We went from romantasy to this?

Remember when the spiciest thing in our TBR pile was a steamy enemies-to-lovers romance with a brooding fae prince?

Well, hold onto your book lights because there's a new literary trend that's less "kiss me under the moonlight" and more "let me feast on your flesh, darling".

Welcome to femgore: the delightfully unhinged new genre that's taking over our bookshelves in 2025.

Watch: The Bachelor's Alisha talks about her book 'The Villain Edit'. Post continues after video.

What is femgore?

Think horror, but make it ~feminist~.

These are stories written by women, for women, about women, featuring enough gore and body horror to make even Stephen King say "steady on, mate".

Unlike traditional horror that relies on jump scares or supernatural monsters, femgore dives deep into the messy, bloody reality of being human — specifically, being a woman. These books aren't afraid to talk about periods, body hair, or the way your thighs stick together on a hot summer's day. You know, the stuff we're usually told to keep quiet about.

Take The Lamb by Lucy Rose, for instance: A mother-daughter story that gives new meaning to "family dinner", the story follows a teenage girl who discovers her mother's unique approach to meal prep. Namely, luring unsuspecting men home for dinner as the main course.

Then there's Boy Parts by Eliza Clark. Think American Psycho but with Instagram filters. Our protagonist is a photographer with a taste for male models and a very specific artistic vision. Let's just say her subjects don't usually survive the shoot.

And while exploring the depths of femgore in our kindles is blowing up lately, the trend's been on a slow burn in the film space for a while. Films like 2022's Fresh (starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan as, um, a very particular kind of food enthusiast) and this year's critically acclaimed The Substance, starring Golden Globe winner Demi Moore, have been pushing boundaries in similar ways.

In The Substance, Moore plays an ageing actress who consumes a mysterious compound to regain her youth — spoiler alert: it doesn't end with a nice spa day.

The film culminates in a scene so grotesque it had audiences simultaneously covering their eyes and unable to look away. 10/10, would watch again.

Why… are we like this?

Look, there's nothing wrong with a bit of classic horror or a good ol'-fashion murder mystery. But for too long, women in horror and thriller novels (and films… and TV shows…) have primarily played one of two roles: the victim who meets a grisly end in chapter one, or the forgettable girlfriend who exists purely to give the male detective something to fight for.

And when women DO get to be more than just a corpse to be investigated, to play the villain even? They're usually portrayed as one-dimensional rage monsters, slashing their way through a narrative with no real depth or motivation beyond "she's crazy".

After years of being told to be nice, quiet and perfectly groomed at all times, maybe we just need to let out a primal scream — and pop culture has deemed the literary world the latest void to scream into. This emerging genre isn't just entertaining — it's liberating. It gives us permission to explore the rage, fury and aggression that women have consistently been told to bottle up.

In a world where women's rights are constantly under threat and our bodies are still policed, there's something cathartic about reading stories where women completely lose the plot (in the most graphic way possible).

"Women have had enough of their bodies being a site of fetishisation, horror and exploitation," publisher Romilly Morgan told Cosmopolitan.

"From the rise in deepfake pornography to the endless close-ups of brutalised female corpses in true crime docs, to even our reproductive rights being used as political pawns — it's all too much. In reaction, women are creating a world in which they are the ones in control.

"There is very little space or patience for female rage in the outside world, so they've had to turn it to the page. You will never see the anger of women in history books, but you will find it in their fiction."

Film critic Jessica Parant had a similar view when speaking to Seventh Row about femgore, saying, "these types of horror films are able to address the damaging impact of the oppressive patriarchal system on the collective feminine body.

Is this, um, healthy?

Look, we're obviously not saying you should consume femgore as a 'how-to' guide. But in a world of perfectly curated Instagram feeds and pressure to be "that girl," maybe there's something refreshing about embracing our darker impulses — safely contained within the pages of a book, of course.

It also allows us to temporarily escape the patriarchy (at least for 300 pages or so). Relationship therapist Cate Mackenzie suggests that femgore as a genre can even decolonise the sexual space for women.

"[These stories allow] women [to] no longer [be] the object or afraid of men," she told Cosmopolitan.

"[The sexual scope is] dismantled to the extent that they can take a man's life. This can create jeopardy and erotic charge."

From romantasy to rampage.

While we'll always have a soft spot for romantasy (don't worry, no one's taking our fairy smut away), this new wave of female-led horror feels like a natural progression. We've gone from women fighting for love to women fighting back against a world that tries to contain them.

The rise of femgore might be shocking, but it's also somehow… empowering? The genre gives us permission to be messy, angry and imperfect. It lets us explore our darkest thoughts and most forbidden desires, all while safely tucked up in bed with a cup of tea.

Just maybe don't read these books during your lunch break. Or dinner. Or breakfast. Actually, maybe stick to reading them on an empty stomach.

And remember: while it's fun to explore these themes in fiction, in real life, we recommend handling your rage through therapy, boxing classes, or aggressively baking sourdough. Much less clean-up required, fewer jail sentences, etc.

Feature Image: Canva; ImageFX.