Helen Joyce
{{Short description|Irish journalist and author (born 1968)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Helen Joyce
| image = Helen Joyce MoneyConf 2018 (1) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Joyce speaking at MoneyConf 2018
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1968}}
| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=Helen Joyce in conversation with Sir Partha Dasgupta, Caius College Cambridge, 25 October 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqZmx265N80 |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=YouTube}}
| family = {{plain list|
- Gus Joyce (brother)
- Ed Joyce (brother)
- Dominick Joyce (brother)
- Isobel Joyce (sister)
- Cecelia Joyce (sister){{Cite web |last=Balasundaram |first=Nemesha |title=Ed Joyce on his England past, 2015 World Cup ambitions and the future of Ireland cricket |url=https://www.irishpost.com/sport/ed-joyce-england-past-future-ireland-cricket-2015-world-cup-ambitions-35473 |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=The Irish Post}}
}}
| education = {{plain list|
| occupation = Journalist
Activist
| employer = The Economist
(as journalist 2005-2022)
| notable_works = Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality
| URL = {{URL|thehelenjoyce.com}}
}}
Helen Janeith Joyce (born 1968) is an Irish journalist and gender critical activist. She studied as a mathematician and worked in academia before becoming a journalist. Joyce began working for The Economist as education correspondent for its Britain section in 2005 and has since held several senior positions, including finance editor and international editor.{{cite news |title=Editorial directory |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/dr-helen-joyce/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907113141/https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/dr-helen-joyce/ |archive-date=Sep 7, 2022}} She published her book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality in 2021.
Early life and education
She was born in 1968 in Dublin, Ireland, and moved to Bray, County Wicklow at age 8. She's the oldest of nine children of James "Jimmy" and Maureen Joyce, five boys and four girls. Five of her younger siblings — Gus, Ed, Dominick, Isobel, and Cecelia Joyce — have played international cricket for Ireland, while Ed has also played for the England test side.{{cite web |date=6 April 2018 |title=Meet the lawyer who opens the batting for Ireland |publisher=Law Society of Ireland |work=The Law Society Gazette |url=https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/cecelia-joyce/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729213606/https://www.lawsociety.ie/gazette/top-stories/cecelia-joyce/ |archive-date=Jul 29, 2019}}{{cite news |first=Tim |last=Wigmore |date=June 2016 |title=The first family of cricket |work=The Cricket Monthly |url=https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1015901/the-first-family-of-cricket |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603150347/https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1015901/the-first-family-of-cricket|archive-date= June 3, 2016}} Brothers Johnny and Damian played club cricket.{{cite news |last=Fitzgerald |first=James |date=15 August 2006 |title=The Cricket Family Joyce |work=Irish Times |url=https://www.cricketeurope.com/DATABASE/ARTICLES/articles/000029/002988.shtml}}{{cite podcast |title=Ep.5: The Joy(ce)s of cricket |website=Clean Bowled Podcast |publisher=Women's CricZone |host=S. Sudarshanan |url=https://www.womenscriczone.com/cbp-ep-5-the-joyces-of-cricket/}} Johnny is an international chess player.
Joyce moved to England at age 16 to attend musical theatre college, but dropped out after two years. In 1987, she enrolled at Trinity College, Dublin, where she was elected a Scholar in 1989,{{cite web|title=TCD Scholars Since 1925|url=http://www.tcdlife.ie/scholars/scholar/about-list.php|accessdate=7 July 2017}} and received a BA in mathematics in 1991. She next completed Part III of the Mathematical Tripos for a Master of Advanced Studies with distinction at the University of Cambridge, earning a scholarship from the British Council and a PhD place at University College London. She got a PhD in geometric measure theory at University College London (1995) with the dissertation "Packing measures, packing dimensions, and the existence of sets of positive finite measure" under David Preiss.{{cite web|title=Helen Janeith Joyce |website=Mathematics Genealogy Project |publisher= |url=https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=216105 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630175737/https://mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=216105 |archive-date=June 30, 2020}}{{cite thesis |title=Packing measures, packing dimensions, and the existence of sets of positive finite measure |last=Joyce |first=Helen Janeith |date=1995 |website=UCL Discovery |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10104670/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421171754/https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10104670/ |archive-date=April 21, 2021|type=Doctoral }} She then took a postdoctoral position in Cardiff, and spent two years at Finland's University of Jyväskylä on a Marie Curie research fellowship funded by the European Union.{{cite web|title=Career interview: Brazil correspondent, The Economist |work=Plus Magazine |last=Freiberger |first=Marianne |date=12 July 2010 |url=https://plus.maths.org/content/os/issue55/interview/index |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210513004712/https://plus.maths.org/content/os/issue55/interview/index |archive-date=May 13, 2021}}
Career
In 2000 Joyce joined the Millennium Mathematics Project (MMP), an organisation set up to advocate for mathematics education in schools and other venues, at the University of Cambridge. She primarily worked on telecommunication and video education projects with schools. In 2002 she was named editor of the project's online Plus Magazine, a position she held for three years. In 2004 she also became founding editor for the Royal Statistical Society's quarterly magazine Significance.
In 2005 Joyce became an education correspondent for The Economist. Four years later she transferred to the newspaper's project exploring how to best present statistics to readers. In August 2010 she moved to São Paulo to become The Economist′s Brazil bureau chief, a position she held through 2013. Returning to London she served as The Economist′s finance editor and international editor and in March 2020 became its executive editor for events business.
In 2022, Joyce took a one-year unpaid sabbatical from The Economist to join the gender-critical campaign group Sex Matters as a director, which she made permanent at the end of the sabbatical year.{{Cite web |first1=Maya |last1=Forstater |author1-link=Maya Forstater |first2=Helen |last2=Joyce|title=Letter {{!}} Why gender identity should be left out of the 'conversion therapy' ban |date=20 Apr 2022 |website=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/20/why-gender-identity-should-be-left-out-of-the-conversion-therapy-ban |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420170156/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/20/why-gender-identity-should-be-left-out-of-the-conversion-therapy-ban |archive-date=April 20, 2022}}
Views on transgender topics
In July 2018, Joyce curated a series of articles on transgender identity in The Economist.{{Cite news |last=Joyce |first=Helen |date=17 July 2018 |title=After two weeks, our transgender identity series comes to a close |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/07/17/after-two-weeks-our-transgender-identity-series-comes-to-a-close |access-date=31 July 2021}}
GLAAD shared a report with The Daily Dot in March 2019 which analyzed Joyce's tweets. The magazine stated the tweets "claimed, among other things, that the trans rights movement is enabling sexual predators... referred to puberty blockers or other treatments that affirm a trans child’s sense of self as 'sickening'... [and] also called these procedures 'child abuse,' 'unethical medicine,' 'mass experimentation,' and a 'global scandal'". When the Economist was asked if they would continue to stand by Joyce following the report, they described her as an "outstanding journalist in whom we have complete confidence" and did not elaborate.{{cite web |last=Lang|first=Nico |title=Editor's history of calling trans people 'frauds' shines light on Economist's transphobic tweet |work=The Daily Dot |date=26 March 2019 |accessdate=30 July 2021 |url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/helen-joyce-economist-transphobia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326205129/https://www.dailydot.com/irl/helen-joyce-economist-transphobia/ |archive-date=Mar 26, 2019}}
GLAAD described Joyce's December 2018 article "The New Patriarchy: How Trans Radicalism Hurts Women, Children—and Trans People Themselves" for Quillette as 'alarming' stating that Joyce had "no place in a newsroom". Joyce responded that the organization had been "co-opted by [GLAAD board member] Anthony Watson to continue his unprovoked attacks against me". ThinkProgress's LGBTQ editor Zack Ford stated that in Joyce's collection "the guise of ‘debate’ justified publishing numerous anti-trans essays that included junk science and scaremongering".
In April 2022, Joyce took a leave of absence from the Economist to become the director of advocacy for Sex Matters.{{Cite news |last=Sigsworth |first=Tim |date=2024-06-12 |title=Tories praised for rejecting conversion therapy ban |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/06/12/tories-praised-for-rejecting-conversion-therapy-ban/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite web |date=2022-04-01 |title=Helen Joyce joins Sex Matters as Director of Advocacy |url=https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/helen-joyce-joins/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Sex Matters |language=en-GB}} She wrote an opinion piece for the Guardian arguing that gender identity change efforts should not be included in a bill banning conversion therapy.{{Cite news |last=Joyce |first=Helen |last2=Forstater |first2=Maya |date=2022-04-20 |title=Why gender identity should be left out of the ‘conversion therapy’ ban |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/apr/20/why-gender-identity-should-be-left-out-of-the-conversion-therapy-ban |access-date=2025-05-09 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
In June 2022, PinkNews reported that Joyce had spoken in favour of "reducing or keeping down the number of people who transition" and said that "every one of those people is a person who's been damaged" and "every one of those people is basically, you know, a huge problem to a sane world".{{cite web |last=Kelleher |first=Patrick |date=3 June 2022 |title='Gender critical' author Helen Joyce says she wants to 'reduce' number of trans people: 'Chilling' |website=PinkNews |url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/06/03/helen-joyce-transgender-lgbtq/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603141950/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/06/03/helen-joyce-transgender-lgbtq/ |archive-date=June 3, 2022}} Her interviewer described this as not "heartless", but motivated by compassionate desire "to try to limit the [broader social] harm" trans people cause and suffer.{{Cite journal |last=Owen |first=Leah |date=2022-10-02 |title="Parasitically Occupying Bodies": Exploring Toxifying Securitization in Anti-Trans and Genocidal Ideologies |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10402659.2022.2129000 |journal=Peace Review |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=481–494 |doi=10.1080/10402659.2022.2129000 |issn=1040-2659}} Several different scholars have variously described the statement as publicly expressing "explicitly eugenic and genocidal attitudes toward trans people",{{Cite journal |last=Kosse |first=Maureen |date=2025-01-18 |title=Referentialism and Discursive Parallels between US "Alt-Right" and "Gender-Critical" Conspiracism |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5d38w40h |journal=Journal of Right-Wing Studies |language=en |volume=2 |issue=2 |doi=10.5070/RW3.1608}} indicative of a desire that trans people "be forced back into a state of repression and self-denial",{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=Rebecca Jane |date=2023-12-11 |title=Evangelicals, Feminists, and the 'Unlikely' Discursive Alliance at the Heart of British Transphobia |url=https://www.digest.ugent.be/article/id/85310/ |journal=DiGeSt - Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies |volume=10 |issue=2 |doi=10.21825/digest.85310 |issn=2593-0281|doi-access=free }} and voicing the implications of "toxifying ideas about transness as an infiltrating, contagious, corrupting threat to vulnerable girls" advanced by figures such as Janice Raymond and Abigail Shrier.
In June 2024, she applauded the Conservative Government's decision not to pursue a ban on conversion therapy and claimed "most children feeling gender distress or convinced of an opposite-sex identity will grow out of this during puberty".
In 2024, the Australian Federal court refused her testimony in Tickle v Giggle, stating her views were opinions and that "she [even] lacked sufficient expertise for the exception to the opinion rule to apply".{{Cite journal |last=Sharpe |first=Alex |date=2024-11-01 |title=Review Essay: Judith Butler, Who’s Afraid of Gender? (London: Allen Lane, 2024) pp 308 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10978-024-09402-8 |journal=Law and Critique |language=en |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=653–671 |doi=10.1007/s10978-024-09402-8 |issn=1572-8617|doi-access=free }}
Joyce has argued that gender critical feminists turn to Christian Right news outlets because they feel frozen out by mainstream media. Alex Sharpe argued that gender critical feminists in the UK had been given significant platforms by right-wing media and that Joyce "has been given numerous platforms to articulate and circulate her ‘gender critical’ views despite lacking any expertise concerning the issues she discusses".
=''Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality''=
In July 2021, Joyce's book Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, was published by Oneworld Publications. The book sold well, debuting within a week of its publication at number 7 on The Sunday Times list of bestselling general hardbacks{{cite web |title=The Sunday Times Bestsellers List—the UK's definitive book sales chart |work=The Sunday Times |date=23 July 2021 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/sunday-times-bestsellers-list-book-sales-chart-2023-wtf0fg8v7 |access-date=30 July 2021}} and remaining in the top 10 for a second week.{{cite web |title=The Sunday Times Bestsellers List—the UK's definitive book sales chart |work=The Sunday Times |date=30 July 2021 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/sunday-times-bestsellers-list-book-sales-chart-2023-wtf0fg8v7 |access-date=1 August 2021}} It was named as one of the year's best books by The Times.{{cite web |title=The best books of 2021 |work=The Times |date=23 July 2021 |author=The Times and Sunday Times literary teams |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/best-books-of-2021-x8psr0mtk |access-date=30 July 2021}} The book received other positive reviews in the Evening Standard by Stella O'Malley,{{Cite news |last=O'Malley |first=Stella |author-link=Stella O'Malley |date=12 July 2021 |title=Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce review: A tour de force |work=Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/trans-when-ideology-meets-reality-helen-joyce-review-b944183.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712163022/https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/trans-when-ideology-meets-reality-helen-joyce-review-b944183.html |archive-date= 12 July 2021}} New Statesman,{{Cite news |last=Perry |first=Louise |date=July 2021 |title=It's still possible to "cancel" gender-critical feminists, but this strategy won't work |work=New Statesman |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2021/07/it-s-still-possible-cancel-gender-critical-feminists-strategy-won-t-work |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210728184651/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2021/07/it-s-still-possible-cancel-gender-critical-feminists-strategy-won-t-work |archive-date= July 28, 2021}} and The Scotsman.{{Cite news |last=Dalgety |first=Susan |date=16 July 2021 |title=Dear Nicola Sturgeon, please read this plea from a sister feminist about the trans debate – Susan Dalgety |work=The Scotsman |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/dear-nicola-sturgeon-please-read-this-plea-from-a-sister-feminist-about-the-trans-debate-susan-dalgety-3310241 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210716161428/https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/dear-nicola-sturgeon-please-read-this-plea-from-a-sister-feminist-about-the-trans-debate-susan-dalgety-3310241 |archive-date=16 July 2021}}
The Times regular columnist David Aaronovitch wrote that "Joyce [examines] a new ideology about gender. This holds that biological sex is as much a 'social construct' as the idea of gender is. One benefit of Joyce's book is its intellectual clarity and its refusal to compromise. So she takes apart this ideology of gender with a cold rigour."{{cite web |last=Aaronovitch |first=David |author-link=David Aaronovitch |title=Trans by Helen Joyce review—Women exist! The facts of biology trump ideology |work=The Times |date=16 July 2021 |url-access=subscription|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/trans-by-helen-joyce-review-women-exist-the-facts-of-biology-trump-ideology-txtm00rf2 |access-date=30 July 2021}}
Kathleen Stock, then a professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex and author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism (2021), gave Trans a 5-star review at The Telegraph, calling it a "superlative critical analysis of trans activism" and that "Joyce shows an impressive capacity to handle complex statistics, legal statutes, and other bits of evidence without losing clarity or narrative drive."{{cite web |last=Stock |first=Kathleen |author-link=Kathleen Stock |title=Toddlers transitioning, male rapists in women's prisons: this is the book you need to read about trans activism |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=18 July 2021 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/toddlers-transitioning-male-rapists-womens-prisons-book-need/ |accessdate=30 July 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718140736/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/toddlers-transitioning-male-rapists-womens-prisons-book-need/ |archive-date=Jul 18, 2021}}
The Guardian gave it a mixed review saying "there are some curious holes in this book" and calling it "an exasperated polemic."{{Cite news |last=Hinsliff |first=Gaby |author-link=Gaby Hinsliff |date=18 July 2021 |title=Trans by Helen Joyce; Material Girls by Kathleen Stock – reviews |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/18/trans-by-helen-joyce-material-girls-by-kathleen-stock-reviews|access-date=31 July 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718101036/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/jul/18/trans-by-helen-joyce-material-girls-by-kathleen-stock-reviews |archive-date=July 18, 2021}} A review at Publishers Weekly criticized the book as "alarmist" and a "one-sided takedown" that "comes up short." It compared the book's mentions of billionaires, academics and healthcare companies to conspiracy thinking.{{cite news |title=Nonfiction Book Review: Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce. Oneworld, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 978-0-86154-049-5 |work=Publishers Weekly |language=en |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-86154-049-5 |access-date=10 August 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210801034907/https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-86154-049-5 |archive-date=Aug 1, 2021}}
Aaron Rabinowitz, writing for The Skeptic,{{cite web |first=Aaron |last=Rabinowitz |date=February 25, 2022 |title=Fears of creeping transhumanism give space for overt conspiracism in Gender Critical communities |work=The Skeptic |url=https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2022/02/fears-of-creeping-transhumanism-give-space-for-overt-conspiracism-in-gender-critical-communities/ |accessdate=July 17, 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225100125/https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2022/02/fears-of-creeping-transhumanism-give-space-for-overt-conspiracism-in-gender-critical-communities/ |archive-date=Feb 25, 2022}} criticised Joyce for her repeating activist Jennifer Bilek's claims that a cabal of Jewish billionaires fund the transgender rights movement through contributions to organisations such as Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union.{{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Helen |date=2021 |title=Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/trans-when-ideology-meets-reality/oclc/1236260329?loc= |location=London|publisher=Oneworld Publications, Simon & Schuster |page=227 |isbn=9780861540495|oclc=1236260329 }} Joyce published a rebuttal to these allegations, in which Joyce denied plagiarism and antisemitism, denounced Bilek's antisemitism and reiterated the thesis of her book. She also corrected a claim about a donation made by the Open Society Foundation; the donation was to a similarly named group which also advocated for gender self-identification.{{cite web |last=Joyce |first=Helen |date=27 July 2021 |title=A rebuttal |accessdate=27 July 2021 |publisher=Helen Joyce |url=https://thehelenjoyce.com/a-wild-ride/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210727181938/https://thehelenjoyce.com/a-wild-ride/|archive-date=27 July 2021}}
The book was shortlisted for the 2023 John Maddox Prize.{{cite web |title=2023 Maddox Prize |date=24 October 2023 |url=https://senseaboutscience.org/activities/maddox-prize-2023/ |publisher=Sense about Science |access-date=25 October 2023}}
=Talks=
In March 2022, Joyce was due to appear in a panel to discuss her book and views on gender theory. This panel would have been part of an event for an expected 100 to 150 trainee child psychiatrists organised by Great Ormond Street Hospital and Health Education England. Before the event the organisers received allegations against Joyce and were warned "There is no possible way in which this event can possibly be a 'safe environment’ for LGBTQ+ and especially trans participants". Joyce was disinvited days before the event, which was later postponed. Joyce said, "It's outrageous that a journalist who has written a best-selling book spelling out the harms of this bizarre, evidence-free ideology is no-platformed and subjected to a smear campaign."{{Cite news |last=Somerville |first=Ewan |date=19 March 2022 |title=Great Ormond Street cancels trainee doctor conference over trans 'safety' complaints |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/19/great-ormond-street-cancels-trainee-doctor-conference-trans/ |access-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319151836/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/19/great-ormond-street-cancels-trainee-doctor-conference-trans/ |archive-date=Mar 19, 2022}}
In October 2022, Joyce participated in an interview with economist Partha Dasgupta at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.{{Cite news |last=Somerville |first=Ewan |date=2022-10-29 |title=Cambridge alumni pulling funding from college after academics said gender speaker was 'hateful' |language=en-GB |work=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/29/cambridge-alumni-pulling-funding-college-academics-said-gender/ |access-date=2022-12-27 |issn=}}{{Cite web |last1=Shorrock |first1=Bella |last2=Byrom |first2=Meg |last3=Jones |first3=Hugh |title=Students condemn decision to host gender critical feminist |url=https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/24395 |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=Varsity |language=en}} Philosopher Arif Ahmed hosted the event, titled "Criticising gender-identity ideology: what happens when speech is silenced". Protestors chanted "trans rights are human rights" and banged drums outside the event. The college master Pippa Rogerson and senior tutor Andrew Spencer boycotted the event and described Joyce's views as "polemics". In response, Joyce published an open letter entitled "Has Cambridge abandoned debate?" in The Spectator, in which she argued that "The academic commitment to fair-minded debate is over."{{Cite web |last=Joyce |first=Helen |date=2022-10-23 |title=Has Cambridge abandoned debate? |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/has-cambridge-abandoned-debate/ |access-date=2022-12-27 |website=The Spectator |language=en-US}}
In February 2025, at an event at Balliol College, Oxford, Joyce discussed her views on transgender issues, sex and gender, with host John Maier of The Times. A walkout by pro-trans protesters left Joyce and Maier briefly dumbfounded.{{Cite web |last=Lambert |first=Georgia |last2=Makarina |first2=Arina |date=2025-02-14 |title=Protesters disrupt gender critical discussion at Oxford |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/437977a2-483b-43dc-bf6d-b111c44b9b08 |access-date=2025-02-15 |website=The Times |language=en}} A petition "protesting transphobia" at the university had been signed by over 600 people. Joyce said she was a "sex realist" and described being transgender as a "rights-destroying belief".
Personal life
Joyce lives in Cambridge with her husband and two sons.{{cite interview |last1=Joyce |first1=Helen |last2=Favale |first2=Abigail |interviewer=Holly Peterson |title=Body and Identity {{!}} Abigail Favale & Helen Joyce {{!}} New York Encounter 2022 |date=Feb 24, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UubVmdppBY |website=YouTube |at=00:01:03}}{{cite web |title='A godless neo-religion' – interview with Helen Joyce on the trans debate |last=Park |first=Emma |date=Nov 18, 2022 |website=The Freethinker |url=https://freethinker.co.uk/2022/11/a-godless-neo-religion-interview-with-helen-joyce-on-trans-ideology-and-its-harms/ |quote=}} She had unexplained infertility and used IVF to conceive her children.{{cite interview |last=Joyce |first=Helen |interviewer=Joey Dumont |title=The Reality of Trans with Helen Joyce (Part 1) |date=Jun 7, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OygT20clGfM |website=YouTube |at=01:10:13}}
Joyce was raised Irish Catholic, but is now an atheist. She says of her atheism, "It wasn't because I was unhappy... My convent school was actually quite a nice place, and I loved our RE [religious education] lessons... I just don't think it's true."{{cite interview |last=Joyce |first=Helen |interviewer=Fr Alex Frost |title=Helen Joyce - The God Cast interview |work=The God Cast |date=Dec 4, 2023 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_x2nDBf5d8}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://thehelenjoyce.com/ Official website]
- {{MathGenealogy|id=216105}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Helen}}
Category:Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Alumni of University College London
Category:21st-century Irish women journalists
Category:Irish emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:Scholars of Trinity College Dublin
Category:Women business and financial journalists
Category:Former Roman Catholics