Healthcare
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Getting “sex” right in digital verification services
The UK government is developing a system for digital verification services (DVSs). The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill which is now at committee stage in the House of Lords is establishing the legal framework for this. The legislation will lead to the development of a “digital identity and...
17th April 2024
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The Cass Review – initial analysis
The Cass Review of gender-identity services for children and young people has published its final report and recommendations. Sex Matters says: This is a breakthrough. It’s a huge step forward, with multiple implications that will be hugely consequential.
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The Cass Review is a damning indictment of what the NHS has been doing to children
Dr Hilary Cass has submitted her final report and recommendations to NHS England in her role as Chair of the Independent Review of gender identity services for children and young people. Hilary Cass’s report demolishes the entire basis for the current model of treating gender-distressed children. Its publication is...
10th April 2024
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Imported gender ideology is damaging the NHS
The NHS is losing essential data that keeps people safe Everyone’s medical records should show essential information about them, including age, sex and medical history. But lobbying by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), a transgender ideology activist group, has led to confusion and obfuscation in the...
12th March 2024
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WPATH: The truth about “gender-affirming healthcare”
What are the “WPATH files” and why are they in the news? The “WPATH files” are documents leaked from the internal chatboard of an organisation called the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). They shine a light on how so-called “gender-affirming care” or “transgender medicine” is leading to...
5th March 2024
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WPATH in the UK
A list of organisations in the UK influenced by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and lobby groups that have pushed its approach to gender medicine.
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Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG)
Group of clinicians concerned at established medical bodies’ and regulators’ uncritical support for experimental treatments for gender-confused and gender-distressed people. (For names of members, visit the website.) Advocates for clearer dialogue, better data collection, rigorous science and improved treatment options for gender dysphoria. Calls upon healthcare organisations to develop...
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Evidence-Based Social Work Alliance (EBSWA)
Coalition of practitioners, academics and students in the field of social work. Formed as a response to concerns about the impact of gender-identity theory in their field. Argues that social workers’ legal responsibilities to safeguard children are being put at risk by the lack of an evidence base for...
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What is the indelible mark left by the NHS Rainbow Badge scheme?
The organisers of the NHS Rainbow Badge scheme have announced that it has come to an end due to lack of funding. But project lead Alex Matheson says that “the project has left an indelible mark” on NHS trusts. The scheme was created in a London hospital in 2018...
22nd February 2024
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Lords debate conversion therapy
On Friday 9th February 2024 Baroness Burt’s Private Member’s Bill proposing a ban on “conversion therapy” was debated in the House of Lords. Twenty-nine peers spoke against it and fifteen in favour. This was the first time some important arguments had been heard in Parliament. While those in favour...
21st February 2024
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The House of Lords debate on conversion therapy
On Friday 9th February 2024 Baroness Burt’s Private Member's Bill proposing a ban on "conversion therapy" was debated in the House of Lords. Twenty-nine peers spoke against it and fifteen in favour. Some important arguments were heard in Parliament for the first time.
21st February 2024
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Conversion therapy… again
The proposal to legislate to criminalise “conversion therapy” is back again, this time as a private members’ bill introduced by the Liberal Democrat Baroness Burt. It is being debated in the House of Lords today. Private members’ bills don’t usually become law, but they do give a chance to...
9th February 2024
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Conversion therapy and the Cooper report – parliamentary briefing
See also our more detailed parliamentary briefing on conversion therapy.
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Parliamentary briefing: conversion therapy
A detailed briefing on the issues. See also our short briefings on conversion therapy and the Cooper report and understanding the Galop survey.
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Sex Matters’ draft response to the Department for Education consultation on guidance for schools on gender-questioning children
Draft version for feedback – read the DfE draft guidance for consultation.
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Who should develop guidelines on transgender healthcare?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) is developing new guidelines for transgender health. It announced the proposed members of the group to do this on 18th December 2023 (see the Daily Mail report to find out who’s who). The planned guidelines are set to cover: Following complaints about the short...
30th January 2024
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An Epic crisis is unfolding in the NHS
Since October, several NHS trusts in England have been using new £450 million NHS patient-data software produced by US-based IT company Epic Systems. This has been programmed by local teams to record the “gender identity” of babies. For adults, the system has been programmed to register patients according to...
29th November 2023
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Sex-based language matters in healthcare – webinar
On Thursday 30th November 2023, our director of advocacy, Helen Joyce, talked to Karleen Gribble, an academic at Western Sydney University, and Elaine Miller, aka @GussieGrips, a physiotherapist and comedian, about the harmful trend to erase sex-based language when talking about women in health and social care, and in...
22nd November 2023
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Putting remembrance in context
Today, 20th November, is Trans Day of Remembrance, which has been marked annually since 2011 and is intended to commemorate the deaths of trans-identified people caused by transphobia. It has rapidly become a fixture in transactivists’ campaigning calendar. Unevidenced claims about the outsize risks faced by trans people, the...
20th November 2023
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Response to NHS England consultation on Interim Clinical Policy: Puberty suppressing hormones for children and adolescents who have gender incongruence/dysphoria
Our response to this NHS consultation on an interim clinical policy, which closed on 1st November 2023
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Policy proposal: Legislation to ban modern conversion therapy
Any law to ban conversion therapy should seek to solve problems that exist today, not symbolically fight the battles of yesterday.
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Data matters
Advice on the questions you should ask when collecting personal data on sex and transgender identity. See also our template letter of complaint to send when you are concerned that an organisation is misusing your data by confusing sex and gender.
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‘Feminist approach’ to cancer could save lives of 800,000 women a year
Andrew Gregory, health editor, The Guardian
Gender inequality and discrimination impede timely diagnoses and quality care for women around the world, says report. -
NHS issues school trans guide to help teachers, schools and parents after ministers dither on issuing official advice
Connor Stringer for the Mail Online.
NHS say schools should not let kids 'socially transition' without parental consent The advice is designed for NHS staff working with children as well as teachers -
Sex and gender: a contemporary reader
Two directors of Sex Matters, Michael Biggs and Emma Hilton, have contributed chapters to Sex and Gender: A Contemporary Reader, an academic book just published by Routledge and edited by Alice Sullivan (who is in Sex Matters’ advisory group) and Selina Todd. Three further chapters are contributed by members...
18th September 2023
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Doctors at GOSH advised not to use the terms ‘boys and girls’
Charles Hymas, Social Affairs Editor, The Telegraph.
Staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital told to avoid words such as ‘guys, gents and dudes’ when talking to groups and stop using ‘gendered language’ in new guidance document. -
The NHS is accused of ‘trying to erase women’ as dozens of trusts sign up to Rainbow Badge scheme that marks down hospitals for using words like ‘mother’
Martin Beckford, policy editor for the Daily Mail
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Lib Dem activists say menstruation ‘not just a women’s issue’ as party to debate motion
Katie Harris, political reporter for the Express
Maya Forstater of Sex Matters is quoted. “Of course menstruation is solely a women's issue – only women have uteruses, and so only women can menstruate.” -
Resources for parents
Starting points for parents looking for support, advice and information (mainly focused on the UK) on how to help gender-questioning, gender-distressed and trans-identifying children.
12th July 2023
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Maya Forstater hits out at ‘ideologically captured’ CPS for guidelines stating parents could be charged with domestic abuse for refusing to pay for their child’s transgender treatment or not using their preferred pronoun
Harry Howard for Mail Online
Maya Forstater is quoted at length. -
Reality vs. Trans Ideology | Helen Joyce & Peter Boghossian
Peter and Helen discuss the definition of sex, why trans men should be allowed in women’s spaces, the tragedy of the commons, fa’afafine, evolution, the “thought-terminating cliché,” the tribal fear of rejection, the cultivation of mental illness, why institutions are losing their North Stars, and much more.
1:10:31 on...