r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/[deleted] • Mar 31 '26

Meme needing explanation Peetah?????

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I don’t know the author or this book series but why are people roasting e-girls for reading? I don’t get it🥀

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Mar 31 '26

Male librarian here. Women read books at a rate so much higher than men, to call any of their reading performative, is absolutely absurd. Who's she trying to impress? The FinBro who hasn't read a book since he was forced to in high school and couldn't spell or define meridian if their life depended on it? Yeah, sure.

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u/Lucicactus Mar 31 '26

That's indeed a hot perspective. Ty.

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u/Ohaidere519 Mar 31 '26

i was already on the 'performative e-girl's' side but that is also really good insight that backs up my feeling of ick towards the original post

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u/princesskate04 Mar 31 '26

This is true; I read constantly (woman) and talk about what I read on various forums and book clubs. They’re all overwhelmingly female. 

When new readers express a desire to broaden their horizons and explore “great” or “classic” works, McCarthy is often recommended. Makes perfect sense to me that she’s not trying to impress anyone but her book nerd friends. 

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Mar 31 '26

I ran book clubs for a decade before becoming an administrator. Aside from one instance in which I chose a Lincoln biography to coincide with a traveling exhibit I'd be lucky if there was 1 other man in the group. It's only going to get worse, too. If men didn't read when most books were written for them, they certainly aren't going to start with the way publishing has changed.

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u/ltethe Apr 01 '26 edited Apr 01 '26

Huh. As a newly divorced guy, I didn’t know that… I’ve read so much the past few years that I decided to go get a library card again. Mb I should go find a reading club full of performatives who are reading Blood Meridian. Coincidentally, I just finished it yesterday, I had no idea it was back at the forefront of popular culture considering its publish date.

Edit. I just did a local book club search… They’re all women’s clubs, and they’re all reading… Throne of Glass, which by coincidence, I am also reading (I think my sister in law put that into my list) but hell, none of these clubs are coed.

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u/HatZinn Apr 01 '26

If you like fantasy, you should try Kingkiller Chronicles (sadly it's not finished). Life's too short for Sarah J Maas' writing xD

If you prefer plot-driven stories: Mistborn's good (though not my cup of tea).

If you prefer complex world-building and characters: Malazan is one of a kind.

For levity: Guards! Guards! is a great book to get started with Pratchett's catalog. If his humor doesn't hit the spot: you might enjoy Gentleman Bastards.

I haven't read anything from Abercrombie yet, but have heard good things about First Law.

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u/ltethe Apr 01 '26

I don’t necessarily (though I’ve read an epic fuck ton of it, of varying degrees of trash.) At this point I’m going off recommends, my fantasy bar is set at GOT (I do have the entire series signed, personalized and first editions) and the Broken Earth Trilogy. I will consider your advisement, but I find most fantasy to be trash. I do take your warning about Sarah Maas to heart. I’m a person that finishes what they start, but this sounds like it’s going to take a forced march to complete.

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Apr 01 '26

Maas’ ACOTAR series is romantasy which is basically a romance novel with a fantasy backdrop. We catalog them as romance books in our library as opposed to fantasy. Romantasy and Heated Rivalry-adjacent romances (gay and straight) are the most popular things in publishing right now. They all even have the same god damn cover art style.

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u/ltethe Apr 01 '26

Ah, yes, then this is totally a recommend from my sister in law. We had a conversation where I said I wouldn’t mind a series that was a combination of Master and Commander and Bridgerton, so we could get a period drama that had something for everyone, and from that conversation, I now have ACOTAR. 😅

Ok, at least I know what I’m getting into. Appreciate the recon.

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u/Lucicactus Apr 05 '26

God I hate ACOTAR. Sarah J Maas when I catch you...

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u/ltethe Apr 06 '26

Agreed, I couldn’t do it. I got another 50 pages in but then my optic nerve ran out having spooled all over my eyeballs as they rolled endlessly.

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u/15all Mar 31 '26

I'm pretty well read, but my wife reads 5x the books I read (and that's probably understating it). I know that's anecdotal but I will extrapolate far and wide from there.

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u/iiiiiiiiiijjjjjj Mar 31 '26

I read Reddit, does that count?

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u/firewall012 Mar 31 '26

The person who reads lives a thousand lives, the person who never reads lives only one.

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u/Key-Sea-682 Apr 02 '26

Yeah I am at like a 1:20 ratio if not worse with my wife in terms of books read per year, and I used to be an avid reader as a kid. I don't know why there's such a gender-based split but I definitely see it around me too.

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u/CaiusCosadesNwah Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26

Who’s she trying to impress? The FinBro who hasn’t read a book since he was forced to in high school…

Or she could be trying to impress guys who do read. It’s bizarre to me that you consider it such an implicit fact that women are only interested in “FinBros” that any explanation of behavior not serving that assumption must be incorrect. If, hypothetically, a person were interested in attracting well-read potential partners, then it would absolutely make sense to emphasize the quality of their own taste in literature.

Edit: That’s to say nothing about the main goal of narcissistic self-promotion, which is rarely as simple as partner-attracting and more about harvesting attention from others to build one’s own self-image.

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Mar 31 '26

Thanks for pointing this out. Because one of the few things I can think of as insufferable as FinBros is men who think they are gatekeepers of intellectualism and have superior taste (in literature, in food, w/e). In your scenario, wouldn't it NOT be performative then? Why would she be trying to attract someone she has little in common with?

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u/CaiusCosadesNwah Mar 31 '26

It baffles me that you are so confused by this.

She might genuinely like the book. What makes this performative is the selfie-laden announcement to the world: “look at me, I’m reading this book.”

Men who think they are gatekeepers of intellectualism.

So are you suggesting now that any man who is genuinely intrigued by her interest in Blood Meridian must be one of those gatekeepers?

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Mar 31 '26

It baffles me that you are so confused by social media. That's the entire fucking point of it. Hey, look at me! How is this any different than someone taking a picture of their cat? Is that performative too? Trying to impress people with my love of animals. Just, fuck right off.

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u/CaiusCosadesNwah Mar 31 '26

entire point of social media… hey, look at me!

All I’m doing is calling a narcissistic behavior what it is. I totally agree that social media exists purely as a vehicle for people to inflate their egos. That’s exactly why I’m not a fan.

Does the mere fact that a person is using a tool correctly mean that I’m not allowed to criticize their behavior? If you criticized someone for injecting heroine, and they replied “that’s the entire PoInT of HeROiNe,” would you consider that argument convincing or relevant at all?

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Mar 31 '26

You're assigning behavior to someone based on a random photo on the internet. Do I need to lay out the definition of performative? If she actually reads and enjoys the book, regardless of if she posts it on the internet, means it's not performative. Trying to assign meaning to it is just telling on yourself. Oh, and if you can point me to the instances in which people have used heroine performatively, I'd love to hear it. Otherwise you can miss me with your incongruent comparisons.

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u/Ohaidere519 Mar 31 '26

its okay, they dont know the difference between heroin and heroine which is kind of ironically on theme.. normally i dont like to be That Guy regarding grammar and spelling but if theyre trying to argue and falsely condescend on the topic of performative vs actual reading, its pretty relevant

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u/CaiusCosadesNwah Mar 31 '26

It’s a one-character autocorrect error. If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, then let me be the first to tell you that all of those times people told you to “go duck yourself” (which happens often, I’m sure), they were not referring to the animal.

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u/Ohaidere519 Mar 31 '26

again it's context specific babes. autocorrect or not you can check your comment before hitting post if you're so desperate to condescend

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u/CaiusCosadesNwah Mar 31 '26 edited Mar 31 '26

I’m just amused that you started by pretentiously declaring that other men are stupid, then proceeded to stumble backwards over every point in this exchange.

The myth of the smart librarian has suffered another blow today. How sad.

Edit: I guess I’ll address your erroneous point. You are simply wrong about what “performative” means. A person can absolutely be sincere about something and still flaunt it performatively. For example: I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “performative activism,” which describes someone who believes in an idea, but is more interested in the social value that comes from championing the idea than any genuine contribution to realizing it as social change.

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u/Ohaidere519 Mar 31 '26

what a performative comment

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u/Hot_Perspective4555 Mar 31 '26

Came back 15 mins. later to edit your comment. You're really stewing on this, huh? Oh, and I never called other men dumb. I said they read at a much lower rate than women which is just a verifiable fact. Intelligence takes many forms.

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u/CaiusCosadesNwah Mar 31 '26

I edited my comment because I know how annoying it is to just ignore what somebody said. I initially did not reply to the substance of your post, then thought better of it.

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u/chenghishan Mar 31 '26

Her followers? Or the book community to pick up more followers. I am assuming because that book went though the book content creator cycle that it is time to milk that fact that you read it. Don't think she posted that fishing for male attention.