As others have pointed out, it's not just about "trans women". This is a really simplistic way of viewing things. And I think it is where Labour have gone wrong, actually. Too many of them think it's just about "being kind".
It is about whether women fundamentally exist as a political category. We will always exist as a biological category, and we will always have our own unique experiences and needs which are relevant to us and not to men. But if there is no word for us, no recognition in law that we exist on that basis, we cannot organise in our own self interest.
We have no single sex spaces. All our toilets, changing rooms, rape counselling groups, hospital wards, prison wings, ALL of them are now mixed sex. Because if a trans woman can walk into those spaces, so can any man. There is no way to distinguish between them, either physically or in law. So all the safeguards that single sex spaces were intended to create just fall away.
Opportunities for women and girls disappear. Biological males can take places on all women shortlists, compete in our sports. You may think sport is a niche issue, particularly in a cost of living crisis, but it has such an impact, particularly for children. Children who play sport are healthier, fitter, more confident, they gain leadership skills, they have experiences they would not otherwise have. These skills and experiences help them access better opportunities in the adult world by giving them more confidence to achieve things and more strings to their bow. It makes them that little bit more likely to achieve great things (not just in sport but in all areas of life). And girls already do less sport than boys. Girls already quit earlier, because they aren't encouraged, because they are embarrassed about their bodies, because it's not seen as a girl thing. If you allow boys into girls' sports you undermine the whole system and give girls even less reason to participate and to achieve their potential, when girls need it more than boys do.
Then of course there's the impact on our children generally. Why on earth would we teach them that whether you are a girl or a boy is a matter of identity, not biology? That it is something you choose? That it depends on whether you choose to perform feminine stereotypes or masculine ones? Why are we teaching gender non conforming, autistic and gay children to fear puberty? Why are we encouraging them to believe they need to change their healthy bodies to match their personalities? This is absolutely horrific stuff.
And finally, boundaries. If you teach your daughters that they have to be OK with boys in their spaces and sports, that they don't have the right to privacy and dignity, that they don't have the right to say no to boys who say they are girls, that they have to give them the benefit of the doubt, how the hell are you going to teach her about stranger danger, or the importance of consent to sex? You've already taught her that her consent doesn't matter the moment a boy says he is a girl or a man says he is a woman.
The ramifications of all of this really can't be understated. It's already gone much too far, and I worry that if the next party of government takes it even further, the damage is going to be impossible to undo.
I'm not saying don't vote Labour.
People are clearly desperate and we all have to vote the way we think is best.
But please don't dismiss this as a fringe issue, because it's not.
And if any of what I have said here troubles you in any way, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write to your Labour candidate about it.
Let's make it impossible to say nobody cares about this and it never comes up on the doorstep. Make it clear that you do care and you want them to listen. Because they almost certainly will be in government in two months' time, and it is in everyone's interests for them to do a good job.