Following buzz surrounding the upcoming movie Blonde, Twitter has theorized a new form of poster called the “literary non-hottie.”

Joyce Carol Oates shouldn't have written Blonde. What could a literary non-hottie know about the exploitation of femme, highly sexualized women – women who look and act like Oates have no compassion or love for women like Marilyn. They're just as bad as men at writing them.

— Terese Marie (@TereseMarieM) September 28, 2022

The tweet above criticizing prolific writer and poster Joyce Carol Oates for her treatment of Marilyn Monroe in her novel Blonde (2000) went viral and spawned a series of replies and riffs that have since taken on a life of their own.

“Yes officer, a literary non-hottie is writing about the exploitation of femme, highly sexualized women again.” pic.twitter.com/C5ofDnnG1E

— Subscribe to Badgers Ball Knower (@drewhamm5) September 29, 2022

The post was inspired by the film, also called Blonde (2022), which many argue misrepresents the life of Marilyn Monroe, over-sexualizes her (it has an NC-17 rating) and is mean-spirited. The film is based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel, and many people seem to think the problems began there.

I know everyone is having fun with the “literary-non-hottie” thing and sure it was VERY poorly framed but it’s probably worth talking about whether internalized misogyny and class-related slut-shaming means the HUGE problems with “Blonde” the movie started with “Blonde” the book?

— සුනිලි (they/them) (@sunili) September 29, 2022

In her tweet posted in the wee hours of this morning, Teresa Mailhot (a writer and professor) argued that Oates’ skewed depiction of Marilyn Monroe may be due to the fact that Oates is a “literary non-hottie,” and so cannot tell the story of a “hottie” like Marilyn Monroe with empathy.

It seems as if Mailhot is arguing that the “literary non-hottie” subject seems to perform a kind of internalized misogyny that is equal or greater than what male writers sometimes do when describing attractive women such as Monroe. Marilyn Monroe has been in the public spotlight a lot recently.

Marilyn Monroe and Joyce Carol Oates pic.twitter.com/WoVgFZPnV9

— Ali Arikan (@aliarikan) September 29, 2022

Mailhot attempted to clarify her position in later tweets, intervening in the dumpster-fire debate that ensued following her hot take.

Mainly, that was a joke, but we shouldn't act like there isn't a long history of white women, especially academics who vilify the concept of beauty from a 2nd wave perspective, exploiting women who use their beauty to survive under patriarchal systems. I saw that as a sex worker.

— Terese Marie (@TereseMarieM) September 29, 2022

oh man I didn't say only hotties can write hotties but given that Marilyn's entire career centered around her sexuality, what would Oates know about that life or how to portray it with heart – She did not want insight into that life, she wanted to exploit a woman in that life.

— Terese Marie (@TereseMarieM) September 29, 2022

Many rushed to the defense of Oates, arguing that she was in fact hot, as well as literary, back in the day.

The other weird thing about the LiTeRaRy NoN HoTtIe debate (aside from the ridiculous claim non-conventionally attractive women don't get harassed) is that clearly Joyce Carol Oates was a conventionally attractive woman when she was in Marilyn Monroe's age range. pic.twitter.com/tdvYfO90Lg

— Salad Shooter (@PrestoVegetable) September 29, 2022

Others, however, also criticized Oates for her "eccentric posting practices."

also now we’re gonna have a bunch of people rushing to her defense performatively putting “literary non hottie” in their bios. all for a woman who quite possibly thought that a jurassic park set image of spielberg with a triceratops animatronic was a cruel big game hunting photo

— Jean Jacket Stan Account (@lrphilipson) September 29, 2022

A number of people on literary Twitter and outside of it simply reveled in the wonders of “literary non-hottie” as a phrase, planning to use it to refer to themselves.

Can confirm the surest way to get compliments is to call yourself a literary non hottie

— Julia Fine (@finejuli) September 29, 2022

"literary non-hottie" an immediately iconic phrase, put it in the twitter museum https://t.co/RjOKQS50DA

— amy~ (@arb) September 29, 2022

reading literary non hottie changed my life on a quantum level https://t.co/kwEamN4UCv

— la lesbian fight club (@unIoversclub) September 29, 2022

Some attempted to sum up the debate, seeing it as emblematic of Twitter discourse. In a sense, the argument about the “literary non-hottie” felt more like a poem than a debate to many. Through graceful and stylized language, the tweets and their responses express something essential about the platform and who we are as we scroll.

Being a spectator of a Twitter discourse is like watching some kind of intricate martial art — it is all deeply complicated, dramatic and focused on form rather than function. Boxers don’t punch each other to hurt each other, but for the sake of the punch itself, just as Twitter people don’t argue to win but for the sake of the argument itself.

On literary Twitter especially, language becomes intricate to the point of absurdity, controversy becomes aestheticized and takes turn so hot they often blow up in the faces of those who wield them.

broke: “marilyn monroe was a tragic victim”
woke: “marilyn monroe was a complex human and we should let her rest”
bespoke: “ugly bitches should never speak on marilyn monroe”

— a literary non hottie 🇯🇲 (@adrierising) September 29, 2022