Sex Matters Podcast

In this week’s episode, Fiona McAnena is joined by Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports , to discuss the landmark US Supreme Court ruling which reaffirmed that Title IX protections are based on biological sex. In January, the Supreme Court heard two cases that required it to adjudicate on what “sex” means in US anti-discrimination law. Idaho and West Virginia were def...

In this week’s episode, Helen Joyce speaks to Dennis Kavanagh, director at the Gay Men’s Network and non-practising barrister, about the legal minefield that is the draft Conversion Practices Bill. Dennis examines the low threshold for criminality in Clause 1 of the bill, which states that “any conduct” can be a conversion practice and risks putting parenting on trial and breaching human rights. H...

In this week’s episode, Helen Joyce and Fiona McAnena discuss the current climate of free speech and gender ideology within British universities. Helen reflects on her recent talk to students at Durham Union – you can read her account of the event on her Substack . Read our recent report, Getting back on track , which explains how the legislative framework can enable and protect sport at a univers...

In this week’s podcast we talk to Cathy Larkman, retired superintendent and policing lead at Women’s Rights Network, about our judicial review against the National Police Chiefs’ Council over its abusive strip-searching policy. Under PACE – the main law governing police conduct – strip-searches must be carried out by an officer of the same sex. But the NPCC says that doesn’t apply to trans detaine...

In this week’s episode, Fiona McAnena talks to Dr Louise Irvine, co-chair of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender (CAN-SG), about Rethinking Youth Gender Medicine , on Sunday 5th and Monday 6th July in London. The conference will feature world experts discussing the social and clinical care of gender-distressed children and young people. Whether you’re a clinician, educator, parent, res...

In this week’s episode, Maya Forstater and Fiona McAnena talk about our new report, Getting back on track: Using the Equality Act to enable and protect sport for women and girls – why we’ve produced it, and what’s in it. We show how UK law provides for separate sport for women and girls in several different ways, for fairness, safety and opportunity, from grassroots participation to elite competit...

In this week’s episode, Helen and Maya talk through what is colloquially known as a “small claim” for belief discrimination against a service provider. Examples of such discrimination include being refused service in a pub, barred from a gym or forced to leave an event because you are known or suspected to hold gender-critical beliefs (or to be associated with someone who does). Sex Matters has pu...

This week, Maya, Helen and Fiona give their initial take on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s long-awaited update to the Code of practice for services, public functions and associations , which has been published by the Minister for Women and Equalities and laid before Parliament. Read the code of practice. Read our first analysis of the code . This is a public episode. If you would like...

In this week’s episode, Maya and Helen discuss the recent legal judgments that highlight the importance of strong protections for free speech and academic freedom to people who hold gender-critical views. As Maya wrote last week in Times Higher Education , at the heart of the High Court judgment in the judicial review brought by the University of Sussex is an Equality Act-shaped hole. The Office f...

In this week’s episode, Maya and Helen discuss our latest report, Sex-based rights in the City , which uncovered the widespread failure of the financial sector to comply with the Supreme Court ruling. Not one of 15 financial institutions contacted replied clearly stating that it provided single-sex toilets, as required by workplace regulations, and restricted access to people of that (biological)...

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...

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 ruli...

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 th...

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...

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 adm...

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 com...

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, show...

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...

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...

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 a...

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 pro...

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 wo...

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...

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 nurses Charity Commission response to open letter Bethany Hutchison & Others v County Durham...