This week’s post is going to be a lot shorter, but I’m looking forward to seeing what you all think about the topic of spicy books, public places. The idea for this post came from one of my friends, when she mentioned that she saw a TikTok video where the woman said that people who read or listen to spicy romance around others have a porn addiction, and it gave me thoughts to share.

First of all, I’ve worked in the field of addiction, and the hallmark features of an addiction are loss of control, inability to stop, and that it gets in the way of the individual’s functioning or causes distress. So I’m not really on board with calling it addiction. The one exception is if you’re reading it aloud or have your phone playing the audiobook loudly for everyone to hear. Outside of that, I think the real topic boils down to the appropriateness of reading spicy books/audiobooks in public places.

I grew up in ye olden days of the waning 20th century. It was a horrific time with no cell phones and no internet, when computers were solely used to print out banners and play The Oregon Trail while naming the characters with all your friends names and laughing about how they died, using the “d” word freely in schools. Lockdown drills weren’t a thing and we had to actually telephone people and stand close enough to the phone for the cord to reach, while trying to ensure that the adults couldn’t overhear the super secret life we had to speak about. THE HORRORS! But what I’m actually going for here is how we didn’t have kindles or other readers, and had to be sitting in public with a hard copy of a book. The romance covers of the time were really focused on having half-dressed women about to be ravaged by the handsome brute with no shirt. So if you were reading a spicy novel in public, everyone pretty much knew you were reading lady porn. But, in the modern day technological wonderland we live in, no one has to even know what you’re reading with an ereader or earbuds. 

Also, I can understand the desire to not read spicy books in public places. All it takes is pulling up at a stop light once when the windows are open and the book is seriously spicy to make this vow. I guess the rule of thumb that I rely on is not to read an audiobook where anyone can overhear it. This way I don’t have that awkward moment where someone hears a really spicy piece of writing blasting out of my car windows.

With the arrival of ereaders and wireless earbuds, there’s more of an illusion of privacy while reading in public spaces than there actually is. All you need is for the phone to connect while the valet comes up with your car, or for your earbuds to die and the spicy read starts playing loudly from your phone, or any other number of potential complications. 

What do you think about reading spicy books in public places?