pandora
they/it
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[ 32 | alterhuman | queer ]
[ indigenous | australia ]
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blog to dump my thoughts on my alterhuman identity and to reblog relevant posts
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Icon by digi
Welcome to a simple blog for me to explore things about myself and my alterhuman identity, and to simply reblog relevant posts and things that I like.
You can call me Pandora. New nicknames are welcome.
They/It, Adult(32)
Queer | Asexual
Genderqueer | Nonbinary
Hyenagender | Crocutafaunic
Indigenous Australian
Alterhuman Identity
- Curly Horse
- Spotted Hyena (can be depicted as any hyena species)
- Nonhuman-humanoid
- Enderfolk (Hybrid - Enderian/Elytrian)
- Piglin
- Hearthomes: Australian Alps, Warped Forest
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[[ Carrd | Pronouns Page ]]
Other Sites — content will be similar
[[ TikTok | Bluesky | Pillowfort | Dreamwidth ]]
[[ Self Ship and OC/Canon Ship Blog ]] — may follow for this blog
[[ Tags ]] — my tags for ease of access and mobile users.
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Replies, comments and asks/submissions are always welcome.
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I block, unfollow and filter liberally, because it is not on other people to cater my online space for me. If I see something I don't like, I remove it from my sight and move on.
I take ZERO responsibility for other's online experience as this is my blog. Learn to cater your own online space as it's only on you to do so.
If you see anything you don't like that I post or reblog, just unfollow and/or block.
People just looking for an argument or who are rude will be blocked and reported. Comments along the lines of looking for a fight or being rude will be deleted.
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Before You Follow found below the cut, will be updated as I see fit.
I am an Adult - Dec '93
If you are not ok with this, and I follow you, please soft block, or block me to keep yourself comfortable.
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I am Queer/Asexual and Indigenous(Australian).
I am Genderqueer/Nonbinary and label myself under the transgender umbrella.
I support trans people and their rights.
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I use the word Queer. Both for myself and my community.
If you do not believe in reclaiming slurs or you tag things as "q slur", etc, just block me.
I am also kink positive, pro-sex education, pro-sex worker, etc.
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Most of my sites will be SFW, but there still might be possible adult content, which will be tagged/filter when possible. Keep this in mind if you are a minor or do not wish to see such!
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For certain sites with tagging systems I try to tag everything that I post with general, wide tags when they are useful.
Use any content filter options to stop from seeing what you don't want to see.
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I do not tolerate hateful comments towards any animal, especially insects, spiders and other "creepy crawlies" and will block on sight. I understand phobias and squicks, but ALL ANIMALS are worthy of respect and life.
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I am inherently and always will be anti Generative-AI and any large machine learning that steals from others and harms the environment.
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I'm not here for internet drama and discourse, don't drag me into it or tell me about it. I have more important things to worry about.
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I support contradictory labels/identities.
I support people who choose and intentionally create their identities and who use labels/terms that they feel fit them and their experience, no matter how temporary it may be. Because personal identity is way more nuanced and fluid than the boxes made to explain them. No one completely fits inside a box.
I support systems regardless of origin, including endogenic.
I support disability rights, including the right to self govern, and the right of dignity of risk. Including those who do not wish to "heal".
I do not get to tell people what they are experiencing or how to live their life because the only one who should be able to dictate that is them.
I support paraphiles.
Including non-offending/no-contact of ones that would be considered harmful. If they are not hurting anyone and managing their paraphilia it isn't my right to judge them or tell them how to live their lives.
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Everything has nuance.
Nothing is ever black and white or can be easily shoved into neat boxes.
What one person may believe is harmless could be the worst thing ever to someone else.
Experiences are individual and opinions are subjective.
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Thought crimes AND thought heroism do not exist.
You are not making the world a better place by attacking people for their thoughts, no matter how horrible, if they are not acting on them. You are not morally superior or better for not thinking "bad" things.
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Your disgust does not dictate morality, or what is harmful.
Learn to live with discomfort if something is not actively harming REAL people/things.
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I am inherently anti-censorship.
Yes, including the fiction you don't like that makes your tummy upset and your head hurt.
No, a little censorship only on the things you don't like will NEVER work.
If you give the power to take away certain things to people in power, then it only takes them labeling the things they don't like as those things to get rid of things that had nothing to do with anything in the first place.
See, as an example: people screaming about how pedophiles must die and they're the worst thing ever and in turn how governments and queerphobes try to label all trans, gay and queer people as pedophiles which means they must be inherently harmful and so need to be eradicated
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Ship discourse is not welcome here in any way.
But also, as some language information... Proship does not mean "problematic shipping" and that was never the definition of the term as much as some want others to believe it is.
- Pro = supporting or agreeing with something
- Anti = opposed or against a particular thing or person
A Proshipper is, and has always been, someone who supports shipping and people's right to ship things, and that is it.
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I am of the old internet mindset of "if you don't like it, don't look" and "don't go looking for things you know you don't like/you know will upset you."
Only person to blame for interacting with things you don't like is yourself. Learn to remove yourself from the situation instead of placing all blame on other people who probably didn't even know you were there, or wanted you there, in the first place.
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I'm old and tired, and kids these days would probably label me a "proshipper" as I believe there is way more nuance to this entire thing than simply the black and white mindset that the internet & fandom communities have shifted to over time.
It is not my place, or my right to tell others what they can and cannot do in fiction/fantasy.
I do not condone harassment over fictional characters, ships, etc, and if you're one of the people who think that this is ok, or that someone should die because they think differently than you, block me.
It's unrealistic to believe that anything created that holds taboo or problematic content means the one who created it condones it IRL. This falls along the same kind of mindset mostly conservative parents spat that "violent video games make people violent", which we all know is not true.
Censoring problematic content will not stop people from creating it. They will just create it where you cannot see it, which in turn could make it harder to find, and harder to stop when actual harm is happening.
Can fictional/fantasy content affect reality?
Sure! I will never say otherwise.
But to believe that it always does, or that it affects reality 1:1, is unrealistic, and assuming that most people cannot differentiate between the two.
Fiction and fantasy were created for people to be able to entertain ourselves, and to explore topics that we never would, or were impossible, in the real world in the safety of our minds and spaces we created.
The actions of those who use fictional content as a reason to do harmful things in real life is entirely on them, not the fiction, and they need to seek professional help for their paraphilias or actions.
If something...
- happens between two(or more) consenting ADULTS
- makes someone happy
- does not harm themselves or anyone/anything IRL
...then what other people do is none of my business.
Otherpaws aren’t alterhuman, and we shouldn’t loop them under the alterhuman umbrella.
Now, before you hate me, this isn’t me saying I hate otherpaws or that I’m anti-otherpaw. I love them to death! But they’re humans dressing up as animals. They aren’t claiming to identify with animals, or to identify AS animals. Rather, they’re essentially animal cosplayers.
I feel like if more people recognized that, there would be a little less misunderstanding about what alterhumanity is.
Hot take hammer is going away now, sorry to hit you.
Except one has to keep in mind that Alterhuman is not synonymous with nonhuman or therian. There are human Alterhumans and non-animal Alterhumans.
The term was coined for anyone that has a non-normative experience of humanity when it comes to identity to use if they so wish. So someone who is FULLY and COMPLETELY human can be Alterhuman if they feel their identity and experience fit the definition.
So if someone who is an Otherpaw feels that being an Otherpaw is an important and large part of their life/identity, then yes, they can use the Alterhuman label.
As a similar example that is actually in the coining post linked above, quoted from the post itself...
A furry would be human if they consider themselves to be, but a furry who identifies as a furry more than anything else may be AHPI due to identification as a member of said subculture as part of one’s overall personal identity.
And then of course one has to remember that someone may be an Otherpaw and also Alterhuman in some other identity because people contain multitudes/identity and such is fluid as fuck LOL
Why does every [hyperbole] canine alterhuman have mutt in their username now?!? Bro, mutt is a slur, and one that would be used against somepup like me! ( ･ัω･ั)
I'm not particularly offended by it, but the lack of knowledge on this really turns me off from tryna talk to y'all. Someone could be really offended by it.
Be mindful! Even if you aren't using it as a slur, that doesn't mean it isn't one.
Hey all, I'd like to ask you to kindly block the blog @/theriomed
Don't engage, just block and move on.
Their blog features claims such as the only valid therians are physical therians, you must be transitioning to be a valid therian, and microlabels harm the alterhuman community. (And probably many more, but I didn't waste my time looking at their blog for too long.) To top it all off, they are paramisic! And of course there's everything they claim in their bio.
I am not trying to start anything, and there is no rude or hateful intent behind this post. I just want others to be aware of this blog so they don't have to deal with them.
Laying in bed thinking about my wings and such and had to get some more enderfolk things down
- All enderfolk are usually taller than the other races/species.
- Enderfolk originating from the end are the tallest of the three species, while those from the nether are the smallest. Overworld enderfolk can vary widely in their height.
- Rare but not unheard of for End based enderfolk to be born with wings of varying sizes that resemble that of a dragon/bat. Wings are seen as a blessing of sorts from the dragon/s. Even rarer for Nether and Overworld enderfolk to be born with them. Chance changes with hybridising — elytrian and avian heritage can cause wing growth of varying degrees.
if you're an alterhuman, therian/otherkin or fictionfolk and haven't disillusioned yourself with the concept of delusions and fantastical thinking as defined by psychiatry, to the point of refusing to call any belief "delusional" at face value, then I am here to remind you that there is nothing, absolutely nothing standing between a person diagnosed with delusions of grandeur for believing they are a wizard, and you, who sincerely believes that you are an animal or fictional character on a spiritual level. unless you are 'kin but "don't actually believe it", in which case you are not. you need to dismantle the idea of a psychotic "other", who's beliefs and experiences should not be believed/respected once they pass a certain threshold of crazy, immediately. YOU are that other to orthohumans who believe in it
By now I'm sure most of us have noticed the uptick in wolf therians identifying themselves using tracking collar IDs rather than names, alongside a few members of other species doing their equivalent. While tracking collar numbers do not resonate with me (as a werewolf, I would just take it off the next time I changed to human shape if that were to happen to me), they are a part of a general topic that interests me very much - wordless names.
A wordless name is, well, pretty much what it says on the tin. A name which contains no words. This is a concept that I think many alterhumans may find interesting, because it is a way to refer to yourself that is closer to the way that animals likely think of each other in some cases, or may simply be "dehumanizing" in others.
To talk about wordless names, we first have to think about what makes a name in the first place. Most naming conventions dictate that a name should be pronounceable, and be able to be written, usually using the standard alphabet of the name's language origin. However, that is not always the case, even in the human world. Lets look at some examples of human names outside of this framework, before we get into ideas for nonhuman ones.
A name does not have to be pronounceable:
Names spoken in sign language may never be verbally spoken, and yet these are very much names.
Names used online often include emojis and unpronounceable letter combinations, but we still understand them as names.
The Artist Formerly Known as Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol which also cannot be written in the standard alphabet.
A name does not have to be written:
Throughout history, there have been many oral cultures which had no written language, and yet members of these cultures certainly had names.
Even in cultures with written language, for most of history the majority of the population has been illiterate, meaning many people's names were never written, or may have been written with no standardized spelling at all.
If a name does not have to be spoken, pronounced, or written, then we are left with the idea that a name is any signifier that can be used to refer to you specifically. This includes aforementioned radio collar IDs, but it also includes one of my favorite kind of wordless names - tuponyms.
A tuponym is a pattern-name. A name which is formed by patterns unwritten, unpronounceable, and non-linguistic. Tuponyms were first conceptualized by Bluesky user GoopyPanther, in her zine "Tuponyms", which I highly recommend reading. Some examples of a tuponym included in the zine are:
The individual gait of an animal's stride. If you can recognize which of your family members is approaching your door based on the sound of their footsteps, you may already be familiar with this type of name.
The individual frequency emitted by a radio collar.
The pattern of light and color left by a flashing night-walking dog collar.
I myself have thought of a few more, such as the shape of the border of an animal's territory, the pattern of their markings, or the unique shape of their tracks. The possibilities are almost endless.
One unique example of this in the wild that we can confirm is used by animals is the pitch of a wolf's howl. Each individual wolf in a pack howls in a specific pitch which the pack can use to identify them, as well as to harmonize together. This association is so strong, that if a new wolf joins the pack who howls in a pitch that is already taken, they will have to change their howl to an unoccupied one.
Neither of the types of wordless name discussed so far touches on the most common animal name of all. though. This is, of course, scent. It belongs in a category of its own. Each individual creature carries its own unique scent, which not only names who they are, but also communicates how well they are doing, what they have been up to lately, and who they have been hanging out with. Scent is the most common method of naming and knowing in the animal kingdom, and, in some ways, is most similar to human writing. A scent message can be scrawled into the landscape, explicitly intended for use by others, and can also be a passive trace of a presence on the breeze. I will admit that I may be biased here as a canine, but scent speaks in volumes, and because of its powerful tie with memory, I think it makes a wonderfully rich name woven from memories of the creature bearing the scent.
The concept of a "signature scent" is nothing new, and with the rise in popularity of the miscecanis community, the concept of a personal scent is something that gets talked about in the alterhuman community fairly often, but I believe that scent as a name is taking things a step further. The difference between natural scent, like is being used by animals, and artificial scent, like is being chosen in the form of scent products to represent yourself, becomes a bit of a divide here. Though both are useful.
Even without your theriotype's nose, by paying attention to the natural scent of yourself and your loved ones, you can pretty quickly pick up on its identifying features, and even some of the other info I mentioned, like where they may have been, what they have been doing, and even some information about their health. I have gotten pretty good at noticing the changes in my mate's scent when he is having a bad mental health day, vs when he is feeling fine, for example. Much like a written letter from a loved one, natural scent can also be used to comfort you in their absence, cuddling with their blanket becomes a comforting name spoken sweetly.
Chosen scents like cologne and perfume also communicate a lot. Imagine you have no spoken name, and no chance to communicate verbally, yet you are trying to communicate to someone who you are and what you're about. What scents would you chose, and what would you hope that they say about you? This is something of a chosen name. One of the most unique ways that I have heard of chosen scents being used as a naming, was by a kinkster who spoke about how whenever he enters a new dynamic with a sub, he takes them to pick out a "scent collar" which they would wear during all scenes so that the scent of it would instantly put them into the right headspace for their dynamic. Eventually, this scent would be worn at all times as a completely invisible day collar.
All this to say, there are numerous ways that animals communicate identity and recognize each other, which are not traditional names. There are also lots of non-traditional name ways that humans recognize and refer to animals. If you are a wild animal, it may be fun to think about what sort of wordless names others may give you. If you are a predator that protects a certain range of territory, others of your species may name you by the shape of the territory you defend, and the scent hovering at your marking places. At the same time, prey may name you by the pattern your paws leave in the mud, and know to steer clear. If you are a deer, your kin may name you by the impressive antler rubs you leave, while humans might recognize you by the estimated score of your antlers. A bird may be named by the hue of his dazzling feathers by a mate, and by the scratches his dance leaves in the dirt by the snake. An angler fish may be known the the wavelength of light her lure gives off, or the texture of her skin in the dark.
These names are fluid, descriptive, and immediate. They prevent you from easily being spoken about in your absence, a fact suited to the flow state inhabited by most animals. Each moment is faced for exactly what it is, with complete mindfulness. It is an interesting thought experiment, to think about the ways that different modes of language change the very way you think.
What do you think of wordless names? Are there any you identify with? If you would like to make some of your own, here are a few ideas:
The shape of the path you take most often when you walk through your neighborhood
The mixture of your natural scent and the scent left behind by your favorite hobbies (eg, the smell of warm bread if you like baking, dirt and leaves if you hike, salt water if you fish in the sea, etc)
A specific signature scent you chose to represent yourself
The sound + rhythm made by your key-chains or collar tags jangling when you walk
The pattern made by an LED night collar, should you chose to adopt wearing one
The pitch of your howl
Your preferred silhouette in clothing
All of this isn't even getting into the kind of names that could be used by alien species, spirits, or fictional creatures.
