Transgender Survival & Sun Tzu’s Art of War

 

Transgender Survival & Sun Tzu’s Art of War  

by RunaMorgen, 1/3/2023

 

“If the enemy is taking their ease, give them no rest. If their forces are united, separate them”.

“Supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting”.

The Art of War, a 2,500 year old book attributed to the ancient Chinese war philosopher Sun Tzu, is loaded from start to finish with wisdom that is highly relevant to the long and weary war that all transgender people alive today have been fighting since birth. Some passages, like the two just mentioned, may remind many of us of the nature of the forces that often bring us to our knees: that relentless crushing hatred and resistance we face at every turn when we simply seek to be ourselves. Every victory is followed by equally tragic loss. Every legal recognition of our humanity is immediately met with an outpouring of pushback and reversal of previous protections that help keep us alive. We are always exhausted, never able to catch our breath, constantly dreading what terrible threat faces us next. Most of us lived childhoods so isolated from others like us or from any accurate information about who we are that enormous stretches of our lives often feel utterly wasted and ruined. The fact that we have been treated so similar to how Sun Tzu advised the generals of ancient feudal China to treat enemies of war is eye opening. Looking at our own situation from this context of war is not only eerily accurate however, but also provides us with a way of looking at things that simultaneously presents potential paths to achieving the peace and reprieve we have been longing for since the beginning.

The ancient work of Sun Tzu is presented as a manual for waging and achieving victory in war and has been famously applied to events and battlegrounds throughout human history. Even modern war generals and business leaders of today have achieved great triumphs through the successful implementation of concepts outlined in the Art of War, and correlation to the fight facing our own people is no exception. With the recent onslaught of casualties marked by record-high violent trans victimization rates, and with trans children being forced out of supportive families and medical treatment into foster care (U.S.), and with over 286 anti trans bills being introduced over the past year (in the U.S. alone, resulting in countless cases of forced de-transition), and with politicians and religious leaders in every corner of the globe calling for our execution, and with outright massacres and attempted massacres at LGBTQ gatherings, there is no denying that we are in fact engaged in a type of war. And in this war we are gravely outnumbered and our greatest weaknesses are being exploited to full effect every single day. Hopefully the violence of traditional warfare will forever remain out of the question for our universally non-violent community, but for the survival of both ourselves and all the good that we and our predecessors have already accomplished, I believe it is still more than necessary to collectively consider all wisdom available to us, including the content of this ancient Chinese book on warfare.

“If you know your enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Although Sun Tzu refers specifically to his “5 Essentials to Victory” in this passage, there is potentially useful insight both in reflection on this passage by itself and in Sun Tzu’s directly intended meaning. Taken by itself and applied to our present situation as transgender individuals in the 2020’s we could perhaps recognize one of our key advantages in this fight: We alone intrinsically know both sides of this conflict. Most of us were forced from youth to hide our true identities for extended periods of time, blending in with those who wished to do us all great harm. Knowingly living in secret among our persecutors has taught us all exactly how our enemies think, revealing possible avenues for fighting back. In contrast, those who attack our lives and self-autonomy largely remain woefully ignorant of our perspective, often even taking pride in it. Furthermore, due to the nature of our specific situation, this advantage is something we could expect to maintain throughout the entirety of this conflict. For once the enemy does finally know us, it is doubtful that many would even remain our enemy. At our core, all we really want is compassion, which stems from seeing oneself in another, effectively restricting our enemy to working in the realm of perpetual ignorance. The flow of accurate information therefore will always benefit us, while the restriction of information will always bring us harm. Essentially, we can (and do) reduce the numbers of those attacking us by continuing to spread accurate information in ways that are best absorbed by and appeal to those who oppress us.

The aforementioned passage appears in the chapter entitled “Attack by Stratagem” and is intended to highlight one of the most crucial principles of The Art of War: Knowing oneself as well as one’s enemy is the vehicle by which the “5 Essentials to Victory” are possible. These 5 essentials are:

One will win who:

1. knows when to fight and when not to fight.

2. knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.

3. has an army animated by the same spirit throughout its ranks

4. prepared, waits to take the enemy unprepared.

5. has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.

Although the parallels bridging ancient feudal warfare to our own present conflict may not be immediately apparent in this particular list, several of these five essentials are built upon one of the foremost issues facing us today, and that is the simple fact that we are desperately outnumbered. A major focus throughout the art of war is understanding how to handle just that and to overcome even an enemy of vastly superior strength. Sun Tzu listed each of these as essentials to victory because he understood that the conditions prior to battle were even more important than battle itself. In ancient times it would be foolish to pit one’s own small army against an army twice the size, yet having the smaller force did not mean victory was ever completely out of reach. Instead, one needed to carefully manipulate the conditions of each engagement such that a favorable outcome could be practically guaranteed prior to any fight breaking out. This meant always knowing the state/condition of the enemy, always knowing and considering one’s own condition, avoiding superior forces (and traps), splitting up larger enemy forces (and setting traps), knowing and taking advantage of enemy weaknesses, and not hesitating to seize any and every window of opportunity. In the war facing us today, this could mean being aware of when we’re likely to find ourselves outnumbered/outmatched and directing our energy elsewhere. It could also mean taking extra steps to guarantee the personal safety of ourselves and our friends. It could mean clever planning to ensure a fair fight at an essential town or school board vote. It could also mean sticking together and occasionally ambushing those who regularly cause harm, utilizing methods that shame and discourage such damaging behavior from spreading or repeating. Before I ever fully came out as trans I once came across such an instance that I’ll personally remember forever. At the time I was still isolated from other trans people, so I was used to endless unopposed hate-speech (adding to my suicidal ideation), but one day a cisgender ally posted something that appeared in my timeline that intentionally provoked an engagement with one of those hateful regulars. Immediately after the unsuspecting hate-monger became invested in spewing misinformation to the ally, multiple trans people (close friends of the ally) appeared on the post all introducing themselves with angry middle-finger selfies and proceeded to humiliate and destroy him in front of everyone watching. It was the best thing I had ever seen and it helped to show that I was less alone than I had thought. It also made an example out of the hate-monger, putting on public display the foolishness and inhumanity of anti-trans propaganda principles. If this situation were reversed however, and an unprepared member of our community were to individually take on a large group of well-prepared hate-mongers, that individual would be up for a much more exhausting and potentially impossible debate to which the effect of failure could be the further encouragement of hate-speech and perceived validation thereof. Of course larger scale victories are the best victories, but in a war where we are constantly outnumbered, even small losses and victories like the scenarios I just mentioned can make a difference; we just need to seize wins whenever they are in reach and they will add up. And when we need to win but are outmatched, we can still find ways to change the conditions of the engagement ahead of time so that our energy is seldom wasted, even if it means taking on smaller groups of adversaries at a time.

The third among Sun Tzu’s list of five essentials to victory is having a force that is united in spirit throughout. As articulated by many others within our community I believe the bond we all share is incredibly powerful. I’ve personally been extremely slow to make new friends throughout my whole life, but meeting other trans people is completely different. It’s always as if we all already know each other, like really old friends finally coming together after many years. It’s hard to put to words, but with the occasional exception of those among us who insist on gate-keeping, self-transphobia, and misogyny, I believe that overall our unity in spirit is almost divine. Unfortunately there is also a substantial unity among our transphobic adversaries, but there’s nothing else on Earth like the palpably unified spirit shared throughout our own. The amazing advantage of such unification is the ability to use lines of communication to operate as a single collective entity, with high potential for fast, powerful, coordinated responses far beyond the ability of any individual. Most of us have already seen and experienced our community acting as this collective entity through the way we bombard each-other with support in times of hardship. It’s not always easy finding one’s way into this collective out of an initial state of isolation (though we’ve definitely improved this over the years), but once we are connected we not only receive from but add to and become one with this wonderfully effective phenomenon. Maintaining this great strength however also places utmost importance on preserving our outlets for community interaction. Up until only a few months ago, one of the strongest connections to this collective was something known unofficially as “trans twitter”, which was destroyed overnight by an infamously transphobic billionaire. Since then we’ve been forced to rebuild those decimated connections through other channels like mastodon. Although we still have much distance to go in repairing that region of our collective network, the fact that “trans twitter” has remained as cohesive as it is and reconvened so quickly in a new location is in itself a huge testament to the unity we all share once that initial connection is made.

The fourth essential listed, to be prepared to take on the enemy unprepared was alluded to in the internet hate-monger example, but is an incredibly powerful weapon on its own. The potential rewards to be gained by overwhelming one’s enemy by surprise has been recognized since ancient times and can be as useful a tool for ourselves as it is for those who aim to destroy us. If a significant decision were put to an official vote for example while one side was kept unaware or unprepared of the significance of that moment in time until it was too late, the potential for drastic change in either direction peaks. From battlefield to legislature, to corporate board meetings, the outcome of countless crucial moments throughout human history have been decided by those who simply catch their enemy off-guard at exactly the right moment. Successfully crafting such conditions in the first place however is heavily dependent on one’s ability to know thy enemy.

The fifth and final of Sun Tzu’s five essentials to victory refers to the influence of greater allegiances and authority on those actually engaged in a conflict. To operate in tandem with governing forces is vastly easier and more effective than operating under conditions impeded by these superior governing forces. In ancient times this could refer to a general hindered by allegiance to an inexperienced micromanaging sovereign. In our current situation however, this manifests in the form of restrictions imposed by existing laws and elected officials both on the local and federal levels. This could also include the effect of conflicting interests among powerful influences on either side. Such factors all add nuance to the rules we all must abide by, sometimes to our advantage and other times to great detriment. Although far weaker than we would like, this is also our greatest source of protection from widespread open murder and complete extermination.

Another focus point of Sun Tzu’s work is the historically tremendous cost of waging war for long periods of time. In traditional wars like those fought in ancient feudal China, armies had to be kept supplied with food and sharp weapons throughout the conflict, yet conscription took workers away from farms, forges, and businesses, all resulting in extremely unfavorable supply vs demand situations that could eventually lead to widespread poverty. In our own situation today, all members of the trans community certainty feel the fatigue of our prolonged struggle for life, bodily-autonomy, and equality, but what does it cost our adversaries? With no measurable consequences for waging this war against us, the truth is our enemies will never tire and will never stop hurting us until every last one of us is gone. This is a dire problem we need to remedy in order to slow the severe death toll that has already reduced our average lifespan to a mere 30-35 years. In more extreme cases there actually can be legal consequences but until 2019-2020 the trans panic defense did allow the murder of our kind in all but 3 US States. Continuing to push for protective legislation certainly brings measurable improvement to our lives, but unchecked infractions like targeted harassment, spreading misinformation, driving suicide, hate-speech, inciting violence, anonymous swatting, legalized discrimination and denial of healthcare just to name a few rarely result in any actual consequence for the aggressor, and instead only lead to further escalation. In fact, as of late, some of these atrocities can even get one elected to government office. This is precisely why the accountability produced by public shaming and ‘cancel culture’ (which they absolutely abhor) is helpful. Those contributing financially to our destruction need to loose money and all who hurt us must be exposed and shamed. Powerful influencers who lead and rally the masses against us are those we need to discourage most. As Sun Tzu advised: “Inflict damage on enemy leaders. Make trouble for them and keep them constantly engaged”. Historically our adversaries however have excelled in this, especially highlighted when they employed deadly tactics against our transgender influencers through Kiwi Farms. How do we ethically and effectively turn this around without making even more enemies? If we continue to be the only ones in this conflict sustaining damage, we will not survive.

Due to the massive costs of traditional warfare, Sun Tzu strongly endorsed foraging resources off of the enemy whenever possible. From our heavily disadvantaged position in the modern conflict we face today, suffering such heavy losses, this advise is still relevant. We don’t stand to gain much by confiscating food or weapons like ancient warriors, but we can benefit from the conversion of enemy propaganda spreaders into allies. Generally not the vehemently belligerent ones practically foaming from the mouth with venom, but the more moderate ones we know personally and have a chance of connecting with.

The Art of War states: “In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and in tact. To shatter and destroy it is not so good. So too it is better to recapture an army than to destroy it”. “Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being. Nor can the dead ever be brought back to life”.

This approach to success is employed regularly by modern businesses all around us as they fervently endeavor to absorb competitors in a way that adds to their own long term wealth. This is also something our enemy actually does relatively poorly, instigating far more death than conversion. The few trans (and de-trans) individuals that have joined the ranks of our transphobic enemies however, are undeniably among the most dangerous and destructive forces against us. This is also one reason why its so important not to turn shaming our enemies into its own form of harassment. The majority of transphobic propaganda machines are simply misinformed victims themselves, and are quite often our own colleagues and family members. This means that many of our adversaries have the potential to become strong allies if exposed to the truth packaged in a form that successfully speaks to them.

“The worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.” “The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy.”

“You can ensure the safety of your defense if you only hold positions that cannot be attacked”

“One skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth”.

Each of these statements from the Art of War emphasize the importance and effectiveness of defensive positioning at times of disadvantage. Each side in our conflict has places of refuge where defeat is practically impossible. For TERFs/Transphobes this could include right-wing controlled social media, many businesses, and most churches, while for us this could include actively moderated LGBTQ forums. This should also include physical queer gathering places, but with growing threats of mass shootings, the security requirements to ensure such levels of safety continue to grow out of reach. The truth is we still severely lack such spaces, especially in varieties that actually protect all of our basic needs. As helpful as nightclubs and a few coffee shops are for socialization, our most critical needs: doctors, pharmacies, therapists, and housing, are all overwhelmingly dominated by those outside of our community and are thus frequently taken away from us. This results in a plethora of severe weaknesses which are all huge obstacles we need to overcome to achieve any resemblance of the safety enjoyed by our adversaries. And if things continue to escalate at the rate we’ve seen over the past 3 years, the time may come where we are forced to literally seek that refuge in those “most secret recesses of the Earth”. In fact, that day may already be here in regions where innocent trans people are already being hunted down by CPS and where legislatures are starting to vote on the legality of simply dressing in clothing that doesn’t match one’s gender assigned at birth, and where armed vigilantes are increasingly vocally eager for the day they can openly ‘hunt us down like animals’ (a terrifying threat many of us have heard far far too often).

“The skillful fighter puts themself- into a position which makes defeat impossible, and does not miss the moment for defeating the enemy”

“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy not coming but on our own readiness to receive them; not on the chance of their not attacking but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable”

The act of forging unassailable positions can mean far more than simply fortifying trans-friendly spaces. This concept can also be applied creatively to the small scale interactions each of us face in the forced debate over our existence. One of the most effective tactics our enemies use for example, is to distort unassailable statements into apparent arguments against our humanity. Every day we are faced with people aggressively shouting things we ALL agree with like “protect women’s safety”, “don’t erase women”, and “don’t mutilate children” as if we were ever somehow against such positions. They’ll also parrot imaginary arguments like “clothing and boobs don’t make you a woman” and “hormones don’t make you a man” to which the answer is ‘no shit’, we never said they do but trans women are still women and trans men are still men! Their irrefutable sayings allow them to get away with pretending that countless deeply flawed positions are the words we actually live by. How do we flip this powerful tactic and use our own incontestable statements to highlight the hypocrisy behind their rhetoric? How do we reclaim the truths of their rallying cries and nullify their effectiveness on the average gullible citizen? Perhaps we can make blatantly true statements too that instead insinuate their insanity instead of ours. What would happen if we marched with their signs (such as “religious freedom”, “protect children”, “don’t tread on me”, “I support family values” and “make restrooms safe”) decorated with rainbows and trans flags?

Sun Tzu says: “In war, the way is to avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak.”

The entire system of sports as we know it today was never designed with any consideration for transgender people, especially our non-binary members. Instead, nearly every aspect of athletics is strictly divided into male and female categories founded on flawed misconceptions and definitions of each. Through no fault of our own, this makes everything to do with us and sports more easily contentious and thus heavily targeted by those seeking to exclude and other us, even if they have no real interest in the actual sport in question. There are countless benefits from recreational teamwork and healthy competition that all should be entitled to as human beings, but this also means that successfully forcing our exclusion could further separate us from humanity itself in the minds of other people. The flawed categorization of organized sports unfortunately forms its very foundation and thus the gross discrimination resulting from it is unsolvable without fundamentally restructuring that system. With cruel misinformation about us being so widespread, challenging this structure for the sake of equality has become excruciatingly difficult. Through the subsequent precedent of exclusion from sports however, justification for separating us out of the rest of society as well will become increasingly easier for our enemies over time. This is a prime example of the successful exploitation of weaknesses and is one of the most crucial aspects of any war. To succeed in our struggle for equality, we all need to recognize and eliminate all our weaknesses to the best of our ability and also to exploit the weaknesses of our enemy wherever we find them. The progression of the oppressive transphobic movement depends on the gullibility of uneducated masses. The core fundamental principles of Christianity like unconditional love, compassion, tolerance, reverence for the suffering, and uplifting the oppressed are completely incompatible with the oppression of transgender people which "christian" organizations tend to enforce. Compared to transgender people, our enemies can’t even come close to our levels of mental endurance, perseverance, or average intelligence. What other weaknesses can we find in our oppressors, and how can we use them?

“If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say: ‘Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear, and then they will be amenable to your will”.

“Forestall your opponent by seizing what they hold most dear, and subtly contrive to control their movements”

“To wait at ease while the enemy is toiling and struggling, to be well-fed while the enemy is famished: -This is the art of husbanding one’s strength”.

Our enemies aren’t even in the disadvantaged condition we find ourselves in, yet here is another established concept of warfare that our enemies, particularly those wielding decision making positions in government excel in. Much of the Art of War focuses on the specific weakness of supply lines which perfectly parallels our own access to medication, trans healthcare, and even general heathcare that is always under constant attack. Due to disproportionate rates of poverty, homelessness, and especially unemployment (due to legalized discrimination), we are literally starved of our basic needs, constantly locked in a state of desperation. How do we nullify these weaknesses? Is it possible to benefit from but to no longer depend on regulated access to our basic needs through cis-controlled channels that can be stripped away at any moment by powerful transphobes? Self medicating is obviously dangerous and less safe than HRT, but what is far more dangerous is the lack of any treatment at all. Perhaps those dependent on good, stable HRT should still become experts on alternative methods of survival as a contingency plan for times when our supply is cut (like White Kwao Krua, Aguaje berry, and Reishi mushroom as an emergency replacement for E). We should intimately know our doses, indicators of levels, and know how to take care of our own when doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies refuse to treat us. We need to know how to stop testosterone or estrogen production ourselves when no one else will help us. Are there other ways to access our basic needs outside of the jurisdictions our enemies currently operate in?

Pride, the perception of superiority, occupational livelihood, income, and religious freedoms are all commodities our adversaries hold quite dear. Is it possible to use or even tie some of our basic rights and freedoms to the access of each of these assets? Perhaps we could root our right to self-autonomy to their highly valued religious freedoms as a form of our own religious expression (an idea recently popularized by the trans based “Church of Prismatic Lights”). What other things do our enemies hold most dear and how can we use those things to protect our lives and futures?

“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy themselves.

“If in the midst of difficulties we are always ready to seize an advantage, we may extricate ourselves from misfortune”

In addition to taking advantage of static weaknesses, we should also be prepared to take advantage of any circumstantial mistakes our oppressors make in the advancement of their agenda. Information leaks of pending nefarious decision making, exposing failures to remain anonymous when causing more drastic harm, or exposing covert discrimination and other questionable behavior that might sway public support, are just a few possible examples of this.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said “The secret of war lies in the communications”. Many aspects of this are discussed in detail in the Art of War as Sun Tzu strongly encouraged ancient war generals to either inhibit enemy lines of communication or to deceptively corrupt it with false information that put enemies into unfavorable positions. This was especially effective when intercepting lines of communication to and from enemy leaders. This also emphasizes the importance of safeguarding both the reliability and the stability of one’s own lines of communication. From the macroscopic perspective, large scale flow of information today is controlled mostly by large media companies, which have historically opted to either ignore us completely or to disseminate more false information about us than anything else. Over time however, our influence in these spheres of communication have actually grown significantly, especially following the very recent high visibility of a few profitably popular transgender performers in Hollywood. The normalization of trans and other LGBTQ people in the media has remained a primary goal across our community for some time due to the power of representation in widespread information to foster relatability, compassion, and unity. Overall however, media companies today still make a strong point to keep trans representation generally restricted while happily distributing anti-trans propaganda across the world simultaneously for the sake of profit. This prioritization of profit however also creates the potential leverage we need to continue to improve our position in this field. As long as accurate trans representation is profitable, trans representation in the media will continue to rise. At the same time however, we need to do everything we can to make anti-trans propaganda unprofitable to reduce its presence in global media, rather than allowing media companies to get away with only granting us small gains while stabbing us in the back with the promotion of hate-speech and continued misrepresentation. A well funded queer dominated media company still sounds like nothing more than a daydream today, but getting to that point would be an absolute game-changer, and some organizations such as Dropout are getting ever closer to actually making that a reality.

The effectiveness of the misinformation campaign by TERFS and other transphobic oppressors speak for themselves, but with both intellect and the flow of truthful information on our side, we should have the potential to eventually outmatch them on all communication fronts, especially with some creativity. Many of us already dedicate a substantial amount of our time to exposing falsehoods in transphobic mis-information, which damages enemy credibility, but common warfare techniques from the past take this even further.

Sun Tzu: “O divine Art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible and hence we hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.

Chia Lin (an ancient Art of War commentator under the T’ang dynasty): “Entice away the enemy’s best and wisest...introduce traitors… forment intrigue and deceit..cause waste of their treasure..”

Deception is rarely endorsed by any among the LGBTQ+ community, but has nevertheless always played a huge role in warfare. Infiltration in the form of posing as the enemy, converting a powerful adversary, spreading false information, gaining new information, influencing enemy decisions, and sabotaging enemy efforts and appearances all have tremendous potential for causing damage. From exposing secrets, to wasting money and other resources, to destroying reputations, even if we don’t use these techniques ourselves we should all be aware of their power and in some cases even be prepared to face them ourselves.

According to Sun Tzu, Deception also forms the basis for nearly all effective military maneuvers in warfare. “To ensure that your whole host may withstand the brunt of the enemy attack unshaken use direct (cheng) and indirect (ch’i) maneuvers”. T’ang Emperor T’ai Tsung defined a “chéng” attack as simply any action that has enemy attention while ch’i refers to any action that is coming by surprise and does not have the enemy’s attention. These two separate methods of attack thus combine to form the infinite maneuvers used to destroy an enemy. Is distraction a technique that could be applied effectively to the war we ourselves are facing? Perhaps this type of deception could be used to ensure safety at certain events or possibly even to entice enemies to make poor decisions where they will be exposed or suffer damaged reputation, or miss more important encounters altogether.

“The clever combatant imposes their will on the enemy but does not allow the enemy’s will to be imposed on them. A great soldier fights on their own terms or not at all”. In this passage Sun Tzu warns us not to let our actions be manipulated by an adversary, lest we be led into traps.

“If we are facing an enemy engagement but do not wish to fight ‘all we need to do is throw something odd in their way”.

Tu Mu, a poet under the T’ang dynasty and a commentator of the Art of War followed this passage up with the story of Chu-Ko Liang at Yang-P’ing. This leader was facing an overwhelming attack from Ssu-ma I, but Instead of fighting to assured defeat, suddenly ‘struck his colors, stopped the drums and flung open the city gates showing only a few men sweeping and gardening.’ The confused enemy simply led their army away rather than risk falling into a trap. This obscure albeit hilarious technique can still apply to situations today where simply walking away is not an option. Defusing a tense or dangerous situation with confusion can often change the circumstances of an engagement enough to put off an adversary looking for a fight, physical or otherwise (or worse).

“At first exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.”

This passage describes a technique of playing along with an enemy when convenient and only taking offensive action when you spot a weakness. This also has many applications for our present condition, especially when dealing verbally with casually transphobic acquaintances or relatives who will slowly ‘test the waters’ with the unassailable positions mentioned earlier before dropping an outrageously flawed transphobic statement you can more easily tear apart. This can also be used to give you the advantage in an otherwise equal fight.

“If facing an enemy of choleric temper seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak that he may grow arrogant”.

This is similar to the previous technique, but provokes a weak position rather than simply waiting for one to occur. This could be carried out by initially taking a seemingly weak stance yourself as bait, but with the preparedness to follow it up with a second action that is far more effective.

“Do not press a desperate foe too hard”

“When you surround an enemy leave an outlet free (not for escape but to prevent fighting with the extra courage of despair)

“Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm.”

As expressed in these three passages, Sun Tzu repeatedly warns those engaged in war to avoid pushing an adversary so far into desperation that they no longer fear death. Ironically, this is exactly what our enemy continues to do to us. Statistically, the vast majority of us are or have been suicidal and almost half of us that are still alive have already attempted to end our own lives at some point. None of us are strangers to torture, and after a point many of us start to build up such an resistance to psychological pain that the only affect further attacks have is to bestow simultaneous awe and pity upon new allies.

“The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals”.

This piece of advise from the Art of War reminds us that great achievements far beyond the capability of any one person can still be accomplished easily through the combined efforts of many individuals. Even seemingly insignificant tasks can add up quickly, especially when the intentions of a collective are as strongly unified as they are among us. The Great Wall, over 20,000km long and 46ft tall was constructed over 2,000 years ago under Qin Shi Huang through the combined forced effort of nearly a million people. Our community, unbound by tyrants or hierarchy possesses that same inconceivably great power through a strong unity of purpose.

Mei Yao-ch’ên, an ancient poet and commentator on the Art of War from approximately 1,000 years ago encouraged those waging war to place less reliable troops in strongest positions, and to place the best soldiers on exposed terrain. In every challenge all participants have equally productive rolls to play; we only need to identify constructive actions that individually suit ourselves and our abilities that align with the goals of our collective.

Sun Tzu: “Avoid an enemy when their spirit is keen, but attack when it is sluggish...this is the art of studying moods”.

Chang Yü (from the ancient Chinese Book of Army Management): “The spirit of the enemy is strongest when they first arrive. Wait until ardor and enthusiasm have worn off, then strike”.

This advice can be applied to many of the everyday interactions we may have with TERFs or other transphobic individuals that are triggered by a statement or piece of news (whether true or untrue) that is related to transgender people. It could also apply to a heated and potentially dangerous reaction such a person may have to simply spotting an innocent trans person in public. It’s generally helpful to avoid or stall any interaction with such a hyped up individual until after their initial rush of fighting spirit has worn off. Until then, such a person is of a substantially higher threat than they may be otherwise.

Another facet of warfare discussed in detail in the Art of War is the recognition and use of uncontrollable outside factors such as one’s environment to one’s advantage. When attempting to survive physical violence this could mean running towards favorable terrain that might inhibit the affectiveness of an attack, but in today’s world it could also mean using more familiar technological terrain to our advantage. In general, our average transphobic adversary tends to be uneducated and technologically illiterate, which often gives us a home field style advantage for online battlegrounds. Having allies inside the companies that create and maintain such technological terrain could also prove particularly helpful.

Utilizing any other unique advantages we may have or encounter are also important factors to consider, and are also a facet of knowing thyself. Overall our opponents are less educated and less skilled while so many of us are among the top minds in our fields and highly advanced in all sorts of skills and trades. We’re also thus more likely to be able to adapt to and effectively employ new and emerging technologies to great affect. Perhaps for example AI generated artwork holds for us opportunities to rapidly generate an arsenal of humorously clever or emotionally triggering images that expose TERF hypocrisy. This or other possibilities may exist through new technological means to more effectively generate material that might actually humiliate and wear down our more powerful oppressors thus making this war actually cost them something after-all. Or perhaps some of us have ideas to better garnish sympathy from potential allies without exhausting too much of our already exhausted personal energy.

Mei Yao-ch’ên: “Those who want to make sure of succeeding in their battles must seize the favorable moments when they come and not shrink from heroic measures...What they must not do, and what will prove fatal is to simply hold the advantages they have got.

This advice reminds us to never become complicit nor stagnant, nor to hold back if an opportunity to gain a new advantage in this war presents itself. Sun Tzu advised ancient feudal generals to burn enemy camps, provisions, fuel, wagons, and ammunition. Obviously this is not something we can typically do literally in our current situation and expect things to go well, however some members of our community have heroically performed modern equivalents of this to incredible effect. Watching the sudden complete destruction of kiwi farms unfold just this past year was a huge victory that our entire community celebrated all around the world. The individuals responsible for laying waste to such a dangerous anti-trans terrorist ring, even through hacking and infiltration undoubtedly saved many trans lives and deserve to be remembered as heroes. The situations we are often forced into frequently shift in and out of dire severity, and sometimes we become numb to the cycle simply as a survival mechanism. Despite this, its crucial that we never loose sight of the lives we can save by taking risks and action when the opportunity arises in front of ourselves.

The horror of traditional warfare is not something that any of us wish for, but with countless members of our community being tortured into suicide every year while those of us who survive face unprecedentedly high rates of violent crime while forced to fight endlessly for our most basic and dire needs, there’s no question that war has already enveloped us. Transgender children are being stripped from supportive homes and forced against their will to endure permanent disfiguration without puberty blockers that had once been in their reach. More trans girls are having to consciously suffer the nightmares of forced lengthening of vocal chords leading to permanently deepened voices, along with the reshaping of one’s bone structure and the formation of millions of unwanted hair follicles. Meanwhile more trans boys are being forced to grow breasts and suffer permanently widened hips and a puberty that is foreign and traumatic to them. This and increasing calls for violence and deadly force by those in power is all the proof we need that we are marching on an escalating path toward genocide and potentially our complete extermination. Discovering then that such a great deal of the advice and techniques from Sun Tzu’s ancient and infamous book, The Art of War are already being effectively employed by anti-trans forces to cause immeasurable damage to our individual lives and our community as a whole is terrifying. Looking at our situation through this lens and scavenging some of this wisdom to aid ourselves does however provide some reassurance that the equality and self-autonomy we dream of one day achieving is indeed possible. But as always, the road for us remains ever long, treacherous, and without reprieve.