The Achilles Heel? I wish I knew.
You can't go head on at it on for starters. Doing so, only reinforces the sense of persecution. The community has been conditioned to expect hostility and the perception and expectations is that they will get it. This is why many are ultra defensive and take attacks personally.
I think this has been the approach that has been used and its not working and won't work. It needs something of a total rethink.
I think there a few steps that need to be taken to do that and come up with a cohesive strategy. Off the top of my head I think this is what springs to mind first but I might have some additional thoughts later.
- Step back and understand what you are up against first.
Start picking apart language to learn about how propaganda is being used to make an argument, particularly where no argument actually exists. I think doing this will help enormously.
If you know what they are doing and why they are doing it you can respond without falling into certain traps. (I think two to avoid are mental health and calling people stupid in any way or shape)
Understand how they want to frame you and how they have anticipated that they will be represented and challenged.
Look up how cults work. Look up how people are deprogrammed from cults. www.culteducation.com/group/1280-group/26433-history-of-deprogramming.html I think there are some very useful comments in this that can be developed and expanded upon. The essence is to get people thinking again. To find a key point, and if it hits home to push it on that.
- Present TRAs for what it is. Authoritarian and tightly controlling. .
I think a lot of support for the trans agenda comes from the fallacy that it is pushing a progressive agenda.
People who are progressive hate the idea that they are being controlled. Make people look at this idea of a cult somehow.
I think this needs to be done in a much more concise way than I've managed so far, but I think it can be refined.
Repeat back the language and explain why and how it is being used to control. Show that those leading the Trans Agenda are being controlling and that those who repeat it are being controlled.
Think about how well 'strong and stable' repeated over and over and over went down.
Make a very clear distinction between the interests and rights of trans people and the methods of trans politics. Separate the two better. Instead link it to wider politics and the nature of populism in general to put it into a different context.
Don't make it about left and right politics, as this strengthens the culture war being drawn along these lines. Its not. Its about liberal and authoritarian politics.
Remember the argument isn't about logic primarily. Its about identity and how individuals identify as trans or as sympathetic to being trans.
Owen Jones has bloody brilliant in showing this up. He identifies with it because of the fight for homophobia. Don't argue with this. But pick it apart for fallacy based on values not logic primarily.
Logic comes into it, but this is for a different audience.
- Stop playing their game. Its not about them versus us.
At the moment the trans narrative is all about being the persecuted.
Don't fuel it. Don't get angry. (Easier said than done!). They want to wind you up.
Recognise that not all those who identify as trans are driving this. Many will be passengers and hostages to it. And are effectively victims to it every bit as much as any woman.
Recognise and identify ways in which harm to individuals who are trans might occur due to the ways the politics are being carried out.
Point out that the Trans Agenda isn't always in the best interest of those who identify as trans.
- Controlling the narrative.
Every battle in politics is about being able to lead the conversation. Normally the driving force in this will have the upper hand. See 3 - in how you stop playing their game.
If you want to change the direction of politics you have to grasp control of the narrative, by presenting the story in a very different way to the way it has been presented before.
You need to build an alternative answer to what the ultimate goal is for rights.
Don't get bogged down in toilets. Its not just about toilets (or similar idea). Why? The toilet story, is safe territory for TRAs. They have every answer and know it inside out. It is part of the debate, but its not the only debate. Expand what is talked about. Understand that TRAs want the argument to be on the same ground, over and over again.
Identify groups / stories of those who have an interest in the GRAs in different ways and tell a different story. It expands the narrative even if it doesn't change it. The point is to get people thinking in as many different ways as possible.
Demonstrate you are thinking about their interest in ways that others might not have thought of and been presented to them. Show that you are on side, but think there are better ways to go.
Work out what they really don't want to talk about most, and why.
Turn things around a bit too, and go right back to basic over what questions you ask. It can be disarming and might reveal more than you think. Eg: Ask someone who isn't trans why they support x or y.
Overall: I think the basic premise here is to understand how they are communicating their message to different audiences and why they are using those particular messages. A lot of it is media management skills.
My gut reaction is to say that the feminist movement has got caught in something of a rut over this and isn't thinking about this as well as TRAs. I think things can be done to get better at this, and side step the transphobia accusation, but it requires smarter thinking, and thinking about things in different ways.
Its not an easy thing to do.