Skip to content
Transgender Map by Andrea James

Translate

Choose a language to read this site translated by Google. Translations are automatic, so some wording will be imperfect.

Janet Giddy vs. transgender people

by Andrea James Reviewed October 16, 2026 4 min read

Janet Giddy is a South African physician, author, and anti-transgender activist. Giddy is a member of “voluntary association” First Do No Harm Southern Africa.

Giddy considers affirming models of care for transgender people to be “sex-denialist” or “sex-rejecting” models.

Background

Janet Giddy was born in 1959 in Barkly East in the Eastern Cape. Giddy earned a medical degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Giddy later completed a program at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2015 Giddy earned a master’s degree from UCT.

Much of Giddy’s early career focused on HIV treatment and research. McCord first administered antiretroviral drugs in 1998. Giddy spent many years in KwaZulu-Natal, first in rural family medicine and later in HIV and maternal and child health, before moving to Cape Town in 2010. Giddy then worked at McCord Hospital, a mission hospital in Durban that closed in 2013. Its Sinikithemba HIV clinic was among the oldest HIV/AIDS treatment centers in South Africa. In Cape Town, Giddy also worked in Khayelitsha with the Western Cape Department of Health and with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Giddy has four adult children.

Anti-trans activism

Giddy frequently collaborates with physicians Reitze Rodseth and Allan Donkin in the anti-trans “voluntary association” First Do No Harm Southern Africa (FDNHSA). FDNHSA states that “children, adolescents, and vulnerable adults experiencing gender-related distress should not be labelled as ‘transgender.’ This labelling pathologises their distress and risks unnecessary medicalisation.”

Giddy was a signatory on a 2023 letter in the Wall Street Journal attacking the Endocrine Society for supporting affirmative models of trans healthcare.

Giddy was a signatory on the 2023 Stade FDA petition seeking to ban off-label use of puberty-blocking drugs, which would affect American trans and gender diverse minors.

References

Jenna-Lee de Beer-Procter and Pierre Brouard (June 13, 2024). Why affirming treatment for gender questioning youth matters in SA. Spotlight https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2024/06/13/why-affirming-treatment-for-gender-questioning-youth-matters-in-sa/

Selected publications by Giddy

Giddy, Janet (November 11, 2025). Once they were heroes – why HIV doctors in SA hung their haloes on the transgender cause. Daily Friend https://dailyfriend.co.za/2025/11/11/once-they-were-heroes-why-hiv-doctors-in-sa-hung-their-haloes-on-the-transgender-cause/

Giddy, Janet (June 14, 2025). Setting the record straighter on sex and gender – UK court ruling, Helen Zille, and Shaun de Waal. Daily Friend https://dailyfriend.co.za/2025/06/14/setting-the-record-straighter-on-sex-and-gender-uk-court-ruling-helen-zille-and-shaun-de-waal/

Giddy, Janet (May 7, 2025). The telos of UCT Faculty of Health Sciences: truth or social justice? Daily Friend https://dailyfriend.co.za/2025/05/07/the-telos-of-uct-faculty-of-health-sciences-truth-or-social-justice/

Donkin, A., Rodseth, R., & Giddy, J. (2026). FDNHSA’s response to KL Dunkle et al.’s ‘Upholding clinical integrity and South African relevance: A defence of the SASOP position statement on the care of transgender and non-binary youth.’ South African Journal of Psychiatry, 32(0). https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v32i0.2602

  • reply to Dunkle, K., Lynch, I., Msweli, S., Addinall-van Straaten, R., Brouard, P., de Beer-Procter, J.-L., Madlala, N., McLachlan, C., Muller, M., Pickstone-Taylor, S., Pillay, M., Spitaels, A., Tomson, A., & de Vries, E. (2026). Locally relevant, ethically urgent: Defending SASOP’s stance on transgender and non-binary youth. South African Journal of Psychiatry, 32. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v32i0.2543

Donkin, A., Rodseth, R., & Giddy, J. (2025). A call for SASOP to review their position on the care of ‘transgender and non-binary youth.’ South African Journal of Psychiatry, 31(0). https://doi.org/10.4102/sajpsychiatry.v31i0.2381

Giddy, J., Donkin, A, & Rodseth, R. (2025). ‘Gender affirming healthcare’ is not what the family physician needs to know. South African Family Practice, 67(1). https://doi.org/10.4102/safp.v67i1.6061

Donkin, Allan; Rodseth, Reitze; Giddy, Janet (July 21, 2024). Examining the Cass Review: Impacts on gender dysphoria treatment in South Africa. Mail & Guardian https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/2024-07-21-examining-the-cass-review-impacts-on-gender-dysphoria-treatment-in-south-africa/

Giddy, Janet; Donkin, Allan; Rodseth, Reitze (May 19, 2024). OPINION | The Cass Review on gender-affirming care: SA’s medical community now at a crossroads. TimesLIVE https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2024-05-19-opinion–cass-review-provides-guidance-on-gender-affirming-care-sas-medical-community-now-at-a-crossroads/ republished May 30, 2024 at https://www.news24.com/life/wellness/opinion-the-cass-review-on-gender-affirming-care-sas-medical-community-now-at-a-crossroads-20240528

First Do No Harm SA (February 19, 2024). Compassionate, evidence-based care for gender-dysphoric children and adolescents is paramount. Daily Maverick https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-02-19-gender-dysphoria-compassionate-evidence-based-care-is-key/

First Do No Harm SA (January 28, 2024). A call on SA medical professionals to heed evidence on child and adolescent gender distress. Daily Maverick https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-01-28-gender-distress-call-on-medical-professionals-to-heed-evidence/

Book

Upton, Jennifer ; Giddy, Janet; Burns, Catherine Eileen (2027). Sinikithemba: The Labour of Hope and Science at McCord Hospital in the Era of HIV. University of Virginia Press, ISBN 978-0813957272

Resources

First Do No Harm Southern Africa (fdnhsa.org)

Daily Friend (dailyfriend.co.za)

Liferighting (liferighting.com)

  • Bio – Janet Giddy
  • liferighting.com/bio/bio-janet-giddy [archive]

Mail & Guardian (mg.co.za)

ResearchGate (researchgate.net)

Was this helpful?

Support my work!