Sex Matters
Sex Matters is a British organisation founded in 2021 and registered as a charity since April 2024. According to the organisation, its aim is to bring clarity about sex to laws, regulations, policies and language. Maya Forstater is a co-founder and director, while Helen Joyce leads its advocacy work.
What you can find
The website offers guidance for employers, schools and healthcare institutions, legal analyses, responses to consultations and campaigns. The organisation intervened in the For Women Scotland case before the UK Supreme Court and supports employees in employment cases concerning gender-critical beliefs.
Background
Sex Matters describes itself as gender-critical. Critics and some academic literature describe the organisation as anti-transgender. The site is particularly useful for anyone wanting to follow British legal developments and understand the arguments put forward by this side of the debate.
Founders and organisation
Sex Matters was founded by Maya Forstater, Rebecca Bull, Naomi Cunningham and Emma Hilton. Forstater became known through her own employment case concerning gender-critical beliefs, while Cunningham is a barrister who represented parties in employment cases. On 3 April 2024, the organisation was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Helen Joyce, who leads its advocacy work, is also listed here as the author of Trans. In January 2026, trade publication Civil Society reported that the Charity Commission was investigating the organisation's compliance with the rules. Former board member Tim Allan became the British government's director of communications in September 2025.
Key cases
The case brought by For Women Scotland against the Scottish Government led to a Supreme Court ruling in April 2025, which Sex Matters welcomed; see the ruling itself. The organisation subsequently commissioned a poll by YouGov, which it said showed that almost two-thirds of respondents supported the outcome. The practical implementation followed in 2026 with the British code of practice for women's spaces. Sex Matters also supported nurse Sandie Peggie in her case against NHS Fife, in which Cunningham acted as her barrister in a personal capacity. In August 2025, the organisation began proceedings against the City of London Corporation over access to Kenwood Ladies' Pond, a swimming pond for women. That claim was dismissed in January 2026. In March 2026, Sex Matters won its appeal, after which the case returned to the High Court.
How to assess this source
The legal analyses on the site are written by people who are themselves parties to cases or represent parties. They present the interpretation of the law advocated by the organisation, and that interpretation was upheld on an important point by the UK's highest court. This makes the material relevant, but not impartial. Sociologists McLean and Stretesky classify Sex Matters as one of a group of campaigning organisations opposing transgender people. Read the organisation's guidance alongside the text of the law or judgment it discusses.