While the success of shows like Orange Is The New Black and Transparent are great for visibility, we have to make sure that visibility translates into rights for the average trans person trying to live a normal life, because sadly it is still very much the dark old days for many.

Recorded attacks on trans people are up by 25% in London this year and while this could be down to people feeling more confident to report such attacks, it clearly isn’t safe to walk down the street as a trans person in Britain. And how about the Liverpool woman who had to move recently because she was taunted by locals scrawling transphobic abuse on her front door? Many trans people still experience family rejection and the decline in mental health that can bring. And healthcare is slow at best and abusive at worst - in 2013 trans people started the #TransDocFail hashtag on Twitter, sharing thousands of instances of cruelty by GPs. All this might explain why 48% of young trans people in the UK have attempted suicide. Almost half. Not just ‘thought about’. Attempted.

It’s for this reason that I can’t help but see increased awareness as a good thing, even if media coverage is negative on the surface. When feminist Germaine Greer said that trans women are not real women last month she was simply repeating her old prejudice. Greer, who has compared trans women to rapists throughout her career was describing trans women as ‘ghastly parodies’ as recently as 2009 in The Guardian. It was disappointing to see columnists defending Greer’s right to ‘free speech’ - I’ve never seen anyone defend Katie Hopkins’ right to free speech before. I guess we have a way to go before Greer appreciates the constant questioning and scorn trans people face, and the effect this has on our mental health. With increased awareness the public can now put Greer’s words into context. To me, that’s progress.

“Being transgender is not a trend” Paris Lees on why being trans shouldn't be headline news