We all feel pressure for our bodies to look a certain way: 70% of women say they feel pressure to have a perfect body, and two thirds of men feel ashamed of how they look. However, those pressures don’t affect everyone equally. The standards by which our bodies are judged reflect and reinforce other unjust societal hierarchies. Furthermore, the failure to adhere to society’s beauty standards is often interpreted as a deeper failure of character, encompassing our entire identity. By being aware of the sources of these pressures we can remind ourselves that the unmodified body is valuable just as it is, writes Clare Chambers.

Which part of your body would you most like to change?

Most of us have an easy answer to this question. Perhaps it’s your buttocks or thighs, your belly or nose; do you want fewer wrinkles, different hair? In fact, if someone were to answer “nothing, I’m perfect just as I am” we’d likely dismiss them as arrogant or complacent. We are always ready to judge bodies, both ours and other people’s, and find them wanting.

Since our bodies are never good enough, there is always something about them that we could – or even should – change. Generally we should be free to try to change our bodies as we see fit. But in Intact: A Defence of the Unmodified Body I argue that the overwhelming pressures to change our bodies are politically significant, and that responding to them is philosophically complex. Put simply, the social context in which no body is allowed to be good enough is harmful. We should work together to change it.