Explore every episode of the podcast Sex Matters Podcast

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 reading

Watch 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.

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.

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 and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

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.

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.)

Sandie Peggie, Maria Kelly and puberty blockers: Fiona, Maya and Helen discuss

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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.

⏰ 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 🔔

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 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.

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 🔔

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! 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 »

A major row has erupted after Amnesty International UK published — and then quickly withdrew — a report labeling more than 100 organisations as “anti-rights”, including women’s rights groups, charities, support services, and campaigning organisations. Maya Forstater and Fiona McAnena talk about the parlous state of democratic debate on human rights, when organisations are branded as threats simply for advocating sex-based rights. Amnesty is now facing demands for answers, calls for apologies and potential legal action.

Read the letters to Amnesty.Read our letter to the Charity Commission.

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 defending state laws that restrict female athletics to those born female. Acting in the public interest and in pursuit of its charitable aims, Sex Matters provided an “amicus curiae” brief supporting the two states.Fiona and Kim break down what the decision means, why it matters and what comes next in the legal battle to protect safe, fair sport for women and girls.

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) sex.

Maya and Helen discuss how we got here, the experiences of those working in the sector and what can be done to bring employers into compliance.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Helen and Dennis speak about the potential for transactivists to use the bill to suppress discussion of trans ideology and the harms of gender-affirming care. Read our analysis of the bill.

Read our response to Galop’s report.

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 university level.

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 detainees. We say that PACE is the only lawful basis for police searching, and that clear rules protect both officers and detainees.

Cathy speaks from experience about how female police officers will come under pressure to search male detainees, including rapists, cross-dressing fetishists and men who simply enjoy threatening and humiliating women.

Read about our case and support our crowdfund.

Read State sanctioned sexual assault, Cathy’s report for the Women’s Rights Network.

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, researcher, or simply concerned about child safeguarding and ideology distorting medical practice, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

CAN-SG has offered Sex Matters’ supporters an exclusive discount: use the code SM25 for 25 percent off all ticket prices. Further discounts are available for people on low incomes, and students can attend the full two days for just £20.

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 competition, and why not having a female category may result in legal challenges for indirect discrimination and harassment.

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 published a guide on this process, which you can read on our website.

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.

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 inTimes 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 for Students’ investigation into its failure to protect academic freedom and free speech on campus had been sparked by thehounding of Professor Kathleen Stock, who had been accused of hate by activists for speaking up about misrepresentations of the Equality Act. The High Court overturned the regulator’s £585,000 fine punishing Sussex for infringing on academic freedom and freedom of speech by adopting a policy in 2018 banning so-called transphobic propaganda from its campus and pledging to discipline those committing “transphobic abuse”.