“Trans” reviews and interviews
My first book, “Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality”, was published by OneWorld in July 2021. It 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.
When “Trans” came out, it was reviewed by a wide range of outlets and I embarked on a whirlwind of interviews for YouTube channels, podcasts and radio shows. If you’re considering whether to take out a subscription to my newsletter, Joyce Activated, you can read what reviewers thought and watch or hear me being interviewed on a wide range of outlets, in order to get a sense of how I think and where I’m coming from.
Print reviews and interviews
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.
“Someone Has to Be the Someone”, by Jane Clare Jones, The Radical Notion; Issue 4, Summer 2021
The founding editor of this radical-feminist quarterly had a wide-ranging conversation with me about the impact of gender-identity ideology on feminism, the side-lining of embodied reality and reification of gender as an identity, the medical scandal of paediatric transitioning and much more.
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.
Videos and podcasts (in reverse chronological order)
Marshall Matters for the Spectator; October 24th 2022
I really enjoyed talking to Winston Marshall for the Spectator podcast, not only because he’s an excellent and well-informed interviewer, but because it’s a podcast that gets what I’m saying out past the already knowledgeable GC bubble.
VatorNews; October 5th 2022
An interview with Bambi Francisco of Vator, a platform for innovation and investment in health care. Also with Maya Forstater. Interesting to see Silicon Valley insiders start to wake up to what’s happening in gender medicine.
Jordan Peterson: Trans—When Ideology Meets Reality; August 22nd 2022
Far and away the biggest interview I’ve done was with Jordan Peterson. I really enjoyed the conversation, despite the recording happening on July 19th, the hottest day in London on record. That meant sitting in a room with studio lights overhead, the windows closed and the fan turned off for noise reasons. And it took me hours and hours to get home, as most trains had been cancelled because of the heat warping the tracks.
I can honestly say that more people since have said: “I saw/heard you on Jordan Peterson” than have mentioned every other interview I’ve ever done put together. And I learned a lot from him! He’s a fascinating guy who knows a bunch of stuff I don’t.
Spiked Online podcast: Have we reached peak trans?; August 11th 2022
My second conversation with Brendan O’Neill (he interviewed me shortly after my book came out, a year earlier). A joy to speak with someone who doesn’t seek to police pronouns, and really understands the subject.
Online Speakeasy: How to speak up without getting cancelled; July 12th 2022
I was interviewed by Jan Macvarish of the Free Speech Union for a “speakeasy” with members. These interesting and frank discussions are recorded and go online afterwards for everyone.
Fact and Fiction: Celebrating Those Who Have Dared Publish; July 9th 2022
I took part in a delightful morning arranged by Stephanie Davies-Arai of Transgender Trend, which brought together people who have managed to get sex-realist books into print, and coped with the conseqences. The event was a fundraiser for Transgender Trend and was later released in five parts. Kathleen Stock and I are part 4, and the panel at large is part 5.
True Thirty: The Reality of Trans, Part 1 and Part 2; June 8th and 15th 2022
An interview with Joey Dumont, an Australian whose podcast True Thirty takes a slow-journalism approach to fraught issues. Our conversation was so wide-ranging that he decided to release it in two parts.
‘Sex Realism’ Versus ‘Sex Denialism’: Is the Tide Finally Turning Against Gender Ideology?; June 5th 2022
A conversation with the first person who ever published what I wanted to say about trans issues, a man to whom I will always be grateful for stopping the fury and befuddlement making me explode—the wonderful Jon Kay. For the Quillette podcast.
Wine with Women; May 25th 2022
The interview with Helen Staniland that launched a thousand claims that I’m a genocidaire. Watch for yourself and decide whether I (a) want to round trans people up for transport and extermination or (b) want to do as much as possible to slow and eventually stop a social contagion that is harming young people, and to limit the number of people who adhere to the sex-denialist ideology and therefore seek to destroy other people’s rights.
Calmversations: Speaking Truth to Gender; April 29th 2022
Stephanie Davies-Arai and I, both now repeat guests, join Benjamin Boyce, who has done more than anyone else to document trans ideology as it spreads.
Unleashed: The Game-Changers, with Paola Diana; January 29th 2022
Diana kicks off the second season of her series by interviewing me about the harms done to children by gender-identity ideology, the impact on women’s rights and what I think needs to happen in British politics to bring this inglorious episode to an end.
Keep talking with Dan Riley; October 29th 2021
In this interview I discuss the sterilisation of children, the cultural incentives that encourage kids to question their sex, the regret that many have after surgery and the public shaming of those who disagree with this activist ideology.
The Electric Agora; October 15th 2021
Daniel Kaufman, editor of the online philosophy magazine EA, and I talk about the history of transgenderism, how we got to a position where man and woman have become dematerialised identities, the use of postmodernist deconstruction in transactivist discourse, and my predictions for both Britain and America.
Conservative Party Conference in Manchester; October 3rd 2021
Journalist Julia Hartley Brewer interviewed me for an audience of party members, MPs and peers.
Baroness Emma Nicholson’s webinar for parliamentarians; September 24th 2021
Lady Nicholson has been working for some time to the eyes of MPs and peers to the harms of gender-identity ideology. For this session I was among the guests, with Sonia Appleby, Kellie-Jay Keen (Posie Parker) and Graham Linehan.
Coleman Hughes: Demystifying Gender Dysphoria; September 24th 2021
Brilliant young American thinker Coleman Hughes, who remembers the early signs of the gender-identity revolution from his teens, asks me some questions he’s been waiting to ask since he was 16.
The Femsplainers Podcast - What if Mother Nature Used He/Him Pronouns? September 21st 2021
Danielle Crittenden, the Femsplainer-in-chief, interviewed me about the trend to define sex by “gender identity” and not biology, and how that is leading to the erasure of women’s rights on many important fronts. We also explored why so few people dare challenge this radical redefinition of what it means to be a woman, or indeed man.
Subversive: The Trans Takeover; September 19th 2021
Writer and cultural critic Alex Kaschuta invited me on for a wide-ranging conversation that covered trans medicine, John Money and the tragic case of David Reimer, how the UK became “TERF island”, the plight of “trans widows”, gender as performance or “sexed soul”, the huge difference between trans-identified males and trans-identified females, and much, much more.
Gender: A Wider Lens; September 17th 2021
Gender-critical therapists Stella O’Malley and Sasha Ayad went into depth in this podcast in so many ways. We talked about traditional cultures’ third genders, and how citing them as “trans” identities is a type of cultural colonialism. We also reflected on how America’s tendency to double down on bad policies bodes ill for women’s rights and children’s wellbeing; and on the way in which, with luck, a grassroots feminist resurgence is bringing policy in Britain back onto a more sensible path.
In Conversation with Iain Martin; September 10th 2021
The editor of Reaction and I discuss the impact of gender-identity ideology on British politics.
Women’s Voices; September 1st 2021
Genevieve Gluck, the creator of this radical-feminist podcast, asks me about the notion that biological sex is a social construct, the smear campaign against me and the powerful lobbying effort that has pushed gender-identity ideology onto the political agenda in many countries with unprecedented speed.
The Same Drugs; September 1st 2021
Canadian feminist campaigner Meghan Murphy and I discussed the origins of transsexualism, and why the assault on reality matters so much to women.
Benjamin Boyce: Calmversations; August 30th 2021
This is my third discussion with Boyce, and as always he found a new direction to take things, and new questions to ask in his ongoing search for a synthesis of the various strands of thinking about gender in the 21st century.
Chicago’s Morning Answer; August 3rd 2021
A live interview on American talk radio, with particular emphasis on what is going on in schools.
The Mess We’re In; August 1st 2021
Graham Linehan, Arty Morty, Helen Staniland and I discussed the reaction to the book, and what we all see coming next.
Savage Minds Podcast with Julian Vigo; July 29th 2021
I go into detail with feminist author and journalist Julian Vigo regarding some of the choices I made in my book regarding what to include and exclude, and the trickiest decision of all: why did I (sometimes) use pronouns of choice?
Knight Tube; July 29th 2021
Sceptic and atheist Stephen Knight and I discussed why so many so-called sceptics have fallen hook, line and sinker for a cult-like belief system.
Spiked Online Podcast: The trans war on reality; July 29th 2021
I joined the editor of Spiked, Brendan O’Neill, to discuss the totalitarian nature of trans ideology, the abuse experienced by detransitioners, and the societal and scientific reasons for excluding males from women’s sports, prisons and changing rooms.
The Ayaan Hirsi Ali Podcast; July 22nd 2021
One of my personal heroes interviewed me about the rapid rise of gender-identity ideology, the differences between America and Britain, and where I see it all going.
Sex Matters: In Maya Forstater; July 22nd 2021
The first-ever Sex Matters event, live online for Super Supporters and available to watch back for everyone.
Free Speech Nation with Andrew Doyle; July 17th 2021
In this long and lively interview, Andrew and I went into detail on many aspects of gender-identity ideology, in particular the multiple definitions of “gender”.
The Critic podcast: Debunking Trans ideology; July 13th 2021
An interview with freelance journalist Jo Bartosch that focuses on the ways in which transactivism harms young gay people.
A Woman’s Place is keeping it real; July 13th 2021
In this live digital pre-launch event, Guardian journalist Susanna Rustin interviewed me about why I wrote “Trans” and how it fits into a broader feminist resurgence.