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Sept. 13, 2021 – The people she interviews share gripping stories of violence, bigotry and shame – but also of courage, reclamation and strength. Osborne-Crowley cares deeply for her sources, and is clearly committed to giving them the space to tell their own stories, instead of being described by the systems that oppress them (in police reports, the news, even social media). We read about Rowan, who is hospitalised for an eating disorder as a teenager. While the patients are required to stay at the table until they finish their meals, they are mocked by a nurse who deliberately wastes food in front of them. We meet a young woman who harbours deep anxiety about her body, which drives her into abusive relationships.

The accumulation of these stories paints an authentic picture of the complexity and diversity of experiences of trauma, adding depth to Osborne-Crowley’s personal account, which makes up a large portion of the book. But rather than building on the insights from I Choose Elena and stepping into a new space – to examine the structural drivers of violence against women, for instance – My Body Keeps Your Secrets feels like an addendum to her memoir that doesn’t quite manage to stand on its own.

The book is weighted heavily towards the social and political drivers of trauma and inequality – and there’s no doubting Osborne-Crowley’s observations about the ways institutions have enabled the sexual grooming of children, or the structural gender inequality at the heart of the medical system. But in building evidence towards her presumed central thesis – that experiences of trauma have a physical, tangible impact on the bodies of survivors – she at times fails to show the whole story.

The characterisation of masculinity – as driven by the sexual desire to dominate – seems simplistic at times, and overlooks how male experiences of gender norms and trauma can be drivers of male perpetrated violence. In addition, her exploration of chronic illness frames auto-immune conditions as a physical manifestation of psychological trauma. She writes at length about her experience of endometriosis, and the way in which the condition is triggered by external trauma for some sufferers. She explores the conditions of Crohn’s disease and vaginismus through the same lens: as direct results of experiences of assault and trauma.

My Body Keeps Your Secrets is engrossing, fierce and shows the writer’s intellect and talent, but as the journalistic follow-up to a straight memoir is less rigorous than expected. But there is no doubting that Osborne-Crowley is playing an important role in raising the profile of marginalised experiences of gender inequality, and for that fact alone, this book is worthy of a read.

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