My Body, My Book Club
BODILY AUTONOMY: UNITING THROUGH BOOKS
NEXT EVENTS
No One Wants to See Your D*ck
(In Person)
12th of June 2025
The Vavengers Headquarters
59-60 Cornhill, London EC3V 3PD
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Limited places available
Minimum Donation: £5
(all proceeds go to The Vavengers)
Life, Almost
(Online)
19th of June 2025
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm (UK Time)
Limited places available
Minimum Donation: £3
(all proceeds go to The Vavengers)
Next bookS
Life, Almost by Jennie Agg
After losing four pregnancies with no obvious cause, Jennie Agg set out to understand why miscarriage remains such a profoundly misunderstood, under-researched and under-acknowledged experience.
Part-memoir, part-scientific investigation, Life, Almost documents Agg's path to motherhood and her search for answers. Tracing each tentative step of her fifth pregnancy - as her body becomes a creature she does not wish to spook - Agg dismantles the myths that we unquestioningly accept about our reproductive lives:
· Why are we told miscarriage can't be prevented when half of all miscarriages are of perfectly healthy embryos?
· Why is it normal not to tell anyone you're pregnant for the first three months?
· Why don't we know why labour starts?
Drawing on pioneering research and interviews with world-leading experts, Life, Almost is a ground-breaking book that will change how you think about miscarriage, and a moving reflection on grief and love at the edge of life as we understand it.
We encourage everyone to borrow books from their local library, but if you plan on buying a copy, please do so through here.
In June we are featuring The Vavengers, who are working to end FGM and support survivors through education, advocacy, and community-led care.
About our Guest
Jennie Agg is a freelance journalist with nearly ten years of experience writing, editing, and commissioning for major national outlets. Her bylines span The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, Red, Grazia, Women’s Health, the New York Post, and Daily Mail, among others. Her debut book, Life, Almost: Miscarriage, misconceptions, and a search for answers from the brink of motherhood, was published by Transworld in February 2023.
Prior to going freelance, she served as Deputy Editor of the Daily Mail’s Good Health section, following her role as Associate Features Editor. Her focus is women’s health, with a particular interest in demystifying science and medicine for general audiences. Her work has been recognised with awards from the Association of British Science Writers and the Medical Journalists Association.
In addition to her journalism, she writes The Uterus Monologues, a blog exploring personal and collective experiences of miscarriage and fertility. She continues to seek out assignments that explore the full range of reproductive health with nuance and clarity.
No One Wants to See Your D*ck by Jess Davies
Are women asking for it because of their outfits, routes home, profile pictures or social media posts? Or we can we finally admit that there might be something wrong with masculinity in the digital world?
The rising popularity of misogynistic content and toxic masculinity influencers combined with a lack of regulation within social media has created a perfect storm. Our increasingly online world has opened women and young girls up to a whole new level of violence that follows them into their homes, schools and workplaces.
In No One Wants to See Your D*ck, women’s rights campaigner Jess Davies reveals the shocking realities of this epidemic and what we can do to stop it. Covering everything from cyberflashing and deepfakes to the manosphere and catfishing, Jess offers practical advice and accessible language to help you understand what is happening online, what to do if you become a victim of it and why drastic change is needed now. Urgent and eye-opening, this is a vital toolkit for understanding and putting an end to violence against women.
We encourage everyone to borrow books from their local library, but if you plan on buying a copy, please do so through here.
In June we are featuring The Vavengers, who are working to end FGM and support survivors through education, advocacy, and community-led care.
About our Guests
Jess Davies is a broadcaster, documentary presenter, and women’s rights advocate whose work interrogates the digital landscapes where misogyny flourishes. Her investigative films, including the BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?, have played a role in shaping UK policy, contributing to legislative changes around online abuse in the Online Safety Act. She is a familiar face on the Jeremy Vine Show and presents her own programme on Capital Wales radio.
Her debut book, No One Wants to See Your D*ck, published in 2025, is a sharp and unflinching look at consent, online harassment, and the growing influence of the manosphere—offering both critique and clarity in a world increasingly shaped by algorithmic misogyny.
A sociology graduate and fluent Welsh speaker, Jess uses her social platforms to challenge harmful narratives and raise awareness around image-based sexual abuse, building a substantial following of over 140,000 on Instagram.
Haaniyah Awale Angus is an essayist, culture journalist, and screenwriter based in North London. She specialises in writing about film, internet culture, body image, mental health, and hot takes that plague her mind.
She holds a BA (Hons) in Communications, Media and Culture with Film Studies from Oxford Brookes University. She is currently pursuing an MA in Sociology (Cultural Analysis) at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Angus' work has appeared in various online publications such as Gal-Dem, Metro, DAZED, Refinery29, VICE, and PAPERMAG. In 2021, her essay, "Keys to the Kingdom", was published by Penguin Random House in the anthology book Black Joy. In the essay, she examines racism in British cinema and deconstructs the concept of representation.
Upcoming books
About the Book Club
My Body, My Book Club aims to connect people and create communities. We read fiction books (with the odd memoir here and there too) that deal with different aspects of how we understand bodily autonomy and exemplify how we can get involved and support each other.
Issues such as gender-based violence, racism, homelessness, displacement, abortion, obstetric violence, and the rights of marginalised communities, like the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ groups, are just some of the topics we cover.
All opinions expressed during book club meetings are those of individuals and do not necessarily reflect those of My Body, My Book Club or the charities it supports.
How it Works
We know this is heavy stuff, but the book club hopes to foster empathy as well as raise awareness and question established narratives. Our main goal is to connect communities. So, for each session, we partner with a charity working with the subject we will be reading about in the novel, and we invite an expert on the topic to join our chat. (Also, all proceeds from the sale of tickets will be donated to the month’s charity.)
Too Busy to Read the Book?
We understand that people are busy and life happens – so please do join us even if you don’t manage to finish the book in time. We will also always provide other ways in which you can get involved and learn more about the subject in the "Next Book" section, whether it’s through a video or a blog post.
About the Host
Dr Julia Martins is a historian of the body, an activist, and an unapologetic bookworm. She is an Activism Outreach Supporter with The Vavengers, a member of the Charity Committee of the FGM Education Project, and an editor at the Feminist Perspectives Collective.
She writes about gender history and history of medicine, and how history can inform contemporary feminism.
You can check out her YouTube channel Living History and her website, and follow her on TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.
My Body, My Book Club was launched as part of her involvement in the Abortion Rights UK Activist Bootcamp.
Stay in touch
Contact
Any questions or suggestions, feel free to email us at:
contact@mybodymybookclub.com
or find us on Instagram: