Matua Kahurangi
Just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes.
When one of my subscribers, Liz, wrote to tell me about Dr Helen Joyce’s visit to New Zealand, I was genuinely surprised, not by the fact that Joyce was here, but by how little the public knew about it. An internationally respected journalist and author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, Joyce has been one of the most articulate and evidence-based voices in the global debate over gender ideology. Yet, her current speaking tour across the country has been met with near total silence from the mainstream media.
This isn’t some fringe activist flying under the radar. Dr Helen Joyce has worked at the Economist for years and has written extensively on issues of free speech, women’s rights, and the clash between biology and ideology. She’s touring New Zealand at the invitation of the Free Speech Union and the Women’s Rights Party, two groups that, love them or loathe them, have every right to host discussions on topics that affect public policy, education, and parental rights.
So why is there no coverage?
We all remember what happened the last time a woman dared to question gender ideology on New Zealand soil. Kellie-Jay Keen (Posey Parker) was labelled a far-right extremist before she even set foot in the country. The media whipped up a moral panic that culminated in violence at Albert Park, a mob scene where women were assaulted and a 70-year-old grandmother was punched in the face. That footage went global. It embarrassed New Zealand. And it showed the world exactly what happens when the media stop reporting and start inciting.
This time, the press have clearly decided to take the opposite approach, silence. No coverage, no debate, no mention. But make no mistake, silence can be just as manipulative as hysteria. By refusing to report that Helen Joyce is even here, the media are protecting an ideology rather than informing the public.
Liz, who attended Joyce’s talk in Auckland, said she was deeply impressed by Joyce’s clarity and calm reasoning, particularly on how gender ideology has infiltrated education and is now teaching children that sex is a choice rather than a biological fact. Groups like Resist Gender Education have been warning about this for years, but you won’t see them invited on Breakfast or The Project.
So here we are again, in a country where free speech is supposedly valued, yet entire viewpoints are airbrushed out of existence. The question is, what are they afraid of this time? Another embarrassing international headline? Or the uncomfortable truth that more and more New Zealanders are beginning to question the ideology being pushed into classrooms and policies under the guise of ‘inclusion’?
The difference between silence and censorship is shrinking fast. Helen Joyce deserves to be heard, not shouted down, and not ignored.
Maybe that’s exactly why the media won’t say a word.
Citizen journalist and self-described “Dickhead with a Camera” (I’d probably call him more colourful words than that) Simon Anderson also lightly covered Helen Joyce’s visit on his Substack. Simon’s worth a follow. Unlike most of the mainstream media, he’s constantly out on the ground filming the stories that others refuse to touch – whether that’s protests, public meetings, or controversial speakers who challenge the official narrative. His raw, unfiltered footage regularly attracts millions of views across social media, often being reposted without credit or monetised by larger accounts who cash in on his work. If you’re on X, give him a follow here – https://x.com/SimonRAnderson.
This article was originally published on the author’s Substack.
