The study of gender, sexuality and the body.
“Is it true that all people are the same? What about differences such as between man and woman, boss and servant?” Thank you, Agar Mayor Gai-Makoon, for a timely and timeless question. In my opinion, people are not the same. First, let’s consider differences between man and woman, boss and servant. I’ll add some other […]
Are we all the same? Read More
Thank you, Ela Özcan, for a very important question. First, what is it for two people – any two people, regardless of their genders – to be friends? This is a slippery question, with many different answers. But among these answers seem to be three common threads. First, friends must care about each other for
Can men and women be just friends? Read More
Thank you, Aditya Pandey, for an important and enduring question. We have here two distinct but intimately related questions. The first question really concerns whether we know when life begins, while the second pits life against body autonomy. Both require a substantial answer to the question of what constitutes life. I will therefore briefly explore
Thank you, Grace Robertson, for such a perennial question. To dye one’s hair is to change one’s appearance. Is it as simple a matter as changing one’s shirt? When we consider what clothing to wear, we consider practicality and appearance. You wear a coat because it’s cold, and you wear a particular style of coat
Why do people use hair dye? Read More
Thank you, John Robbins, for such a thoughtful question. One way to approach it is to start by asking: what is a feminist? A person who believes in and supports feminism. And what is feminism? The term is somehow misleading, as it seems to mirror concepts like ‘masculinism’ or ‘male chauvinism’ – that is, the
Should we all be feminists? Read More
Thank you, Eoin Martin, for this lovely question! There are lots of ways you could go about tackling it. I want to look a bit closer at the central concept: attractiveness. In my answer, I will be talking about how attractiveness works, what plays a role in determining how attractive someone is, in the hope
Are men or women more attractive? Read More
Thank you, Frankie Belton, for such a stirring question! When we ask a question about whether something (A) is necessarily something else (B), we are asking whether there can ever be an A that is not also a B. In other words, what we are asking is not whether there are A’s that are also
Is masculinity necessarily toxic? Read More
Thank you, Angus Nimmo, for such a productive question! Philosophers like questioning questions as a start, and this might well be a helpful method here. Why think that it is wrong not to have children? One answer, perhaps familiar from social pressure, would be to see parenting as a life accomplishment. But, for someone who
Is it wrong to be child-free by choice? Read More
