âąSacred Skies, A Convention Uplifting Alterhumans of Colorâą
âąGreetings! Sacred Skies is a brand new online alterhuman convention created with the purpose of uplifting the voices of alterhumans of color. This is a two day convention that will be hosted on Fluxer, a new and budding discord alternative.
âąWhat's happening at this convention?
âąSacred Skies is hosting special presentations and panels, hosted by alterhumans of color! Some of these panels are more lighthearted, fun events, while others are meant to educate attendees about important experiences, history, and events. We will also have channels dedicated to discussion of poc experiences.
âąWhy a convention for alterhumans of color?
âąThere are multiple reasons. Many of us are fragmented across the alterhuman community, many times we are silenced by white alterhumans, many times we cannot find safe spaces to express ourselves, many times we venture out into alterhuman spaces only to be faced with discrimination. This online convention and its associated off season server are meant to create safe spaces for alterhumans of color to interact and share their experiences. We also want to help create an archive of the experiences of alterhumans of color.
âąCan white people attend?
âąYes! This convention is meant for education, and that can't be done without having people who need to be educated attending. However, there will be areas that will not be accessed by white people at this con, and we have a zero tolerance policy for ignorance or discrimination.
âąWhat is Fluxer?
âąFluxer is an up and coming anti-digital ID discord alternative focused on privacy and user friendly experiences! At the time of writing this post, Fluxer is up and running, though stilm developing. It will be ready for primetime traffic within a couple months. We will not be hosting the convention on discord due to their association with immigrations and customs enforcement (ICE).
âąHow can I help? How can I get involved?
âąYou can help us by talking about what you would like to see at this convention! You can help us by becoming staff! You can help us by hosting a panel! You can help us by attending this convention! If you would like to help us out in any way, feel free to DM my being! Only alterhumans of color can be staff and panelists.
âąHow can I become a panelist?
âąMessage my being with your panel idea! Present either a panel topic or a panel title, and we can talk about scheduling your panel either on the first day of the event or the second day of the event! We accept all kinds of panel ideas.
âąWhere can I get updates on this convention?
âąIf you're a bodily poc, you can join the otherkind of color alliance, a growing safe space for alterhumans of color. We have daily active resource channels where we post articles with important history, events, activism, and knowledge. We are on discord currently, though we will be moving to Fluxer once it is ready for primetime in April. If you can't join this space, just watch the poc otherkin and poc alterhuman tags for update posts that I will make over time as the convention is planned more and more.
âąThank you for reading! If you want to get involved with this new project, feel free to DM my being! We hope to see you all when the day of the event finally comes around! ^.=.^
Greetings! The Otherkind of Color Alliance is a safe place for alterhumans of color to interact and speak about their unique experiences! Th
I recommend fictionkind to get more active in media preservation and piracy (IF youâre able to since piracy laws can be even more severe in some places than it is in the U.S.). The media relating to your identity/world/etc could be erased at the drop of a hat.
All thanks to corporations and the profit they want to gaslight people into believing theyâre missing. Viz Media in particular pissed me off recently with their anti-piracy advertising, acting as if they care about the future of anime and manga when theyâve left no trace of Shojo Beat! magazines beyond the label they slap on the back of a manga. Lest we forget how many mangas are on backlogs for translations and may never see the light of day overseas.
My own sourceâs original prints are inaccessible beyond two legal options: buying the hardcover collectorâs editions by Kodansha or buying the original individual issues at jacked up prices from secondhand sellers. Publishers hardly ever reprint older works unless itâs under a special circumstance (ex: anniversary collections or box sets), and even thatâs not a given if the works arenât popular on a massive scale. Before eventually buying my own volumes, I once read my source on Bato. Based on my position as a reader outside of Japan and my financial circumstances at the time, it was the most accessible option for me. Iâm 100% certain millions of other readers felt similarly, hence why this approach was taken. Bato, the site I used, is now gone. As are hundreds upon hundreds of works, including fan-scanned and -translated projects.
Fiction should not be property that can be seized by corporations whenever they feel like it, only to leave the fiction in question to rot with time.
We are not property. Arenât you sick of the worth of these stories being determined by how well a profit is turned, and worse, how inaccessible everything becomes because of it?
Within a few hours after posting this, l've caught wind that:
Myrient, an essential database for archiving and distributing video game ROMs, will be shutting down on March 31st, 2026. Alexey announced three specific factors to this decision: insufficient funding, paywalled download managers, and the rise of RAM, SSD, and HDD prices due to Al datacenters. Given these factors, Alexey is unable to keep running the site and is open to questions until the shutdown. It's strongly urged that supporters of the website download and archive as many ROMs as they can in the span of a month.
A fan of Type-Moon is rightfully in dismay because U.S. Customs recklessly opened and destroyed their floppy disk for Tsukihime: Trial Edition (æć§«äœ ç ) in a "search". Mind you, the seller went out of their way to carefully organize the package to avoid any potential damage. The amount of damage dealt was very much on Customs' part. Why is this so bad, apart from battering someoneâs package? That was one of fifty existing copies in the world. Customs basically obliterated a critical piece of visual novel/gaming history. Some speculate this course of action was taken either because it was labeled "Adult Only", it came from Asia (considering the state of the U.S.- it's not far-fetched to assume some members of Customs are xenophobic), or possibly out of sheer ignorance of what a floppy disk is and how it should be handled.
This is exactly what I mean by "the media relating to you/your world/etc could get erased at the drop of a hat" in my previous post. As someone who is both fictionhearted towards the (canon) worlds of Type-Moon and is a non-canonical character from a non-canonical timeline within the Nasuverse, hearing the news of such a tremendous loss devastated me.
Originally, I used manga and the hypocrisy of publishing houses as an example. Let me be clear: nothing is exempt from this. Some mediums may have better chances of longevity, but the possibility of becoming lost media is never zero. I talked with a few other alterhumans about this in two tumblr communities, some of which citing great examples from Disneyâs delisting of Willow to the mass removal of manga chapters on MangaDex shortly after going corporate. In my own examples, Iâve referenced the removals of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, She-Ra: Princesses of Power and Kipo and the Wonderbeasts from Netflix. Even nonfictional media, such as Legendary on HBO Max, is capable of becoming lost media. This is not new, and unfortunately, itâs getting worse year after year.
While not every case will be as extreme as Customsâ destroying a priceless demo from Winter Comiket â99, weâre seeing cases like that of Myrient and MangaDex happen day-by-day. Digital archives being forced to either remove significant portions of their collections or sunset their collections entirely, despite the years of hard work theyâve put into preserving art, information and other cultural materials. If not that, a few platforms will sell out like MangaDex and Crunchyroll, making the experience of exploring and enjoying these mediums another pit fall into corporate hell. I cannot stress enough how capitalism and the negligence of industries are killing art. Everyone should care about this to some degree, but I feel like if weâre going to talk about things we can do to advocate for ourselves, then protecting and preserving the art that ties into our identities is a step we have to consider.
We have to confront the death of art under capitalism. If not under the urgency of today, then think of the fictionfolk of tomorrow who may stand to lose these ties.
This is really important in reference to public media, as above, but I want to add something for OCkin, as that has been the fictives in my system who have lost the most. If you have RP with another person as an important source, make sure to archive it on a seperate platform than where it is currently hosted. There is serious risk of the platform going down, as well as risk as fallout with the other person who could delete the entire thing maliciously.
For your own writing and art, there is also risk of computer or phone damadge, losing stuff to not keeping track of it, or sites its hosted going down. Keep copies of things on USB and if its something youre comfortable uploading, ideally upload to multiple sites. I have had best luck with stuff I have both downloaded and uploaded, since that keeps it from being something that goes down with a website and provides a place you can redownload from if you lose any copies on your end.
Remember, for OCkin you might be the ONLY person who can make sure that source is preserved and safe. My system has been DEVISTATED by source loss to the point that OC fictives have contacted past abusers to see if they had any copies of their sources. Do not let this be you!
we have to stop with the viewing of any sort of community as just a community for "escapism". full stop.
any community that is seen as "escapism" is not actually an escape for everyone. white alterhumans view the alterhuman community as a way to escape from "the real world" while alterhumans of color have to deal with racism within the community that white alterhumans dont ever want to reflect or take responsibility for because its supposed to be their safe space.
you need to question if your "safe spaces" are actually safe for other minorities. sorry, but we live in a society and you cannot escape the realities of bigotry. you can try and form a community that is not bigoted, but you have to actually put the work in and listen to other people when they tell you you're being a bigot. what may be "escapism from the real world" to you is still a fight to be respected for other people.
stop with the alterhuman escapism fantasy bullshit. you people still refuse to listen to alterhumans of color, ESPECIALLY Indigenous alterhumans & Black alterhumans. im sick to death of white people throwing a fucking tantrum everytime an alterhuman of color barely mentions the racism in this community. this community is a fucking mess and you all need to get your act together. im tired of having to be scared of white tears and white guilt. im tired of having to watch other alterhumans of color deal with the bullshit of white alterhumans because yall get told the most basic fucking facts about Not Being Racist ever. i am tired of having to hold peoples hands so they don't immediately blow up my inbox. i've had enough trauma from you fuckheads who try and keep this community a safe place for YOU to not have to reflect on yourself. you need to VALUE alterhumans of color, because yall are nothing without us.
âąI know there's been a lot of talk about fighting back against racism and discrimination in the alterhuman community (which is statistically a mostly white online community). Though I cannot stress enough that most of the racism I and other poc folks in the alterhuman community see is not your average gun toting, right wing extremist racism. It's racism that most white people wouldn't see as a real issue, it's racism that flies under the radar because most other than those targeted by it don't see an issue with it.
âąI've been the target of both intentional racism and what many white people would call """"unintentional"""" racism. The latter is much more prominent in the alterhuman community, and what I have been the target of the most here. I've mainly retreated to my own poc alterhuman server as a result of being mistreated in this manner, the wider alterhuman community is not a safe space for poc folks unless white folks recognize and call out racial discrimination that flies under the radar. I don't feel that the wider alterhuman community is a safe space for my being as an indigenous mesoamerican and ethnically jewish individual. I don't even talk about being the latter much because being two things the current political climate really hates is downright dangerous for my being and makes my being a major active target. The fear is real. Though anyways.
âąRacism that I have seen more commonly these days in the alterhuman community are as follows, (I'll explain these as well in case the initial statements aren't already self explanatory).
âąBodily white people using words like "mutt", "mixed breed", "savage", and "half breed" to describe themselves or their 'types. (These are words that have been used to maliciously target people of color, myself included. People claim to use those words in non offensive ways, 'savage' can sometimes be used in non offensive ways, however words like these have an incredibly dark history for folks of color, and are used in a negative, racist context towards us. I have been called all of these things with the intent of being dehumanized and harrassed. They're not to be used lightly, and they're certainly not for white people, who have never been the target of these words, to use).
âąThinking dehumanization and being called an animal is always a good and positive experience in the otherkin sense. (It's not for everyone, especially those who have been the target of racially charged dehumanization, who have negative experiences with being seen more as an animal than as a human being with rights and feelings. There's a positive way for someone like my being to be called an animal, and there's a negative way. Sometimes I can't tell what's positive and what's negative. I don't want to be dehumanized, despite being nonhuman, that's not a positive experience for my being. I don't want to be called an animal by others, and don't assume that many poc have a positive experience with being called that either).
âąArguing with and/or dogpiling alterhumans of color for bringing up problems about certain slurs, concepts, imagery, and beliefs. (This has happened to my being on more than one occasion, specifically regarding the word 'savage', a derogatory term used to target people of color, though used a lot to dehumanize indigenous peoples. Some think that just because it decribes their kintype, it's always an okay word to use. If someone doesn't want you to use an offensive term around them, don't go 'erm, actually!!!!!' and proceed to defend your right to use it around that individual. If someone doesn't want you to talk about something racially charged around them, don't fucking talk about it, and certainly don't argue with them about semantics. Leave it be).
âąBlatant cultural appropriation, such as claiming to be entities from closed cultures. (One example is the unspeakable spirit, I'll call it the wendy's double bacon and egg cheeseburger for laughs. Spirits from closed cultures do not interact with people other than those of direct lineage to said culture. I've seen a lot of Native American and Voodoo practices, concepts, and entities stolen by white people who just don't care. They just like they aesthetic and the look, it's incredibly shallow. Respect the beliefs and wishes of people from closed cultures, or you're just a fucking racist, simple as that. Quit pretending to be something that you will never be).
âąClaiming that your kintype is your 'spirit animal' or that you work with 'spirit animals'. (I don't know what's up with a lot of white alterhumans and their obsession with the 'spirit animal' concept. First of all, "spirit animal" isn't a real indigenous term, it was a word made up by some idiot white dude who didn't understand sacred indigenous relations with animals. Second of all, if you're not indigenous, you don't get to have a 'spirit animal', don't pretend to have a native american connection to animals and use a word that wasn't created by indigenous peoples. You can have connections with animals and animal spirits, though don't pretend that connection is something from indigenous cultures).
âąClaiming to be the subject of an indigenous person's reverence because of your kintype. (I have seen this around, I have seen bodily white people making these claims, and no, you are not the subject of our reverence, fuck off. We don't 'honor' white people, you're not involved in our ceremonies, you're not the subject of our prayers, and you're not sacred. The very thought of white people genuinely thinking this makes my stomach turn as someone who actively participates in indigenous culture. You're just an ignorant, self centered pos if you think indigenous people should honor you).
âąThere are other types of under the radar racism in the community that I haven't covered, and feel free to point other things out, though none of the above is okay. None of the above should be present in spaces.
âąVirtue signaling is not enough. Making posts online that gain some traction is not enough. Real, lasting change needs to happen on the wider community level and the smaller community level. Call out any kind of racism whenever you see it happening, remove offenders from communities and don't try to defend their racist behavior. When a person of color has a concern about something that may be racially offensive, fucking LISTEN and don't automatically think that their feelings are invalid. White folks in the community need to be more mindful of what they say, racism should not be happening in this community to begin with, though it happens because it flies under the radar, because privileged people aren't mindful of what they say, because it's just 'not a big deal' to those who aren't the targets.
âąDon't say "It's not that deep" when someone brings up that something is offensive towards people of color, especially if you're not the one being targeted by a statement, an action, or an image. That kind of racist thought process is what makes many poc alterhumans feel unsafe in majority white alterhuman spaces. That kind of shitty mentality is why unchecked racism is allowed to thrive in some alterhuman spaces, that shitty mentality is why many poc alterhumans don't feel safe around majority white spaces, that shitty mentality is why you don't see my being around large alterhuman spaces anymore.
âąYes, some of my words are aggressive. Yes, I am vauging at racists in the community. Yes, I am angry. Because I and many other folks of color have been essentially pushed out of the wider alterhuman community because of racist behavior, because our feelings weren't considered worth hearing, because community admins prioritized their favorites and best buddies over the concerns of people of color. I don't get to be a real part of big communities anymore because of anti indigenous racism. I don't get to be a real part of big communities anymore because of antisemitism. I don't get to be a part of many big communities anymore because some would rather see my being as the angry latina stereotype rather than confront their own racism and make a real change. I don't even get to be loud and proud about being as mixed as I am because I'm the active target of right wingers and an entire government administration that would do anything to see my being beaten and deported.
âąPeople like myself are angry right now, we're being targeted right now, some of poc are in downright dangerous and life-threatening situations. The LAST thing alterhumans of color want to see right now is racism in a community that's supposed to be safe, that's supposed to accept us with open arms. Being the target of racism in communities that are supposed to be safe, when there's already a viscious political climate targeting us is a horrific betrayal. I'm not here to sugarcoat this, I'm not here to be nice about racism, I'm not here to gently walk you through things you should already know, I'm here to raise awareness. If you're intimidated by my words, if you're intimidated by my reality as a mixed indigenous person, or if you're even angry at my words, then maybe you need to reevaluate whether you're an actual ally to people of color or not.
âąI just want to see change in this community. I just want myself and other alterhumans of color to feel welcome in the wider alterhuman community again. So many of my poc friends have brought up instances of racism they've faced in the alterhuman community, and it's infuriating that they were targeted in such a way. Real change isn't going to happen unless a community wide shift happens. That change isn't going to happen until white folks in the community really start minding what they say. That change isn't going to happen unless individual communities take a much harder stance on racism. Take my words how you will, look at my being how you will, hate my being if you must. Just make a real change so myself and other poc alterhumans can feel safe here again.
I wanna like, really emphasis I wanna approach this respectfully and in good faith. I'm kinna confused about not identifying as beings from the mythologies of closed cultures? If things are presumed to exist, and it's possible for such things to be incarnated as humans, why would it be tied to human understandings of race?
Closed culture means their ideas and beliefs are protected to those of that cultural upbringing or heritage. By using those words you are not respecting that their culture is theirs, and in most cases, has already been subject to significant erasure/bastardisation. It is simply not for those outside of that culture.
As much as a spirit is a separate entity, we all live in a human world with real people with thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. We have a duty to participate mindfully and be aware of how our actions hurt others, especially when they do the work to bring it up in detail as Luunaathh did. We have a duty to listen to people who face consistent racism and power imbalance when they say "this culture is not for you". We need to listen to what's being brought up and choose a different pathway.
It is very easy to find your own non culturally specific names for a kintype. For example, using the phrase deer cryptid, monster skull deer, or deer spirit over using the "Wendy's burger" described in the post.
But the deer monster isn't an accurate representation of one of those to begin with. You can come up with a new name for a deer monster, or call a fictional deer monster something more accurate if the source didn't, but like...
To use an obviously safe example, and so I don't have to keep respectfully but awkwardly going around a word, let's say this is about strigori for a second. I understand Romanians are not an underclass oppressed by people appropriating strigori, I'm just trying to illustrate my logic here.
Can you kin an undead bloodsucker, because the string of letters "strigori" specifically is the issue? What if we found out that strigori are actual physical biological beings? Would only Romanians ever turn into strigori because they were the first group of people to have experiences with them? Will a person raised from early childhood in Romania but born to French parents transform into one, or is the potential to become a strigori found exclusively in Romanian DNA?
I don't mean this to come off as super contrived reasoning, like "can a White person say the n-word if it would save the world." I'm asking because I view kinship as an actual reality, and not simply participating in ritual or aesthetic. I'm not trying to imply anyone else here takes spiritual kin matters less seriously, it just legitimately doesn't make sense to me how these ideas function together - strigori are, to people who believe in it, something that exists, you could hypothetically touch it, and not only you could have a past life in which you were a strigori, you could, again, hypothetically speaking, become one in this life - so how could it's conceptual existence be irrevocably tied only to Romania?
âąWhat answer do you want to hear? That you're allowed to appropriate closed cultures? That you're allowed to disrespect the wishes and beliefs of people from closed cultures just because of your own personal thought process? That you're allowed to claim to be something that you don't have a right to claim? That you're right and we're wrong? You have been given multiple explanations by poc alterhumans and you're just blatantly ignoring us, because our answers are not the answers you want to hear. Closed cultures are not "ritual and aesthetic", and the fact that you're referring to the beliefs of people from closed cultures as something so shallow, saying that our BELIEFS aren't based in actual reality is exactly the kind of under the radar racism I was talking about in my original post.
âąDo you really think my beliefs as an indigenous person aren't based in reality? That they're just something as shallow as 'ritual and aesthetic'? That I'm just living a lie because I hold my culture and beliefs as an indigenous person close to my heart? My beliefs as an indigenous person are part of who I am as an individual, they're part of my identity as a traditional indigenous dancer, they mean everything to me in this life. My beliefs are my REALITY, they are the reality of many other indigenous peoples in this world. Check yourself before you wreck yourself and insult the beliefs of an entire group of people.
âąOur spirits and entities are tied to us, they're tied to our blood, they're tied to our beliefs, they're tied to our stories. That's what we believe, and it's not your place as an outsider to try and dispute what we believe about OUR culture. Give all the explanations you want, ask all the questions you want, though that's not going to change the fact that you need to respect the beliefs of people from closed cultures.
âąI'm not going to tell you that a white person is allowed to claim to be something from indigenous culture, I am not going to tell you that a white person is allowed to claim to be something from voodoo culture, I am not going to tell you that you can skirt around the wishes and the beliefs of people from closed cultures.
âąRespecting closed cultures and the people who are a part of them does not stop because you believe something different, it does not stop because you have a couple theories about why we're wrong about what we believe. It does not stop because you think your personal beliefs are more real than ours. Respectfully, I'm done with this conversation.
The therian and otherkin communities really do harbour a lot of unexamined racism.
And I understand why. For many of us, our identities are inherently based in wanting to be seen, treated, as something other than human. We're often eager to disavow humanity, having spent so long being forced into that role, and so we embrace ideas of dehumanisation. But we don't often consider that alterhumans of colour, who have long histories of being treated as subhuman and having their humanity denied, might have more complex relationships with these narratives.
As a community in the internet age, we have the myths and legends of the whole world at our fingertips. But we often give very little care to the meanings of those myths and the cultures they come from. (Are you actually a human possessed by an Algonquin spirit of starvation, after falling prey to greed and the exploitation of other people? Or are you a woods monster with a skull-deer head? Because the former is not the latter, and if you actually are the former, a lot of Native Americans are going to be rightfully upset by you, as that spirit represents immense amounts of cruelty that was done to them and is still being done to them.)
And then there are the myths and legends that are explicitly tied to racism. The New Age narrative of starseeds and ancient alien ancestors originates in white supremacy (we never see Black alien progenitors, but we do see explicitly "Nordic" ones), antisemitism (anything to do with the world being secretly run by alien lizardfolk, which have widely been understood by Jewish scholars as code for the Jews), and literal Nazi occult practices. While some starseeds disavow racism, disavowing it personally is not enough- not when the community continues to circulate white supremacist beliefs.
And then of course there's the police dog thing. No, it doesn't make you evil to have been a police dog, or to have enjoyed having been one. No one can expect you to have understood racism as a dog. But you have this body and mind now, you are aware of racism now, and you are aware of the baseless cruelty of the police, the countless Black and Brown communities that have been terrorised by the police and K9 units. You have the choice to keep condoning this system, or to learn about it and the harm it does. Perhaps that's what you're meant to do as a dog in this life- perhaps that's why you're here, why you've been given this mind and this awareness in this current time. To become a better, more compassionate being than you were in the past.
This isn't to say you're not a dog who served the police, or a kitsune, or an alien from the Pleiades, or an animal who enjoys dehumanisation. (I'm that last one myself!) But we have to understand that when we talk about these things uncritically, when we're wilfully ignorant and don't do the research or care about how these ideas might make people of colour feel, we are driving said people away from the community and making it a very, very white space.
"But what am I supposed to do about it? I'm not responsible for racism; I'm just talking about how I feel!"
Indeed, it can feel unfair to be accused of racist beliefs when you're just trying to express yourself. Your frustrations are understandable. But do remember that it's much, much worse for people of colour to be subjected to constant reminders that others don't notice their pain, or care about reducing it.
The number one thing is to do your research. Look into the thing you are and get accurate information about it (not just from Tumblr) before deciding you are it. If you fit a visual image such as skull-deer or many-tailed fox, but you don't resonate with the actual legend you are drawing on, try describing yourself as just "skull-deer" or "many-tailed fox". It'll be more helpful to you, too, to not try to squish yourself into an image that doesn't really fit.
(I could describe myself as an "Eastern dragon", and have in the past: I'm wingless, associated with water rather than fire, and aspire to be a benevolent force and a guardian of nature. But I'm also white and my dragon form has strong connections to European regions and myths, so I feel it's better to describe myself as a wingless dragon or drake. And acknowledging that allows me to connect more authentically with my Slavic heritage, as a half-Pole.)
The second thing is to be respectful, humble and open to correction. It's easy to say, "well, I didn't mean to do harm, so you shouldn't be mad at me!" But do you think that's going to make anyone feel less hurt? Would it make you feel less hurt if someone said it to you? If someone says a thing you're saying is racist, take the time to listen to them without getting defensive. Accept that you have hurt them, even if unwillingly, and be open to their suggestions of how you could express things better.
The third thing is to point out racism when you see it in the community. That doesn't mean making callout posts or sending hate, but just calmly stating why the thing they said is an issue. e.g. "I'm not criticising you personally, but be aware that X myth has roots in white supremacy." Or, "this creature represents Algonquin stories about the dangers of greed and selfishness and how it can turn you into a monster. Are you actually saying that you embody that myth, or are you saying that you relate to modern depictions of the creature? If the latter, it's kinder to call yourself a skull-deer or such."
When white people stay silent on these matters, we allow racism to spread unchecked. It's uncomfortable to stand up against racism and draw attention to yourself, but to the people constantly being bombarded by hurtful narratives, it could mean everything.
âąI know there's been a lot of talk about fighting back against racism and discrimination in the alterhuman community (which is statistically a mostly white online community). Though I cannot stress enough that most of the racism I and other poc folks in the alterhuman community see is not your average gun toting, right wing extremist racism. It's racism that most white people wouldn't see as a real issue, it's racism that flies under the radar because most other than those targeted by it don't see an issue with it.
âąI've been the target of both intentional racism and what many white people would call """"unintentional"""" racism. The latter is much more prominent in the alterhuman community, and what I have been the target of the most here. I've mainly retreated to my own poc alterhuman server as a result of being mistreated in this manner, the wider alterhuman community is not a safe space for poc folks unless white folks recognize and call out racial discrimination that flies under the radar. I don't feel that the wider alterhuman community is a safe space for my being as an indigenous mesoamerican and ethnically jewish individual. I don't even talk about being the latter much because being two things the current political climate really hates is downright dangerous for my being and makes my being a major active target. The fear is real. Though anyways.
âąRacism that I have seen more commonly these days in the alterhuman community are as follows, (I'll explain these as well in case the initial statements aren't already self explanatory).
âąBodily white people using words like "mutt", "mixed breed", "savage", and "half breed" to describe themselves or their 'types. (These are words that have been used to maliciously target people of color, myself included. People claim to use those words in non offensive ways, 'savage' can sometimes be used in non offensive ways, however words like these have an incredibly dark history for folks of color, and are used in a negative, racist context towards us. I have been called all of these things with the intent of being dehumanized and harrassed. They're not to be used lightly, and they're certainly not for white people, who have never been the target of these words, to use).
âąThinking dehumanization and being called an animal is always a good and positive experience in the otherkin sense. (It's not for everyone, especially those who have been the target of racially charged dehumanization, who have negative experiences with being seen more as an animal than as a human being with rights and feelings. There's a positive way for someone like my being to be called an animal, and there's a negative way. Sometimes I can't tell what's positive and what's negative. I don't want to be dehumanized, despite being nonhuman, that's not a positive experience for my being. I don't want to be called an animal by others, and don't assume that many poc have a positive experience with being called that either).
âąArguing with and/or dogpiling alterhumans of color for bringing up problems about certain slurs, concepts, imagery, and beliefs. (This has happened to my being on more than one occasion, specifically regarding the word 'savage', a derogatory term used to target people of color, though used a lot to dehumanize indigenous peoples. Some think that just because it decribes their kintype, it's always an okay word to use. If someone doesn't want you to use an offensive term around them, don't go 'erm, actually!!!!!' and proceed to defend your right to use it around that individual. If someone doesn't want you to talk about something racially charged around them, don't fucking talk about it, and certainly don't argue with them about semantics. Leave it be).
âąBlatant cultural appropriation, such as claiming to be entities from closed cultures. (One example is the unspeakable spirit, I'll call it the wendy's double bacon and egg cheeseburger for laughs. Spirits from closed cultures do not interact with people other than those of direct lineage to said culture. I've seen a lot of Native American and Voodoo practices, concepts, and entities stolen by white people who just don't care. They just like they aesthetic and the look, it's incredibly shallow. Respect the beliefs and wishes of people from closed cultures, or you're just a fucking racist, simple as that. Quit pretending to be something that you will never be).
âąClaiming that your kintype is your 'spirit animal' or that you work with 'spirit animals'. (I don't know what's up with a lot of white alterhumans and their obsession with the 'spirit animal' concept. First of all, "spirit animal" isn't a real indigenous term, it was a word made up by some idiot white dude who didn't understand sacred indigenous relations with animals. Second of all, if you're not indigenous, you don't get to have a 'spirit animal', don't pretend to have a native american connection to animals and use a word that wasn't created by indigenous peoples. You can have connections with animals and animal spirits, though don't pretend that connection is something from indigenous cultures).
âąClaiming to be the subject of an indigenous person's reverence because of your kintype. (I have seen this around, I have seen bodily white people making these claims, and no, you are not the subject of our reverence, fuck off. We don't 'honor' white people, you're not involved in our ceremonies, you're not the subject of our prayers, and you're not sacred. The very thought of white people genuinely thinking this makes my stomach turn as someone who actively participates in indigenous culture. You're just an ignorant, self centered pos if you think indigenous people should honor you).
âąThere are other types of under the radar racism in the community that I haven't covered, and feel free to point other things out, though none of the above is okay. None of the above should be present in spaces.
âąVirtue signaling is not enough. Making posts online that gain some traction is not enough. Real, lasting change needs to happen on the wider community level and the smaller community level. Call out any kind of racism whenever you see it happening, remove offenders from communities and don't try to defend their racist behavior. When a person of color has a concern about something that may be racially offensive, fucking LISTEN and don't automatically think that their feelings are invalid. White folks in the community need to be more mindful of what they say, racism should not be happening in this community to begin with, though it happens because it flies under the radar, because privileged people aren't mindful of what they say, because it's just 'not a big deal' to those who aren't the targets.
âąDon't say "It's not that deep" when someone brings up that something is offensive towards people of color, especially if you're not the one being targeted by a statement, an action, or an image. That kind of racist thought process is what makes many poc alterhumans feel unsafe in majority white alterhuman spaces. That kind of shitty mentality is why unchecked racism is allowed to thrive in some alterhuman spaces, that shitty mentality is why many poc alterhumans don't feel safe around majority white spaces, that shitty mentality is why you don't see my being around large alterhuman spaces anymore.
âąYes, some of my words are aggressive. Yes, I am vauging at racists in the community. Yes, I am angry. Because I and many other folks of color have been essentially pushed out of the wider alterhuman community because of racist behavior, because our feelings weren't considered worth hearing, because community admins prioritized their favorites and best buddies over the concerns of people of color. I don't get to be a real part of big communities anymore because of anti indigenous racism. I don't get to be a real part of big communities anymore because of antisemitism. I don't get to be a part of many big communities anymore because some would rather see my being as the angry latina stereotype rather than confront their own racism and make a real change. I don't even get to be loud and proud about being as mixed as I am because I'm the active target of right wingers and an entire government administration that would do anything to see my being beaten and deported.
âąPeople like myself are angry right now, we're being targeted right now, some of poc are in downright dangerous and life-threatening situations. The LAST thing alterhumans of color want to see right now is racism in a community that's supposed to be safe, that's supposed to accept us with open arms. Being the target of racism in communities that are supposed to be safe, when there's already a viscious political climate targeting us is a horrific betrayal. I'm not here to sugarcoat this, I'm not here to be nice about racism, I'm not here to gently walk you through things you should already know, I'm here to raise awareness. If you're intimidated by my words, if you're intimidated by my reality as a mixed indigenous person, or if you're even angry at my words, then maybe you need to reevaluate whether you're an actual ally to people of color or not.
âąI just want to see change in this community. I just want myself and other alterhumans of color to feel welcome in the wider alterhuman community again. So many of my poc friends have brought up instances of racism they've faced in the alterhuman community, and it's infuriating that they were targeted in such a way. Real change isn't going to happen unless a community wide shift happens. That change isn't going to happen until white folks in the community really start minding what they say. That change isn't going to happen unless individual communities take a much harder stance on racism. Take my words how you will, look at my being how you will, hate my being if you must. Just make a real change so myself and other poc alterhumans can feel safe here again.
alterhumans please block the user aldmeric. they are ableist/saneist and are attacking teenagers as a 30 year old. a grown ass adult. do not give them the time of day, do not scroll through their blog.
Ive been bitching about âhussie is eridanâ guy for a hot minute but I need everyone to remember that this guy is a racist ass troll. like for someone who claims to give a shit about âcultural appropriationâ and indigenity he sure finds DNA and blood to be highly compelling factors of Race. unironically tells white people to seek out their secret indigenous ancestry with DNA tests saying shit like âeveryone is indigenous to somewhereâ (which TOTALLY ISNT rhetoric present in white supremacy and ethnonationalism; surprise hes also ethnonationalistic about his ancestry too)
anyway if you see aldmeric in the wild just keep in mind that the reason he hates fictionkin is because he thinks hes the only dave strider in the world and andrew hussie is secretly eridan ampora. and not for any reason worth peoples time. in the meantime listen to fictionfolk of color who are actually antiracist and not this guy
Stories Don't Exist in Vacuums: Towards Critical Fictionkinity
There's something that bothers me about the current state of fictionkin self-discourse. So much of it just feels like talking in circles again and again about how "people with fictotypes who did problematic things are VALID!!!" And while I more or less don't...... disagree with those kinds of posts, I feel like they're sorely lacking in nuance.
Perhaps ironically, talking about fiction can be very tricky in fictionkin communities because to a lot of us, the "fiction" of our sources is just as real as the lives we lead in the real world. This is not a monolithic experience, of courseâmany fictionkin consider themselves "canon divergent," and many others outright reject their sourcesâbut nonetheless the community as a whole struggles to divorce fiction from fictionkinity.
Fiction doesn't exist in a vacuum. Even if your source is your own lived experience, either as a past life or a parallel life or something else, in this reality it exists as a story whose writer(s) wanted to convey some sort of message to their audience. Stories have implications, and are shaped by the time and sociopolitical environment they were created in; this is something we need to be aware of as fictionkin.
This is what bothers me so much about self-discourse in the fictionkin community: so little time is spent reflecting on the biases one's source may hold, and whether or not the way one interacts with their fictionkin identity might uphold those biases. I'm not asking you to apologize for your source, or self-flagellate, or write some arbitrary amount of analysis about how the "problematic" nature of your source or your fictotype make you feel, but it is something that I think you should be aware of and take into consideration.
On a personal level, I take issue with the way that my source, as a work of fiction, uses its alternate history to create a narrative that is suspiciously apologetic of Japanese nationalism (among other things). This is something that I have to take into account when, for example, I talk about source homesickness; I don't want to come off as being nostalgic for a revisionist idea of imperial Japan! Likewise, even though my fictotype is Japanese, I myself am white and am from the United States. Because of how I was born and raised, I have to be aware of the Orientalism that plagues (so-called) Western perceptions of Japan and actively avoid repeating those same sentiments.
And before anyone tries to play the "involuntary identity" card: allow me to remind you that no one chooses their race, economic class, or assigned gender at birth, either, and yet people are still granted or deprived of certain privileges and rights based on those factors. Unfortunately, not having a choice in your identity does not mean you can simply reject all of the baggage that comes with it.
Again, this isn't me trying to police anyone's identity or say that you're only "allowed" to talk about your problematic source/fictotype if you feel sufficiently bad about itâI still love my source despite its...... well...... everything. I just want to encourage more self-reflection and political awareness, because God knows this community needs it. I get that a lot of fictionkin are still young, and I get that the community itself still hasn't fully recovered from the fallout of KFF discourse that started over ten years ago at this point, but that doesn't mean we can't have nuanced conversations about our identities and their relationship to, you know, fiction.
while im on the topic of antikin behavior can we pleaseeee stop acting like antikin discrimination by itself is to the same level of discrimination based on race or gender or ability. like no actually antikin discrimination is not the same as racism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, ableism, and the systematic oppression of groups that has been ingrained our society since the beginning of fucking time. yeah, kinnie is a hurtful word but stop acting like it's a word on the same level as fucking racial slurs. yes, it hurts when people are antikin, but it is not the same as systematic oppression. most of yall are apart of other marginalized groups so i would hope you would understand this yet somehow yall dont! yall grasp for straws for any way to be viewed as marginalized bc in yalls eyes being marginalized is another point in ur book for being seen as cool on tumblr. if you really want things to get better for otherkin, stop focusing on dumb shit and start actually reading theory and learning how to apply it to the community. a lot of yall run on "vibes-based" politics! anybody saying "umm this group isn't actually as oppressed as this group" is seen as a personal attack and a statement saying "this group isn't actually oppressed" which is just like. not the same fucking sentence at all. seriously, i know a lot of yall didn't learn shit beyond what your teachers taught you in middle school about being nice to others but if yall want things to get better for otherkin, stop dicking around and go actually read some theory by real activists that talks about liberation of groups that have been oppressed for hundreds to thousands of years. maybe apply some of their thinking to our own liberation! and maybe figure out how to actually acknowledge who is more oppressed than you without it being seen as a personal attack on you because if you can't cope with that your activism is worthless, because if you can't figure out how to help those who are less fortunate than you then it is not actual liberation in the long run that will help everyone, ur just trying to help urself.
like yeah when kids ate just being kids leave them alone but some of us have been species dysphoric our entire lives, will always be this way, will not "grow out of it", and arent kids anymore. and i know im saying this as a 20 yr old but ive seen people way older than me still considering themselves unhuman and treating us like it's a phase or its just roleplay doesnt actually help us
like i can tell uou dont take any of us seriously or respect our identities at all and its really disappointing. nonhumanity is a beautiful and wide reaching experience that i think a lot of people should really open up to but a lot of people, even those who aren't immediately opposed to it, just entirely dismiss it
The way oneâs identity changes over time is so fascinating.
I never cared for unicorns or thought much about them as the current pop culture depictions werenât very interesting to me as a child, i.e just a horse with a single horn and too âgirlyâ (I quickly grew out of this idea of disliking things based them being âgirlyâ)
But my first interest in them stemmed from watching my little pony as a teen. It wasnât what shifted my identity. Iâd draw my ponysona as a unicorn and not think too much on it.
What truly made a shift in my interest was a couple years ago when I took an art history class specifically on medieval art and I was instantly struck by how different unicorns were depicted in the past. An wild, untameable force of nature with only one weakness, a virgin.
These two versions of the unicorn, pop culture and medieval, kept swirling in my head and I decided that Iâd consolidate them by making a xenofiction comic from the pov of the unicorn.
And I guess over time as Iâve slowly been working on the comic (I have other art projects that are at the forethought of my mind atm) Iâve started feeling a kinship with the unicorn. I donât think Iâm unicornkin, maybe unicornhearted, but I do feel this deep connection to unicorns now.
I recently made a post summarizing my feelings on the subject of therianthropy as a mental framework. I think the post is as concise as I can possibly make my feelings on the matter, but I recognized that it is a little dense or perhaps confusing so I felt that a longer explanation was in order. Here is that explanation.
Read time: 3-5 mins
What is a mental framework?
Put simply, a mental framework, or sometimes mental schema, is a tool your brain relies on to organize information. It works as a filter to make the world more comprehensible by organizing sensations, thoughts, and other data points into predetermined "frames" or paradigms.
For example, you have a framework for what a "chair" is. A chair may be any object with four legs you sit on, though notably this definition includes horses and exclude constructions with three or fewer legs many would still consider to be a chair. Still, it's likely you are able to discern what a chair is and isn't even if you can't articulate it by a simple definition, and even though some chairs may also be benches or stools or etc. Your framework for "chair" is quickly retrievable and adaptable; you can usually identify a chair despite the fact that chairs can look vastly different, and many chairs you have never seen before. If you encounter an object you do not immediately know to be a chair, your framework of "chair" can be updated to include the new object.
What is a platonic ideal?
In contrast to a mental framework, Plato's Plane of Forms posits that there is a metaphysical, absolute and unchangeable "essence" to all things that determines how the object can be categorized.
So, a chair is a chair because it imitates the abstract Chair Form-the Idea of a chair that exists outside of our thoughts and prescribes what a chair is and isn't. A horse cannot be a chair because a horse imitates the Horse Form. How either of these things are defined is somewhat immaterial because both horse and chair exist metaphysically and beyond the input of the human (or nonhuman) mind.
What the hell does any of this have to do with therianthropy?
Well, I would argue that the way definitional culture works on tumblr and the way we generally describe identity groups falls much closer in line with Plato's Plane of Forms than it does with the idea of a mental framework.
We sometimes discuss the concept of therianthropy as though it's a Thing that Exists, even intangibly, and thus it's something you either Are or Are Not. Our language around "awakening" and "discovering" our therianthropy echoes this, as though therianthropy is something latent within us or that we're born into (echoing "born this way" sentiment common in the queer community). And certainly that is the experience some may have, but I don't think it's a useful paradigm to understand therianthropy as a whole through. Therianthropy was not discovered in the 90s, but instead the language was created to articulate an experience and therianthropy (the language, the community, the concept itself) has continued to evolve and iterate, much in the same way a mental framework adapts to new information.
How is any of this applied?
Put simply, I'm suggesting that the community think a bit more critically about how therianthropy, and nonhumanity broadly, is framed. As I said in my initial post, I am not a therian because there is a Therian Form that I contain some essence of; I don't believe such a thing exists. I understand myself to be a therian because it's how I make sense of certain experiences, thoughts, sensations and because I relate to the experiences of others who have taken on the label. It is (one of) my framework(s) for how I understand myself. It communicates certain things about me such as:
I identify as a nonhuman animal in some way
I align myself with others who identify as a therian
I express certain elements of myself through the "performance"* of therianthropy
I filter my lived experience to some degree through the lens of my therian identity
In my original post I described therianthropy as a "mode of meaning making for clusters of experiences and thought processes" and I think this is the best way to describe it. I have certain experiences and thoughts, and therianthropy is my mental framework for processing and understanding them. I don't have the experiences because I am a therian, but rather I am a therian because it's how I choose to categorize the experiences.
In my estimation, a good deal of the common discourse can be eliminated by understanding therianthropy in this way. Validity/"more therian than thou" discourse can be forgotten because it's ultimately a choice to describe one's self in this way, and because there is no One Ultimate Therian we are each whatever degree away from. Even debate about physical nonhumans can hopefully go by the wayside, because these are really just small modifications that communicate something about the other's framework, generally that they include some degree of somatic experience or input as relevant to their therianthropic schema (specifics will obviously vary).
We all speak very concretely about these words, and while the history of the community should not be forgotten, it's important to remember that the framework for therianthropy has always evolved and will continue to evolve! We can update our framework along with it and find more accurate language as the community continues into the future.
*note that "performance" here is used in a similar way as the way gender is characterized as a performance. Performing therianthropy may look like wearing a theta delta necklace, running a therian blog, or simply calling one's self a therian. It is any external expression of a therian identity.
Author's note: I think it's worth a small addition here that not everything we commonly describe as an "identity" can be boiled down to the mental framework understanding, so please do not take this essay, run with it, and conflate them all. Some identities describe positionalities and political or physical realities that are not solely the description of an internal experience and it's important to learn the difference.
