25Similarly, so many people who watch
28:27BookTok or Bookstagram or BookTube have
28:29rediscovered their love of reading and
28:31have become avid readers because of it.
28:33So, while yes, it may seem like people
28:35are performing because reading is
28:37scarce, I think because reading is
28:39scarce, people who are already readers
28:41are reading with more vigor, and those
28:43who did not or could not read higher
28:45reading level books in school are
28:47rediscovering those texts in their
28:49adulthood with a renewed energy to learn
28:51and hone their critical reading skills.
28:53The Odyssey came out last month and
28:54suddenly so many people are
28:56rediscovering an ancient classic and
28:58discussing different translations
29:00online. Like that is amazing. And I
29:02think at the end of the day, the desire
29:04to call someone a performative reader
29:06either comes from a place of assumption
29:08that this person is either unable or
29:10unlikely to engage their mind critically
29:12or more likely it comes from a place of
29:15fear. A fear that you cannot read the
29:17same things or that you will lose the
29:19ability to ever be able to read those
29:21things. So you may as well not try and
29:23just call everyone else stupid for
29:25trying when they could use AI or some
29:27other thing in place of thinking for
29:30themselves. Horwich ends the Atlantic
29:32article with this passage tying things
29:34back to the Library of Alexandria. When
29:36the Library of Alexandria disappeared,
29:38the knowledge inscribed on its scrolls
29:40was lost forever. That won't happen
29:43today. All of the words in the Great
29:45Library could be stored on a single
29:47computer chip. Nowadays even the most
29:49obscure academic monographs are scanned
29:51and digitized. Google Books and the
29:53Internet Archive represent libraries of
29:56unfathomable proportions. We can
29:58navigate to them with a few keystrokes,
30:00not a perilous journey across the
30:02Mediterranean. There's little risk of
30:04their text succumbing to humidity or
30:07mice, but the threat of apathy remains.
30:09What we're losing is the ability and
30:11inclination to read those texts. An
30:14astonishing wealth of information and
30:15wisdom has been bequeathed to us. What
30:18we'll do with this inheritance is up to
30:20us. And it is here that I share perhaps
30:22one of my favorite quotes in the world
30:24from Fahrenheit 451. This is again Faber
30:27speaking to the main character, Guy
30:28Montag, who thinks that he and others
30:31around him are unhappy in their
30:33dystopian world because the world no
30:35longer has books. "You're a hopeless
30:37romantic," said Faber. "It would be
30:39funny if it were not serious. It's not
30:42books you need, it's some of the things
30:44that once were in books. The same things
30:46could be in the parlor families today.
30:48The same infinite detail and awareness
30:50could be projected through the radios
30:52and televisers, but are not. No, no,
30:54it's not books at all you're looking
30:56for. Take it where you can find it, in
30:58old phonograph records, old motion
31:00pictures, and in old friends. Look for
31:02it in nature, and look for it in
31:04yourself. Books were only one type or
31:06receptacle where we stored a lot of
31:08things we were afraid we might forget.
31:11There's nothing magical in them at all.
31:13The magic is only in what books say, how
31:16they stitch the patches of the universe
31:18together into one garment for us. Of
31:20course, you couldn't know this. Of
31:22course, you still can't understand what
31:23I mean when I say all this. You are
31:26intuitively right, that's what counts.
31:29What a beautiful quote. What a beautiful
31:30quote. And sometimes I think, you know,
31:32we are descending into a world that
31:33looks very similar to the world of
31:36Fahrenheit 451. But the point isn't that
31:38we aren't reading books anymore, it's
31:40that we are no longer curious to find
31:43the things we once sought in books. We
31:45are no longer willing to go the extra
31:47mile to learn something either due to
31:49inconvenience or laziness or lack of
31:52time or whatever the excuse or barrier
31:54is. I think a lot of times we get so
31:56wrapped up in the aesthetic and the idea
31:59of the thing, the performance, without
32:01considering what that performance is
32:03contending with. Sure, it's nice to
32:05engage with some classics, but you can
32:07also engage your critical thinking
32:08skills with any book you read or movie
32:11you watch or media you consume,
32:13regardless of the genre or the topic.
32:15You don't need to attend a literary
32:17salon to have thoughtful conversations
32:19about art and culture and philosophy and
32:21politics. You can have those
32:23conversations every day with your loved
32:25ones, with your friends, with your book
32:27club members. You can grow your skills
32:29as a reader, a writer, and a critical
32:30thinker at any moment by simply having a
32:33sense of curiosity, by refusing to
32:36settle for the answers that someone else
32:38hands to you. True literacy is in many
32:41ways an act of resistance to the status
32:43quo. So, if it feels performative to
32:45pick up a book right now, then just
32:47start performing. But, perform it your
32:50way. Find your way into the character,
32:52into the idea, and see where that takes
32:55you.
32:56Thank you for listening to this video
32:57essay on the end of reading,
32:59performative reading, the luxury of
33:01literacy, and Thought Daughters. My name
33:03is Jenanie, and this is my channel The
33:05Story Ain't Over. I have new videos up
33:07every week, and if you want to help me
33:08keep these videos sponsorship-free and
33:11support my publishing imprint Boundless
33:12Press, then consider joining my binary
33:14community as a paid or free member. The
33:17link is in the description. I would love
33:18to hear your thoughts on this video
33:19essay and continue the conversation down
33:21below. You can find me on Instagram or
33:23TikTok at The Story Ain't Over, and I'll
33:25see you all next week. Until then,
33:27please remember that The Story Ain't
33:29Over. Bye.

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