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Sex Matters in the media

Mentions of Sex Matters in the press from 18th August 2023 are listed and searchable below. Before that, we kept a chronological archive.

2024

19th April

Beginning this week’s coverage, Andrew Doyle, writing for Spiked on how the Cass Review shames the gay-rights establishment, quoted Helen Joyce on the notion that “gender medicine” is underpinned by the belief that we each have a “gender identity”, which Helen has previously described as something like a “sexed soul”.

Helen was also quoted by Gabriella Swerling and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph, reporting that Jon Arcelus, professor emeritus at Nottingham University, was on WPATH’s internal message boards discussing surgeries that give men fake vaginas alongside their penises, or women fake penises alongside their vaginas, or even removing all sex organs. There is “no evidence that these risky and bizarre procedures are ever clinically indicated”, Helen said, and added that Arcelus has questions to answer: “Will the clinic he’s linked to start offering these surgeries? Does he think the NHS should be paying for them?”

Writing for The Telegraph, Ben Rumbsy quoted Fiona McAnena in an article on the International Olympic Committee’s funding of research into transgender athletes that claims they are at a physical disadvantage to biological females. Fiona pointed out that as part of the study, trans-identifying males participated in subjective tests, such as being asked to prove that they can’t jump very high or blow into a tube for long. She asked why they would try their hardest, when trying less hard gets them into women’s sport.

Next, in a review of Judith Butler’s new book for Quillette, Holly Lawford-Smith cites Butler’s promise to consider and analyse the arguments of Sex Matters, JK Rowling, Kathleen Stock and Holly herself in the book. Butler doesn’t reference Sex Matters again in the book.

Writing on the BBC’s poor coverage of sex and gender issues, Charlie Walsham noted in The Spectator that three years after her book was published, Helen was finally invited on to the BBC for an interview following the publication of the Cass Review.

Sex Matters board member Emma Hilton was quoted in a story by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on how taxpayers are funding a PhD researcher to explore “transphobia” in archaeology, raising the matter that “when an archaeologist finds human remains, it is a fact that there [sic] only two choices for gender identification”. Emma said that a female Viking warrior buried with male-typical war possessions tells us only that some women successfully broke through early glass ceilings. The news was also covered by Holly Bishop for GB News.

Writing on how adult NHS gender clinics have bowed to pressure to share missing data following their initial failure to do for the Cass Review, Eleanor Hayward and James Beal for The Times quoted Sex Matters, Transgender Trend and LGB Alliance’s letter to Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, which said that public-sector bodies deliberately withholding information is disgraceful and a dereliction of duty.

James also wrote an article on a letter to The Times from Sex Matters, Transgender Trend, LGB Alliance, Fair Play for Women, Conservatives for Women, Labour Women’s Declaration and Merched Cymru, which called on Stonewall to withdraw claims against Baroness Falkner of Margravine, chair of the EHRC, following Stonewall’s comments about the “toxicity” of debate.

Writing on the problems of having a “non-binary” marathon class in The Telegraph, Mara Yamauchi mentioned that one of the key figures in the New York “non-binary” running scene, Justin Solle – who plans to run the London Marathon – tweeted “f— these terfs” about Maya Forstater.

On Talk TV, Julia Hartley-Brewer talked to Fiona about a new survey of female athletes showing that most do not want males of any identity in their sporting categories.

In a powerful article on how truth was sacrificed for status by centrists in the public eye such as TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp, Mary Harrington for UnHerd mentioned Maya’s call for science communicator and Humanists UK president Adam Rutherford to defend systematic scientific reviews against transactivists who are spreading misinformation about the Cass Review.

Arguing in the New European that an aspiring Labour government cannot avoid the questions raised in the Cass Review, Matthew D’Ancona paid tribute to Maya and Helen in a list of “courageous” women who have demonstrated extraordinary work and persistence in promoting the biological reality of sex.

Finally, Alex Ward, writing in the Daily Mail on the announcement that Scotland’s Sandyford gender clinic will pause the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to under 18s, quoted Maya as saying that she hopes this will be the beginning of a long-overdue winding back of NHS Scotland’s ideology-based approach to so-called gender medicine.

12th April

This week’s news began with coverage of the announcement that Sex Matters has been granted charitable status. Harriet Whitehead for Civil Society and Emily Harle for Third Sector covered Sex Matters’ objectives to promote human rights where they relate to biological sex, advance education about sex and the law, and promote the sound administration of the law in relation to sex and equality in the law.

Next was an article by Hayley Dixon for The Telegraph on the withdrawal of Church of England schools guidance from Bath and Wells Multi-Academy Trust, which told teachers that they would probably be breaking the law if they said a person cannot change their biological sex. Maya Forstater said that it was shocking that the policy, which undermines safeguarding and breaches the Equality Act, was agreed by the trust.

Also writing for The Telegraph, Charlotte Gill covered the news that Kate Luxion, a researcher who claims that “trans womens’ milk is as good as breast milk”, has taxpayer funding. Helen Joyce said if Ms Luxion’s claim that inducing lactation in trans-identifying men results in milk that is “better” than mother’s milk is representative of the quality of her research, then that research has been a monumental waste of taxpayers’ money.  

Next was coverage of the news that Layla Le Fey, a man who identifies as a woman, was spared jail on account of mental-health struggles after threatening to attack and kill Helen and Kellie-Jay Keen. The story was covered by Eirian Jan Prosser for the Daily Mail, Jo Wadsworth for Brighton and Hove News, and The Argus.  

In a preview of the Cass Review, Katherine Lawton for the Daily Mail wrote about expectations that the report would rule that children who are socially transitioned could face psychological repercussions. Maya was quoted as saying that doctors are having to deal with gender-confused children who have already been socially transitioned at school for years, and are, as a result, very disturbed by the idea of going through puberty.

The Cass Review dominated media coverage for the remainder of the week. Helen’s comments that the report demolishes the entire basis for the current model of treating gender-distressed children, and that it is a shameful day for NHS England, were covered by Eleanor Hayward, James Beal, Lucy Bannerman and Steven Swinford for The Times, Alex Ward, Shaun Wooller and Harriet Line for the Daily Mail, Michael Searles, Laura Donnelly and Daniel Martin for The Telegraph, Jack Elsom for The Sun, and George Bunn for GB News.

Maya wrote for The Sun on what the Cass Review means for parents and teachers, and said that the report should give parents and head teachers the confidence to say no to demands to socially transition children. She said that many health professionals lost sight of the principles of normal practice, and that gender-distressed children and their families were failed by services that were supposed to support them.

Eleanor, James, Lucy and Steven quoted Helen in an article for The Times on Cass’s assessment that GPs are scared off treating children over gender identity. Helen said that report is the nail in the coffin for the so-called ‘gender-affirming’ treatment model, and that the total lack of evidence base is laid bare for everyone to see.

Putting a spotlight on cowboy private clinics that provide children with puberty blockers, Alex for the Daily Mail and Michael Searles and Genevieve Holl-Allen for The Telegraph quoted Fiona McAnena as saying that Dr Cass did her best to tackle private clinics, but shutting them down is beyond the scope of her review and ministers must now act urgently.

Next came the news that Health Secretary Victoria Atkins is launching a review into adult gender clinics and has met with the head of NHS England to demand that clinics cooperate with research, after failing to do so as part of the Cass Review. Eleanor for The Times quoted Helen as saying that adults, just as much as children, deserve evidence-based care and the evidence is equally as lacking in adult gender medicine as it is in paediatric services. Alex and Shaun for the Daily Mail and Daniel and Michael for The Telegraph quoted Sex Matters board member Professor Michael Biggs, who said it was disgraceful that gender clinicians employed by the NHS wilfully obstructed Hilary Cass’s attempt to undertake research as part of her review, and that it was a dereliction of duty for these NHS clinics to refuse to provide patient information. 

Shaun also wrote for the Daily Mail that the BBC continues to direct parents and children to Mermaids on its website, suggesting that the charity can be contacted for information and support. Fiona said that it is a scandal that the national broadcaster is still promoting the discredited charity Mermaids, which promotes the false claim that gender distress elevates a child’s risk of suicide and that puberty blockers are “life-saving”.

Maya and Helen did several broadcast interviews on the Cass Review, with Helen appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast with Rick Edwards, and in two interviews on TalkTV with Kevin O’Sullivan and Alex Phillips, and JJ Anisiobi. She also did an extended interview with veteran Australian broadcaster Mike Jeffreys on Sydney’s 2GB. Maya was interviewed by Tom Harwood and Emily Carver for GB News and also appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on TalkTV.

Writing for The Telegraph, Michael and Laura revealed that Dr Derek Glidden of the Nottingham Centre for Transgender Health and Dr Laura Charlton from the Leeds Gender Identity Clinic were two of the clinicians who refused to participate in research as part of the Cass Review.

Meanwhile, writing for The Times, James and Steven covered the Cass Review’s suggestion that doctors and psychologists should not be criminalised for exploring a child’s gender distress, amid concerns over a ban on conversion therapy. Maya clarified that the Cass Review says that children should have exploratory therapy, which falls within what some people think is “conversion therapy”.

Members of the Sex Matters team were mentioned as being part of JK Rowling’s “sex-based rights squad” in an article by Jon Brady for the Daily Mail on the author’s close network of supporters.

Finally, Fiona was quoted in coverage of the International Olympic Committee’s funding of research that claims that male athletes who identify as women are at a physical disadvantage to women. In an article by Ben Rumbsy for The Telegraph, Fiona said that it is disappointing that the committee is still looking at how to allow males to access women’s sport when that can only disadvantage women, who already get less funding and less access to sport.

5th April

This week’s coverage began with an exclusive by Will Hazell in the Sunday Telegraph on how a leaked HR policy on “gender identity” revealed that female employees of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) could face disciplinary action if they object to trans colleagues using their lavatories. Fiona McAnena said that the staff documents were inaccurate and inflammatory, and that they help explain why the ONS made a mess of the 2021 Census question on sex and “gender identity”. The news was also covered by Alesia Fiddler for the Daily Mail and Amelia Brand from HR Review.

Fiona was the feature interview on Nana Akua’s show on GB News on Sunday, and spoke about how she came to be a campaigner on sex-based rights, why men don’t belong in women’s prisons, and the status of men in women’s sport.

This was followed by an article by Steph Spyro for the Daily Express on how changing gender on official papers is too easy amid a record high in changes to driving licences. Maya Forstater said that the ease at which official documents can be altered is concerning, and that altered paperwork may be used by trans-identifying people to put pressure on service providers – such as gyms – to allow them into facilities for the opposite sex.

Next was an exposé by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on how a transactivist civil service staff network, a:gender, that had produced training comparing gender-critical activists with the Ku Klux Klan was given £200K of taxpayers’ money. Maya said that all these workshops really do is encourage civil servants to bully and silence anyone who understands that sex is real and sometimes it matters. The news was also covered by Georgina Cutler of GB News.

Alex Ward for the Daily Mail and Jonathan Ames and Catherine Baksi for The Times covered Maya’s letter to the Lady Chief Justice and the Justice Secretary regarding comments made by High Court judge Master Victoria McCloud, a man who identifies as a woman. Maya said that McCloud, who is the subject of two complaints to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, has been engaging publicly and inappropriately in debates on sex and gender. 

The launch of Scotland’s hate-crime measures dominated the news this week. Helen Joyce did broadcast interviews with presenters Jake Berry on TalkTV, Julia Hartley-Brewer on TalkTV, and Peta Credlin on Sky News Australia. 

JK Rowling’s social media post in support of Maya was referenced in several articles on the author’s commentary on Scotland’s hate-crime laws coming into force this week, including Billie Schwab Dunn for Newsweek, Andy Gregory for The Independent, Jennifer Jones for the Scottish Sun, USA Today, and Ryan Smith for Newsweek.

Finally, covering Roz Adams’ employment tribunal against Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, Mike Wade for The Times referred to barrister Naomi Cunningham’s role as chair of Sex Matters in an article on how the tribunal heard that the centre hid the sex of its counsellors from victims of sexual assault. The news was also covered by Georgina Cutler of GB News.

29th March

This week’s coverage began with an article by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham’s letter to BBC director-general Tim Davie in November 2023 making an offer of a process of strategic engagement with experts on sex and gender, which Davie did not not take up. Fiona McAnena said that considering the extent of the BBC’s engagement with trans activist lobby groups in recent years, it’s a shame he didn’t want to hear another perspective. The news was also covered by Jack Walters for GB News.

The news on NHS England’s decision to allow 15-year-olds to access cross-sex hormones was covered by Meg Byrom and Chris Pollard for the Daily Mail, with Helen Joyce quoted as saying that the NHS must urgently rethink before any more children are harmed by medical practices that are driven by ideology rather than evidence of clinical benefit.

An article by Patrick West for Spiked on why it took so long for NHS England to ban puberty blockers included comments from Helen on how the radical trans movement persuaded people that giving blanket rights to trans people was simply the next step in a narrative of liberation. 

Maya Forstater was interviewed by Nick Ferrari on LBC on the news that Elspeth Duemmer Wrigley, a lawyer working for an arms-length body to a government department (part of the Civil Service), is being sued for her gender-critical beliefs, including expressing the belief that only women menstruate.

Connor Stringer for the Daily Mail covered the news that CBBC presenter Dr Ronx Ikharia led protests outside CAN-SG’s conference at the Royal College of General Practitioners. Helen said that Ikharia is somebody with an influence on children, and that adults at the protest were behaving like tantruming toddlers. Writing on the protest for Spiked, Jo Bartosch quoted Sex Matters board member Professor Michael Biggs as saying that all the protesters achieved was to emphasise why CAN-SG’s mission is vital.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward covered the news that St John Ambulance is pressuring job applicants to include pronouns in their job applications, with a prompt on the significance of pronoun use appearing if applicants choose to decline to enter pronouns. Helen Joyce said that this feels like an opportunistic way to “educate” unsuspecting people that so-called gender identity matters more than sex, and toes close to the line in terms of compelled belief.

Finally, Alex also broke the news that a grandfather who identifies as a woman attempted to breastfeed his granddaughter as part of a Duke University study on treatment protocols relating to “gender medicine”. Maya Forstater said that babies cannot consent to being participants in such a study, and that men should not be permitted or supported to get between babies and their mothers. The story was covered by Melissa Koenig for the New York Post.

22nd March

This week’s news began with coverage by Jack Maidment, Nick Gutteridge and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on Liz Truss’s proposed reforms on sex and gender not being debated in Parliament due to lengthy speeches by Labour MPs on pets, including ferrets. Fiona McAnena said that the lack of debate was very disappointing, and that Parliament must now legislate urgently to prevent private clinics from continuing to expose children to harmful treatments in the name of “gender medicine”.

Daniel Martin followed this up in The Telegraph with coverage of Judy Murray’s retweet of a Sex Matters post on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s plans to clarify the Equality Act. Murray asked the Prime Minister what he is waiting for, and urged him to act now. The story was also covered by Douglas Dickie in the Scottish Daily Express.

Writing for Conservative Home, Maya Forstater called for the Prime Minister to show leadership by supporting Kemi Badenoch to amend the Equality Act. Maya argued that this could be done with a simple piece of legislation: a one-line amendment to make clear that the definition of sex relates to biology, as proposed by Truss. 

Following last week’s news on NHS England’s ban of puberty blockers, Sex Matters board member Dr Michael Biggs wrote for The Telegraph on how he took on the puberty-blocker orthodoxy and won. 

The BBC’s treatment of sex and gender was back in the news this week, with Fiona’s recent quote on the treatment of presenter Justin Webb used in an article by Robin Aitken and Liam Kelly for The Telegraph. BBC director-general Tim Davie’s remarks to MPs that the BBC must be kind, caring and nice to people on matters of sex and gender were widely derided, as covered by Henry Bodkin, James Warrington and Anita Singh for The Telegraph. Fiona was quoted as saying that the job of the BBC is not to be kind, caring and nice, but to be factual and impartial. She added that the statement from BBC’s head of editorial standards, David Jordan, on the sensitivity of calling men who identify as women “male” got to the heart of how the BBC is damaging its reputation and credibility.

Maya’s case was referenced in an article by Georgina Calvert-Lee for People Management on how to handle philosophical belief investigations; by nurse Amy Gallagher, who appeared on Sky News Australia with Rita Pahani to speak about the silencing of debate in relation to the Tavistock Clinic; by Lauren Smith for Spiked on the damage caused by diversity initiatives in the workplace; and by Jill Foster for the Daily Mail on the silencing of university researcher Laura Favaro.

It was also mentioned by Rob Moss for Personnel Today, who was covering the news that the co-chair of the civil service’s gender-critical network SEEN is being sued for saying that only women have periods. Writing about this case for The Times, Katie Gibbons quoted Maya, who said that civil servants should not expect to be kept “safe” from encountering ideas or people they don’t agree with. Maya also went on LBC Radio with Nick Ferrari to discuss the case.

Writing for Northern Ireland’s News Letter, Adam Kula covered DUP MP Carla Lockhart’s call for the removal of transgender-themed children’s books from libraries and included comments from Fiona that it is irresponsible to encourage children to wonder if they’re male or female because they like the “wrong” clothes, or to say that a boy might be a girl inside.

Finally, Sex Matters board member Dr Emma Hilton was quoted by Craig Simpson in The Telegraph in relation to the news that the Hastings Museum and Art Gallery has produced a trail guide that says that pheasants are “queer” and can change sex. Emma said the claims were nonsense and that we would not say that older women had changed sex if they have a bit of a moustache. The news was also covered by Ed Holt for the Daily Mail.

15th March

This week’s news coverage began with Greg Heffer in the Daily Mail writing on Liz Truss’s call for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to back her private member’s bill, which would change the legal definition of sex to “biological”. Maya Forstater said that the bill focuses on the three areas where clarity in the law is urgently needed to combat the influence of lobby groups that have captured institutions and are misrepresenting the law.

Next was an article by Oliver Brown in the Sunday Telegraph on Sir Keir Starmer’s comments which recognised the importance of biological sex in sport. The article quoted Sex Matters’ survey in 2023 showing that fewer than one in three people in Britain believed that men identifying as women should be permitted in women’s sports, changing rooms or bathrooms.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Oliver Price covered the news that police may have recorded transactivist India Willoughby’s complaint against JK Rowling for ‘misgendering’ him as a non-crime hate incident (NCHI). Maya was quoted as saying that Rowling’s comments did not meet the bar for a recording of a NCHI and that Northumbria Police needs to defend its decision to record a woman speaking in factual terms about a man who has persistently hounded her as a “hate incident”.

The big news of the week was NHS England’s announcement that it would ban the prescription of puberty blockers for children. Maya told Michael Searles in The Telegraph, Denis Campbell in The Guardian and Eleanor Hayward, Lucy Bannerman and Charlotte Alt in The Times that the news was a momentous development in the course correction of NHS England’s approach to treating childhood gender distress. Predictably, Stonewall continued to call puberty blockers a “reversible” treatment in its response to the news, which underscored Maya’s comment that the significance of NHS England’s statement that there is not enough evidence to support the safety or clinical effectiveness of puberty blockers cannot be overstated, given the success that activist lobby groups have had in portraying them as a harmless and reversible treatment.

Maya appeared on TalkTV twice: first to talk to Julia Hartley-Brewer about the Health and Equality Acts (Amendment) Bill due to be debated on Friday 15th March and secondly to discuss the news on puberty blockers with André Walker.

Sex Matters board member Dr Michael Biggs was quoted in a follow-up article by Eleanor Hayward and Lucy Bannerman in The Times focusing on calls to close the loophole on private clinics prescribing puberty blockers to children, which Maya described as a “wild west” operation. Michael said that private clinics must be stopped from exploiting vulnerable children and adolescents as a matter of urgency, and that if this does not happen, those clinics will continue to provide these drugs on demand. This story was also covered by Iwan Stone in the Daily Mail.

Lucy Bannerman wrote a further article in The Times on how puberty blockers for teenagers became normalised in the NHS, which mentioned Sex Matters’ supporting role in the publication of the WPATH files.

In other news, Helen Joyce was quoted in an article by Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express on how Police Scotland is recording thousands of “hate incidents”. Helen said that reporting ordinary words as “hate incidents” has become a standard move of extreme transactivists who want to silence campaigners for women’s rights, and that Police Scotland’s recording of these suggests that the force is ignoring guidance intended to ensure that police treat such claims in a less biased and credulous way.

Writing for The Guardian, Richard Adams covered the call from unions for the government’s guidance for schools on sex and gender to be clearer, with teachers and school leaders concerned that they could be vulnerable to losing court cases. He quoted Sex Matters’ consultation response which said that schools are not clinics, and teachers are not clinicians. 

Finally, in an article for the Daily Mail, Shaun Wooller and Alex Ward reported on how new NHS England guidance said that “not everyone who experiences menopause is a woman”, before the document was quickly deleted. Fiona McAnena said that the new guidance is the latest example of the NHS deliberately ignoring instructions from the health secretary last year to return to sex-based language, and causes particular confusion for people with learning difficulties or English as a second language.

8th March

The week began with Helen Joyce’s analysis of gender insanity in The Critic, charting the legal cases fought by gender-critical women since she first met Maya Forstater, five years ago. Drawing an analogy with the Crusaders, Helen wondered how long it will take to restore sanity given how many people make their living, one way or another, from gender ideology. 

Lauren Smith, writing for Spiked about Justin Webb’s reprimand from the BBC for saying that transwomen are “male”, wondered why the BBC is spreading misinformation. She quoted Fiona McAnena from last week’s Telegraph article pointing out that Webb was simply doing his job and explaining to listeners terms that we know are widely misunderstood. 

Reporting on the same case in The Sun, Thomas Godfrey also quoted Fiona, who pointed out that disciplining a presenter who had simply stated biological reality means that “the BBC has lost all credibility”.

Michael Murphy wrote in The Telegraph about a claim that trans-rights activists in the civil service have been undermining policies. The claim was made in a 30-page letter sent to the Cabinet Office by SEEN (Sex Equality and Equity Network), a group of 700 gender-critical civil servants. He quoted Maya, who called the letter “devastating” and said that gender ideology was embedded across Whitehall and there was bullying behind closed doors.

Also in The Telegraph, Tom Morgan reported on a girls’ football league in Yorkshire “at risk of sanctions” for refusing to let a boy play. Fiona was quoted pointing out that the Football Association claims to be supporting the women’s game, but is allowing the demands of one boy to override girls’ needs. The law is clear that female-only sport is allowed, she said: “It’s sex discrimination for the FA to tell girls they must accept a male player.” Daisy Graham-Brown reported on the same case for the Daily Mail, with a picture of Fiona alongside a quote. 

In a shocking article about the mistreatment of female survivors of violence at a council meeting in the Brighton and Hove News, Jean Calder listed Maya as an example of gender-critical beliefs being protected in law. 

For the New York Post, Yaron Steinbuch reported on a poll finding that 29% of scientists at UK universities disagree with the statement that sex is binary. Helen Joyce commented on how muddled supposedly bright people seemed to be about very basic facts, and on the striking confidence displayed by the almost two-thirds who agreed that “gender is fluid”, which she characterised as “a strikingly confident statement about a nebulous concept”. 

The Daily Mail celebrated International Women’s Day with an article by Rosie Duffield and Jill Foster featuring stylish photographs of Sex Matters’ three directors alongside other “battle-hardened campaigners”. Artist Sonya Douglas, a member of Sex Matters’ advisory group, was also featured. 

Also in the Mail, education editor Eleanor Harding wrote about an analysis of 44,000 stories written by under-12s that found a surge in tales about “left-wing issues”, including transgenderism. Maya described this as a disturbing indication of how much children in primary schools have been indoctrinated in gender theory. She also pointed out the serious safeguarding concerns raised by this: “the pathology of gender dysphoria is being promoted to children as a way to be special”.

On TalkTV, Helen talked to Julia Hartley-Brewer about the significance of the leaked WPATH files. “It’s literally not medicine that’s going on, is what these files show,” Helen said, citing as an example the entire chapter of WPATH’s standards of care devoted to eunuch identities.   

The WPATH leaks were also discussed on The Reaction, a talk show launched by the Daily Mail in January. Sarah Vine and Andrew Pierce interviewed Maya, who said that the files show that doctors advocating for the use of puberty blockers were well aware of the potential risks to children.

On GB News’s ‘Good Afternoon Britain‘, Maya spoke to Tom Harwood and Emily Carver about the row on Twitter in which trans-identifying man India Willoughby claims to have reported JK Rowling to the police for referring to him as a man. “People are free to use their own words,” she said, adding that Willoughby’s remarks about kidnap – which referred to Rowling, Maya and Joanna Cherry MP, and which read like a threat – were deeply alarming. 

And finally, writing for the Daily Express, Katie Harris and Sam Lister quoted Helen saying that an “awful” scene between a 12-year-old girl and a much older trans-identifying man in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks “should have been scrapped in the writers’ room”.

1st March

This week’s news coverage began with Sean Rayment’s article for the Sunday Telegraph on the fact that 70 per cent of transgender prisoners are in for sex offences or violent crimes. The article featured the testimony of a former female remand prisoner who said that one male prisoner housed inside a female high-security prison continuously bullied female prisoners. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that presence of men in women’s prisons immediately makes every female inmate feel unsafe, and that HM Prisons needs to finish the job and ensure all prisons are truly single-sex.

Next was an exclusive by Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express on Aberdeenshire Council’s plan to survey primary-school children on the design of toilets for future council buildings, including the provision of gender-neutral or mixed-sex facilities. Helen Joyce said that child safeguarding is the responsibility of adults, not children, and that it is disgraceful to see adults abdicate responsibility by surveying children like this. The news was also covered by Simon Johnson for The Telegraph and Ivan Prothero for the Daily Mail.

Tim Sigsworth followed with an exclusive for The Telegraph on the news that Stonewall funded the Church of England schools guidance that said primary-school children can be transgender. Helen said this was proof of Stonewall’s influence behind the scenes, and a wake-up call for the church – and all other school leaders – to put safeguarding first and refuse to take money from or work with any organisation that does not.

Next, Ewan Somerville and Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph covered JK Rowling’s frustration that judges had been told to refer to male cat killer and murderer Scarlet Blake as a woman. In her capacity as a barrister, Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham was quoted as saying that the advice on personal pronouns and identity in the Equal Treatment Bench Book is ideological, dangerous and anti-women. 

Ewan and Gabriella followed up this story with an article that confirmed that the crimes of  Scarlet Blake would be officially recorded as having been committed by a woman. Maya said that the government should tell police forces to stop affirming criminals’ fantasies and get back to their day job of investigating crime and bringing wrongdoers to justice.

Maya made further comments on the story in an article for the Daily Express, which argued that calling men women and women men within the justice system distorts the principle of telling “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.

Writing for PinkNews, Amelia Hansford covered Sex Matters’ statement on Helen being stalked and photographed on the train with colleagues while researching the role of fan fiction in young women’s adoption of trans identities. Sex Matters told PinkNews that the research was part of her ongoing work to counter the pernicious influence of gender-identity ideology.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Dan Grennan covered the news that police officers with a trans identity will only be allowed to strip search suspects of the same biological sex under new government plans, following concerns that women’s safety was being compromised. The article mentioned Sex Matters’ previous comments that the current policy would lead to “state-sanctioned sexual assault” and the “humiliation” of female suspects.

Finally, in an article for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin covered the news that BBC presenter Justin Webb was being disciplined for calling men with a trans identity “males” on air. Fiona McAnena said that ruling clearly shows the BBC has lost sight of its statutory duty, as the national, taxpayer-funded broadcaster, to be impartial. She said that Webb was simply doing his job, since a third of the population are uncertain what the term “trans women” means.

23rd February

This week’s coverage began with Alex Ward and Oliver Price’s coverage in the Daily Mail of John Lewis’s new staff magazine Identity, which gave advice on breast binders for children. Helen Joyce said that the newsletter demonstrates how far brands are willing to go to placate the vocal minority of activists on their staff.

Next was an article by Sanchez Manning for the Mail on Sunday on the Scouts’ plan to hire a diversity officer on a £75K salary. Maya Forstater, who has been an assistant Cub Scout leader, said that the Scouts have serious issues with class, race and religion because traditionally they are white and middle-class.

Writing for The Observer, Sonia Sodha quoted the People’s History Museum in Manchester’s public apology for hiring out a room to Sex Matters last year in an article on how modern-day censors are posing a danger to artistic expression.

The news that an NHS Trust in Sussex claims that milk produced by men who identify as women and take drugs to induce lactation is as good as a mother’s breast milk was covered widely by local and international news outlets. Michael Searles in The Telegraph and Katie Gibbons in The Times quoted Maya as saying that it was deeply disturbing for NHS executives to prioritise trans identities over what is best for mothers and their babies. International outlets including The College Fix and Nikolas Lanum for Fox News also quoted Maya in their stories.

In a story on JK Rowling’s donation of £70K to For Women Scotland for their Supreme Court appeal, Emily Jane Davies for the Daily Mail mentioned Sex Matters’ submission to the case last year. The case concerns whether a biological man can be counted as a woman if he has a gender-recognition certificate.

Writing for The Spectator, Laurie Westall quoted Sex Matters in an article on how identity politics has infiltrated the judiciary. Laurie referenced Sex Matters’ call for reform of the Equal Treatment Bench Book on the basis that it is ideologically biased towards transgender ideology.

In a frustrating development, Labour MP Ben Bradshaw’s false claim in Parliament that Sex Matters and Transgender Trend are “fringe groups” that “actively campaign against transgender rights” was reported by 21 media outlets as a result of a Press Association Newswire story. Coverage of his remarks included Yahoo News, Daily Mail, The Standard, Kent Online, Belfast Telegraph, Sale & Altringham Messenger, Rhyl, Prestatyn & Abergele Journal, North Wales Pioneer, Richmond & Twickenham Times, Runcorn & Widnes World, Chard and Ilminster News, Gloucestershire Gazette, Whitchurch Herald, South Wales Guardian, The Courier, Bury Times, Stourbridge News, Cumberland News & Star, Hereford Times, The National, Irish News and Northwich & Winsford Guardian.

Bradshaw was later interviewed by James O’Brien on LBC where his remarks above were played back on air, and he went on to assert that both Sex Matters and Transgender Trend are “anti-trans groups”. O’Brien appeared to agree.

Next were stories by Emily Braeger for The Express and Aidan Radnedge for the Daily Mail on the news that Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is set to review guidance stating that military personnel born as men can live in female-only accommodation. Both quoted a tweet from Helen which said that this situation is a court case waiting to happen, and expressed her hope that a claimant comes forward.

Finally, writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward covered Baroness Diana Barran’s concern that some charities are pitting parents against schools by encouraging them to dispute government guidance on sex and gender in school. The article quoted Sex Matters’ previous criticisms of trans lobby group Mermaids’ template letter for parents to send to schools.

16th February

The House of Lords debate on conversion therapy kicked off this week’s news coverage, with Amy Gibbons for The Telegraph quoting Maya Forstater as saying that the debate showed how poorly the idea of banning conversion therapy has been thought through.

Next was coverage of Shahrar Ali’s court battle with the Green Party, with BBC News and Stewart Carr and Lauren Haughey for the Daily Mail both quoting Maya’s case in their news stories.

Writing in The Times, Janice Turner quoted Helen Joyce from a past interview as saying that “there isn’t a way in which a man can become a woman, except linguistically” in her column on the use of language when it comes to sex and gender.

Martin Beckford for the Daily Mail wrote about the axing of NHS England’s Stonewall-backed six-figure Rainbow Badge Scheme, which rewarded trusts for ditching “gendered language”. Helen said that the move was a huge step towards rooting transactivism out of our public institutions.

Next was coverage of the news that 77 doctors have changed their “gender” on the General Medical Council register. Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph quoted Maya as saying that in a similar way to the issue with male police officers searching women, this policy disregards women’s human rights and put women at risk of state-sanctioned sexual assault. The news was also covered by Xantha Leaman for the Daily Mail.

Helen was quoted in an article by Mary Wright for the Sunday Post printed edition on the Scottish Prisons Service’s refusal to reveal survey responses from female prisoners on the inclusion of men in women’s prisons. Helen said that female prisoners have suffered in silence as violent men have been housed alongside them and at a bare minimum deserve the respect of having their voices heard.

Next was coverage by Alex Ward and Jo Bartosch for the Daily Mail of a pensioner who faces a potential £2,500 fine for putting gender-critical posters on her front door, including the cover of Helen’s book Trans: when ideology meets reality.

Finally, Alex also wrote for the Daily Mail on the launch of John Lewis’s new in-house magazine called Identity, which offers tips from Mermaids and Stonewall, and gives advice to parents on chest binders. Helen said it is a contemptuous dismissal of staff members who – like most people in this country – believe that sex is binary and more important than identity, and value sex-based rights.

9th February

This week’s coverage began with a comment from Sex Matters board member Emma Hilton in an article by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on a “queer ecology nature tour” for LGBTQ+ history month at London’s Chelsea Physic Garden. Responding to the tour, which focused on “the interconnectedness between nature and LGBTQ+ history”, Emma said that plants show the fundamental binary nature of all sexual reproduction.

Helen Joyce appeared on GB News’s ‘Free Speech Nation’ with Andrew Doyle to speak about a Newcastle United fan’s suspension from games due to her gender-critical views. Helen said that it was one of the most sinister things she has seen in the five-plus years she has been following the gross overreaches of transgender ideology.

Next was an article by Daniel Martin for The Telegraph on Sex Matters’ letter about Stonewall’s targeting of Baroness Kishwer Falkner, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was co-signed by 38 women’s groups. The letter to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) said that Stonewall had subjected her to the same sort of unreasonable and vexatious complaints used to harass ordinary women at work.

Daniel followed this up with an article in The Telegraph on Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch’s powerful letter regarding evidence that gay young people are being told they are transgender. Helen said that the misguided framing of gender non-conformity as a potential sign of a trans identity is today’s version of the historic atrocities of gay conversion therapy.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Alex Ward covered the news that library staff at Swansea University scrambled to remove Helen’s book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality from an LGBT history month display after one complaint. Helen said that it was outrageous censorship and that her book should be displayed alongside books promoting gender ideology, so that readers can get the full picture and make up their own minds.

Next was an article by Jeremy Wilson and Gabriella Swerling for The Telegraph on Parkrun’s decision to remove all records in response to calls for transgender athletes to be recorded by sex rather than self-identified “gender”. Helen said that the physical advantages that male puberty brings mean the only way women can have fair competition, or be properly recognised for exceptional performance in amateur and participation events, is for their results to be recorded separately from men’s.

Finally, Maya Forstater’s past comments on the involvement of boys in Girlguiding were quoted in an article by Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail on the introduction of a new “inclusive” uniform for Guides and Brownies.

2nd February

Coverage this week began with mention of Maya Forstater’s case in a column by Janice Turner in The Times on the malice of academia following Jo Phoenix’s employment-tribunal victory against the Open University. Maya’s case was also mentioned in an article by Steven Downes and Juliette Rowsell for People Management on what Jo’s win means for employers, and an article by Nina Welsch for The Critic on JK Rowling’s conflicted fandom.

Writing for the Sunday Telegraph, Will Hazell revealed that the Office for National Statistics circulated a memo which suggested that staff might not feel “safe” due to scrutiny of the faulty question on gender in the 2021 census. The memo was written by the ONS’s director of population statistics, Jen Woolford, who is also the “sponsor” of the ONS LGBT staff network. Maya said it was concerning that the same person responsible for defending the unreliable census data is part of a culture that allows emotional blackmail, compelled speech and ideological beliefs to corrupt ONS work.

Alex Ward and Martin Beckford wrote for the Daily Mail on Mermaids’ launch of a template letter drafted by solicitors for “concerned parents” to send to schools following the publication of the Department for Education’s draft guidance on gender-questioning children in schools late last year. Maya said that this campaign is a glimpse of the kind of bullying schools will be subjected to unless the DfE brings out a model policy as part of its new guidance. Sex Matters was also mentioned in an article in Derren Hayes for Children and Young People Now, saying that we disagree with transactivist lawyer Robin Moira White’s views on the new guidance.

Alex also wrote for the Daily Mail on Network Rail’s controversial “Pride Pillar” at a London tube station. Maya said that Network Rail’s investment in flags representing fringe sexual preferences, such as polyamory, and the erasure of sex in favour of gender, is a slap in the face for women and gay people. Maya’s quote was also covered by Jack Walters for GB News.

Writing on the potential conversion-therapy ban looming in Scotland, the Christian Institute referred to Sex Matters’ critique of a 2017 survey which was recently cited by Green councillor Blair Anderson as justification for a ban. Ross Hunter mentioned Sex Matters in an article for The National on gender-critical opposition to a conversion therapy ban in Scotland, which featured voices in favour of a ban from Malta and Germany. 

Meanwhile, writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin quoted Helen Joyce in coverage of the news that Keir Starmer would outlaw all forms of conversion therapy if Labour wins the election. Helen said that Starmer seems more interested in virtue-signalling about identity politics than protecting children’s wellbeing.

In The Telegraph, Chelsie Henshaw quoted Helen in an article on the news that Dundee Women’s Aid is advertising a position to people who “identify as women”. Helen said that the law is clear that jobs can’t be restricted to people who merely “identify” as one sex or the other, and that the ad is a plain case of unlawful discrimination. Writing for The Critic, Shonagh Dillon referred to Sex Matters’ recent report on the impact of gender-identity ideology on women’s services as one of the key documents she would file in a time capsule for historians who may one day study the absurdity of the gender wars.

Finally, Kate Pickles wrote for the Daily Mail on a study from the University of Manchester which was published in The Lancet on the mental health of people who identify as transgender, which has unreliable figures at its core. Maya pointed out that the data at the heart of this study is from a survey that asked the same problematic gender-identity question as the 2021 census, which is currently being reviewed by the national statistics regulator.

26th January

This week’s news coverage began with mention of Sex Matters’ polling in the report on the impact of gender-identity ideology on the women’s sector in an article by Scottish MSP Meghan Gallacher for the Scottish Daily Express. The report was also highlighted in an article by Susan Dalgety for The Scotsman on how Scotland’s rape-crisis centres are in turmoil, with gender ideology threatening female-only services.

In further Scottish coverage, Mary Wright quoted Helen Joyce in an article for the Scottish Daily Express on the news that Police Scotland is defending its policy to allow male officers who identify as female to conduct strip searches on women. Helen said that the force risks permitting state-sanctioned sexual assault and putting police officers in situations that mean they are breaching the human rights of members of the public.

Next was a powerful article by The Telegraph’s chief sports writer Oliver Brown, who argued that it is time that golf crushed noisy trans ideology with common sense. Oliver quoted Naomi Cunningham’s comments in a recent LBC interview in which she said that trans activists seemed to decide that they didn’t have to do any of the usual persuading or marshalling evidence to bring about seismic social and cultural change: all they needed to do was to assert a new reality.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Connor Stringer and Martin Beckford revealed that the Welsh Government handed £100,000 to Stonewall last year and speculated about whether Keir Starmer may follow suit if he becomes Prime Minister. Helen said that given that Stonewall has morphed into a transactivist lobby group that routinely gives incorrect advice on equality law, it is ludicrous any government would hand it a sizeable chunk of public funds.

In an article for Spiked, Jo Bartosch quoted Maya Forstater’s case in relation to the news of Jo Phoenix’s employment-tribunal victory against Open University. Maya’s case was also mentioned by Susanna Rustin in a powerful piece in The Guardian on how women are still being punished for having legal views on sex and gender.

19th January

Coverage began this week with Edward Malnick’s article for The Sunday Telegraph on police strip-searching guidance. The article highlighted Sex Matters, Women’s Rights Network and Fair Play For Women’s letter to policing minister Chris Philp, which challenged his assertion that men with a gender-recognition certificate should be allowed to search women.

Connor Stringer quoted Maya Forstater in an article for the Daily Mail on new staff guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office which says that employees can show their support for trans-identifying colleagues by “thinking of the person as being the gender that they want you to think of them as”.

Sex Matters’ new report on the impact of gender-identity ideology on the women’s sector was picked up widely in the media, beginning with articles by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail and James Beal for The Times. Further coverage included Douglas Dickie for the Scottish Daily Express, Holyrood Magazine, Julie Bindel for The Telegraph and Georgina Cutler for GB News.

Helen Joyce was quoted in a report by Mary Wright for the Scottish Daily Express on the Scottish Prison Service’s plan to suppress data on trans-identifying inmates, and called the move “indefensible”.

Maya’s case was cited by Mandy Rhodes in an article for Holyrood Magazine on how good law needs robust debate, and in an article by Haroon Siddique for The Guardian on how a growing number of organisations have been found to have discriminated against women because of their views.

Finally, Helen was quoted in an article by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph on the reworked exhibit on sex and gender at the Science Museum, which she claimed is even more insidious than the controversial display that was removed last year.

12th January

This week’s news coverage began with an article by Craig Simpson in The Telegraph, which exposed that Sussex firefighters have been told that biological sex is “just a label” and “runs on a spectrum”. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that it was infuriating to see public funds wasted on “training” that forces an evidence-free ideological position on people working in essential services. The story was also picked up by GB News.

Coverage of the appointment of trans-identifying male Munroe Bergdorf as a UK Champion for UN Women UK continued this week, with Maya Forstater appearing on GB News’s Free Speech Nation with Andrew Doyle to discuss the issue. 

Next was an article by Charlotte Gill in The Telegraph, which warned that education charity Governors for Schools is telling school governors to use “new names” and “correct pronouns” when addressing “trans pupils”. Maya Forstater was quoted as saying that school governors cannot ensure safeguarding if they forget that boys cannot become girls, and girls cannot become boys. The news was also covered by Eirian Jane Prosser for the Daily Mail and sector publication Education Executive.

Writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin quoted Helen in an article on UN special rapporteur Reem Alsalem’s letter to the World Health Organisation, which accused the health body of putting women’s “dignity, safety and security” at risk if it pursues plans for new guidance that calls for the right for people to self-identify as the opposite sex. Helen said the letter was a powerful intervention and that Alsalem is a heroic defender of women’s freedom of belief and speech. 

Helen appeared on TalkTV with Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss the Scottish government’s plan to introduce a ban on “conversion therapy” which would see parents face up to seven years in jail if they don’t take an “affirmative” approach to gender confusion. 

Maya’s case was quoted in news that social worker Rachel Meade won a landmark employment tribunal against her employer and the social work regulatory body this week, with coverage by Jonathan Ames in The Times and Jo Faragher in Personnel Today. Maya was quoted by Alex Ward for the Daily Mail as saying that it is hard to overstate the importance and likely impact of Meade’s win.

5th January

Coverage over the Christmas and New Year period began with a feature article by Ken McLaughlin for Spiked on how trans ideology has taken over the UK social work sector. The article quoted Helen Joyce’s comments to the Telegraph on how new guidance for social workers is “dangerous and unscientific”.

Dominic Penna quoted Maya Forstater in a Telegraph article on how the official BBC Twitter account for the Doctor Who programme was hiding gender-critical tweets about a trans Doctor Who character. Maya noted that the BBC’s own guidelines state that the moderation of social-media accounts should be “light touch”, focusing on personal attacks and offensive language, not actively hiding matter-of-fact comments stating biological truths.

Also writing for The Telegraph, Mary Harrington mentioned Sex Matters’ response to the UK government’s new schools guidance in an op-ed on how ‘Terf island’ took on trans ideology in schools – and won.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Jonathon Brocklebank and Mary Wright mentioned that Helen welcomed Police Scotland’s plan to end the practice of recording trivial cases as “hate incidents”.

Martin Beckford quoted Helen in a Daily Mail article on the response to Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s social-media post that “Female single-sex spaces are not yours to give away”. Helen said that the furore from Labour councillors, local branch leaders and young leaders reveals the extent to which extremist trans ideology has taken hold within the party, and called on Keir Starmer to state that the Labour leadership agrees with Antoniazzi.

He also wrote for the Daily Mail on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) controversial plan to develop guidance based on self-ID in consultation with a group of biased activists and medics, and quoted Helen as saying that there is a disturbing pattern worldwide in which trans healthcare guidance and programmes are written by small, ideologically driven groups behind closed doors, and then presented as definitive. 

In an interview on Talk TV, Julia Hartley-Brewer was shocked when Helen revealed that one of the experts brought on board to develop the WHO guidance has previously stated that all children should go on puberty blockers. Helen was also asked about new plans by Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch to tackle self-ID through stealth in the changing of sex markers on passports and driving licences, and USA Boxing’s decision to allow men to compete against women.

The Daily Mail ran a short brief on a report by Sex Matters and partner organisations to the Council of Europe, warning that the UK is in breach of the Istanbul Convention, an international treaty to combat violence against women, because of confusion over how sex is defined in law.

Media coverage in the new year was dominated by UN Women UK’s appointment of trans-identifying male model Munroe Bergdorf as “UK Champion” for women’s rights. A letter signed by Sex Matters calling for the appointment to be reversed was covered by James Beal in The Times, Joe Hadden in The Sun, Liz Perkins in The Telegraph, Claire Duffin for the Daily Mail, Hannah Grossman for Fox News, and Georgina Cutler for GB News.

Sex Matters was mentioned in feature articles that followed, including two articles by Tom Cotterill for the Daily Mail. The first focused on Bergdorf’s controversial past relating to racism and the second on his previous comments on the suffragettes being “white supremacists”. Meanwhile, GB News presenter Nana Akua mentioned Sex Matters in an article for the Daily Mail on how the appointment was an appalling decision.

Maya appeared on GB News to discuss Bergdorf’s appointment with presenters Emily Carver and Tom Harwood, and said that UN Women UK was trolling women by choosing a man for the role. Maya and Emily outlined why accurate pronouns are important in response to a challenge from Tom, who posited that it would be more impactful for gender-critical campaigners to call men “women”, if that’s how they identify. Maya’s interview was later covered by Ben Chapman for the GB News website.

2023

22nd December

This news week began with an exposé by Steven Edginton in The Telegraph on troubling guidance for social workers that teaches trans ideology as fact to vulnerable children and recommends asking children as young as 13 whether they are transgender. Helen Joyce called the guidance “dangerous and unscientific” and said no government document should signpost anyone to Mermaids.

This was followed by a second exposé by Steven in The Telegraph, this time on the new Ministry of Justice equality framework for prison officers that encourages consideration of “non-binary” and “gender fluid” staff, and the implementation of gender-neutral toilets, showers, changing rooms and uniforms. Maya Forstater called the guidance “hard line trans activism”, said the blatantly politicised language was concerning, and called for officials such as permanent secretary Antonia Romeo to act decisively. The story was also covered by Emily Jane Davies for the Daily Mail.

The new UK government schools guidance on sex and gender dominated the rest of the news week. Sex Matters saw the guidance as a big step forward and Maya said that while the guidance is imperfect, it sets the global standard for uprooting trans ideology from schools (full statement). The news on schools guidance was first covered by Louisa Clarence-Smith and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph, Steven Swinford in The Times, and Jason Groves and Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail, all quoting Maya.

Maya appeared on TalkTV with Alex Philips and Kevin O’Sullivan to discuss the new guidance alongside the executive head of St Thomas The Apostle School, Serge Cefai.

Further coverage on schools guidance that mentioned Sex Matters included Lauren Moss and Josh Parry’s coverage for BBC News, which emphasised that parents must be kept informed under the new guidance, and Richard Adams and Aletha Adu in The Guardian, who said that the guidance tells English schools to consider the influence of social media on pupils asking to transition. 

In further Daily Mail coverage which quoted Maya, James Tapsfield and Martin Robinson warned that schools are threatening to flout the guidance, while Martin Beckford and Connor Stringer covered Kemi Badenoch’s warning that teaching children they can be born in the ‘wrong’ body is harmful.

Adam Forrest in The Independent referred to Sex Matters as a “leading campaign group” and “rival” to Stonewall in an article on the government advising that teachers can’t be forced to use pupils’ chosen pronouns. He also quoted Maya in an article on the view of some Tories that the guidance doesn’t go far enough.

Finally, The Critic published an article written by Maya on the new schools guidance, in which she welcomed the “return from Planet Gender” and said that the new guidance for schools on gender questioning children is a good start.

15th December

Coverage this week began with an article by Maya Forstater in Holyrood Magazine, which argued that the UK Government must act urgently to clarify the meaning of “man” and “woman” in the Equality Act following the Court of Session’s rejection of the Scottish Government’s appeal against the UK Government’s Section 35 order to stop the Gender Recognition Reform Bill receiving royal assent. Maya wrote that while it is positive that the judgment will prevent self-ID being brought into law in Scotland, it did not provide clarity about the meaning of sex in law. 

This was followed by Neale Hanvey MP writing for The National, claiming that there has never been a more dangerous time for LGB people in his lifetime, with an equivalent threat to women and girls. Hanvey quoted Sex Matters’ proposal for a ban on modern conversion practices, citing the example of a gender non-conforming man who felt his sex had been “lobotomised” after being pressured into gender-reassignment surgery (removal of his penis and testicles). In a letter to the paper later in the week, Hanvey urged readers of The National to refer to Sex Matters’ proposal to ban modern conversion therapy for harrowing examples of gay people accelerated onto an irreversible transition pathway with minimal information or meaningful support.

Writing for The Telegraph, Hayley Dixon covered what could be one of the first examples globally of a healthcare provider rowing back from institutionalised transactivism, with private healthcare company HCA confirming it will now guarantee same-sex care for patients. This followed the cancellation of Teresa Steele’s operation at an HCA hospital in 2022 when she requested that only biological women be involved in her intimate care. Helen Joyce said that the move was extremely welcome and that the sooner the NHS follows suit, the better. She warned that it will otherwise be another example of inequity, with those who cannot afford private services being forced to accept intimate care from men who identify as women.

Helen was also quoted in the Daily Mail in an article by Claire Ellicott on the fallout from Conservative MP Rachel Maclean’s description of Melissa Poulton – the trans-identified straight male campaigning to be a green MP who identifies as a “proud lesbian” – as a “man in a wig”. Helen said that using ordinary, polite words to describe what everyone can see – for example a “man in a wig” – is not bigotry. Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham was interviewed on the topic by Ian Collins on Talk TV, and said it is “preposterous, abusive and manipulative” for a man to say that he is a lesbian.

Finally, Maya’s case was briefly mentioned in an article by Millicent Machell for HR Magazine in response to a Telegraph article which argued that the HR profession is “strangling the economy” and policing political attitudes in the workplace, including the hiring and firing of people in the name of progressive causes. HR consultant Jonathan Krogdahl warned that HR can overstep by enforcing values that senior executives have not agreed on, and said that HR leadership must remain aligned with the rest of the leadership team.

8th December

Writing for The Telegraph, Edward Malnick quoted Maya Forstater’s case in a report on how Equality and Human Rights Commission staff opposed the “direction of travel” under the leadership of Baroness Falkner. 

Next was an exposé by Charlotte Gill for The Telegraph on how Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust asks patients to choose their gender identity from a wide selection of options that includes “demiboy, genderfluid and questioning”. Maya was quoted as saying that it is crucial that healthcare providers don’t get confused about what sex people are.

The launch of weak new guidance on trans-identifying prisoners by the Scottish Prisons Service saw Helen Joyce interviewed by Kathryn Sampson on Channel 4 News, saying that the only safe course of action would be to keep all men out of women’s prisons, no matter how they identify. Maya was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV and said that the policy would allow a violent man or a paedophile who has committed crimes against a boy to be put in a women’s prison.

Writing for the Daily Mail, Martin Beckford previewed the launch of much-anticipated guidance on sex and gender in schools, quoting Helen as saying that the guidance must be clear so teachers are not left to face legal challenges.

Secretary of State Kemi Badenoch’s “tour de force” statement in parliament – which saw her speak passionately on several topics including conversion therapy, schools guidance and fairness in sports – was widely covered by the media. Steph Spyro in the Daily Express featured Maya saying that the era of “no debate” is finally over, and that it came to a close in the most important debating chamber in the country. Daniel Martin in The Telegraph quoted Maya on Badenoch’s agreement with Sex Matters that conversion therapy has evolved into a new, equally abhorrent form. 

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail on her response to the statement, Helen shared her relief at hearing Badenoch speak out against the epidemic of gay children being encouraged to “change gender”.

Finally, in an article by Oliver Brown and Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on the letter from over 70 politicians to the Football Association (FA) urging it to change its transgender policy, Maya was quoted as saying that there is nothing in the Equality Act or the Gender Recognition Act that says women’s sports must be opened up to men who identify as women, and that the FA is discriminating against women and girls and knowingly putting women in harm’s way by not protecting women’s teams.

1st December

This week’s coverage began with the news that civil servants at the Department of Business and Trade (DBT) were told in an internal memo marking Transgender Day of Remembrance on 20th November to check their colleagues’ email signatures for their pronouns and not assume each other’s gender. In an article for The Telegraph by Steven Edginton, Helen Joyce responded to the news by saying that all employers, including DBT, should think carefully about the risk of claims against them for discrimination and harassment of gender-critical employees if they allow themselves to be used as mouthpieces for evidence-free and inflammatory lobbying.

Maya Forstater’s recent comments in The Times on the anticipated government guidance on sex and gender in schools were quoted by Michael Curzon in The European Conservative, including her warning that the latest update on what the guidance will contain passes the legal risk down to the schools and leaves the door open for activist parents or unhappy children to try to negotiate, which is exactly what schools don’t need.

Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Cameron Charters reported that a whistleblowing midwife had evidence that babies were being registered according to “gender identity” on discharge forms under a new software system at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, and King’s College Hospital, which Sex Matters’ Maya called “absurd and chilling”. Following up on the story, Michael Searles and Daniel Martin at The Telegraph were told by the NHS that it was a “system error” and that babies will be registered by their “legal sex”. Maya was quoted as saying that the response from NHS managers was disingenuous at best and would do nothing to quell widespread concern and outrage. GB News presenter Nana Akua did a segment on the news and quoted Maya.

After seeing the story above, a doctor then reported to Michael Searles and Daniel Martin at The Telegraph that the software’s new “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity SmartForm” has been programmed to register patients according to their “legal sex” rather than their actual sex, and to record men and women who don’t express a trans identity as “cisgender”. It asks medical staff to complete “organ inventories” of the reproductive features of all patients. In this article and one by Danya Bazaraa and Cameron Charters for the Daily Mail, Helen was quoted as saying that this anti-scientific fringe ideology has been imported wholesale from America, and that activists within the NHS have attempted to impose it on the UK’s healthcare system by stealth.

24th November

It was a significant week for Sex Matters in the media, beginning with Will Hazell in The Telegraph and Katie Harris in the Daily Express covering our letter to Kishwer Falkner, which warned that the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendation to collect data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of school pupils is a serious threat to safeguarding.

This was followed by coverage in The Telegraph of our letter to the Office of Statistics Regulation calling for an official investigation into the flawed gender question in the 2021 census in England and Wales, with an article by Daniel Martin and an editorial comment. Maya Forstater was interviewed by Martin Daubney on GB News on the story, and said that responses to the question should be downgraded from a national statistic with advice to use with caution.

Sex Matters chair Naomi Cunningham appeared on LBC at the weekend with presenter Clare Foges to discuss why the debate on sex and gender is so toxic. Naomi commented on how trans-rights campaigners decided they could lay down the law with no debate, and talked about why she no longer uses preferred pronouns.

News that ministers plan to limit the circumstances in which social transitioning can take place in schools was welcomed by Sex Matters, but in articles by Martin Beckford in the Daily Mail, Daniel Martin and Louisa Clarence-Smith in The Telegraph and James Beal, Steven Swinford and Nicola Woolcock in The Times, Maya warned that the idea of a presumption against social transitioning passes the buck back to schools and puts them at risk of legal challenge.

Finally, there was widespread coverage of the news that Victims Minister Laura Farris will meet MP Joanna Cherry to discuss a rapid review into the impact of extreme transactivism and the violence and intimidation faced by women’s rights campaigners, and her reference to Sex Matters’ letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which was signed by nearly 15,000 people. David Lynch’s report for the Press Association was covered by The Evening Standard, The Independent, Irish News, Forres Gazette, Inverness Courier and The Times, in an article co-written by Tom Boothman. There was further coverage by Lucy Garcia in The National and Tom Gordon in The Herald. Writing for The Telegraph, Daniel Martin cited examples of the violence and intimidation faced by Maya and Helen Joyce, and quoted Helen’s call for the inadequate policing of women’s rallies to be examined as part of the review.

17th November

The news that trans-identified man Steph Richards has been appointed CEO of the charity Endometriosis South Coast dominated the headlines this week, beginning with an article by Hayley Dixon in The Telegraph which talked about Richards’ involvement in the FiLiA protests in Portsmouth in 2021. The article quoted Helen Joyce as saying that the appointment of a trans-identified male to this position would be outrageous under any circumstances, but is particularly so in the case of an individual who has repeatedly clashed with women’s rights campaigners.

Sam Blanchard’s coverage of the story in The Sun quoted Helen as saying that no matter how small the organisation, appointments like these matter and women with endometriosis deserve better. Her comments were also picked up by George Bunn for GB News and ITV.

Maya Forstater appeared on TalkTV with Kevin O’Sullivan and Alex Phillips to discuss the issue and suggested that the appointment may have been deliberate, to trigger a reaction. Maya expressed concern that as CEO of a women’s health charity, Richards will now have a voice at women’s health forums.

Richards appeared on BBC Woman’s Hour with the charity’s founder Jodie Hughes, who said during the interview that endometriosis is “not a gynaecological condition”. In an article by Catherine Lough for The Telegraph, Helen explained why it is in fact a women’s reproductive issue and suggested that Hughes’ remarks were offensive. 

Writing for the Daily Mail, Dan Sales and Oliver Price quoted Maya as saying that presenter Emma Barnett did a good job of pushing back, but a lack of fawning in the interview does not mean it was ‘normal’ journalism, citing a thread by Helen on X. 

In other news, Oliver Brown for The Telegraph quoted Maya’s case in an article on British Cycling allowing biological males to participate in its female-only Breeze community rides. The group removed a woman from a Facebook group for using the term “male” to describe the riders, on the grounds that this constitutes discriminatory language.

10th November

Coverage this week began with Helen Joyce’s book Trans being mentioned in an article by Martin Robinson for the Daily Mail on Kellie-Jay Keen’s experience of being accused of “standing with Nazis” by a Waterstones employee. Customers have previously accused Waterstones of “censorship” after reporting difficulty in finding books by gender critical authors such as Helen at the bookshop.

Maya Forstater was mentioned in an article by Brendan Carlin for the Daily Mail on how parents could be charged with domestic abuse for not using their child’s preferred pronoun under controversial new guidance from the Crown Prosecution Service. The paper quoted Maya’s assertion earlier this year that the service is “ideologically captured”.

Daniel Martin for The Telegraph and Greg Heffer for the Daily Mail reported Sex Matters’ letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which was signed by 30 groups and called for a change to the law following the Scottish Court of Session’s ruling that the definition of woman is “not limited to birth sex”.

Finally, Martin Beckford quoted Maya in his article for the Daily Mail on how the Office for National Statistics has dealt with the latest blunder relating to the gender question in the 2021 Census. Maya said that the ONS’s suggestion that high rates of trans-identified people among people whose English is poor can be explained by some kind of influx of trans migrants is both “laughable” and “desperate”. 

3rd November

Maya Forstater’s case was mentioned in Craig Simpson’s Telegraph article on author Stephen King’s praise of JK Rowling’s latest novel, after he called her gender-critical beliefs “wrong” in 2021. The case was also referred to in an article by The Christian Institute on the Green Party’s LGBT activist group branding party members who affirm the reality of biological sex as “transphobic” and by Evgeny Lebedev in the Evening Standard on Elon Musk and freedom of speech.

Helen Joyce had three powerful articles published in the media this week, starting with an essay for The Times on how she and her fellow Maddox Prize finalists have come under siege in the pursuit of their work. She also wrote for The Critic on how playing nice about being cancelled hasn’t encouraged censors to invite her back, and for the Evening Standard on why she speaks up on gender-identity ideology.

There was further coverage this week on Calderdale Council library service’s censorship of gender-critical books, including Helen’s Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, with Craig Simpson at The Telegraph revealing that such books have been given the same treatment as Mein Kampf. The story was also covered by Jack Walters at GB News.

Ewan Somerville at The Telegraph and James Tozer at the Daily Mail reported on Free Speech Union’s investigation of 49 local authority library services, which found that two-thirds offer more trans than gender-critical books, such as Helen’s, despite the latter proving twice as popular in loans.

Finally, Maya was quoted in coverage of For Women Scotland’s loss at the Court of Session in Scotland. Andrew Learmouth for The Herald and Stewart Carr for the Daily Mail reported Maya’s statement that the judgment left many issues unresolved and her call for the UK government to use secondary legislation to clarify the meaning of sex in the Equality Act.

27th October

This week’s media coverage began with the news that Helen Joyce’s book Trans, alongside others by gender-critical authors, would be reinstated in Labour-run Calderdale council libraries, after librarians removed them from display earlier this year. Craig Simpson in The Telegraph and Melina Spanoudi in The Bookseller covered the news. 

Writing on re-emerged talks of a ban on conversion therapy for The Times, Janice Turner referenced Sex Matters’ finding that Stonewall had barely mentioned conversion therapy in its annual reports and strategic documents between 2015 and 2020.

Julie Bindel’s article in The Sun about the Metropolitan Police’s failure to intervene when mobs shouted “Kill the Jews!” at a recent demonstration in central London mentioned Maya Forstater’s tribunal case in the context of police being selective on the basis of ideology.

Sex Matters’ launch of new guidance for the collection of data on sex and gender was covered by Daniel Martin in The Telegraph. The piece articulated Sex Matters’ concern that if schools, universities and other public-sector organisations continued to mix up sex and gender, it would affect the reliability of statistics and could be harmful for women’s rights. 

Writing for the US publication National Review on whether the penalisation of Hamas sympathisers should be considered “cancel culture” in two successive articles, Madeleine Kearns said that the Grainger test that was applied to Maya’s tribunal case is a useful framework to determine which viewpoints should be tolerated by employers and donors.

Finally, Daniel Martin at The Telegraph covered the launch of Sex Matters’ new campaign to ban modern conversion therapy, and our view that telling children they can change sex is conversion therapy. The campaign sits in the context of ongoing calls to introduce new laws to ban historical forms of conversion therapy, and both Maya and Helen were quoted as saying that any new legislation must focus on current harmful practices targeted at same-sex attracted and vulnerable young people.

20th October

This week, Maya Forstater was quoted on Attitude magazine’s decision to award its inaugural Woman of the Year prize to trans-identifying male Dylan Mulvaney, which was covered by Danya Bazaraa at the Daily Mail. Maya said that the magazine’s decision was misogynistic to suggest that no woman has achieved anything more significant this year through their work than a man putting on a dress and having cosmetic surgery.

Maya also commented on JK Rowling’s surprise appearance last weekend at FiLiA, Europe’s largest feminist conference, which was held in Glasgow this year. It is believed to be the author’s first public appearance speaking on women’s rights since she posted in support of Maya in 2019. Maya told Lucy Bannerman and Jeremy Watson at The Times that JK Rowling left women in the audience feeling energised and inspired.

13th October

Responding to the news that a women’s shelter in London has a policy of accommodating men who identify as women, Helen Joyce told Alex Barton and Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph that the single-sex status of women’s shelters is critical for safety and wellbeing, and that Glassdoor, which runs the shelter, must reassess why it set the shelter up in the first place. The story was also covered by Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail.

Maya Forstater’s comments on the provision of “toilets for everybody” that had been set up at the Labour conference in Liverpool – including urinals behind a curtain – were covered by James Tapsfield and Shaun Wooller at the Daily Mail. Maya also appeared on GB News with Mark Nolan to discuss the issue.

Writing in The Telegraph, Steven Edginton reported that Border Force staff are permitted to wear LGBT Pride rainbow epaulettes. Helen was quoted as saying that some people use the rainbow flag as a symbol of extreme transactivism, and that public servants should be visibly fair and impartial.

Helen appeared on Jeremy Kyle’s show on Talk TV to discuss UCL and the University of Kent’s decision to provide student grants for “gender-affirming” products and medical procedures. Helen spoke of the physical risk of chest-binders, which are included in the schemes, while Kyle’s co-host Nicola Thorp compared the products to padded bras worn by “cis” women.

Finally, Maya’s tribunal was mentioned by Cath Walton in The Critic in an article on why denying sex change is not a crime, and by Danya Bazaraa in the Daily Mail in an article about JK Rowling’s criticism of Labour MP Lisa Nandy for hypocrisy regarding women’s rights.

6th October

Sex Matters welcomed the news that the UK government is launching a review on the importance of biological sex being recognised in data. Maya Forstater was quoted by Ben Riley-Smith in The Telegraph as saying that sorting out data on sex is at the heart of solving how society protects everyone’s rights when it comes to biological sex and gender self-expression.

Also welcoming the announcement that the UK government will tackle gender ideology within the NHS – from banning trans-identified males from female wards to the return of sex-based language on the NHS website – Maya was quoted by Laura Donnelly, Daniel Martin and Dominic Penna in two articles in The Telegraph, as well as Ryan Prosser in the Daily Mail, the BBC News website, Martyn Brown in the Express, Alyssa Guzman in the New York Post and Homera Hassan in the International Business Times. Helen Joyce was interviewed on the topic by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV. 

The hostile reaction to Gonville and Caius College’s invitation to Helen Joyce to speak at Cambridge University last year was mentioned in an article by Fiona Parker in The Telegraph. The new Cambridge vice-chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, was interviewed and said that disagreeing well is as important as agreeing.

Scottish Legal News covered Sex Matters’ intervention in the gender-recognition certificate case brought by For Women Scotland against the Scottish Government that was heard in the Inner House of the Court of Session this week, with Maya highlighting that the importance of the impact of the definition of sex on human rights should be considered by the court.

News that East Midlands NHS Trust plans to give staff a year off for ‘male menopause’ was covered by Kate Pickles for the Daily Mail, with Helen saying the policies were part of an overall trend in HR to ignore, even deny, biological reality.

Maya’s case was cited by writer Jean Hatchet during an interview with Kay Burley on Sky News on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.

Finally, Helen contributed to this month’s The Critic, writing on the diversity trap and how Stonewall’s diktats have created a workplace culture that scares and silences sensible people.

29th September

This week’s news coverage began with updated technical guidance for schools from the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which was reported on by Daniel Martin at The Telegraph and Claire Ellicott at the Daily Mail. Helen Joyce was quoted as saying that while the updated guidance still isn’t perfect, the removal of faulty advice will make it easier for the government to produce strong schools guidance.

Writing in the Daily Express, Katie Harris covered the news that the Liberal Democrats passed a motion at the party conference which said that periods are “not just a women’s issue”. Helen remarked that it was a bleak moment for the party and that the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated how out of touch they are with voters.

Reporting in The Telegraph, Daniel Martin produced the first coverage of Sex Matters’ campaign to tackle the escalating violence faced by gender-critical women. Martin focused the article on our letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which has been signed by more than 12,000 people. 

In the Mail on Sunday, Chris Pollard covered the story of Colonel Dr Kelvin Wright, a war-hero doctor who was forced out of the army for quoting a sentence written by Helen, and was cleared of wrongdoing by an official inquiry. The story was also covered by Piers Morgan on Talk TV and for Sky News Australia. 

Helen appeared on Talk TV with Julia Hartley-Brewer to discuss The Telegraph’s exposure of transactivism within the civil service.

Finally, Helen commented on news that a Harry Potter panel has been axed from London’s Comic Con on the same day that JK Rowling’s opening line from the book was voted among the best of all time. Quoted by Ewan Somerville and Patrick Sawer in The Telegraph, and Georgina Cutler for GB News, Helen remarked that no matter how hard extreme transactivists try to ruin JK Rowling’s life and career, they fail.

22nd September

It was another bumper week of media coverage, beginning with Edward Malnick reporting in The Sunday Telegraph that the Equality and Human Rights Commission had written to Sex Matters to advise that it recognises that its technical guidance for schools was wrong and will be revised.

Helen Joyce commented on the news that the General Medical Council had removed references to “mother” in its maternity document in Alex Barton’s front-page article in The Sunday Telegraph, which was also covered by Kat Lay at The Times. 

In an article by Sanchez Manning for the Daily Mail, Helen commented on the news that sanitary-pad manufacturer Always had ordered the censorship of words such as “women”, “girls” and “females” in a recent article on helping daughters with their first periods.

Meanwhile, in articles by Alex Barton for The Telegraph, Iwan Stone for the Daily Mail, Leif Le Mahieu for the Daily Wire and Melissa Koenig for the New York Post, Maya Forstater warned that by featuring a model with double-mastectomy surgical scars in promotional photographs for a trimmer, Braun may be in breach of advertising standards guidance to not glamourise or trivialise cosmetic surgery. 

Helen said that news that Police Scotland is setting up a new unit to tackle “hate crime” such as misgendering sends a sinister message to those who advocate for women’s and children’s rights in articles by Mary Wright for The Times and the Scottish Daily Express.

There was further coverage of the University of Leicester’s guidebook on trans inclusivity this week, with Joanna Williams of the Spectator Australia flagging the intimidating protests faced by the Sex Matters team in Manchester recently as problematic for the guidance.

Writing for The Scotsman, Susan Dalgety quoted Helen on the delay of the conversion-therapy bill in Scotland in an article on how First Minister Humza Yousaf appears to be taking a different approach to social-justice issues from that of his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon.
Finally, Sex Matters’ Lexi Ellingsworth was one of six women featured in an article by Jill Foster for the Daily Mail about the cancellation of women who aren’t in the public spotlight.

15th September

This week, the abusive protest faced by the Sex Matters team in Manchester on Sunday following the event at the People’s History Museum made news in the UK and abroad, with coverage by Mary Stone for Arts Professional, Madeleine Kearns in the National Review and Sarah Weaver in the Daily Caller.

The incident in Manchester was also flagged in news that academics at the University of Leicester have produced a new 44-page guidebook for museums on trans inclusivity, which was covered by Jo Bartosch for Spiked. In articles on the new guidance by Craig Simpson for The Telegraph and Alyssa Guzman for the New York Post, Helen Joyce highlighted that in an attempt to be “inclusive”, the guidance actually excludes views of people who don’t conform to gender ideology, while Sex Matters advisory group member Joan Smith said that it creates problems where they don’t exist.

Coverage of the need for quality guidance for schools on sex and gender continued this week, with Miriam Cates citing Sex Matters’ newly launched legal review in an article for The Critic and a Telegraph op-ed which argues that we can only win from a showdown with Stonewall.

Helen was also quoted in an article by Daniel Martin in The Telegraph on the SNP delay on a ban on conversion therapy, where she welcomed the delay and said that public consultation will give proponents of evidence-based gender care a welcome chance to make their case.

8th September

In the Sunday Telegraph, Edward Malnick reported on Maya and Helen’s recent letter to Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch, which warned that faulty EHRC guidance is surely influencing the development of Department for Education’s new guidance for schools on sex and gender.

The launch of Sex Matters’ analysis of more than 20 laws and regulations on sex and gender in schools was covered by Jonathan Ames in The Times, Vanessa Allen in the Daily Mail, Gabriella Swerling in The Telegraph, and Jessica North in the Scottish Daily Express, with Maya warning that many schools may currently be in breach of the legal framework. Maya also discussed the review on GB News with Patrick Christys, and contributed an article on schools guidance to the Daily Express.

Helen also responded to the news that tampons are being provided in male toilets at the General Medical Council in a Telegraph article by Alex Barton. 

1st September

Maya Forstater appeared on Andrew Doyle’s Free Speech Nation on GB News, where she discussed the Institute of Economic Affairs’ report on gender-critical views and Labour. She also spoke about the need for clarity in schools that children are boys and girls and cannot change, and that schools are there to keep them safe.

Helen Joyce was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV in response to the news that 77 NHS trusts have signed up to a “Rainbow Badge Scheme” which marks down hospitals for using gendered words such as “mother” and “woman”. Helen highlighted that the push for the scheme is coming from the LGBT lobby group within the NHS, and said that the NHS is “acting like a bunch of incels”.

25th August

Commenting on the Liberal Democrats’ plan to vote on whether menstruation is just a women’s issue, Maya Forstater appeared on GB News with Patrick Christys and Helen Joyce was interviewed by Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk TV, with Maya’s comments also picked up by a David Wilcock article in the Daily Mail.

Maya appeared on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show on Talk TV to speak about the Institute of Economic Affairs report on Labour’s proposal for tougher hate-crime laws, and her comments were also covered by James Beal in The Times.

Internationally, an article on MSN covered Richard Dawkins’ recent interview with Helen, and Feminist Current published Meghan Murphy’s interview with Helen on her podcast.

Press cuttings

This section has been replaced by the weekly update of Sex Matters in the media above.

Archive of press cuttings up to 17th August 2023.