Catalogue of Tender Militancy:

Defence against emotional violence is taught through relying on extrovert supremacy strategies or the setting of boundaries that will not be respected. 

The plant kingdom has dedicated itself to creating tools to enforce and demand boundaries with predators that do not listen. It proposes responses ranging from thorns to spikes to fine hairs, chemical and visual signaling; not a one size fits all solution, but one catered to the environment, seasonality and relations specific to each plant. By using pain, discomfort and inconvenience their defensive physiology the attacker learns how to act in ways that respect the plant to redistribute the cargo of care. 

A battle strategy that can resist the ridgidity of the patriarchy has to be flexible, to adapt and evolve. In other words: it should be alive.



Legend of Tenderly Militant Attitudes


di-stance direction
hosting backup
pain as connector
pedagogy of risk

When talking about reinterpretations of militancy it is important to aknowledge the realities that weapons and militancy are often used to enforce systemic oppresions, and is in no way supported in this project. This manifesto is a counter approach, that seeks to desterilise the narrow ideas of weaponry, so that grassroot movements are not confined entirely to passifist methods. This manifesto centers the need for action, the need to see strength in softness, and to actively and critically reflect on the right to defend ourselves. The push here is for an offensive defence strategy that does not seek to develop militancy in order to trump over and abuse others, but to actively respond. It does not call for fighting fire with fire, but for unlearning the cycles of harm, and shifting softness and solidarity into a potent and powerful view, so that it can be our strength and their undoing. 
The following legend reinterprets how terms often used in the lexical field of militancy can be redefined and shifted to give us agency in this movement through language. 
WEAPON
a tool to level power hirachies

an extension to the body that enables the user to stay soft because it embodies qualities that allow the user to assert themselves in harsher contexts  

my teammate 

 PAINindicator of boundaries 


DEVIANT        straying from expected functions, intentions or norms 

not restricting the self

TENDER MILITANCY        the radical defence that makes space for an offensive defence strategy, aknowledging that caring includes the active protection of softness. However, rather than retaliating through the same militant approaches of tthe agressor, tender militancy draws its strength from its softness, and breaks the cycle of violence.
FRANKENSTEIN PHYSIOLOGY        the rejection of one body or form as the solution. By combining otherwise contradicting qualities, this approach values the potential of chaos, and the possibility that when tender qualities together, they may have the strength to resist and level up to their monstrous contexts.



This glossary is non-exhaustive and will continue to grow.
Last Updated 24.10.31



GLOSSARY OF 
MILITANT PHYSIOLOGY

Through research at the Biological Archive of the Naturhistorische Museum Wien, the following is a legend to disect the strategies of defence used in the plant kingdom. 
 






The defence mechanisms of plants can be classified into two categories:

CONSTITUTIVE: always present
INDUCED: present through activation 


They can further be classied into three main archetypes:
Morphological, Chemical and Mechanial.


Biological Legend
1 MORPHOLOGICAL  (deter, injure, kill)
a) spines: reduce feeding through pain or inconvenience
b) prickles: reduce feeding through pain or inconvenience
c) thorns: reduce feeding through pain or inconvenience
d) trichomes: barbs containing irritants/ poisions 
e) Raphides (sharp needles): reduce feeding through pain and                      effectively deliver plant toxins 
f)  hair: reduce feeding though inconveience
g) compound secretion eg. resins, lignins, silica, wax (alter tissue                  texture: predator slips off or gets stuck)
h) layers of armour: require the right tools to break through 
i) hard shells: act as armour
j) Gilbertian mimicry: illusion of presence of eggs to seem already 
k) laimed & dissuade more from laying eggs here
l) Batesian mimicry: imitating thorns 
m) camouflage 

2 CHEMICAL  (repel, warn, attract)
a) metabolites eg. phenolics, flavonoids, tannis (affect predator)
b) volatile organic compoud: airborn signals to warn other plants  
c) extrafloral nectar (attract predators of the plants predator)
d) trichomes (dispense chemical that cause irritation)

3 MECHANICAL
a) sensetouch, vibration, electrical or thermal stimuli &  inducing 
thigmonastic movement: lowers surface area for predator to attack & seem wilted (play dead) 
b) alter size
c)  strategic growth patterns



Please note that this is a non-exhaustive summary of the biological functions present in the plant kingdom. I invite you to take this approach of reinterpretation for personal use with you into further research: there is more where this came from. 
ARMOURY OF THE PLANT KINGDOM


Contrary to what society would like us to think, plants are not submissive beings; they have a plethora of ways of defending themselves. Creating power hirachies between the human and plants serves those in power that need an ideological backing that makes it acceptable to exploit and abuse beings seen as lesser than the elevated human. Who has been included in this definition has historically always shifted to best suit the narrative of those in power. It is important we see classifications not as categories to confine others and ourselves into, but to understand them as systems of similarities that are a jumping off point for understanding our umwelt. By removing this boundary in thinking,  we allow ourselves to see similarities in the other, and make reinterpretations of how their problemsolving approaches could help us solve problems our cultural education has prevented us from making. 

The Archive
find the legend of biological reference on your right, and legend of interpretation for how the biological qualities can be reinterpreted as attitutes for resistance against the patriarchy on the left. 



1c1f

pedagogy of risk11. Compass Plant

Wild, Eindhoven  

Spikes make it hard to take a bite: the predator learns through the possibility of pain to adjust its behaviour.  


1c1g

edge laced with fear7.  Aloe Vera 

Wild, cerca Manacor, Mallorca
Habitat: open plains and sandy hills 

thorns and sebum makes it hard to take a bite  
1c1f

pain as connection8. Cotton Thiste

Jardin des Plantes, Paris 
Habitat: misty bushes 

Thorns and hair makes it hard to take a bite. Through fear the body of the predator shrinks in anticipation of pain, however its soft fuzz coating allows for liquids to collect and invites touch and connection. Its physical duality creates a push and pull that makes the approacher attentive to the plants boundaries, what may harm the plant, and invites for a reflected interaction. 





1f.  

 di-stance direction
9.  Paper Mulberry

Wild, Lyon
Habitat: liminal forests

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention. It is a gentle nudging, an invitation that is both beneficial to the plant and animal.   







1f1b

 softly poking
10. Californian Poppy

Wild, Eindhoven
Habitat: hilly meadows 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 






1b

pedagogy of pain12.  Aubergine

Community Garden, Saint Etienne  
Habitat: sunny srubs 

Spikes make it hard to take a bite: the predator learns through the possibility of pain to adjust its behaviour.  





1f.  

 soft direction
13. Borage


Community Garden, Saint Etienne  
Habitat: sunny srubs 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 







 1f.  

 soft direction
14.  Mitomea Contoa

Community Garden, Saint Etienne  
Habitat: stony hills

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 




1f.  

 soft direction
15.  Rhododendron tivetous


Community Garden, Saint Etienne  
Habitat: sunny srubs 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 




1f.  

 soft direction
16.  Common Lyeplant


Community Garden, Saint Etienne  
Habitat: sunny srubs 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 




1b

instrumentalising pain17. Pitcher Plant

Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien

thorns and hair makes it painful to take a bite  





1f1b

 softly poking
18. Rhododendron solvaticum

Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
Habitat: hilly meadows 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 







1f.  

 soft direction
19. SIlver Cactus

Jardin des Plantes, Paris 
Habitat: stony hills 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 





1b

instrumentalising pain20. Bloodtip Aloe 

Jardin des Plantes, Paris 
Habitat: stony hills 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 




 1f.  

 soft direction
21. Sage

Botanical Garden,  Wien
Habitat: hilly meadows 

fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 




1a

hitchhiking
1.    Waternut


Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
Habitat: muddy waters 

animals coming to feed get the seeds stuck in their feet and disperse it through migration





1c 2c   


hosting backup
2. Acacia Cornigera 


    Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
    Habitat: sandy hills  

    The thorns are hollow, and bull ants often nest in them, which means the regular prick of the thorns is in these cases accompanied by the painful bite of the ant. T



    1e.    


    instrumentalising pain
    3. Acacia Cornigera 

    Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
    Habitat: liminal spaces




    1e.    

    instrumentalising pain

    4. Acacia Cookii 

    Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
    Habitat: tree tops 



    1c    
    instrumentalising pain
    5. Brambel


    Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
    Habitat: edges and liminal spaces

    predators get pricked in passing causing them to avoid the plant 




    1f soft direction
    6. Rhododendron mystifolium

    Botanical Archive, Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien
    Habitat: hilly meadows 

    fine hairs make it harder to climb and guide animals to where it wants attention 






    Collection 2025 Samples can be sent to annazoehamm@proton.me