Tender Is the Flesh is an example of dystopian fiction. The word dystopia, which is Greek for “bad place,” developed as an antonym for utopia, which refers to an idealized, imaginary society. Well-known examples of dystopian fiction include George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which investigates totalitarianism and mass surveillance; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932), which examines social conditioning; Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953), which deals with censorship; and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), which depicts life under a patriarchal theocracy. Tender Is the Flesh shares several key genre characteristics with these examples.

First, the novel draws attention to the way that large-scale social institutions shape individual lives. This may involve government, business, religion, or, in the case of Tender Is the Flesh, all three. The legitimization of cannibalism takes place against the backdrop of a capitalistic society supervised by a government that caters to the whims of big business. Meanwhile, the Church of the Immolation carves out a unique niche, allowing individuals to exercise their supposed right to submit themselves for others’ consumption. Through the combined effects of these and other forces, characters such as Marisa and even Tejo are shown to gradually lose their agency and individuality over time.