Azeen Ghorayshi is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Ghorayshi is a key historical figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse youth.
Ghorayshi has written about transgender healthcare for youth and other trans topics in several publications. In 2021, Ghorayshi became the point person laundering anti-transgender extremism into the New York Times, similar to Times health reporter Jane Brody, whose consistently anti-trans coverage in the 1970s helped get adult care shut down as “experimental” by the end of that decade.
Ghorayshi believes that affirmative models of care for trans and gender diverse youth are an unfolding medical scandal, echoing Times colleagues and contributors in the late 1970s who helped set the trans rights movement back for 25 years. The real medical scandal is that trans and gender diverse youth have never been able to receive appropriate care, and Ghorayshi’s reporting is a major factor in making this care unavailable to hundreds of thousands of minors.
Each year, thousands of American cisgender youth receive gender-affirming treatments like surgeries for unwanted breast tissue, but Ghorayshi is focused exclusively on banning the same procedures for transgender youth.
Ghorayshi’s anti-trans views are colored by disease models of gender identity, particularly psychopathology models. Ghorayshi is a strong proponent of gatekeeping trans healthcare via psychology and psychiatry, especially for minors. Ghorayshi also disproportionately covers cases of regret and “detransition,”presenting people like Jamie Reed as brave truth-tellers instead of politically motivated anti-trans extremists.
Ghorayshi consistently and idiosyncratically presents anti-trans activists as a broad coalition from “both sides of the political aisle.”
Background
Azeen M. Ghorayshi was born in October 1988 and earned a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Berkeley in 2010. While there, Ghorayshi interned in UC Berkeley’s notoriously conservative and anti-trans psychology department and in the neurobiology department. Ghorayshi then earned a master’s degree from Imperial College London.
Ghorayshi began writing as an Editorial Fellow at Mother Jones, then worked at the weekly East Bay Express in the Bay Area. Ghorayshi freelanced from 2013 to 2015, placing stories in New Scientist, The Guardian, Newsweek, Wired UK, and other outlets.
Ghorayshi co-founded Method Quarterly, a publication about science with Christina Agapakis. Other personnel included:
Ellie Harmon (editor in 2014)
[Reo] Eveleth (editor – presence scrubbed from site)
Ghorayshi joined BuzzFeed in 2015 as a science reporter, rising to science editor prior to departing.
Shortly after expressing this love, Ghorayshi presented Dreger as a “liberal” academic instead of an inaugural member of the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. In a “both sides” piece about trans healthcare for youth, Ghorayshi also presented transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey and geneticist Eric Vilain as objective or centrist scientists in the middle of the non-affirming coalition, and the transphobic American College of Pediatricians as “religious conservatives”:
But some doctors — as well as an unexpected mix of liberal academics, scientists, and religious conservatives — argue that we have no way of knowing with certainty which prepubescent kids who behave outside of gender norms will come to identify as trans, and which ones will not. Some worry that this approach could steer kids who are just going through a phase into a transgender “track” long before the kids know whether those feelings will really stick. Others say it reinforces outdated stereotypes — giving worried parents the false assurance that their girly boy is actually just a girl who was born in the wrong body. Conservative critics peg the increase in trans kids today to a dangerous new fad in parenting.
Ghorayshi also uncritically presented Jesse Singal’s false version of why Kenneth Zucker was fired (Zucker’s practices were outlawed in 2015 under Bill 77), and showcases Debra Soh’s claim that the affirmative model of care “reinforces outdated stereotypes.” Ghorayshi then cites a conservative Breitbart piece that quotes Zucker, summarizing their view that affirmative care is a dangerous new fad in parenting.
New York Times transgender articles
In the New York Times, Ghorayshi also published “cisgender person under siege” profiles featuring hospital CEO John Warner, surgeon Sidhbh Gallagher, and anti-trans extremist Jamie Reed.
The Warner piece was about the closure of Genecis Children’s Medical Center in Dallas following abortion clinic protest tactics targeting practitioners and leaders. Ghorayshi had described Genecis in the 2016 BuzzFeed piece.
The Gallagher piece was favorably shared by many fascist, gender critical, and cis journalist accounts, including white nationalist Richard Spencer and Daily Wire writer Christina Buttons, as well as anti-trans activists Katie Herzog, Jesse Singal, Kenneth Zucker, Cathy Brennan, Julia Mason, and Helen Lewis. It was also shared by a number of Ghorayshi’s current and former colleagues, including Virginia Hughes, Cliff Levy, Christina Jewett, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Ken Bensinger, Oliver Whang, Dan Saltzstein, Judy Rudin, Paul McLeod, Kadia Goba, Josh Barro, Ellie Hall, Derek Robertson, Alison Griffiths, Kinnon Ross MacKinnon, Tina S. Fondeles, Benjamin Goggin, Yeganeh Torbati, Steven Meiers, Jessica Garrison, Mark Yarm, Shannon Palus, Megan Twohey, and Michael Marshall.
In 2025, Ghorayshi promoted anti-trans groups Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender and LGB Courage Coalition as being from the left: “In the United States, a coalition of critics of youth gender medicine from both the right and the lefthave argued for banning the treatments.” The first group is a coalition of parents who do not accept their gender diverse children, and the second is an LGB separatist organization led by anti-trans extremist Jamie Reed that purged all of its conservative trans members in 2024.
“Low-quality evidence”
Ghorayshi wrote a piece about the American Academy of Pediatrics that prominently featured their critics, including anti-trans activist Julia Mason of the hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. Ghorayshi also parrots the “low-quality evidence” claim put forth by anti-trans activists, based on a scale devised by Gordon Guyatt. Federal judge Sarah E. Geraghty rejected these claims in a 2023 Georgia case where anti-trans activists Paul Hruz, Michael Laidlaw, and James Cantor testified against Yale University professor of pediatrics Meredithe McNamara:
The undisputed record shows that clinical medical decision-making, including in pediatric or adolescent medicine, often is not guided by evidence that would qualify as “high quality” on the scales used by Defendants’ experts. 30 (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶¶ 23–28; Tr. 74:11–75:1 (McNamara Testimony); Tr. 133:614 (Hruz Testimony).) In fact, the record shows that less than 15 percent of medical treatments are supported by “high-quality evidence,” or in other words that 85 percent of evidence that guides clinical care, across all areas of medicine, would be classified as “low-quality” under the scale used by Defendants’ experts. (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶ 25; Tr. 74:11–75:1.) Defendants do not refute Dr. McNamara’s testimony on this point, and indeed they “concede” that “low-quality” evidence “can be considered.” 31
Geraghty also noted the obvious biases of Hruz, Laidlaw and Cantor:
Defendants’ experts’ insistence on a very high threshold of evidence in the context of claims about hormone therapy’s safety and benefits, and on the other hand their tolerance of a much lower threshold of evidence for claims about its risks, the likelihood of desistance and/or regret, and their notions about the ideological bias of a medical establishment that largely disagrees with them. That is cause for some concern about the weight to be assigned to their views, although the Court does not doubt that those they express are genuinely held.
(“Dr. [Paul] Hruz fended and parried questions and generally testified as a deeply biased advocate, not as an expert sharing relevant evidence-based information and opinions. I do not credit his testimony.”); Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, 603 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1142–43 (M.D. Ala. 2022) (explaining that the court gave Dr. James Cantor’s “testimony regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors very little weight”); C. P. by & through Pritchard v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, No. 3:20-CV-06145-RJB, 2022 WL 17092846, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2022) (noting that it was a “close question” as to whether Dr. Michael Laidlaw was qualified to testify about the medical necessity of gender-affirming care because he has treated only two patients with gender dysphoria and has done no original research on gender identity).
Ghorayshi also wrote an article centered on Jamie Reed, an activist who supports “a national moratorium on the medicalization of kids.” Reed is represented by anti-trans lawyer Vernadette Broyles, who has stated the transgender rights movement poses an “existential threat to our culture.”
2025 podcast series
Ghorayshi and Austin Mitchell produced a six-part podcast series titled The Protocol, which rehashes Ghorayshi’s opinion that healthcare for trans and gender diverse youth has become too easy to obtain, is based on “uncertainty in the scientific evidence,” and needs to return to the rigid gatekeeping that was practiced decades ago.
Francis, Matthew R. (June 5, 2025). Open Letter to Anti-Trans Science Journalists.Galileo’s Pendulum https://galileospendulum.org/2025/06/05/open-letter-to-anti-trans-science-journalists/
Urquhart, Evan (September 3, 2023). “You Betrayed Us, Azeen”: A story on the allegations of former St. Louis gender clinic staffer Jamie Reed left parents who spoke with NYT reporter Azeen Ghorayshi crushed. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/you-betrayed-us-azeen-parents-of-trans-youth-reeling-after-speaking-to-the-nyt
Clark-Callender, Rebecca (August 11, 2023). How the Times Covers Trans Rights.On the Media https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/what-we-missed-how-press-covers-trans-rights-on-the-media
Ghorayshi, Azeen (November 2015). Conversations With Anne Fausto-Sterling.Method Quarterly http://www.methodquarterly.com/2015/11/conversations-with-anne-fausto-sterling/
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Media Matters for America (MMFA) is an American progressive media watchdog nonprofit that monitors and reports on media issues. Their coverage of trans topics has been consistently fair and accurate. MMFA has also hired trans contributors, including Ari Drennen and Parker Molloy.
Background
MMFA was founded in 2004 by political strategist David Brock. Early funding came from progressive donors.MMFA publishes daily research analyzing television, radio, print, and online outlets.
The organization gained national attention for aggressive monitoring of cable news personalities and talk radio. MMFA expanded its research staff and built a rapid-response model designed to publish fact-checks within hours of controversial broadcasts.
In 2010, MMFA broadened its focus to include social media misinformation and launched new digital platforms to track viral content and online narratives. In 2011, MMFA helped establish the American Bridge 21st Century political action committee. In 2016, MMFA intensified its monitoring of online disinformation during the U.S. presidential election. By 2020, MMFA created specialized teams focused on social media platforms. In 2022, MMFA expanded research into streaming platforms and podcast networks.
Over time, MMFA evolved from a traditional media watchdog into a digital research group focused on the modern information environment.
The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) campaigns against diversity and inclusion movements, with a focus on gender and race.
Its members and leadership include key figures in the modern global anti-transgender movement.
note: for the media watchdog founded in 1986, see FAIR.
Background
FAIR was founded in 2021 by Bion Bartning, who was upset that teachers had introduced Bartning’s children to concepts associated with postmodernism, critical race theory, and intersectionality.
FAIR later expanded its mission to attack the rights of sex and gender minorities, primarily through its division FAIR in Medicine.
FAIR’s anti-transgender positions
FAIR claims schools are teaching children “to reject biology and to accept and reinforce gender norms and stereotypes.” They claim this is confusing children into thinking they are trans or gender diverse and “can lead some to consider serious and irreversible medical interventions.”
They also support the “parental rights” faction of anti-trans activists, saying “educators should inform families when a child is experiencing confusion or dysphoria around gender at school,” even if the educators know this may have negative consequences for the child.
While they claim to support “all sides of a clinical debate” about gender affirming care, their main goal is to support an activist minority within pediatrics and psychology who want to restrict or ban care for trans people under age 26. They do this through promoting the ex-transgender movement.
In 2023, the Archives of Sexual Behavior (ASB) published the latest in its 50 years of academic attacks on trans and gender diverse youth. The paper promoted “rapid onset gender dysphoria,” a new anti-trans disease developed, workshopped, and promoted by anti-trans activists. The first author is “Suzanna Diaz,” a fake name used by Monica Hegmann of Parents of ROGD Kids, an anti-transgender front group for unsupportive parents of trans and gender-diverse children. The second author is anti-trans psychologist J. Michael Bailey. The paper was retracted by the publisher, and an open letter called for the removal of ASB’s editor, sexologist Kenneth Zucker.
Andrew Doyle is a British writer and anti-transgender activist who created the Titania McGrath character, a satire of social justice warriors.
Background
Doyle was born in Derry, Northern Ireland and grew up Catholic. Doyle cearned a bachelor’s degree at Aberystwyth University, a master’s degree at University of York, and a doctorate from University of Oxford.
Doyle co-wrote satiric news reporter Jonathan Pie and has published two books as Titania McGrath: Woke: A Guide to Social Justice (2019) and My First Little Book of Intersectional Activism (2020).
Doyle joined GB News in 2021 as host of Free Speech Nation.
Anti-trans activism
UnHerd published an overview of Doyle’s anti-transgender views, which center on the “gay erasure” conspiracy theory that claims trans people are a plot to eliminate gay people like Doyle:
certain Left-leaning activists are doing their utmost to advance a social constructionist view of both sex and gender. The result has been a curious theoretical alliance between gender ideologues — for whom outmoded stereotypes are taken to signify an authentic self — and traditionalists who similarly feel that male and female behaviour ought to be strictly defined.
[…]
In her new book Time to Think, Hannah Barnes has revealed that between 80-90% of adolescents who were referred to the Tavistock paediatric gender clinic were same-sex attracted. Other writers, such as Helen Joyce, have already drawn on studies that confirm a strong correlation between gender non-conformity in youth and homosexuality in adult life. Members of the staff at the Tavistock itself joked that soon “there would be no gay people left” and whistle-blowers revealed that homophobia was endemic.
[…]
It is significant that activists who insist that stereotypes of male and female behaviour are suggestive of an innate “gender identity” should also seek to deny the reality of sexual dimorphism. The view that sex is a “spectrum” has even infiltrated major academic literature, including the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine.
The End of Woke
In 2025, Doyle published The End of Woke: How the Culture War Went Too Far and What to Expect from the Counter-Revolution. Doyle discusses the anti-trans movement and takes issue with accusations of misogyny:
Linda Blade is a Canadian athlete, coach, and anti-transgender extremist. Blade considers transgender athletes “almost an existential threat to our sport.”
Background
Linda Blade was born on May 26, 1962 in Bolivia. Blade and spouse moved to Nigeria in the 1990s. They returned to Canada after they had a child.
Blade competed in track and field. Blade earned a doctorate from Simon Fraser University in 1994. In 1997, Blade began work as a sports performance coach.
In 2014, Blade was elected as president of the board for Athletics Alberta and was involved in shaping Canadian sport policy. Blade is president of the Edmonton Track Council, and is responsible for overseeing athletics programs across Alberta, including at Kinsmen Field House.
Anti-transgender activism
Blade is a frequent collaborator with Raine McLeod of AB Radical Feminists.
According to a 2021 report by The Canadian Anti-Hate Network, “Blade’s staff bio at the Royal Glenora Club, an Edmonton-based private fitness and social club, describes her ‘struggle to preserve sports for biological females’ as ‘the hill I am prepared to die on.’”
Blade and Barbara Kay wrote the 2021 book Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport.
Blade is involved in anti-trans organization Independent Council on Women’s Sports and maintains anti-trans website N=8. According to Blade, this equation “denotes the number of male born runners it took to change the rules of sport for ALL female athletes in the world across ALL sports.”
Blade was announced as a speaker at a 2023 anti-trans conference by Genspect.
Substack is a subscription newsletter publishing platform that is the service of choice for anti-transgender activists and media figures. The New Republicdescribed its power base as “white male contrarians with a talent for Twitter theatrics.”
Substack allows writers to make a living attacking trans people without the oversight or accountability that is in place at reputable media outlets. Substack also profits from promotion of other medical misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Background
Substack was founded in 2017 by Chris Best, Jairaj Sethi, and Hamish McKenzie.
The platform’s strategy for growth was based on inviting the most histrionic verified Twitter users to create newsletters.
Kate Miechkowski ([deleted]): Rogue Social Worker (roguesocialworker.substack.com) [deleted – no archive]
Substack Pro controversy
In March 2021, Substack revealed it paid advances for writers to create publications on its platform via a program called Substack Pro. The lack of transparency about this program and who had been paid led to widespread criticism.
Shortly before Jesse Singal’s 2021 book release, Singal’s Substack newsletter become a cause célèbre among the platform’s favored user base: “those who have already been well-served by existing media power structures.” The secretive Substack Pro program was accused of “perpetuating some of the industry inequities it claims to solve,” favoring these types of writers by luring them to the platform with large monetary advances. Substack had become the service of choice for several other prominent critics of the trans rights movement, “largely white, male contrarians with a talent for Twitter theatrics.”
In 2021, Adweek’s Mark Stenberg discussed Singal’s role in generating protests about Substack Pro:
Substack has drawn criticism for offering safe harbor to a number of writers, including writers Andrew Sullivan, Jesse Singal and Glenn Greenwald, whose opinions on issues surrounding race, transgender rights and censorship have been condemned by marginalized communities.
Singal has a long history of “sealioning,” a type of trolling via persistent requests, whenever Singal’s biased views about trans people are reported in the media. Singal will pursue all available avenues to get these reports modified or removed altogether. Following a “stealth edit,” Singal’s name was quietly removed from Adweek’s original text so it read “including some whose politics have been condemned by marginalized communities.” Even that was later removed.
Paulas, Rick (March 14, 2021) Who are the Substack Pros? Investigating Substack https://domstack.substack.com/p/who-are-the-substack-pros
Silverman, Jacob (March 16, 2021). Facebook Has Found a New Way to Ruin Media. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/161736/facebook-found-new-way-ruin-media
Wiener, Anna (28 December 2020). Is Substack the Media Future We Want?The New Yorker. Retrieved 11 February 2021. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/is-substack-the-media-future-we-want
Bill Maher is an American comedian and anti-transgender activist. Maher is a key historical figure in the “reactionary centrist” faction of anti-trans extremists.
Background
William “Bill” Maher was born on January 20, 1956 in New York City. Maher earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1978 and began a comedy career in 1979.
Maher hosted the panel show Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher on Comedy Central from 1993 to 1997 and on ABC from 1997 to 2002. In 2003 Maher began hosting the weekly show Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO.
Anti-trans activism
Maher hosts Real Time with Bill Maher, a political talk show on HBO that has platformed many anti-trans figures over the course of the series. Maher has had a far smaller number of trans-supportive guests and only a few trans and gender diverse guests.
Maher also hosts Club Random with Bill Maher, a podcast that has also consistently platformed anti-trans guests.
Molly Jong-Fast (May 26, 2022). Bill Maher Isn’t a Liberal Anymore.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/05/bill-maher-anti-lgbtq-transgender-comments/676673/
The Critic is a British anti-transgender group blog and a top global English-language platform for anti-transgender extremism.
Background
The Critic was founded in November 2019 financier Jeremy Hosking, previous financial to Standpoint. Standpoint’s editorial board rejected Hosking’s demand to focus on “anti-woke” and “culture war” content. Hosking named as editors Christopher Montgomery and former Standpoint editor Michael Mosbacher.
Contributors
Contributors and guests spreading anti-trans content include:
Smith, Victoria (March 27, 2024). He’s not the messiah, he’s a transwoman.The Critic https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/april-2024/hes-not-the-messiah-hes-a-transwoman/
Helen Lewis is a British author and anti-transgender activist who launders gender critical extremism into mainstream media, particularly at The Atlantic. Lewis is one of the key importers of British anti-trans views into United States media. Lewis is a key media figure from the reactionary center publishing anti-trans writing.
Lewis is a sex segregationist who claims to be writing from a feminist and leftist viewpoint. Lewis demonstrates that anti-trans sentiment extends into every political point of view and movement.
Lewis’ anti-trans views center around:
Challenging legal recognition of trans people in systems developed on the basis of sex, particularly opposing the UK’s Gender Recognition Act
Maintaining systems of sex segregation, particularly in matters of law, public accommodation, prisons, sports, and other remaining sex-segregated institutions
Maintaining the strict gatekeeping of trans healthcare via government control, developed under nationalized heath systems (so-called “gender clinics”) in the 20th century
Maintaining medico-juridical control over trans and gender diverse people though disease models and medical requirements for legal recognition (sterilization requirements, etc.)
Maintaining non-affirming models of care for gender diverse youth, developed last century for “the prevention of transsexualism” and now widely outlawed
Promoting anti-trans government reports created as pretexts to restrict or ban gender-affirming care for minors, including the Cass Review and the 2025 Trump HHS report.
Lewis frequently promotes and collaborates with other anti-trans activists, notably Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog of the podcast Blocked and Reported. Lewis is their most frequent guest.
Background
Helen Alexandra Lewis was born on September 30, 1983, grew up Catholic in Worcester, and attended St Mary’s School there. Lewis then read English at St Peter’s College, Oxford, followed by a journalism degree from City University London. Lewis no longer identifies as Catholic.
After graduating, Lewis worked at the Daily Mail, then joined the New Statesman in 2010. Lewis married designer and creative director Matthew “Matt” Hasteley in 2010 and wrote professionally as Helen Lewis-Hasteley from 2010 until their divorce in 2013. During the marriage, Lewis met and got involved with someone else, eventually leaving the marriage. Like many gender-critical public figures, this starter marriage seems to have had a significant impact on Lewis’ views about sex and gender.
Lewis married Guardian digital editor Jonathan Haynes in 2015. In 2019 Lewis joined the staff of The Atlantic, which has never had an out trans person listed on their masthead in its 160+ years of existence. In 2020 game developer Ubisoft removed Lewis’ voice from in-game audio in Watch Dogs: Legion due to transphobic views.
Anti-trans activism
In 2013, Lewis devoted a week at the New Statesman to trans issues, inviting trans-supportive authors to publish pieces. By late 2015, Lewis began writing increasingly frequent anti-trans pieces there.
2017 Times op-ed
Lewis has been critical of the UK’s Gender Recognition Act, claiming that what used to be called the “real life test” that lasts for two years should be required for anyone to be legally recognized as their gender. In a piece for The Times titled “A man can’t just say he has turned into a woman,” Lewis wrote:
What the government proposes is a radical rewriting of our understanding of identity: now it’s a question of an internal essence — a soul, if you will. Being a woman or a man is now entirely in your head. In this climate, who would challenge someone with a beard exposing their penis in a women’s changing room? That’s why feminists have raised the alarm over the move to self-identification, along with some older trans people who fear that “trendsters” will erode the goodwill they have worked hard to acquire.
Removal from Watch Dogs: Legion
By 2018, Lewis’ anti-trans views were so well-known that Lewis was removed as a featured voice in the game Watch Dogs: Legion. This “cancellation” caused Lewis to start making even more strident and frequent attacks on trans people.
2018 New Statesman op-ed
While writing for The New Statesman, Lewis was accused of laundering transphobic talking points into a major media outlet around the topics of sex segregation and trans healthcare for youth.
Want to talk about how letting people self-define their gender might affect female-only spaces such as prisons and changing rooms? Then you’re a bigot, cloaking your bigotry in the language of “legitimate concerns”. Want to discuss whether we are rushing to medicalise gender non-conforming children because they and their desperate parents have been sold the idea there is a universal “fix” for their profound, genuine unhappiness? These are yet more “legitimate concerns” that can be dismissed, even as medical professionals warn that not every gender non-conforming child will benefit from puberty blockers and (later) medical transition.
We should all be in favour of the right of transgender people to live their lives free of discrimination, harassment and abuse. […] But the right of someone who has been through male puberty, with the consequences for skeleton and muscle development that brings, to compete in women’s sports that depend on raw strength? That’s more difficult. […]
Our ideas about gender are undergoing a profound shift. I hope that they will end up in a place where a boy can wear a princess dress without people assuming he is “really” a girl.
2018 GQ interview of Jordan Peterson
In September 2018, Lewis interviewed fellow anti-trans activist Jordan Peterson for GQ. It quickly turned into a tense but civil debate that went viral. One of the few times they agree in the 90-minute conversation is on what Lewis calls “transgender issues.” At about 1:09.45, Lewis’s views overlap significantly with Peterson’s anti-trans viewpoints. Lewis repeats the unsupported generalization that “transgender activists” believe they have a “female soul.” Lewis also believes “We are very quick to diagnose and treat children in a way that I find – and not waiting for the research – and that I find concerning.”
The Atlantic
In July 2019, Lewis joined anti-trans publication The Atlantic as a staff writer and began writing anti-trans pieces even more frequently.
Steinfeld, J. (2020). Not my turf: Helen Lewis argues that vitriol around the trans debate means only extreme voices are being heard. Index on Censorship, 49(1), 34–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306422020917609
Lewis, Helen (2025). The Genius Myth: A Curious History of a Dangerous Idea. Thesis, ISBN 979-8217178582
Lewis, Helen (2021). Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights. Vintage, ISBN 978-1784709730 alternatively titled Difficult Women: An Imperfect History of Feminism
Lewis, Helen [presenter] (2021). The Spark: 11 Ideas to Change the World. BBC Audio, ASIN B091FTHY11
with Emily Oster, Hilary Cottam, Paul Krugman, Roy Baumeister, Margaret Heffernan, Stuart Russell, Peter Macfadyen, Pragya Agarwal, Paul Collier and John Kay, Kiran Gill, Chris Daw
Lewis, Helen (December 8, 2023). The Left Can’t Afford to Go Mad.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/01/trump-biden-democratic-left-opposition/676141/
Lewis, Helen (February 27, 2022). The Twitching Generation.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/02/social-media-illness-teen-girls/622916/
Lewis, Helen (26 October 2021). In Defense of Saying ‘Pregnant Women.’The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/pregnant-women-people-feminism-language/620468/ [headline stealth edited to Why I’ll Keep Saying ‘Pregnant Women’]
Lewis, Helen (March 16, 2021). The Identity Hoaxers.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/03/krug-carrillo-dolezal-social-munchausen-syndrome/618289/
Lewis, Helen (July 2020). Why Millennial Harry Potter Fans Reject JK Rowling. [stealth edited to How J. K. Rowling Became Voldemort] The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/07/why-millennial-harry-potter-fans-reject-jk-rowling/613870/
Lewis, Helen (February 27, 2020). Feminism’s Purity Wars.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/02/feminism-mens-rights-activism-cancel-culture/607057/
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
India Willoughby is an English journalist and media personality. Willoughby is Britain’s first transgender national television newsreader and the first transgender co-host of an all-women talk show, Loose Women.
Background
Willoughby was born September 2, 1965 in Carlisle, Cumbria and attended Trinity School in Shaw, Newbury.
Willoughby began working in journalism in 1986. Willoughby trained as a journalist (NCTJ) in newspapers before moving into radio and then television.
After presenting the news for ITV from 1999 to 2010, Willoughby then transitioned, going public in 2015 before returning to ITV in 2016.
In 2017, Willoughby was a guest on BBC’s Woman’s Hour. Host Jenni Murray asked several pointed questions, then wrote an op-ed telling trans women to stop calling themselves “real women.”
Willoughby then presented on Channel 5 from 2017 to 2018 before returning to ITV in 2018. Willoughby appeared on Celebrity Big Brother 2018.
Willoughby has made a number of controversial statements and often gets into arguments on social media. At one point the death threats against Willoughby got so bad that the UK’s counter-terrorism unit got involved.
