Considering my response to the GRA consultation and it seems important to consider transmen as well as transwomen (who seem to get the huge majority of media attention).
Thinking about a person who is born with xx chromosomes and female genitalia, and spends at least their childhood (maybe adolescence and early adulthood) as a girl, but feels like they are really a man.... They decide to live their life as a man and identify as such but choose not to have surgery.
Do we consider that person to have the same privileges as a man born with xy chromosomes and male genitalia?
For me, the answer is a straight no. Physically, they may still have periods, they may suffer from gynaecological problems. They can potentially become pregnant. These are both physical and social disadvantages (consider the impact on a man's career progression if he becomes pregnant and takes maternity leave).
They will be smaller and weaker than other men. More at risk of violence, more vulnerable. In men's toilets, changing rooms, prisons, a person with a vagina will be at risk from predatory men.
Having lived a significant part of their lives as a girl, they will have absorbed societal attitudes, even if they did not think of themselves as a girl. They may have been held back from achieving their potential in fields that aren't seen as relevant to girls, or discouraged from speaking out, or told by teachers/parents to put the happiness of others above their own.
In addition to all of this, they will undoubtedly have suffered a huge amount of anguish and confusion over their own identity not fitting in with society's expectations. As a transperson they will be at risk of violence and prejudice, although if they can "pass" they may reap some of the societal advantages of being a man - if they can tap into the male experience after years of living as a female.
All of the above seems self-evident to me (and comes from knowledge of people in my life who are living as transmen).
Why, then, is it so toxic to turn this around and say the equivalent about transwomen? That they suffer dangers and difficulties from being transpeople, from which we as a society have an absolute duty to protect them,but that both their physical and social experiences are NOT the same as women who have lived as women all their lives and who have female bodies? That they have the advantages of a privileged male upbringing, of stronger bodies, of no periods, no pregnancy, no menopause, no forced marriage, no female circumcision, not being told to let others speak, that's not for you, let your brother have the bigger portion, were you asking for it, you're not going out dressed like that, be a lady.
I am a long term lurker and this is my first post. I've NC-ed because there are people who know who I am under my usual MN name. This is a genuine post, please don't mistrust me because my name is unfamiliar.