Press
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Sex Matters in the media
2023
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.