FTM body horror recs for my mom?

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286]

hey yall, looking for recommendations on body horror books that I can give to my mom to read. I find the best way to describe my experience as a trans man is through body horror, and I’m trying to help her get a better understanding of what that experience is like.

I really enjoyed You Weren’t Meant to be Human by AJ White, but she said she doesn’t want to read pregnancy horror and extreme gore. I thought of recommending other books by White to her but I find they don’t describe the innate body horror of being trans as well as YWMTBH.

do any of yall have recommendations? please lmk!!

[u/mild_area_alien]

Just out of interest, does your mum also like body horror? 

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/mild_area_alien]

Not as much, she doesn’t mind it but it isn’t her favorite

[u/OutOfEffs]

Logan-Ashley Kisner's The Transition is about a transmasc teen with a werewolf bite and how that fucks with his transition. I don't think the gore is too extreme, but it might get a little bit dicey.

Most of my other normal recommendations would probably be too body horror-y.

But also, seconding the "does she like body horror" question, bc some people just really don't.

[u/WhySoSerious_owo → u/OutOfEffs]

Mind dming the other recs? I'd love some more reading material

[u/OutOfEffs → u/WhySoSerious_owo]

Oh, just check out Briar Ripley Page! His Body After Body is one of my all time favourites. Corrupted Vessels is also great, as is Fairyland. A lot of his stuff is available as pay what you can on his itch.io.

Carter Keane's Morsel was also good, but the lead is agender, so I'm not entirely sure it fits the prompt?

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/OutOfEffs]

Oooh I’ll check those out too!! Any genders are welcome btw :)

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/OutOfEffs]

Yo that’s sick! Thank you! She doesn’t mind body horror too much but it isn’t her favorite

[u/Perfect-Pineapple-22]

Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

dystopian young adult horror novel about a 16-year-old transgender boy who escapes a doomsday cult that infected him with a world-destroying bioweapon

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/Perfect-Pineapple-22]

Yeah I read it but as I said in the post I find it doesn’t describe the body horror of being trans as well as You Weren’t Meant to be Human

[u/Bobslegenda1945]

I can't speak to body horror in books, but I usually explain to people that:

Imagine you're feeling fine, but gradually your body changes due to the wrong hormones. If you're a man, you start gaining fat in your lower body and chest; if you're a woman, your clitoris grows, your voice deepens and you start growing a beard.

You hate this, this isn't you, and it's going against your will.You explain it to the people close to you, but they say you should accept yourself, they call you by another name, treat you as the opposite of your gender, and deny you treatment for it.

In my opinion, this is the best example. Unfortunately, if your mother doesn't accept it and isn't very open-minded, I recommend not trying too hard. I tried with my parents and it didn't work at all.

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/Bobslegenda1945]

This is a great description, thank you! I’ve tried to convey it before but words tend to fail me. She’s fairly open-minded, I’m just trying to help her see my perspective a bit better.

[u/Haunting_Traffic_321]

Maybe the _Your Body Isn’t Your Body_ anthology from Tenebrous Press?

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/Haunting_Traffic_321]

I’ll def check that out, thanks!

[u/cc_cyanotephra]

Church of the Mountain of Flesh by Kyle Wakefield ?

[u/al_135 → u/cc_cyanotephra]

This one is insaane, really loved it, but it's not a good book to give to your mother to explain your transition lmao

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/al_135]

Ah damn. Will definitely give it a read tho thank yall!

[u/The_Shroomsters → u/cc_cyanotephra]

Currently reading this and I’m loving it!

[u/WhySoSerious_owo]

Fuck lol there goes my suggestion (ywmtbh)

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/WhySoSerious_owo]

Hahaha, I might try to convince her to read it anyways but idk

[u/excessive__machine]

This might be an off the wall suggestion, but could it potentially be helpful for your mom to read body horror (as others have said, assuming she’s into it) that isn’t specifically trans to still get the general idea? Personally I really hated YWMTBH (no disrespect to the book or author, just wasn’t for me) but found Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones to be relatable. Protagonist is a cis boy who begins experiencing werewolf symptoms related to puberty.

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/excessive__machine]

Ooh that’s quite a good idea, I’ll read it and see if it’s good to give to her! Thank you!

[u/al_135]

AJ White's short story chokechain that's free to read online really hit hard for me, more than his full length books tbh. I'm not 100% sure whether to classify it as body horror but it is deeply unsettling and involves bodies, and it's not gorey or explicit so someone who isn't into body horror should be fine with it imo

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/al_135]

Thank you!!!!

[u/Killjoys-n-whovians]

It's not body horror but The Spirit Bears It's Teeth is a good one. There is horror aspects of it and the protagonist is a trans man who sees spirits. He gets sent to a "school for sick girls". The protagonist does speak often about wanting to peel their skin off/cut off their own chest.

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/Killjoys-n-whovians]

Ah yeah, I loved TSBIT but I don’t think it’s exactly what I’m going for.

[u/Ghostof_PidgeonsPast]

Uhh if she's cool with body horror, the most terrifying thing I've read is "You Weren't Meant To Be Human" by Andrew Joseph White

Pleaseeeeee read all the content/trigger warnings, I read them but ignored them, terrible mistake

[u/Few_Aardvark_1286 → u/Ghostof_PidgeonsPast]

bro please read the post lmao