“I realised I was different when I was about five. I didn’t want to dress the way my mother was dressing me, and didn’t like short hair, I didn’t fit in.” She says.

“I came out to a friend when I was ten without even realising what trans was. I blurted out, ‘maybe I wasn’t supposed to be a boy.’ I came out at 16, and my parents were expecting it, and then I started medically transitioning at 18. It’s a never-ending journey, but I’ve been on hormones for ten years now.”

Under the new law, Daniella is considered a man.

“The whole point was to make women’s spaces safer. However, because of the wording trans men, so we’re talking beards, muscles, potentially phalloplasty, like fully intact downstairs men, are now going to have to use women’s spaces. Which means that when that becomes normalised, you expect to find people like that in women’s spaces.” She says.

“If cis men are sneaking around and pretending to be trans to get into spaces, all they have to do now is waltz in, because they’ll fit into that space. They don’t have to put on a dress, a hypothetical dress. They can just walk in.”

Daniella spoke on how as a transwomen she isn’t safe herself and has faced negativity in the past.

“I’ve had fractured bones and I’ve been beaten and abused. We are portrayed as monsters or creeps, or freaks. I’ve been assaulted. I’ve been threatened with rape. I feel terrified walking home alone at night, just like every other woman. I can never find a medical appointment, and no one ever listens to me. Although trans women are different, we are still women, just women with different stories.”

According to The Office of National Statistics, out of 262,000 people, 0.5% identified with a gender different from the one assigned at birth, and this number includes trans men and those who identify as non-binary.

Daniella expressed that trans women get an unfair portrayal in British media, considering how few trans women there are.

“They push trans women as if we are forcing ourselves into spaces and demanding acceptance.” 

“There are just as many trans men fighting for the right to be seen as men as there are trans women. It’s just that they don’t get publicised. And in my opinion, it’s because transphobia is inherently misogynistic. I find that transphobia in general is misogynistic.” She says.

An argument put forward for why trans women get alot of media attention is that men pretend to be trans to infultrate women’s spaces but Daniella believes alot of this is installed based on fear of men.

She says “Close your eyes for a sec. I want you to think of all the people that have catcalled you. I want you to think of the reasons why you have to carry a rape alarm at night, the reasons that you feel unsafe. Is it that you are scared of trans women? Or is it that you are scared of cis men and the idea that cis men can hypothetically involve themselves into spaces? Because that’s not what’s happening. We are less than 0.0 something of the population. We’re not the danger.

“We’ve never been the danger. Think about it. We’re not the people catcalling.

“We’re not the people following you home. We’re not the people feeling you up in clubs.

“We’re not the reason you have to cover your drinks. We never have been.”

It poses the question that if this new law is centred around women’s safety then why is there not any new legislation around men.

“I don’t hate the people that did this.” She says. “I don’t hate those women because I understand that fear. I’ve been in those situations. I’ve been terrified to walk the streets or be alone in a bar. I’ve faced that level of persecution, I’ve faced that hatred. I understand where it comes from.” 

When asked what womanhood means to her she says;

“Womanhood, to me, is sisterhood. Womanhood, to me, is the feminine divine. Womanhood, to me, is that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you realise your dress has pockets.

“Womanhood is realising that the world is not necessarily made for you, but we’ll continue to fight to get where we belong, in spaces of power, in real positions, and the fight will never end, but that’s okay, because we have a sisterhood. There are so many of us out there, and regardless of stereotypes and negativity, women always have women’s back. That’s womanhood to me.

“It’s a chain. We’re all links in a chain, standing up against oppression and breaking through that glass ceiling and fighting for our rights to be here, and to be seen, and to be known, and to be treated fairly. That’s womanhood.”

Daniella acknowledges that trans women are different to biological women and doesn’t claim to be the same.

“Listen” She says, “The shade of the thread that binds me might be a slightly different shade of red, maybe a little bit darker, maybe a little bit brighter, but I’m still part of that thread, I’m still part of that link. We’re all intertwined.”

But what does that mean for the future of women in the UK?

“You are no safer now than you were before and trans people are not the enemy. The Supreme Court’s ruling has taken women’s safe space, making it easier for cis men to get into their spaces. All you have done is make it more dangerous for people like me to live.” She says 

“You are directly endangering women, and this is not something to be victorious over. You’ve pushed back the feminist movement by many, many years. And, quite frankly, take one good look at America.

“It’s coming, you’ve bought into this apocalypse, so good luck.”