“Trans” reviews
My first book, “Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality”, was published by OneWorld in July 2021. It was an immediate bestseller and named by the Sunday 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.
It’s since been reissued under a new title — “Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights” — and it’s still selling. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy, here’s what the reviewers thought.
The Evening Standard: A tour de force; July 12th 2021
This painstaking book is a must-read for anyone looking for a deeper understanding of trans activism, says Stella O’Malley.
The Times Book of the Week: Women exist! The facts of biology trump ideology; July 16th 2021
This rigorous and brave book nails the absurd idea that sex is just a “social construct”, says David Aaronovitch.
The Telegraph: This is the book you need to read about trans activism; July 18th 2021
Helen Joyce’s new book is a jaw-dropping look at a world gone mad, says Kathleen Stock.
The Guardian: Trans by Helen Joyce; Material Girls by Kathleen Stock; July 18th 2021
Two weighty books on the debate around gender-critical feminism and transgender rights strike different tones, says Gaby Hinsliff.
The New York Times: Trans Rights and Gender Identity; September 7th 2021
“There is a difference between believing in ‘trans rights’ and believing in ‘gender-identity ideology’,” says Jesse Singal, a journalist who has done more than almost any other to cover trans issues intelligently and thoroughly. “That’s the subtly important distinction that fuels Helen Joyce’s ‘Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality’, a book that offers an intelligent, thorough rejoinder to an idea that has swept across much of the liberal world seemingly overnight.”
New Statesman: How to talk about trans rights; September 15th 2021
This is a joint review of “Trans” and Shon Faye’s “The Transgender Issue”. The author, Sophie McBain, really didn’t like “Trans”, describing my tone as “harsh”, “insensitive” and “unfortunate”, and recommending that anyone who finds it at all convincing immediately reads Faye’s book to correct their thinking.
New Statesman: Women are in a bigger fight than the suffragettes; September 29th 2021 (updated October 1st 2021 3:13pm)
In this interview with New Statesman staff writer Harry Lambert, I was able to explain my ideas without misrepresentation. It was commissioned to provide some balance to the one-sided review by Sophie McBain two weeks earlier.