˗ˏˋ Fandoms; Gravity falls, scps, creepy pastas, magnus archives, true crime, FNaF, BATIM, Poppy playtime, Tattletail, Roleplaying, small vcs, character creation, Markiplier, thatguyzan, and Jacksepticeye!
˗ˏˋ Illnesses; I have ASD, ADHD, and SSD. And i'm hypersexual, you can dm for an explanation!
« ASD; Autism spectrum disorder. Mine gives me hyperfixations, short attention span, poor memory, inability to read tones, and a sensitivity to words! It also causes an anxiety and panic disorder.
« ADHD; Attention deficit hyperactive disorder! Mine is characterized by another short attention span, random and repetitive bursts of energy, poor mental processing, and need for direct words.
« Schizophrenia; It essentially means i suffer from visual and auditory hallucinations. As well as mood swings and inability to process emotions.
Please use tone tags and if i don't understand something, be patient! If i hyperfixate on a roleplay or i begin infodumping, and you don't like it, please be gentle when correcting me! ˚₊‧꒰ა ✦ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
adding my thoughts and stance with the recent discussion of military \ police dogs and the racism in the community as a whole.
I've been putting this post off for a week to gather information and read upon the subject before butting in with a half-assed, ill-informed opinion as some of y'all like to do. As a black alterhuman, I'm genuinely pissed off with this community's responses, though I'm not surprised.
Also, I'll be adding and crediting other alterhumans who made really great points in their own posts. If any of y'all would like to be removed, let us know
There are a could things we didn't get to add, though if it's brought up or something we will respond to it. Also I don't care if we're "clogging up the tags" with "discourse." We will get y'all to listen one way or another and we will not apologize for it.
First off, we've been seeing this discussion be dumbed down as petty discourse and drama, making way for uninformed members of our community to brush it off entirely and label it as "the new discourse on the block."
I don't care how much discourse passes our community, it legit does not take a genius to see that this is serious and shouldn't be pushed aside. Too many of y'all ask "what's this K9 discourse about??" and then take half-assed information straight to the dome. Quit calling it drama and discourse; it's a serious discussion about racism in our community and how some of y'all will gladly overlook it because y'all care about your feelings more than giving a damn about us
With that said, it's not easy wanting to educate yourself and be supportive when these so called "allies" gatekeep information from those who are genuinely confused and call them "racist bigotted bootlickers" for a genuine misunderstanding. That's such simpleminded dumbfuck behavior and is genuinely unhelpful and leaves those willing to learn still confused. Learn to educate your peers instead of belittling them for not automatically understanding what's going on. There's a clear difference from misunderstanding information to refusing to learn
Some of y'all want alterhuman identities to be taken as seriously as human identities until a problem involving real world struggles that minorities go through on the daily comes up. then y'all scramble to say "no not like that!" - paraphrased from cosmicstrays. Y'all do realize to take alterhuman identities as seriously as human identities you have to take in the same conflicts and struggles these identities go through, or does your privilege blind you from their reality? the reason y'all can prance around and say "my race doesn't matter to my identity because I'm just a doggie!!" is because of your damn privilege. you are able to erase your race from your ID because of said privilege. I don't care what reason your race has little to do with your alterhuman identity, you still have to acknowledge your effect on others because of it
It's not a coincidence how many of y'all are so confused on why BIPOC, trans communities, and other minority groups are avoiding y'all like the plague. Y'all rule it as a "cultural difference" whilst it's because y'all make your spaces so unsafe and unwelcoming that we genuinely don't want to be around y'all. - paraphrased from signofthesignless. If y'all truly want us around, you'd actually put work into making these spaces safe for us. same goes for furry spaces though I'll get into that in another post.
Y'all gotta realize moodboards, clothing styles, and account themes are all forms of glorification of the police and acknowledge how adopting militaristic visuals is a chosen affiliation. - paraphrased from ursidae-arctoidea. like why are y'all so fond of the police that you'd go out of your way to make outfits posing as them and make police themed moodboards pleasing to eye?? there's NOTHING pleasing about the police and if you disagree just know you're not welcome here. we do not need you near us with that mentality.
None of us are saying you should be ashamed of being a military or police dog. BIPOC alterhumans are just asking y'all to be more critical of how you present yourselves within the community and not glorify the police system. we all know it's not a choice and yada yada yada. If you're boiling this discussion down to "oh the alterhuman community is out here hating on everyone's identities again" and "oh darn we made the minority mad and now they're being mean to us!" I'm going to be violent to ya, because damn we tried to be nice and explain that it's completely fine if you're a K9 just don't paint the police as heros.
I encourage everyone to read this, especially if you are white. I made this post long enough to talk about the points in decent detail, but short enough to be digestible. It is about the different ways the nonhuman communities make people of color feel unwelcome and why.
My askbox is open usually all the time, so I'm also open to answering questions about this. I want people to read. I want people to ask questions when they don't understand. I even want people to do research on their own time to learn more (and I mean actually researching and not asking ChatGPT to think for you).
Where To Begin
"Wow, this is a really long post on the police dog discourse", except this isn't a post on the police dog discourse. That topic is more of a springboard for me to segue into where exactly things go wrong and how it causes people of color to feel unsafe participating in the communities (which can suck, because nonhumanity can be very isolating with no one to talk to about it!). So if you feel as if this has been done to death and are thinking "oh boy, this again", I encourage you to continue to read the post all the way to the end. With that, this leads us to...
The Dilution of Topics
It's important to understand that when something like this comes up, POC are chiming in to explain the situation and how it affects them. It is not the time to bring in unrelated things in an attempt to use that as credentials for weighing in. I'll use the K-9/police dog example again because it's honestly such a good discourse to dissect for this. The main focus of the conversation was between black and brown people (not exclusively, because other POC included, but mainly) and those who identify as police/military dogs (therians, otherkin, whathaveyou). Not anyone else.
"As someone with a problematic (or villain) kintype--"
This isn't about you.
"I'm police or military creature from another world--"
This isn't about you.
"I acknowledge it but don't glorify it--"
This isn't about you.
What these comments do is not only watering down what our actual concerns are, but it speeds up the "internet telephone" until the conversation morphs into something different entirely. This happens all the time when people of color try to bring to light something that bothers us. Everyone wants to make it about themselves but it's not about everyone. The topic of "Glorification of these institutions that actively harm isn't good" is not the same as "What kintypes/theriotypes/etc. should people be allowed to have?", but it was turned into that very quickly because way too many people failed to realize and understand what isn't about them. Many, with a quickness, found a way to victimize themselves.
All that is without even getting into people adding exclusions that were not originally there. "This discourse is US-centric and doesn't apply to other countries" is not only incorrect but you need to educate yourself on how police brutality (and police brutality that utilizes attack animals) exists outside of the United States. This isn't even just for the dog thing. This also extends to racism in general because people love to talk about how not racist their country is (when in fact it often is).
White Privilege and Nonhuman Superiority
This section is probably going to ruffle some feathers, but if it does ruffle your feathers then it might be time to start deconstructing why exactly that is. White privilege in particular is important to point out here because it is common to assume that privilege is a "balance scale". Privilege doesn't cancel out from marginalization. You can be queer, or disabled, or neurodivergent, etc. and still benefit from white privilege. I point all of that out because the nonhuman communities have a large portion that are in one or many of these marginalized groups, and the assumption that it "cancels out" white privilege may be part of the driving force behind what's covered in this post.
An easy starting example of white people underestimating exactly how deep things can go is the entire gatekeeping discourse about defining therianthropy as "wears gear and does quadrobics". How this whole thing started with people insisting therianthropy required these performative aspects, I'm not even gonna pretend to know. What I do know is that it is a form of gatekeeping popular on photo and video-based social media websites like Instagram and TikTok that then subsequently bleeds over into other places like Tumblr and Discord group chats.
"Real therians wear gear and run around outside on all fours" makes me desperately hope for young POC to be careful. Black people especially have a disproportionately higher chance of being arrested or shot. I never want anyone to be pressured to do dangerous things from these imaginary guidelines on what makes nonhumanity "valid". It's exclusionary from both a "therianthropy doesn't require any of this" standpoint and a "you are overestimating how safe this activity is to do" standpoint. This isn't fearmongering, I'm not saying that this is never safe. I'm saying that those who are unable to safely do it may subsequently feel like that disqualifies them from identifying as a therian. Similar things can be said for other minorities other than racial ones, but that's a different topic (and I encourage anyone wanting to talk about that to make their own posts about it, rather than using this one).
The insistence that nonhumanity should have "racial colorblindness" and "be above politics/apolitical" are also very privileged takes. Identifying as nonhuman doesn't erase the fact that most of us still live in and are affected by human society (whether some want to be or not) and people of color especially do not have the freedom to completely divorce ourselves from the world because our very existence has been made political. Not only that, but culture is still important to a lot of people as well. We are not all the same just because we identify as nonhuman. We are not a monoculture. We are different and there needs to be room to celebrate that.
The aspect of "everything is for everyone" that often comes with white privilege appears in even blatant ways. I've witnessed people in the community saying that closed cultures are silly. Although slightly less common today (and by slightly I mean very slightly), at one point it was common for people to constantly appropriate North/South American indigenous cultures because their understanding of it was as shallow and stereotypical as "Pocahontas Colors of the Wind". I've even had someone say "well it's not our fault black people are so trendy" directly in a conversation about how black people regularly have our culture taken from us when we're barely even allowed to have it ourselves without being looked down on. It's gross and insensitive, and the very reason so many people of color leave these nonhuman communities. "Do whatever you want forever" exists within reason.
Identifying as nonhuman isn't an excuse to look down on humans either, especially in the misanthropic sense. Being anti-human and blaming humanity as a whole for the results of colonization (species extinction, habitat loss, climate change, etc.) goes against the marginalized people that have been harmed historically and currently and lumps them into the same category as their oppressors simply by existing.
It is Always That Deep
The last point that I'll use to close this whole post is that I can't stress enough how often us POC are told again and again and again that what we are seeing is either not real or irrational, or "just drama".
I remember the reaction to "maybe don't say you're an entity from a closed culture if you're not from that culture".
I remember the reaction to "don't use monkey/ape as a derogatory term for humans".
I remember the reaction to "don't glorify institutions that actively harm and kill us".
I remember the reaction to "please don't say dehumanization is good actually".
People will fight tooth and nail to speak over and ignore POC voices almost as a knee-jerk reaction. Then maybe if we're lucky, after they're done arguing, they'll do some research and come back later with an "oops my bad". I'm glad they learn in those cases, but that's not acceptable. Listening first is important, ask questions (respectfully) if you have to, but it should not be a fight-or-flight situation.
btw shaming therians with 'common theriotypes' (wolf, fox, dog ect.) is fucking stupid and it doesnt make u better or more valid or prove that ur a better therian just because u have uncommon theriotype(s). its so unfair bc its not like they can control it so why be an asshole abt it?? and i say this as a person with a bunch of extremely rare theriotypes. this is supposed to be a very welcoming community, (even towards ppl who fake therianthropy - dont hate on them, just let them know what theyre doing is wrong instead of bullying) and ppl with this mindset just ruin everything and make ppl feel different & left out in a community theyre supposed to feel included & safe in. imagine feeling like u found a community u fit into just be singled out again or something. i feel bad for all the therians out there that continue to lie or hide their true theriotypes just because theyrw scared of some mf telling them theyre 'basic' or 'invalid'. i often see normies hating, but a therian hating on another therian is just bizarre to me.
alterhuman friends!! there’s a user by the name of noninonanono who is harassing various alterhumans, and claiming to be a “radical” lesbian. please block them, i recommend you do not engage.
Today we celebrate the first howl from 1996 from the first identified and established therians! We have existed for millennia and we will continue to exist until we're all our true selves!!!!
Happy therianthropy to anypuppy who's therian, alterhuman, otherkin, otherpaw, or even just supportive of us!!
Put your theriotypes or kins in the comments and let's all describe our experiences! Seeing everyone else who's similar can help us find support and even mutuals. Remember, you're never EVER truly alone <3
- it hides their face if theyre posting videos online
- they enjoy the artistic process
- they enjoy interacting with the mask-making community
- its a fun method of self expression
- they bought one to support an artist they like
reasons some creatures may not make/wear masks:
- they cant find and/or afford the materials
- they arent physically able to make or wear one for whatever reason
- they cant make one and cant afford to buy one
- it doesnt provide them with any benefits (euphoria, anonymity, community, ect)
- they just dont want to for whatever reason
reasons some creatures may do quadrobics:
- it makes them feel closer to their _types
- its a fun physical activity
- its enjoyable to do with friends
reasons some creatures may not do quadrobics:
- they are physically unable to
- they dont find it enjoyable
-they just dont want to for whatever reason
creatures who do make/wear masks:
- are valid
creatures who dont make/wear masks:
- are valid
creatures that do quadrobics:
- are valid
creatures that dont do quadrobics:
-are valid
please stop blaming the people who DO enjoy masks or quads for "ruining the reputation of therians" or whatever. its not their fault internet algorithms prioritize things that are flashy and recognizable over things that are educational or informative. this isnt a "real therians v.s. icky tiktok therians" argument. youre allowed to be upset about misinformation being spread and educational content being suppressed. i know i am lmao. but please stop talking down to therians who express their identities differently than you.
So, I've seen a lot of amazing templates made for otherkin on here, and I was inspired (especially by the template made by @/nyctohyloph0bia!) to make my own.
I wanted this template to be extremely in-depth, so I tried to include as many questions as I could think of.
This was made with fictionkin in mind, but anyone can use it! I only ask that if you do, please show me in reblogs so I can see!!! :)
(Also, please don't crop my username at the top off, that's for crediting purposes.)
For the last few years i have felt these urges equated with dogs i'm beyond fascinated with. I wanted to dress up like them, find myself acting like them, and wish someone would treat me how they treat those beloved dog breeds. But the last few times i mentioned how i felt, and that it seems similar to therianthropy, my younger therian sister claims I'm "not therian like her". I know I'm not just a human, but these feelings of being a dog are too strong to classify myself as just my AUDHD kicking in. I know I'm not fully human, I shouldn't be human. I have had what i used to call, regressions, spurred on by environment and emotion. Periods where I saw through eyes of an animal, where I smelt things I hadn't noticed, and heard things with such clarity it made me feel whole. But after these periods i always found myself somehow dysphoric. It feels like the dysphoria i experience through my social perception and my body, due to me being trans. But I feel as if it's more than just being autistic, as i used to say. These periods felt less and less like me wanting to be any dog, but like I was a wild dog playing outside, or inside a home without any owner. Lately these episodes have been less as I suppressed them to prevent it happening in school.. but as i come to the end of my highschool career i find my, what i now call shifts, to be more common. It begins to get difficult to speak and equate myself to a human as I have more of these shifts. But I'm realizing most of that is due to what others around me describe being as. No, I am not a regular autistic kid indulging in a special interest. I am a maned wolf, a husky even, trapped in a body that is not my own. And as i navigate this I need time, gear, and places to be myself..
Does anyone even relate to this? Social media has skewed my own voice from calling myself a therian. But I think I am.
Finally started my tail! After I strung all the pieces, I had to tape bits back in to close the gaps some on the top side because it originally just wanted to crinkle up instead of curl. I’m still waiting for my fabric to arrive, but I thought I might as well start in the meantime.
