Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Reviews Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary? Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Lifestyle The New Sober Boom Getting Hooked on Quitting

Getting Hooked on Quitting

Education Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous Is College Necessary?

Liberal Arts Cuts Are Dangerous

Is College Necessary?

Finance Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Dying Parents Costing Millennials Dear

Gen Z Investing In Le Creuset

Crypto Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

Investing SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters ‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

SEC vs Celebrity Crypto Promoters

‘Dark’ Personalities Drawn to BTC

The trademark wars of influencer culture

From "Hot Girl Walk" to "Hot Girls Read," girlboss creators are weaponizing trademark law

Published July 7, 2026 9:00AM (EDT)

If you’re someone who likes to read and frequents places both online and IRL where other people who like to read tend to congregate, the phrase “Hot Girls Read” has probably been on your radar at some point in the last couple of decades. It’s existed at least since the late 2000s. I’ve seen it on many products, in many different presentations — pink-glitter bubble letters on a sticker, loopy black cursive on a tote bag, industrial embroidery on a hat. “Hot Girls Read” isn’t a catchphrase from a movie or show. The designation “Hot Girl” does, however, have a widely acknowledged point of origin. Megan Thee Stallion made it a thing with her 2019 hit “Hot Girl Summer,” and in the wake of the song’s ubiquity, the cultural vernacular was inundated with activities or concepts rizzed up with the addition of “Hot Girl”: “Hot Girl Brunch,” “Hot Girl Yoga,” “Hot Girls Compost,” “Hot Girls Stay Hydrated,” “Hot Girls for Cuomo.”

A growing number of self-described creatives wield legal protections, legitimate and non, as a cudgel against others.

As people began riffing on and iterating it (“Hot Girls Summer is Out. Rot Girl Winter is In,” “Hot Girls Have IBS”), “Hot Girls Read” went from tongue-in-cheek to earnestly empowering; not unlike “Nevertheless, She Persisted” and “Nasty Woman” did. Searching the phrase on Etsy today yields thousands of........

© Salon