Professor Clare Chambers

Clare Chambers is Professor of Political Philosophy and Fellow and Dean of Jesus College, University of Cambridge. She is particularly known for her feminist critique of the liberal focus on choice; her ideas of “shametenance” and the unmodified body; her account of social construction; her problematisation of the concept of ‘normal’; her engagement with beauty norms and the body; her critique and analysis of Rawlsian political liberalism; her work on multiculturalism, religion, and intervention; her critique of state-recognised marriage; and her proposals for the alternative regulation of relationships.

Clare Chambers is author of Freedom & Equality: Essays on Liberalism and Feminism (Oxford University Press, 2024), described as “a sharp and imaginative collection of essays” in the journal Mind. Freedom & Equality covers a range of topical questions: why we need women’s sport and who should be included, whether the state should recognise gender, feminist perspectives on the gendered division of labour, cosmetic surgery, and dilemmas of multiculturalism.

Clare Chambers is also author of Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body (Penguin, 2022), described by psychologist and writer Philippa Perry as “a must-read for psychotherapists, doctors and everyone else”. Intact discusses the overwhelming pressure to change our bodies, introduces the idea of shametenance, and argues for the radical political significance of allowing the body to be good enough just as it is. Intact was published in hardback by Allen Lane and as a Penguin orange spine paperback. It’s available from bookshops including Blackwells and Waterstones, and is currently being translated into Farsi, Korean, and Chinese.

Earlier work includes Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State (Oxford University Press, 2017; winner of the 2018 APSA David Easton Prize); Sex, Culture, and Justice: The Limits of Choice (Penn State University Press, 2008); Teach Yourself Political Philosophy: A Complete Introduction (with Phil Parvin, Hodder, 2012); and numerous articles and chapters on political philosophy, gender, and bioethics. Clare Chambers is also the editor of The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Sex and Sexuality (with Brian D. Earp and Lori Watson, Routledge, 2022).

Clare Chambers regularly appears on radio, including BBC Radio 4 (PM, Broadcasting House, Woman’s Hour, Sweet Reason, How To Disagree); BBC Radio 3 (Free Thinking); BBC World Service (Deeply Human) and has also been featured on the BBC website, on Radio 5 Live, on BBC local radio, on Times Radio and on the cross-platform BBC Rethink series. Her research has featured in print and online media as diverse as the Guardian, the New Statesman, El País, la Repubblica, iNews, The Times of India, the Times Literary Supplement, The American Conservative, Metro, Slate, Philosophy 24/7, Philosophy Bites, Daily Nous, and Aeon. She has appeared at a wide range of festivals and events, including the Hay Literary Festival, Cambridge Literary Festival, Oxford Literary Festival, Bradford Literary Festival, Bristol Ideas, How the Light Gets In, Cambridge Festival of Ideas, the Cambridge Club Festival, and the Trouble Club. You can watch recordings many of these events here.

Clare Chambers also engages in policy and impact work. She is a former Member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and member of the Working Party that produced the report Cosmetic Procedures: Ethical Issues. She has given evidence to Parliament on behalf of the Council.

Clare Chambers is also co-Editor-in-Chief of Res Publica, a journal of moral, legal, and political philosophy.

Literary agent: Sophie Scard at United Agents.