My talk at for the Royal Institute of Philosophy, "Why Philosophers Need to Think About Pregnancy" is available to watch online. My presentation isn't great here. There's quite a bit of fumbling and awkward looking at notes. But I hope the content is interesting. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZDV...

Why philosophers need to think about pregnancy, Fiona Woollard

YouTube video by The Royal Institute of Philosophy

youtube.com

Teaser clip from my contribution to the Royal Institute of Philosophy London Lecture series www.facebook.com/share/r/1EK1...

Early start! 7am Eurostar on my way to Vienna (for a conference on Parenthood as Transformative) and then to Basel for a short research stay with the Just Parenthood project. events.ceu.edu/2025-11-07/p... just-parenthood.com

Parenthood as Transformative

events.ceu.edu

I’ll be giving a Royal Institute of Philosophy Centenary lecture on the 23rd October. Do come if you are near London. royalinstitutephilosophy.org/event/why-ph...

Why philosophers need to think about pregnancy - Royal Institute of Philosophy

In this London Lecture, Professor Fiona Woollard explores how philosophy can help us to understand pregnancy. Book tickets for 23 October 2025

royalinstitutephilosophy.org

Dylan Trigg, a philosopher working on parenthood as a transformative experience is conducting a questionnaire-based study to gather data on the diversity and complexity of parenthood. You can find out more about the study here: sites.google.com/view/dylantr...

Dylan Trigg - Parenthood questionnaire

Questionnaire Study (LINK) This questionnaire study is part of a four-year project entitled “Parenthood: A Study of Lived Experience”. The project is a philosophical investigation of what it is like t...

sites.google.com

Question for people who are runners and philosopher: If you figure something out while running and have to stop and email it to yourself, do you pause your run or count this in your run time?

The EPIC blog (epistemic injustice in healthcare) has reached 50,000 pageviews! Check it out: epistemicinjusticeinhealthcareproject.blogspot.com new posts every week #philsky

Trans people and feminists keep refining approaches to our collective liberation. This great new article by @matthewjcull.bsky.social, @fionawoollard.bsky.social and Jules Holroyd recommends a pluralist approach to inclusive language, building on the Brighton & Sussex midwives' additive approach.

I'm looking forward to taking part in this event on #AssistedDying. If you are in Southampton on the 22nd of April, do consider coming along. Eventbrite details at tinyurl.com/mzv9xa9f.

Ready for the Southampton Science and Engineering Festival! If you are around Southampton and want a day of fun family activities, come to the Science and Engineering Festival! I’ll be running an activity ‘Who’s in Your Family?’ drawing on my work in philosophy of parenthood. #SOTSEF

In case anyone wants a hint. The students guessed after I reminded them that a few weeks back I illustrated a point with a very poorly drawn version of the meme where two Spider-Man point at each other.

Fiona Woollard@fionawoollard.bsky.social · last yr.

I asked my students to guess what I was attempting to draw here. ‘A melting snowman?’ No. ‘Someone who got hit by a trolley?’ No. They did guess. (And responded with laughter and groans.) Can you guess? (Sorry no alt text possible for this one.)

I asked my students to guess what I was attempting to draw here. ‘A melting snowman?’ No. ‘Someone who got hit by a trolley?’ No. They did guess. (And responded with laughter and groans.) Can you guess? (Sorry no alt text possible for this one.)

Near Southampton on 12th of March? Join @fionawoollard.bsky.social and artists, Yonat Nitzan-Green and Jane Bennett for a free workshop Thinking With Drawing: Exploring Maternal Identity. #SOTSEF #BSW25 #PhilosophyMatters #PhiloFortnight2025) Register www.sotsef.co.uk/wider-festiv... Please share!

Do you work with families before, during, or after #pregnancy? Are you interested in learning how to make your language #inclusive? Come to our free online workshops! The first workshop is on March 10th 2025. Register here: forms.gle/qpyHH9FMJ7EA... Please share!

Near Southampton on the 12th of March? Join me, Yonat Nitzan-Green and Jane Bennett for a free workshop Thinking With Drawing: Exploring Maternal Identity #SOTSEF #BSW25 #PhilosophyMatters (slightly early for #PhiloFortnight2025) Sign up at www.sotsef.co.uk/wider-festiv... Please share widely.

Extract from email to student. "Here are some philosophical crocodile names John Stuart Crocodill Aristcrocle; Acrocinas; Crocgentsein Jean-Croc Rousseau Mary Wollstomecroc Karl Snapper John Crawls John Crocke Croc Derrida? Noam Chompsky Snappy-avelli Iris Mur-croc All best wishes Fiona"

Please share widely!

Jules@julesholroyd.bsky.social · last yr.

Upcoming workshop w. @fionawoollard.bsky.social and @matthewjcull.bsky.social on our 'toolbox' approach to inclusive language (focus on peri/postnatal care). 10th March. please share with your networks! Details on this basic flyer! docs.google.com/presentation... #academicsky #philsky

Today is the first lecture of my First Year Ethics class, also known as the day I walk across campus carrying a giant inflatable crocodile. Crocrates the Philosophical Crocodile is ready for the new semester!

Amazing to have our work on inclusive language translated into Chinese!

Jules@julesholroyd.bsky.social · 2y ago

Excited about this Chinese translation by 有靈 (Yo-Ling), for Taiwanese publication Queer Margins, of the article myself @matthewjcull.bsky.social & @fionawoollard.bsky.social originally wrote for The Conversation about gender inclusive language in pregnancy &birth! www.queermargins.tw/how-gender-i...

Day 2 of PEA Soup discussion on our paper!

Fiona Woollard@fionawoollard.bsky.social · 2y ago

The PEA Soup blog on our paper, "Can You Do Harm to Your Fetus? Pregnancy, Barriers, and the Doing/Allowing Distinction." is now live! peasoupblog.com/2025/01/can-...

I'm so pleased that this paper by Matthew Cull, Jules Holroyd and myself has been published. The paper uses philosophy of language to show that gender inclusion in pregnancy and birth CAN be done well. version of record www.cambridge.org/core/journal... open Access eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/217382/

The PEA Soup blog on our paper, "Can You Do Harm to Your Fetus? Pregnancy, Barriers, and the Doing/Allowing Distinction." is now live! peasoupblog.com/2025/01/can-...

Can You Do Harm to Your Fetus? Pregnancy, Barriers, and the Doing/Allowing Distinction. With Elselijn Kingma, Fiona Woollard, and Elizabeth Harman

PEA Soup is pleased to introduce this month’s Ethics discussion, featuring Elselijn Kingma and Fiona Woollard’s paper Can You Do Harm to Your Fetus? Pregnancy, Barriers, and the Doing/Allowing Dist…

peasoupblog.com

If you are in the U.K, consider signing this petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion, ensuring no woman faces jail for ending a pregnancy. eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A... #TimeToAct #Abortion

Petition: Decriminalise Abortion

I am calling on the UK government to remove abortion from criminal law so that no pregnant person can be criminalised for procuring their own abortion.

eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

Every year, for my first year Ethics module. I do a syllabus quiz and give away Crocrates the inflatable philosophical crocodile as the prize. I’ve just been online to make my annual Crocrates order and saw this. A Crocrates suit. It’s calling to me…

I feel as if I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I will soon emerge from marking and teaching and have precious time before Christmas to finish a paper and book proposal. I’ve actually loved this marking (fun assessment, students wonderful), but I am looking forward to my research time!

Ah. The day before the Christmas Fete, when all the adorable little children totter into school clutching bottles of alcohol.

My book Wonderstruck will come out in paperback edition soon! press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Wonderstruck

A philosopher explores the transformative role of wonder and awe in an uncertain world

press.princeton.edu

I was talking to a child who was scared of butterflies. I explained flight patterns and how they are unique to each species. Explaining the reasons behind their seemingly chaotic behavior, helped replaced fear with curiosity. Sometimes fear around insects is just a fear of the unknown.

Just out: paper in Ethics coauthored with Elselijn Kingma, exploring how framing people as doing harm to their fetus functions as a ‘justificatory bypass’ to avoid hard questions about special duties, and why this is illegitimate. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

I am so proud of this paper! I have wanted to publish a paper in Ethics since I was a grad student. Working with Elselijn was amazing. I think she makes me a better philosopher. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...