In early 2018 I became interested in radical and gender-critical feminism, and their perspective on questions about sex, gender, and gender identity, and the ethical and political questions arising from proposed legal changes to sex-based rights.

Apart from the below, I’ve also written quite a bit for the media, and done some videos and podcasts (see Writing > Articles, Media > Videos, and Media > Podcasts).

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Is it morally wrong for transwomen to claim to be women?’ Journal of Controversial Ideas 6/1 (2026), pp. 1-23.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘What Does Trans Inclusion In A Liberal State Require?’ Philosophy & Public Affairs (2026) [online first], pp. 1-12.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. Feminism Beyond Left and Right (Cambridge: Polity, 2025).

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Navigating conflicts of rights’, in Stella O’Malley, Carol Bartle, Carrie Clark, & Amanda Miller (Eds.), The Gender Framework: A Comprehensive Evidence-Based Guide for Professionals and Families (Durham: Pitchstone, 2025), Chapter 10.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Refuge at a price’, Social Philosophy & Policy 42/1 (2025), pp. 102-121.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Female offenders’, in Jesper Ryberg (Ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Punishment (New York: Oxford University Press, 2025).

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly., & Pepper, Angie. Is It Wrong To Buy Sex? (New York: Routledge, 2024).

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conversion Therapy: Or, Who Put The ‘GI’ in ‘SOGI’?‘ Journal of Open Inquiry in the Behavioral Sciences (2023).

+ Phelan, Kate., & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Feminist Separatism Revisited‘, Journal of Controversial Ideas 3/2 (2023), pp. 1-18.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. Sex Matters: Essays in Gender-Critical Philosophy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023).

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. Gender-Critical Feminism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).

+ Hauskeller, Michael., & Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Gender’, in Michael Hauskeller (Ed.) The Things That Really Matter: Philosophical Conversations on the Cornerstones of Life (London: UCL Press, 2022).

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Trashing and Tribalism in the Gender Wars‘, in Noell Birondo (Ed.) The Moral Psychology of Hate (Moral Psychology of the Emotions), (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022), Chapter 10, pp. 207-233.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly., & Phelan, Kate. ‘The Metaphysics of Intersectionality Revisited’, Journal of Political Philosophy 30/2 (2022), pp. 166-187.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly. ‘Ending sex-based oppression: transitional pathways‘, Philosophia 49 (2021), pp. 1021-1042.

+ Lawford-Smith, Holly., & Megarry, Jessica. ‘Is There Collective Responsibility For Misogyny Perpetrated On Social Media?’ Carissa Veliz (Ed.) Oxford Handbook of Digital Ethics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).