Heather Widdows
I鈥檓 a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at 糖心TV, with expertise in applied ethics, global ethics, bioethics, moral philosophy and feminist philosophy. In the 2022/2023 academic year I will be teaching a post-graduate module in term 2 on Appearance, Identity and Visual Culture.
My most recent book, Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal (2018), was described by Vogue as 鈥済round-breaking鈥 and listed by The Atlantic as one of the best books of 2018. My other books are The Connected Self: The Ethics and Governance of the Genetic Individual (2103), Global Ethics: An Introduction (2011), and The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch (2005). I have edited a number of collections, including on reproductive rights and genetic ethics, and I co-edited, with Darrel Moellendorf, The Routledge Handbook of Global Ethics (2014).
I am a member of the British Philosophical Association (BPA) Exec, and was Deputy Chair of the Philosophy sub-panel for REF 2021 and a member of the 2014 sub-panel. I also served on the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (2014-2020) and previously on the UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (2007-2013).
I co-run the Beauty Demands Network and Blog () with Dr Fiona MacCallum, in the Psychology department, and I founded the #everydaylookism project ( - Hopefully soon to change!).
You can find out more about my academic work and my media and policy engagement on my personal website ()
Selected publications (see my personal website for a fuller list)
Books:
- Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal, Princeton University Press, 2018
- The Connected Self: The Ethics and Governance of the Genetic Individual Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013
- Global Ethics: An Introduction Routledge, 2011 (2nd edition in progress)
- The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch Ashgate, 2005
Articles:
- 鈥楴o Duty to Resist: Why Individual Resistance is an Ineffective Response to Dominant Beauty Ideals鈥 The Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 122, no.1, (2022), 27-44
- 鈥楽tructural Injustice and the Requirements Beauty鈥, Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. no. 2 (2021), 251-269
- 鈥楾he Neglected Harms of Beauty: Beyond Individual Choice鈥, Journal of Practical Ethics 5, no. 2 (2017), 1-29
- 鈥楢ltered Images: Understanding the Influence of Unrealistic Images and Beauty Aspirations鈥, with Fiona MacCallum, Health Care Analysis 23, no 3 (2018), 235-245
- 鈥楬uman embryos and eggs: from long-term storage to biobanking鈥 with Fran莽oise Baylis, Monash Bioethics Review, Vol 33, (2015) 340-359
- 鈥楻evising Global Theories of Justice to Include Public Goods鈥 with Peter West Oram in Special Issue of Journal of Global Ethics, edited by Monique Deveaux, Vol 9. No 2, (2013) 227-243
- 鈥楾he right not to know: The case of psychiatric disorders鈥, with Lisa Bortolotti in Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 37 (2011), 673-676
- 鈥楶ersons and their parts: New reproductive technologies and risks of commodification鈥 in Health Care Analysis, 17, (2009) 36-46
- 鈥楤order disputes across bodies: Exploitation in Trafficking for Prostitution and Egg Sale for Stem Cell Research鈥 in International Journal of the Feminist Association of Bioethics, (2009) 5-24