Tag Archives: Fatphobia & Body Shaming

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

It’s 1843, and Grace Marks has been convicted for her involvement in the vicious murders of her employer and his housekeeper and mistress. Some believe Grace is innocent; others think her evil or insane. Now serving a life sentence, Grace claims to have no memory of the murders.

An up-and-coming expert in the burgeoning field of mental illness is engaged by a group of reformers and spiritualists who seek a pardon for Grace. He listens to her story while bringing her closer and closer to the day she cannot remember. What will he find in attempting to unlock her memories?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings:

  • Fat shaming
  • Slut-shaming
  • Attempted rape
  • Domestic violence
  • Child abuse
  • Abortion and death due to a ‘backstreet’ abortion
  • Medical procedures
  • Death of a friend
  • Murder

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighbourhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Misogyny & slut-shaming
  • Fatphobia & body shaming
  • Sexual harassment
  • Child abuse & abandonment mentioned
  • Cheating
  • Panic attacks
  • Recreational drug use
  • Alcohol abuse recounted
  • Minor physical injuries
  • Infertility & difficult childbirth mentioned
  • Bullying

The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

I masquerade in makeup and feathers and I am applauded. A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs
  • Sexism discussed
  • Homomisia, internalised homomisia & homomisic slurs
  • Lesbomisia & internalised lesbomisia discussed
  • Coming out themes
  • Dubious consent situation*
  • Parental abandonment
  • Physical parental abuse (single act)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Recreational drug use
  • Emesis
  • Physical assault (minor fight scenes)
  • Bullying
  • Poverty themes

Context : The sixteen-year-old protagonist meets an adult man on a dating app and agrees to meet with him for sex. The man offers him drugs which cause the protagonist to lose consciousness and his memory of the event.

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

Tiffy and Leon share a flat. Tiffy and Leon share a bed. Tiffy and Leon have never met… Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time. But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Body-shaming
  • Emotional abuse & gaslighting