I am the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at All Souls College, Oxford. Previously I was an associate professor of philosophy at St John’s College, Oxford, and before that a lecturer in philosophy at University College London.
I completed my BPhil and DPhil in Philosophy at Oxford, and before that I did a BA at Yale. I work on topics in political philosophy, epistemology, the history and theory of feminism, and metaphilosophy.
My first book, The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-first Century, was published in 2021. It was an instant Sunday Times bestseller, winner of the Blackwell’s Book of the Year, and has been shortlisted for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Orwell Prize.
I’m currently finishing a second book, on the practice of critical genealogy, entitled The Contingent World: Genealogy, Epistemology, Politics. I’m also thinking about the place of identity-based movements in the Left, the philosophy of history, and animals.
My academic work has been published in The Philosophical Review, Journal of Political Philosophy, Yale Law Journal, The Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society and Philosophy & Phenomenological Research, among other places.
I’m a contributing editor of the London Review of Books. My essays and criticism – on sex, animals, death, the university, technology, anger, politics and other topics – have also appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, the Times Literary Supplement, The Nation, The New York Times, The Financial Times, New York Magazine and TANK.
Research
I work on topics in epistemology, political philosophy, metaphilosophy and feminist theory.
For further details, together with a list (and pdfs) of my publications, see my personal website.
Teaching
Supervisees
I co-teach (with Professor Sophie Smith) a graduate seminar on 'Feminism and the Future', in which we think about what the history of feminist thought can teach us about issues of contemporary significance: capitalism, work, technology, the state, reproduction, identity, solidarity and the environment. I also give a series of lectures for the undergraduate 'Feminism and Philosophy' special subject paper.
I supervise MPhil and DPhil students across epistemology, political philosophy, and feminist theory.
