Is reading really "sexy"?

There was quite a kerfluffle this week over the issue of the "Reading is Sexy" meme, and all its various Pinterest-shared corollaries. I agree that these bumper stickers and image macros have their heart in the right place. There is a real tide of anti-intellectualism in this country, and I applaud all readers who are willing to publicly push back against that cultural force.

However, I have to take exception to the bit about reading being "sexy." Particularly since the images always depict sexy women. Usually the "sexy librarian" type, her hair in a bun, pushing down her glasses coyly.

First of all, this is just plain bad advertising. Do you think Don Draper would ever try to float an ad campaign saying that "Jaguar is sexy"? No he wouldn't, because it's so idiotically obvious. You wanna come right at it like a caveman? Of course not. That's the worst marketing ever.

I also furrow my brow at the choice of "sexy" as the best of all possible traits. Why not say that reading "Makes you smarter" or "improves your salary"? Both of those things are true.

The problem with "sexy" specifically is that it seems designed, in a not-so-subtle way, to police the activities and physical appearance of women. As a woman you learn that if you are not sexy, then you have no value in our culture. (I note, once again, that all of these "reading is sexy" things picture women.)

And finally, nothing is less sexy than proclaiming to the world that something you do makes you sexy. A reader driving a car with a "reading is sexy" bumper sticker is no better than a man with male-pattern baldness wearing a t-shirt proclaiming that his bald patch is " a solar collector for my sex machine" t-shirt.

If you have to tell people you're sexy, then you have already failed.

Image courtesy Flickr/Bludgeoner86