thoughts on being partly nonhuman and Human About It
Written by Jude Rook-Machina on March 17, 2026.
thinking out loud about my personal labeling re: nonhumanity (or lack thereof) -
because by definition, "being nonhuman" doesn't say anything about the amount of nonhumanity you need to have. it's a deliberately inclusive label!
someone who's 15% nonhuman, who needs support to feel confident and unashamed of that 15%, belongs in a nonhuman community as much as someone who's 100% nonhuman. they deserve to know they're not alone, there are other nonhumans out there who understand what they're feeling!
And! that's not the only way to think about it when you're partially nonhuman
and I say that because I keep choosing to call myself human, even though I'm partially nonhuman. if you're looking at my identities like a list, you might even say I seem mostly nonhuman? I'm an android, I'm the idea of a dog, I decided to turn myself into a dragon last year and I still don't regret it, BUT. I'm human! I keep saying I'm human!
and I think it's so important for me to have that because I keep being denied humanity for everything else about me. I'm a headmate so I can't be a human being, I'm just part of somebody else. I'm nonbinary and my gender sure isn't legally recognized or even assumed as a possibility. I'm a fictional character so I'm not a real person and I'm definitely not human in a way that matters. I'm nonhuman on some level so I can't possibly be invested in my humanity. I'm an android so I should be better than humans or whatever, I shouldn't think it's desirable to be one.
all of that feels pretty bad! so I hold onto it. I decided to be human and no one can take that away from me. I'm a mechanical canine draconic human being and I chose that! so basically,
IF there's no magical minimum amount of nonhumanity someone has to have to say they're nonhuman and find joy in their nonhumanity -
there's ALSO no magical minimum amount of humanity someone has to have to say they're human and find joy in their humanity
