Heather Widdows

Widdows did her undergraduate degree Systematic Theology first class{{citation|work=The Herald|title=Graduations Edinburgh|date= 14 July 1995|url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12096750.graduations-edinburgh/|accessdate=15 April 2021}} and PhD at the University of Edinburgh. She completed her PhD thesis in 1999 on "The relationship of morality and religion : an investigation of the issue in modern anglophone philosophy". She was supervised by Professor James P. Mackey and Ronald Hepburn. Following the completion of her PhD, spent a year as a post-doctoral research fellow at Imperial College London. She became part of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Birmingham as a research fellow in the Centre for the Study of Global Ethics in 2001. Widdows continued to work there until 2022, becoming a lecturer in 2003, senior lecturer in 2005, and professor of global ethics in 2009. She became the deputy Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research Impact in 2017, and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Knowledge transfer in 2021. In 2022 became a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Warwick.

Widdows is currently the deputy chair of the REF2021 Philosophy sub-panel. Previously she was a member of the REF2014 Philosophy sub-panel.

Heather served as a member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics from 2014 to 2020 and previously on the UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council from 2007 to 2013,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Impact case study (REF3b)|url=https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies2/refservice.svc/GetCaseStudyPDF/38901|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}} and a member of Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Party on Cosmetic Procedures from 2015 to 2016.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Cosmetic procedures: ethical issues|url=http://nuffieldbioethics.org/wp-content/uploads/Cosmetic-procedures-full-report.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=Nuffield Council on Bioethics}}

Heather's work on appearance-based discrimination, or lookism, was also cited in the Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into 'Changing the perfect picture: an inquiry into body image'.{{Cite web |title=UK Parliament Publications |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5801/cmselect/cmwomeq/274/27402.htm |website=publications.parliament.uk}}

She has published four sole-authored books: The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch (Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2006); Global Ethics: An Introduction (Acumen, 2011); The Connected Self: The Ethics and Governance of the Genetic Individual (Cambridge University Press, 2013) and most recently Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal (Princeton University Press, 2018).

Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal (Princeton University Press) was published in 2018. Widdows was supported in writing this book by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship. In Perfect Me Widdows argues that beauty is functioning as ethical ideal, transforming our understandings of the world, our judgements of others and ourselves.{{Cite book | url=https://press.princeton.edu/titles/11281.html | title=Perfect Me| date=May 2018| isbn=9780691160078| last1=Widdows| first1=Heather| publisher=Princeton University Press}} Perfect Me was also voted one of the 19 best books of 2018 by The Atlantic,{{Cite web|date=26 December 2018|title=The 19 Best Books of 2018|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/12/the-19-best-books-2018/578134/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=10 July 2020|website=The Atlantic|language=en-US}} and one of the 100 best books to read in a lifetime by Edarabia.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=100 Books to Read in a Lifetime (2020)|url=https://www.edarabia.com/100-books-read-lifetime/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=10 July 2020|website=Edarabia|language=en-US}} Perfect Me has also been mentioned in Vogue{{Cite web|last=Singer|first=Maya|title=Do French Women Really Have the Secret to Aging Gracefully?|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/french-women-aging-gracefully|access-date=10 July 2020|website=Vogue|date=7 February 2020|language=en-us}}, Vogue Japan{{Cite web|last=Hasegawa|first=Azumi|title=Consider the lookism that is deeply rooted in society|url= https://www.vogue.co.jp/change/article/words-matter-lookism|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2 June 2025|website=Vogue Japan|date=1 August 2021|language=ja}} and Paper Magazine.{{Cite web|date=21 May 2020|title=What's the Next 'Instagram Face'?|url=https://www.papermag.com/future-of-beauty-ourian-2646046145.html|access-date=10 July 2020|website=PAPER|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=21 May 2020|title=Dr. Ourian on Cosmetic Surgery's 'Holy Grail'|url=https://www.papermag.com/simon-ourian-plastic-surgery-interview-2646033606.html|access-date=10 July 2020|website=PAPER|language=en}}

Widdows is a co-founder of the Beauty Demands Network.{{Cite web | url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/generic/beauty/people/index.aspx | title=People - Beauty Demands}} The project began with an AHRC Network Grant on 'The Changing Requirements of Beauty' which finished in June 2016. Beauty Demands publishes a blog every two weeks (co-run by Widdows and Dr Fiona MacCallum, University of Warwick),{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Beauty Demands|url=http://beautydemands.blogspot.co.uk/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=10 July 2020|website=Beauty Demands}} and in 2016 published a Briefing Paper. The briefing paper contains key findings of the network in ethics, psychology and law, and makes policy recommendations based upon these.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=1 June 2016|title=Beauty Demands Briefing Paper|url=http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/beautydemands/beauty-demands-briefing-paper-june-2016.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}} The briefing paper was launched at the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in June 2016.{{Cite web | url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/generic/beauty/about/index.aspx | title=About - Beauty Demands}}

Widdows launched a social media campaign to end body shaming at the Annual Global Ethics Conference at the University of Birmingham in June 2019.{{Cite web |title=Everyday Lookism |url=https://www.everydaylookism.com/ |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=www.everydaylookism.com}} Widdows argues that lookism is a prejudice that is more prevalent and more damaging in a virtual culture where our bodies are ourselves. Body shaming is shaming people. Lookism has become so common that we have come to accept it, and even worse, expect it.{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=10 June 2019|title=New campaign to end the effects of lookism by collective social action|url=https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2019/06/new-campaign-to-end-the-effects-of-lookism-by-collective-social-action.aspx|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=}} The campaign asks people to share their lookism stories on social media using the hashtag or anonymously via the website. #everydaylookism has been mentioned by The Telegraph,{{Cite news|last=Kiek|first=Tim|date=9 June 2020|title=The dark side of the video call boom|language=en-GB|work=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/life/dark-side-video-call-boom/|access-date=10 July 2020|issn=0307-1235}} Birmingham Live.{{Cite web|last=Paxton|first=Charlotte|date=16 June 2019|title='You'd be gorgeous if you lost weight' - the worst body-shaming taunts|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/youd-gorgeous-you-lost-weight-16426356|access-date=10 July 2020|website=birminghammail}} and The Body Cons Podcast.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bodyconspodcast.com/2020/07/16/bonus-episode-everyday-lookism-with-professor-heather-widdows/|title = BONUS EPISODE: Everyday Lookism with Professor Heather Widdows}}

Heather has been quoted in The Guardian,{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/28/cosmetic-surgery-normal-acceptable-face-womanhood|title=Is cosmetic surgery the new acceptable face of womanhood?|website=TheGuardian.com|date=27 June 2015}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/apr/03/non-surgical-cosmetic-procedures-botox-lip-filler-beauty|title = The rise of non-surgical beauty: 'My mum said my lip looked like a rubber dinghy'|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 3 April 2017}} the New York Times,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/23/movies/i-feel-pretty-amy-schumer-beauty.html|title = 'I Feel Pretty' and the Rise of Beauty-Standard Denialism|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 23 April 2018|last1 = Hess|first1 = Amanda}} Vogue,{{Cite web|url=https://www.vogue.com/article/french-women-aging-gracefully|title = Do French Women Really Have the Secret to Aging Gracefully?|date = 7 February 2020}} BBC Newsround,{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54352925|title = Call to limit body-editing apps for children - CBBC Newsround}} Seventeen.{{Cite web|url=https://www.seventeen.com/health/a34373386/quarantining-tiktok-and-their-effects-on-body-image/|title = How Isolating in Quarantine Has Been Detrimental to Our Body Image|date = 17 October 2020}} and Le Monde.{{cite news | url=https://www.lemonde.fr/series-d-ete/article/2022/07/15/construction-sociale-ou-fruit-de-l-evolution-debat-intense-autour-de-notre-attirance-pour-le-visage-instagram_6134970_3451060.html | title=Construction sociale ou fruit de l'évolution ? Débat intense autour de notre attirance pour le " visage Instagram " | newspaper=Le Monde.fr | date=15 July 2022 }} She has also appeared on BBC Two's Victoria Derbyshire programme, and been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 and ABC Radio (Australia).

In addition to her books, Widdows has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and chapters in edited collections.

• Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal (Princeton University Press, 2018)
• The Connected Self: The Ethics and Governance of the Genetic Individual (Cambridge University Press, 2013).
• Global Ethics: An Introduction (Acumen, 2011).
• The Moral Vision of Iris Murdoch (Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2006).

• Handbook of Global Ethics, Edited with {{ill|Darrel Moellendorf|de}} (Routledge, 2014)
• Global Social Justice, Edited with Nicola Smith (Routledge, 2011).
• The Governance of Genetic Information: Who Decides?, Edited with Caroline Mullen (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
• Women's Reproductive Rights, Edited with Itziar Alkorta Idiakez and Aitziber Emaldi Cirión (Palgrave, 2006).

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• [https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/philosophy/widdows-heather.aspx Heather Widdows] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919072510/https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/philosophy/widdows-heather.aspx |date=19 September 2011 }} at University of Birmingham
• {{IMDb name|nm11941423}}

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Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh

Category:British bioethicists

Category:British women philosophers

Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham

Category:21st-century British women writers

Category:21st-century British philosophers

Category:Living people

Category:1972 births