I have a feeling the problem is in the front end. where my template looks like this:

{% load static %}

<ul hx-target="this" hx-swap="outerHTML" id="booqmarqedarea" role="group" aria-label="Basic example">
    <li >booqmarqed {{list.bookmarked.count }} times</li>
    <button hx-post="{% url 'booqmarqs:booqmarq_list' list.id %}" 
    id="booqmarq-button">
      {% if request.user in list.bookmarked.all %}
        <img src="{% static 'images/booqmarqed.png' %}" width="auto" height="20px">
      {% else %}
        <img src="{% static 'images/booqmarq.png' %}" width="auto" height="20px">
      {% endif %}
    </button>
</ul>