The endless debates about who can go in which toilet prove that none of this is actually about “protecting women”. If it were, instead of eroding the rights of a tiny minority of people, gender critical “activists” For Women Scotland who brought the case to court would use the money backing their political project to campaign for better funding of domestic abuse services, fixing the criminal justice system’s abysmal record on sexual violence and protecting women’s rights in the workplace. These are real, material issues that affect all women’s safety. Instead, they’re focusing on a manufactured threat — the false idea that trans people pose some kind of danger to women, and in doing so, they’re making all women less safe.

The immeasurable harm from this ruling, and the media reactions that have followed, will have dangerous consequences for trans people. Anti-trans rhetoric has been steadily escalating for years, with a uniquely hostile UK media environment that routinely misrepresents and demonises trans lives. Nearly half of trans people already report feeling unsafe using public toilets. This ruling, and the hostile atmosphere around it, may force more trans people to avoid public spaces altogether, simply to protect themselves. For others, the result will be even more discrimination, more harassment, and more violence.

As long as the definition of womanhood continues to narrow, people who don’t neatly fit the idea of the perfect woman will be policed, excluded, and harmed. So-called gender critical activists claiming they can “tell” who is trans and who isn’t in single sex spaces; is untrue and a slippery slope, the consequences of which are already playing out with butch lesbians being misgendered and harangued out of women’s toilets. There are women with hormonal conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) who often experience hirsutism — thicker facial and body hair that falls outside what is deemed “acceptable” for women. And when Eurocentric beauty standards continue to define femininity, women of colour are often hypermasculinised, hypersexualised and misgendered, their womanhood constantly questioned or dismissed. Remember what happened to Imane Khelif last year?

The Algerian boxer, a cisgender woman, was the target of transphobic rhetoric and suspicion of having an unfair advantage at the World Championships after being deemed too “masculine” in appearance. She was penalised not for who she is, but for how others perceive her body.

Underpinning all this is the idea that trans people are a threat. Some will argue that they’re not “anti-trans” and are just worried about men abusing rights for trans people to attack women. But men don’t need to disguise themselves as women to perpetrate violence against us. When you misdiagnose trans people (especially trans women) as the threat, it prevents us from tackling the real problem facing all women, which is violent men. We’re currently living through a national emergency of violence against women and girls. Every year, two million women are estimated to be victims of violence perpetrated by men. Stalking, harassment, sexual assault and domestic violence affect one in 12 women in England and Wales, with the number of recorded offences growing by 37% in the past five years.

But here’s the truth: our rights rise and fall together. When one group’s humanity is up for debate, everyone’s freedom is at risk. This is the moment for us to choose solidarity over fear, because a just and inclusive world for trans people is a better world for all of us.