Sex matters in life and in law.
It shouldn’t take courage to say so.

Petition to make the Equality Act clear – campaign webinar

Tuesday 6th December, 7.30pm to 8.30pm Join Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce of Sex Matters, and campaigners @MsGiveZeroFox and @satiricole. Since our petition was launched in early November, more than 38,000 people have signed, calling on the government to update the Equality Act 2010...

"The NHS must not make policy on social transition without first defining it."

Our response to the NHS interim service specification consultation

The NHS’s public consultation regarding the interim service specification for youth gender services ends on 4th December. We would encourage people to respond, including parents, teachers, school leaders and clinicians. We have published our full response. Sex Matters joins Transgender Trend and the Gay Men’s Network...

Mass harassment in HM Prisons and Probation Service

As reported in The Telegraph today, HM Prisons and Probation Service’s Pride in Prison and Probation (PiPP) staff network has circulated documents for Trans Awareness Week telling MoJ staff to recognise a series of words and phrases as “transphobic dogwhistles”. The PiPP is an...

Helen Joyce speaks at Caius College

On 25th October 2022, Sex Matters’ Director of Advocacy Helen Joyce spoke at an event at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, entitled “Criticising gender-identity ideology: what happens when speech is silenced”. This page documents the events surrounding the talk. Criticising gender-identity ideology: what...

Schools should be mindful that, in attempting to keep one group of pupils safe, and to respect their privacy and dignity, they need to avoid compromising the safety, privacy and dignity of other pupils.

Sex Matters welcomes headteachers’ guidance

Sex Matters offers a qualified welcome to the new Guidance for maintained schools and academies in England on provision for transgender pupils published by the Association of School and College Leaders, Chartered College of Teaching, Confederation of School Trusts (CST), Institute of School Business...

We launch the petition champions

Campaign update 2: After just three days we are over a quarter of the way to the 100,000 signatures needed to prompt a parliamentary debate. Thank you to everyone who has already signed the Make the Equality Act Clear Petition. Every signature helps! If...

Make the Equality Act clear – sign the petition

Sign our government petition to make the Equality Act clear

Sex Matters is asking people in the UK to sign our official petition calling on the government to update the Equality Act 2010 to make clear that the protected characteristic of “sex” means biological sex, and is not modified by the holding of a...

Make the Equality Act clear!

Our petition to the UK goverment has xx,xxx signatures.
Can you help us get it to 100,000? Find out more.

Sign the petition now

People deserve respect, but ideas do not. We need to be able to speak the truth about sex to protect everybody's rights, and hold institutions to account.

Maya Forstater, Sex Matters Co-Founder

For rights to be respected in a democratic society it must be possible to debate them, exercise them and advocate for their implementation.

Rebecca Bull, Sex Matters Co-Founder

The law can't change the material reality of sex. Pretending it can causes real harms, and liabilities.

Naomi Cunningham, Sex Matters Co-Founder

The words male and female have a very clear biological meaning, not up for postmodern deconstruction. They do not refer to social categories, but to human anatomy.

Emma Hilton, Sex Matters Co-Founder

Clarity about sex is crucial for safeguarding everybody’s human rights.

We are campaigning to establish that sex matters in rules, laws, policies, language and culture. We aim to:

1

Establish clarity on single sex services
2

Enable people to speak up
3

Make debate possible

What we do

We lobby for clarity on sex in law and institutions.
We publish research, guidance and analysis.
We support and mobilise people to speak up.
We hold organisations accountable.

Our principles

Reality

There are two sexes: female and male. People shouldn’t be afraid to say this.
Clarity

Organisations and governments should be clear about the sexes and where sex matters.
Human rights

Everybody’s human rights matter, including private life, freedom of beliefs and speech.
Democracy

A cohesive society depends on open debate and evidence-based policy making.

Latest updates

Petition to make the Equality Act clear – campaign webinar

Tuesday 6th December, 7.30pm to 8.30pm Join Maya Forstater and Helen Joyce of Sex Matters, and campaigners @MsGiveZeroFox and...

29th November 2022
Our response to the NHS interim service specification consultation

The NHS’s public consultation regarding the interim service specification for youth gender services ends on 4th December. We would encourage...

29th November 2022
Mass harassment in HM Prisons and Probation Service

As reported in The Telegraph today, HM Prisons and Probation Service’s Pride in Prison and Probation (PiPP) staff network...

20th November 2022
Helen Joyce speaks at Caius College

On 25th October 2022, Sex Matters’ Director of Advocacy Helen Joyce spoke at an event at Gonville and Caius...

15th November 2022

View all latest