About me

I’m a journalist: between 2005 and 2022 I was a staff writer for The Economist, where I held a variety of jobs including education editor, Brazil correspondent (based in São Paulo), International editor, Finance editor and Britain editor.

I’m also an author: my first book, “Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality”, was published by OneWorld in July 2021. It was reissued in 2023 under a new title: “Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights”.

And I’m a feminist campaigner: in early 2022 I took a leave of absence from The Economist to work with start-up human-rights organisation Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity about the two sexes, male and female, in law and in life. In early 2023 I decided to continue with my campaigning work rather than return to The Economist.

“Trans” was an immediate bestseller and named by the Times, Spectator and Observer as one of their books of 2021. The paperback came out on May 5th 2022. It includes an entirely new foreword and afterword. An audiobook edition is also available, read by me.

If you’d like to commission me to write for you, or to speak at an event, drop me a line on hjoycegender@gmail.com. If you want to contact me regarding my work at Sex Matters, best to use this form on the organisation’s website. For queries about my book, including to do with translation or syndication, please contact my wonderful agent, Caroline Hardman of Hardman and Swainson.

Access all areas

If you value what I’ve written to date and would like to see more from me, please subscribe to my newsletter, Joyce Activated—slightly counterculturally, I’m running it myself from this website, rather than joining Substack. That will enable you to read back issues, as well as gain access to other subscriber benefits (what precisely these will be I’m still considering; if you have thoughts about what you would like, and what would inspire you to subscribe, drop me a line). You’ll also be the first to hear all my news about future publications and appearances.

In the meantime you can explore this site, where I’ve collected links to reviews of “Trans” and interviews I’ve given about it for a wide variety of podcasts, videos and print publications, as well as other writings and unrelated appearances and interviews on interesting topics.