Affinity Groups v Working Alone

AKA how to make friends in a world devastated by gender ideology

10 groups of 10 people can often make a stronger and wider impact than organizing one group of 100 people.

Affinity Groups

Usually the best size for an affinity group is a group of people that can all fit in one Mom minivan. The group comes together for direct actions. The best groups form because they have shared goals, shared risk levels, and shared tactics.

Affinity groups have a number of strong benefits. When you have a small group you have more autonomy then if you are participating in a large demonstration with hundreds of people. In much larger groups the ability to pivot, change a tactic, and even get to safety if needed is much more of a challenge.

Affinity groups also add an element of protection just in planning stages. Once you have your affinity group established you can use communication tools to plan and prepare outside of the public eye. We recommend apps like Signal, it offers end to end encryption and everyone in the affinity group can agree to have messages deleted at the end of each day.

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

Finding your people

The hardest first step is going to be to find your people. Remember it does not have to be even 10. A strong affinity group can operate with 4-6 people (more about actions alone below).

You might already have your people, you might be in a parents support group and already have the people that you get coffee with once a week and discuss gender the whole time. You might already have several people who you DM all the time on X who you know live in the same region as you.

You also might be meeting your people and just need to take the next slow steps to creating an affinity group. This tweet is an excellent example from MrMenno. After this exchange he could have gotten contact info and slowly built up a relationship, sharing articles, or posts, or in MrMeeno’s case amazing videos.

Affinity groups are built on mutual support, which takes time to build, but it can be done. Talking about your hopes for change, your passions about this issue, your fears and dreams. People in your group should know enough info about you to offer you support in an action and security before and after.

Every affinity group should establish a buddy system. That is why it’s best to have between four and ten people. The buddy should know the extra information about you for your security. If you have a rescue inhaler and you’ll have it in your pants pocket your buddy should know that information. Your buddy should also know who and how to contact someone if needed. Your buddy also needs to make an agreement with you that includes mutual support if either of you needs to leave. This way you do not need to disrupt the entire action if the need to leave is personal, but no one should leave alone.

Pace Yourselves

Once you find your people and you agree that you want to start taking some collective actions begin by discussing targets, goals, and opportunities. We will suggest some national actions on the 21st and some smaller local actions on the 23rd.

A reasonable place to start is to begin by exploring your own area. Find out where the pediatric gender centers are and meet up to go walk around the area. Find out if any conferences occur in your area, or if certain infamous gender doctors will be speaking anywhere near you and your affinity group.

Take stock of your resources, including how much time you have to commit.

Build Skills

Your strongest resource will be your relationship with your group. That relationship should be built on strong communication. Other useful skills:

1. Messaging- if your action involves speaking to the public- practice your messaging- and stay calm and to the point. You often will only get 15-30 seconds to speak so get your message sharp.

2. Thick skin- be prepared to have to let things roll off your back. The random guy on the bike screaming at you to get a job, the passers by that will call you names.

3. Self Care- Take care of your body as well as your mind. Pack snacks, bring cold water, a chair if you can. Part of your group support should be to allow for breaks if needed.

4. Documentation- Develop group members who are skilled at recording video, or taking photos.

5. De-escalating- Develop group members who are skilled at de-escalating or who can stay calm speaking to police.

Support Each Other and Debrief

Once an action if completed be open to the need to debrief. This could be immediately or a few weeks later. People process in different ways. Be open to discussing changing tactics or even be open to hearing feedback on your messaging or actions. The group that can grow together can become an effective and powerful force.

Working Alone

There may be situations where you will only have the chance to work alone. This can still be a productive situation with good planning. Ensure someone knows your plan, where you are going, when you should be finished, and the risk level.

Consider utilizing a wearable camera. Consider how you will travel, often confrontations will occur after you have left the action area and you a more isolated and walking to a car or transportation.

Make sure your phone is fully charged, that you have cash on hand if you need to quickly make a purchase to gain access to a business. Contact the police if you are being harassed or threatened in anyway and you are alone. Take care of yourself!