Helen Lewis vs. transgender people

Helen Lewis is a British author and anti-transgender activist who launders gender critical extremism into mainstream media. Lewis is a sex segregationist who claims to be writing from a feminist/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 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 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, including Jesse Singal and Katie Herzog of Blocked and Reported.

Background

Helen Aexandra 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.

References

Urquhart, Evan (August 8, 2023). Helen Lewis is Cosplaying as a Moderate. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/ideologue-helen-lewis-cosplays-as-a-moderate

Urquhart, Evan (September 14, 2023). On Reading the Atlantic While Trans. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/newsletter/on-reading-the-atlantic-while-trans

Urquhart, Evan (August 8, 2023). Helen Lewis’ Latest Bait and Switch Misleads Readers on the Risks of Gender-Affirming Care. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/helen-lewis-atlantic-puberty-blockers-hormones-transgender

Urquhart, Evan (May 4, 2023). The Atlantic Really Wants You to Think Europe is Turning Against Trans Youth. Assigned Media https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/gender-affirming-care-europe-redux

White, Charlotte (May 19, 2023). All Trans Kids Deserve Care: A Response To Helen Lewis. Left Voice https://www.leftvoice.org/all-trans-kids-deserve-care-a-response-to-helen-lewis/

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

Wang, Esther (1 April 2019). The Atlantic has a transphobia problem. Jezebel https://jezebel.com/the-atlantic-has-a-transphobia-problem-1833677331

Jackman, Josh (25 July 2017). Left-wing magazine boss says gender reforms will lead to bearded men exposing their penises to women. PinkNews. https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/07/25/backlash-against-the-governments-plans-to-reform-transgender-laws/

Stone, Gemma (28 September 2021). Helen Lewis: “We Need to Record Gender and Sex Separately” An Injustice Magazine https://aninjusticemag.com/helen-lewis-we-need-to-record-gender-and-sex-separately-3717c76a2061

Duffy, Nick (10 November 2020). ‘Gender critical’ journalist cut from Watch Dogs video game after developers discovered her views on trans people. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/11/10/watch-dogs-legion-helen-lewis-transgender-trans-podcast/

Muncy, Julie (11 November 2020) Ubisoft Removes a Controversial Voice in Watch Dogs: Legion. WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/war-dogs-legion-podcasts/

Duffy, Nick (26 July 2017). What will actually happen if the UK adopts a ‘self-declaration’ gender recognition law? PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/07/26/what-will-actually-happen-if-the-uk-adopts-a-self-declaration-gender-recognition-law/

Jackman, Josh (25 July 2017). Left-wing magazine boss says gender reforms will lead to bearded men exposing their penises to women. PinkNews https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/07/25/backlash-against-the-governments-plans-to-reform-transgender-laws/

Books

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

Selected anti-trans writing by Lewis

Lewis, Helen (June 29, 2025). The Liberal Misinformation Bubble About Youth Gender Medicine. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/transgender-youth-skrmetti/683350/

Lewis, Helen (June 9, 2025). The Trump Administration’s Nasty Campaign Against Trans People. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/trump-transgender-treatments-gender/683046/

Lewis, Helen (April 18, 2025). Britain Rules on What a Woman Is. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/britain-rules-woman-supreme-court/682511/

Lewis, Helen (March 30, 2025). The White Lotus Is the First Great Post-‘Woke’ Piece of Art. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/03/white-lotus-is-post-woke-art/682231/

Lewis, Helen (February 24, 2025). The Internet’s Favorite Sex Researcher.The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/aella-internet-sex-researcher/681813/

Lewis, Helen (December 30, 2024). What the Left Refused to Understand About Women’s Sports. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/democrats-trans-rights-sports/681130/

Lewis, Helen (December 16, 2024). The Push for Puberty Blockers Got Ahead of the Research. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/12/why-supreme-court-puberty-blockers/680998/

Lewis, Helen (November 10, 2024). The Democrats Need an Honest Conversation on Gender Identity. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/democrats-dishonest-gender-conversation-2024-election/680604/

Lewis, Helen (October 23, 2024). The Positions That the Democrats Won’t Defend. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-rachel-levine-trans-issues/680333/

Lewis, Helen (August 9, 2024). The Olympics Could Have Avoided the Ugly Boxing Debate. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/olympic-boxing-gender-debate-imane-khelif/679410/

Lewis, Helen (April 12, 2024). Britain Is Leaving the U.S. Gender-Medicine Debate Behind. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/cass-report-youth-gender-medicine/678031/

Lewis, Helen (March 19, 2024). The Worst Argument for Youth Transition. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/03/trans-youth-transition-andrea-long-chu/677796/

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 (August 8, 2023). The Gender War Is Over in Britain. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/08/uk-trans-rights-labour-party/674944/

Lewis, Helen (June 18, 2023). The Feminists Insisting That Women Are Built Differently. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/reactionary-feminism-differences-between-sexes/674447/

Lewis, Helen (May 4, 2023). The Only Way Out of the Child-Gender Culture War. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/05/texas-puberty-blockers-gender-care-transgender-rights/673941/

Lewis, Helen (May 4, 2023). The Hogwarts Legacy Boycott That Wasn’t. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/04/hogwarts-legacy-game-jk-rowling-transphobia-accusation/673583/

Lewis, Helen (February 15, 2023). What Happens When Politicians Brush Off Hard Questions About Gender. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/nicola-sturgeon-resignation-scotland-transgender-bill/673067/

Lewis, Helen (September 2, 2022). What If Joan of Arc Wasn’t a Woman? The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/joan-of-arc-nonbinary-globe/671321/

Lewis, Helen (August 18, 2022). How Social Justice Became a New Religion. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/social-justice-new-religion/671172/

Lewis, Helen (May 14, 2022). The Abortion Debate Is Suddenly About ‘People,’ Not ‘Women.’ The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/abortion-rights-debate-women-gender-neutral-language/629863/

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 (13 October 2021). Dave Chappelle’s Rorschach Test. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/10/dave-chappelle-the-closer/620364/

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 (April 2021). What Happened to Jordan Peterson? The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/what-happened-to-jordan-peterson/618082/

Lewis, Helen (July 14, 2020). How Capitalism Drives Cancel Culture. The Atlantic https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2020/07/cancel-culture-and-problem-woke-capitalism/614086/

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/

Lewis, Helen (26 February 2020). Things You Only Know If You’re Divorced Before 30. Grazia https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/real-life/divorce-before-30/

Lewis, Helen (22 May 2019). How an email with a secret location led me to the most vibrant feminist meeting of the year. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2019/05/how-email-secret-location-led-me-most-vibrant-feminist-meeting-year

Lewis, Helen (3 January 2019). Maria Miller called me a fake feminist over gender self-ID. Now she says I was right all along. The New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2019/01/maria-miller-called-me-fake-feminist-over-gender-self-id-now-she-says-i

Lewis, Helen (30 October 2018). My experience of interviewing Jordan Peterson. GQ https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/helen-lewis-jordan-peterson

Lewis, Helen (17 October 2018). The problem that gender self-ID is designed to solve is real but the debate has failed. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2018/10/problem-gender-self-id-designed-solve-real-debate-has-failed

Lewis, Helen (20 April 2018). The madness of our gender debate, where feminists defend slapping a 60-year-old woman. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2018/04/madness-our-gender-debate-where-feminists-defend-slapping-60-year-old

Lewis, Helen (19 March 2018). From immigration to gender, the left is avoiding the hard work of persuasion. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2018/03/immigration-gender-left-avoiding-hard-work-persuasion

Lewis, Helen (25 July 2017). A man can’t just say he has turned into a woman. The Times (London) https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-man-can-t-just-say-he-has-turned-into-a-woman-m5lltcgv7

Lewis, Helen (28 October 2016). Would you let your child change their gender? New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2016/10/would-you-let-your-child-change-their-gender

Lewis, Helen (27 May 2016). So many teenage girls don’t want to identify as girls any more. And who can blame them? New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2016/05/so-many-teenage-girls-don-t-want-identify-girls-any-more-and-who-can-blame

Lewis, Helen (28 January 2016). Deciding which jail to send a trans prisoner to isn’t always clear-cut. And accusations of bigotry don’t help. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2016/01/deciding-which-jail-send-trans-prisoner-isn-t-always-clear-cut-and-accusations

Lewis, Helen (27 October 2015). What the row over banning Germaine Greer is really about. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/10/what-row-over-banning-germaine-greer-really-about

Lewis, Helen (14 January 2013). Introducing Trans Issues Week. New Statesman https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/01/introducing-trans-issues-week