Aggregated Discontent - by Harron Walker (Hardcover)

About the Book

"After a brief fling with corporate stability in her twenty-something cis era, Harron Walker has transitioned into a terminally single freelancer and part-time shopgirl. She's in the throes of her second adolescence and its requisite daily spirals. She wants it all, otherwise known as: basic human rights, a stable job with good pay and healthcare benefits, someone to love, the ability to feel safe and secure, the pursuit of satisfaction and maybe even contentment. And when she starts to acquire those things-well, as The Monkey's Paw famously asked, "What could go wrong?" In sixteen wholly original essays that blend memoir, cultural criticism, investigative journalism, and a dash of fanfiction, Walker places her own experiences within the larger context of the pressing and underdiscussed aspects of contemporary American womanhood that make up daily life. She recounts an attempt to eviscerate a corporation's attempt at pinkwashing their way into bath bomb sales while simultaneously confronting her "pick me" impulse to do so. She interrogates her relationship to labor, from the irony of working in a transphobic workplace in order to cover gender-affirming surgery to the cruel specter of the girlboss that none of us ever think we'll become. She explores the allure and violence of assimilating into white womanhood in all its hegemonic glory, exposes the ways in which the truth of trans women's reproductive healthcare is erased in favor of reactionary narratives, and considers how our agency is stripped from us-by governments, employers, partners, and ourselves-purely on account of our bodies. With razor-sharp, biting prose that's as uncompromising as it is playful, Walker grapples with questions of love, sex, fertility, labor, embodiment, community, autonomy, and body fluids from her particular vantagepoint: often at the margins, conditionally at the center"--

Book Synopsis

"An essay collection that covers everything from the freelance hustle to the state of trans healthcare in the U.S. with a dryly confessional, comedic voice guaranteed to make you burst out laughing."--Vogue

"Walker cuts to the heart of what it means to be a woman in the twenty-first century, all accomplished with her searingly biting wit."--Harper's Bazaar

After a brief fling with corporate stability in her twenty-something cis era, Harron Walker has transitioned into a terminally single freelancer and part-time shopgirl. She's in the throes of her second adolescence and its requisite daily spirals. She wants it all, otherwise known as: basic human rights, a stable job with good pay and healthcare benefits, someone to love, the ability to feel safe and secure, the pursuit of satisfaction and maybe even contentment. And when she starts to acquire those things--well, as The Monkey's Paw famously asked, "What could go wrong?"

In sixteen wholly original essays that blend memoir, cultural criticism, investigative journalism, and a dash of fanfiction, Walker places her own experiences within the larger context of the pressing and underdiscussed aspects of contemporary American womanhood that make up daily life. She recounts an attempt to eviscerate a corporation's attempt at pinkwashing their way into bath bomb sales while simultaneously confronting her "pick me" impulse to do so. She interrogates her relationship to labor, from the irony of working in a transphobic workplace in order to cover gender-affirming surgery to the cruel specter of the girlboss that none of us ever think we'll become. She explores the allure and violence of assimilating into white womanhood in all its hegemonic glory, exposes the ways in which the truth of trans women's reproductive healthcare is erased in favor of reactionary narratives, and considers how our agency is stripped from us--by governments, employers, partners, and ourselves--purely on account of our bodies.

With razor-sharp, biting prose that's as uncompromising as it is playful, Walker grapples with questions of love, sex, fertility, labor, embodiment, community, autonomy, and body fluids from her particular vantagepoint: often at the margins, conditionally at the center.

Review Quotes

"Journalist and cultural critic Harron Walker takes sharp aim at modern white womanhood in her debut book that interrogates how bath bombs, pink marketing, and the United States' antiquated healthcare system all work against the women it claims to protect."--Rolling Stone, "10 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2025"

"A Harron Walker take is always coming from a better angle, somewhere unexpected yet inevitable when viewed against the whole of culture. In a time when everyone else is zigging, Walker zags."--Vulture, "30 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2025"

"Walker cuts to the heart of what it means to be a woman in the 21st century, all accomplished with her searingly biting wit and playful humor."--Harper's Bazaar

"An essay collection that covers everything from the freelance hustle to the state of trans healthcare in the US with a dryly confessional, comedic voice guaranteed to make you burst out laughing at your desk."--Vogue

"Aggregated Discontent . . . is a fierce blend of memoir, cultural criticism and journalism that traces the writer's journey through the trials and tribulations of gender transition in contemporary America. . . . Charming the reader with tender confessions and tongue-in-cheek sarcasm, Walker lends a more intimate vision of transness, one that brings our real relationships with friends, lovers and family to the fore of the conversation."--Dazed

"Harron Walker's debut essay collection is a brilliant blend of cultural criticism and memoir. . . . You'll blow through the book, and hold it with you long after you finish."--LitHub, "10 Great Nonfiction Books to Read in May"

"Aggregated Discontent tackles transphobia in the workplace, American womanhood, whiteness, autonomy, and so much more. Buckle up!"--Queerty, "16 LGBTQ+ Books to Add to Your Must-Read List in 2025"

"Harron Walker's insightful musings on identity, relationships, and her journalism career will have you breezing through Aggregated Discontent, and when you're done, you'll likely find one or two essays planted firmly in your mind."--Bustle

"Culture critic and pop culture journalist Harron Walker's first essay collection interrogates womanhood, cis and trans, as someone figuring themselves out on the internet in the early 2010s."--Our Culture

"For lovers of personalized essays with a journalistic bent, this essay collection is not one to miss."--Library Journal, starred review

"Walker debuts with a sharp collection of cultural criticism focused largely on trans issues. Combining omnivorous pop culture references, rigorous reporting, and a winning, tongue-in-cheek tone."--Publishers Weekly

"A promising debut, marked by insightful observations and moments of astonishing candor and critique."--Kirkus Reviews

"A real showstopper of a collection."--Kristen Arnett, author of With Teeth

"A book for anyone interested in womanhood, gender, and millennial angst, as well as the personal and systemic ways that the health-care system fucks over trans people."--Lamya H, author of Hijab Butch Blues

"Walker unapologetically and vulnerably weaves erudite observations on identity, media, and society."--Raquel Willis, author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom

About the Author

Harron Walker is a contributor to MOTHA's Trans Hirstory in 99 Objects and Sex Change & the City, a forthcoming anthology from Girl Dad Press. Her work has appeared in New York, Interview, GQ, Out, and other publications.