Michael Shellenberger is an American environmental journalist and the founder of the organisation, Public. In a recent article, he recounts how a conversation with a former editor of the Economist, Helen Joyce, set her on the path to exploring gender identity and its implications on women’s rights.
Joyce explains how, in 2017, her editor asked her why so many children were coming home and saying they were transgender. She responded that she did not know, but would look into it. This conversation changed Joyce’s life, leading her to write her book “Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights”.
Shellenberger’s article is a reflection on Joyce’s speech at a Let Women Speak rally in Dublin, five years after the conversation that changed her life. He states that, although gender identity is a complex issue, Joyce’s speech provided a more balanced perspective that included recognition of the rights of all women. He concludes that this kind of understanding will be necessary to achieve gender equality.
A remarkable speech by a former editor of the Economist, and author of "Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights"
by Helen Joyce
Five years ago, I was working as The Economist’s International editor. One fateful day in 2017, the editor asked me: “Why do kids keep coming home and saying ‘such and such is trans’?” I replied that I didn’t know but would look into it. Though I had no idea about that at the time, that conversation changed my life.
