Dr Sarah Goff

This course is available on the MPhil/PhD in Gender, MSc in Gender, MSc in Gender (Research), MSc in Gender (Rights and Human Rights), MSc in Gender, Development and Globalisation, MSc in Gender, Policy and Inequalities and MSc in Political Theory. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: To apply for a place on this course, please submit a short statement of no more than 200 words via LfY. Your statement should outline your reasons for applying and explain how the course will support your academic and/or career goals. If applicable, you should also demonstrate how you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide. If the course is compulsory for your programme, no written statement is required.

Priority for places on Government (GV) courses will be given first to students for whom the course is compulsory. Where applicable, priority will then be given to students on the Department of Government programmes listed in the ‘Availability’ section of the course guide, followed by students on other programmes listed in that section. Students on all other programmes will be considered next, where a course is available as an outside option. You should ensure that you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide before applying. Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed. Where a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated based on programme priority and the written statement.

Deadline for applications: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 25 September 2026. You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 28 September 2026. Any places remaining after this date will be allocated based on priority and written statement - up until course selection closes.

For queries contact: gov.msc@lse.ac.uk.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). In previous years we have been able to provide places for all students that apply but that may not continue to be the case. Priority is given to students in the MSc Political Theory programme.

This course is capped at one group.

This course covers some of the central debates in contemporary feminist political theory, with an emphasis on the legacy and usefulness of liberalism. Feminist political theory poses challenges to: liberal conceptions of the individual and freedom over the body; the relative invisibility of the body, intimate relationships, and emotional life in mainstream political theory; and the tendency to presume that a set of ideas on justice are universally applicable. We consider the theoretical debates in relation to a number of contemporary political issues. Topics likely to be addressed include contracts over the body, equality in symbolic representations, marriage, and feminist perspectives on trans issues.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

Essay (1500 words).

Students will submit a short formative essay in Autumn Term (up to 1,500 words) and will be given feedback on this before submitting their assessed coursework.

Simone de Beauvoir (1949) The Second Sex; Susan Moller Okin ‘Forty Acres and a Mule for Women’ Politics, Philosophy & Economics (2005); Carole Pateman (1988) The Sexual Contract; Clare Chambers (2017) Against Marriage: An Egalitarian Defence of the Marriage-Free State; Talia Mae Bettcher ‘Evil deceivers and make-believers: Transphobic violence and the politics of illusion’ Hypatia (2007); Serene Khader (2018) Decolonizing Universalism: Towards a Transnational Feminist Ethic.

Essay (100%, 4000 words) in Winter Term Week 3.