Flesh

by Charli Howard

Choose yourself. Reclaim your body. Become whole.

The deeply personal and uniquely empowering call to arms from author, model and activist, Charli Howard.

' Powerful and incredibly validating ' Lily Reinhart
' Extraordinary ' Glamour
' Fierce and tender' Yrsa Daley-Ward
' Urgent and timely ' Emma Louise-Boynton

In this urgent and powerful series of essays, author and activist Charli Howard explores how society has objectified the female body throughout time. Through analysing her own body, one piece at a time, Charli charts the impact of long-term sexual objectification and misogyny on the female body, and shows how to reclaim it for yourself and, eventually, truly love it as your own.

Through personal reflection and social analysis, she reminds us why we must give ourselves grace when assessing our own bodies, as we are so often viewing them through a lens corrupted long before we were born. Flesh is an unmissable exploration of what it means to be a woman in the twenty-first century.

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism

Audible Audio

Published March 5, 2026

Reviews

[dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book made me feel a plethora of ways, it made me challenge myself, how i view myself and made me think outside the box - a box that shouldn’t exist - the box that i put myself in, along with many [if not] ALL women subject themselves to.

all of these chapters made me feel something, some feelings that i didnt like, about the way i look, the way i see myself, the way i treat myself, and let others treat me.

stomach. pg 133

“Experience has taught me that whenever a woman says she feels fat, what she actually means is that she feels bad within herself. She's experiencing feelings and emotions she can't quite describe or find the words for and, as a result, her brain reaches for the worst description a person - or, at least, a woman - can be: fat.”

i honestly had to stop reading for a minute and just take in what was i had just read. while it may not reflect how every woman feels, this was an insanely accurate read on how i see myself, and how i feel.

charli howard you are an amazing writer, and i am eternally grateful, Flesh has truly inspired me.

[Lesly Nowak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think all women should read this book. First of all thank you Charli for opening up and baring part of your soul and experience to us.
There is a part or a few that will talk to you as a women. And you will find yourself thinking about it deeply. I think I needed this book.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

despite everything there is still hope

[Elena Fratini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hear you girl.

[Mels · Rating 5 out of 5]

I asked for and received this book for my birthday and started reading it right away.
I can’t even explain how much this read has helped me through a difficult time in my personal life, with insecurity and intrusive thoughts.
I wish every woman, every man, every person could read this — even just to get a sense of how this world is built and how some people are living in it.
I think in a society like ours it’s so important to have women like Charli, who have the courage to lay bare their feelings and be totally vulnerable to help other people reach that same level of consciousness.
This is a book that puts our lives into perspective. It can help us, as women, focus on our strengths and our values. And it can help men walk in our shoes and see a different point of view — maybe even helping those who really want to unlearn what society has taught them their whole lives.
I’m grateful to have this book to turn to whenever I need to remind myself that my worth is within me, and not in how I look or how I’m perceived by other people.
As the book says before the first chapter:

“To all the women and girls who have ever felt reduced to their body parts, and who know they are worthy of more.”

[Dominika Serwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flesh is one of those books that stays with you long after you've finished it.
It's not an easy read, but it's an important one. The author's honesty about the abuse she experienced is incredibly brave, and at times I had to put the book down simply because of how heartbreaking it was. What struck me most was how raw and human it felt never sensationalised, just an honest account of survival and resilience.
A powerful, deeply moving book that will stay with me for a long time.

[amy]

This made me challenge myself in a lot of ways that will sit with me for a while.
There was a lot in here i related to, and I think I have a lot to take away and LOTS I will be thinking about.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I was the right audience for this audiobook, it seemed very basic and obvious - I didn't learn anything new.

[frey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has given me so much to think about. I wish that the sexualisation of queer women was discussed more but I learnt more about the experiences of disabled women and women of colour. I think I'll carry a lot of what was discussed in Flesh with me daily