Skip to content

Simon Briscoe vs. transgender people

Simon Briscoe is a British statistician, researcher, and anti-transgender data activist. Briscoe is an advisor to anti-trans group Sex Matters.

Background

Simon Jonathan Wilson Briscoe was born in December 1958. Briscoe attended University of Exeter.

Briscoe’s career began in the UK civil service, working in HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics, focused on official statistics and public policy. After moving into investment banking, Briscoe spent a number of years in senior economist and research leadership roles at major financial institutions before transitioning into journalism, serving for around a decade as Statistics Editor at the Financial Times. In the 2010s, Briscoe moved further into the data and technology sector, including a leadership role at the economic-data company Timetric, and later became an independent consultant and company director advising organisations on the use of data and evidence. From 2014 to 2019, Briscoe served as a part-time statistics adviser to the UK Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, alongside ongoing advisory and trustee roles supporting statistical literacy, transparency, and evidence-based policymaking.

Anti-trans activism

In a profile, Brisco states:

“Data will only reveal the important similarities and differences in a population if the statistical categories and definitions used in a data set have been chosen with rigour and clarity of thought. Only then will we have good figures to underpin policy making and improve our collective understanding of the world. In short… sex matters.”

Selected writing by Briscoe

Briscoe, Simon and signatories (September 1, 2023). Prime Minister, will you stand up to violence against women? Sex Matters https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/prime-minister-will-you-stand-up-to-violence-against-women/

Resources

Sex Matters (sex-matters.org)

  • Simon Briscoe
  • sex-matters.org/about-us/advisory-group/simon-briscoe/

Simon Briscoe (simonbriscoe.com) [archive]

X/Twitter (x.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

University of Exeter (exeter.ac.uk)