Sex Matters Podcast

In this week’s episode, Fiona talks to Emma Moore, who manages our help desk. They discuss common themes, the advice provided to those seeking support, and the resources available on our website.Explore Sex Matters’ resources. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode, Maya and Helen discuss the new national digital ID (BritCard), which the government has committed to creating by the end of this parliament. But the government does not plan to include sex on the BritCard, saying that this “is not necessary for the intended purpose of the digital ID”. Maya and Helen explore why failing to include sex as a voluntary field on the BritCard is a cop-out that will leave individuals and service providers floundering and mired in conflict, instead of being able to simply and clearly verify a fact about people which is often needed.Take action: A government consultation is open until Tuesday 5th May. Read our briefing and respond to the consultation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode, filmed in London, Maya, Fiona and Helen discuss the week’s events marking the anniversary of the For Women Scotland judgment at the Supreme Court.During the year since the Supreme Court judgment confirmed that “sex” in the Equality Act means biology, not self-ID or paperwork, there has been some progress but also significant institutional resistance. Shortly after the ruling a series of sporting bodies restored female-only categories; more recently, statutory safeguarding guidance for schools has been updated to require all English schools to record sex accurately and bar children from using single-sex sanitary facilities for the opposite sex.However, many organisations in both the public and private sector have ignored the ruling, often using the excuse that they are “waiting for guidance” from the equalities regulator. The civil service and local authorities continue to operate unlawful policies, both in their workplaces and in services they run.In this episode, we look at the progress that has been made and the obstacles that have prevented it from being greater – as well as making some predictions about what will happen in the coming year.Read our One Year Later booklet.Read our easy-read version of the EHRC interim update.Read Murray Blackburn Mackenzie’s new report on women’s charities and the Supreme Court ruling.Videography: Belinda Jiao. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode, Maya and Helen talk about our latest publication, One year later, which tells the stories of individual women harmed by the failure to implement the Supreme Court ruling handed down on 16th April 2025. A year after the landmark judgment, we are still hearing distressing stories of ordinary people being treated terribly simply because they want single-sex spaces, because they spoke up about safeguarding risks caused by ignoring the reality of sex or because they were open about their lack of belief in gender identity. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode, Fiona McAnena and Emma Hilton discuss the International Olympic Committee’s new policy on protecting the female category, released on 26th March. They talk about what’s in the policy, what it means for sport more broadly and how it’s been received.Emma is Sex Matters’ interim chair and the co-author of the most-cited paper on sex differences and the impact of testosterone suppression in sport. She is also a published critic of the now-defunct 2021 IOC policy, and a leading academic voice in calls to reinstitute sex screening. She’s been consulted by several international and national sports federations, and has been an expert witness in court cases, including a US Supreme Court amicus brief on sex screening.Background readingWatch Emma Hilton’s 2019 talk for Fair Play For Women.Listen to Fiona talking to Spiked about how the Olympics battered women’s sports.Read Fiona’s 2023 article for Spiked on the trans colonisation of women’s sports.Read Fiona’s 2025 article for The Critic on how women managed to get men out of Olympic female sport. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Maya and Helen discuss Girlguiding’s recent decision to reverse its policy of allowing boys who identify as girls to join its groups. They trace the history of the charity’s move towards “inclusive” policies, the failure of the Charity Commission and other regulators to provide the necessary leadership, and the practical safeguarding risks that follow when a supposedly female-only organisation admits boys under the pretence that they are girls. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

This week Fiona and Helen discuss the case of Harriet Haynes, a trans-identifying male pool player who took the England Blackball Pool Federation to court last year because it restricted entry to women’s events to women. After losing in the county court, he has been granted permission to appeal. If the original verdict is upheld, that will set a strong precedent protecting all women’s sporting competitions against legal challenge from aggrieved trans-identifying men.Read our case briefing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode of our podcast, Sex Matters’ Nicole Jones speaks to Maeve Halligan, Thea Sewell and Serena Worley, co-founders of the Cambridge University Society of Women (CUSW).CUSW is the only openly and proudly single-sex society for women at the University of Cambridge. When it launched, it quickly surpassed its crowdfunding goal and became a sign of hope for women across the UK, showing that a new generation of feminists is pushing back against the harms done by trans ideology to women’s rights.Nicole talks to Maeve, Serena and Thea about what led them to their current views on women’s rights, how they met, why they decided to start the society together and the society’s work.You can see what CUSW is up to by following it on Substack, X/Twitter and Instagram, and by visiting its website. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s podcast Maya and Helen look back at Sex Matters’ origins. They reflect on how much easier it has become to speak out about sex-based rights at work – although shocking cases continue, such as that of Professor Jacob George, who was recused from oversight of the puberty-blocker trial for lawful, factual views on sex and gender identity. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode of the Sex Matters podcast, Fiona McAnena is joined by Dr Louise Irvine, co-founder of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG). Dr Irvine explains all you need to know about the puberty-blocker trial: what was planned, what’s wrong with it, why it’s been paused, and what happens next.Sign up for our lobby day on Tuesday 10th March. Visit the CAN-SG website to find out more about its work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode of the Sex Matters podcast, Maya Forstater and Fiona McAnena discuss the failed legal challenge of the Good Law Project (GLP) against the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), and the misinformation spread by GLP, other trans lobby groups and even some politicians.On 13th February the High Court dismissed a legal challenge from the GLP and three anonymous claimants against the EHRC’s interim guidance on single-sex services published shortly after the For Women Scotland judgment last year. Sex Matters intervened in support of the EHRC.Mr Justice Swift ruled that the EHRC’s interim update was an accurate statement of the law on single-sex spaces, and ruled that “transsexual persons” under the Equality Act have no right to use opposite-sex toilets or changing rooms.Read our analysis on GLP v EHRC. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode of the Sex Matters podcast, Helen Joyce is joined by For Women Scotland’s co-director, Susan Smith, to discuss its most recent case against the Scottish Government concerning prison guidance. For Women Scotland has brought forward a judicial review of the Scottish Prison Service Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody, which permits prisoners with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment to be housed in a prison of the opposite sex. The hearing was held in the Court of Session Outer House from 3rd to 5th February 2026.For Women Scotland’s account of the hearing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode of the Sex Matters podcast, Fiona and Maya are joined by Mara Yamauchi to discuss the latest developments in sport. Mara is a double Olympian, a member of the Sex Matters advisory group, a tireless campaigner – and a thorn in the side of Parkrun.We covered criticisms of a newly published academic study that claims men who identify as women have no sporting advantage over women; how UK law protects women’s and girls’ sport (it’s not just section 195 of the Equality Act); the problems caused by gender ideology in competitive and recreational sport; and of course parkrun. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In this week’s episode of the Sex Matters podcast, Helen and Maya discuss the decision in the High Court to refuse Sex Matters permission for judicial review of the “trans inclusive” policy at the Hampstead Ponds.The ruling was made on procedural grounds, and didn’t even get to the point of considering whether that policy was lawful – a disappointing and frustrating outcome, but certainly not the end of the fight to protect single-sex spaces for both men and women, and to ensure that the Supreme Court judgment in the case of For Women Scotland translates to facts on the ground (and in the water).» Find out more at our website » This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Fiona and Maya discuss the cases of Maria Kelly, Sandie Peggie, the Darlington nurses and Jennifer Melle. They talk about how regulators, trade unions and the government are all failing to follow the law, and what it will take to get the herd to change direction.References:Unison statement on Darlington nursesCharity Commission response to open letterBethany Hutchison & Others v County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Fiona and Helen discuss two landmark cases heard this week by the US Supreme Court on the meaning of sex in law, and their implications for women’s sport and sex-based rights.Fiona talks us through Sex Matters’ (and friends’) amicus briefs in support of sex-based state laws.They also discuss the case of Miranda Newsom, who was banned by Southwark Council from its leisure centres for objecting to a man using a women’s changing room.Sex Matters attended a rally in support of Miranda on Saturday 10th, where counter-protestors demonstrated in support of the council’s policy. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Maya and Fiona ask if this year will finally see organisations obey the Supreme Court judgment. Will the government accept the equality regulator’s guidance? And what about education, healthcare, data policy, safeguarding and women’s rights?They discuss how three big themes will shape our campaigning in 2026: making the Equality Act work, preventing harm in medicine and education, and fixing policies where sex matters. (Our apologies for the background buzz from 9:38 to 20:26.) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Sandie Peggie, Maria Kelly and puberty blockers: Fiona, Maya and Helen discuss This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Subscribe now (free) to get our podcasts as soon as they’re published. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Join the Sex Matters mailing list now. We’ll send you a weekly email with updates, resources and opportunities to take action, and this weekly podcast – plus occasional campaign emails. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

For the final episode in our podcast series, Fiona McAnena interviews Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters and author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality.Helen and Fiona discuss the material reality of the two sexes and where the differences matter. From evolution and developmental trajectories to the societal and political fallout of pretending sex is irrelevant, Helen explains it all with the clarity, depth, and sharp insight we’ve come to respect. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

⏰ Tomorrow at 7pm! For the final episode in our podcast series, Helen Joyce and Fiona McAnena discuss the material reality of the two sexes and where the differences matter.🚻 From evolution and developmental trajectories to the societal and political fallout of pretending sex is irrelevant, Helen explains it all with the clarity, depth, and sharp insight we’ve come to respect.Set notifications for Friday’s premiere 🔔 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In the second episode of our podcast series, Helen Joyce interviews Maya Forstater about sex and the law. Maya traces the story from early experimental surgeries to the legal cases that quietly reshaped policy behind closed doors. They discuss how the law became such a muddle, the role of digital identities in fixing it – and, of course, why establishing that gender-critical beliefs are WORIADS was such an important part of the fightback.If you haven’t already seen last week’s episode featuring Fiona McAnena talking about sex and sport, you can listen back here on Spotify. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

In the second episode of our podcast series, Helen Joyce interviews Maya Forstater about sex and the law. Maya traces the story from early experimental surgeries to the legal cases that quietly reshaped policy behind closed doors. Join us on Friday at 7pm 🔔 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org

Sport is back in the headlines after World Boxing announced it will sex-test competitors, naming Algeria’s Olympic gold medallist Imane Khelif.In the first episode of our three-part series, Fiona McAnena exposes the hard truth about male athletes competing in the female category and how governing bodies are failing women under the banner of “inclusion.”Fiona talks to Helen Joyce about how we got here: from Renee Richards to Lia Thomas and Emily Bridges, and DSD athletes like Caster Semenya and Khelif. They discuss who’s being silenced, and what it will take to fix this.Tune in next week for the next episode!  This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sex-matters-news.org