#mor yaps

[taxideermied]

I hate 2 say it but being a part of a “weird” subculture does not meaningfully inoculate you against a conservative moralizing impulse. You gotta unlearn that. Saying “cringe is dead” is not enough, you have to actually be okay with things that discomfort, perplex and/or disgust you.

[taxideermied]

Just wanna say that "go find offline community" in terms of both nonhumanity and other largely-to-semi-online spaces is only helpful in so far as whatever offline community 1) exists in your area 2) you have the means of transporting yourself to wherever meetings are held 3) meetings are accessible or are committed to becoming accessible and 4) whomever runs/frequents the meetings isn't diametrically opposed to your existence or worldview in a way that is alienating or dangerous. If your solution to any of these is "well then you should run offline meetings yourself" then you have to accept that you will be cutting out individuals who are incapable of doing that for any reason, and they will naturally rely on online spaces instead. Offline community is obviously great and should be encouraged, but I see borderline contempt from ppl who think others take the online world "too seriously" as if it isn't the only option for some.

[taxideermied]

Hello able-bodied queer tumblr user

I want to play a game. In front of you is a calendar marked “July.” Make it through the next 30 days without making a “pride month two” or “queer wrath month” joke while forgetting about disability pride. If you fail, the bear trap will go off. Good luck.

[taxideermied]

This probably deserves a proper long form essay but I think everyone would have a much easier time of it if we all started seeing nonhumanity (and, I think alterhumanity broadly, though this is less my area) not as some sort of specifically defined hard-edged identity capable of categorization as a platonic ideal and more of just….a mode of meaning making for clusters of experiences and thought processes. Like we get close when we describe feelings of nonhumanity as byproducts of disability, neurodivergence and etc but we should commit. I’m not a therian because “therian” is a neat box that exists metaphysically I can be put into, but because it communicates the way I have made sense of my existence and the way I interact with the world.

[taxideermied]

I have previously talked about how I dislike the (unintentional) distillation of animals to archetypes, and I’m definitely against anthropomorphizing animals across the board, but equally wrong is the paradigm that animals are completely hapless, thoughtless creatures driven by nothing but instinct and the barest of basic needs. Animal intelligence is a lot more complicated than “animals are exactly like humans in their thought processes and emotions” or “animals have zero interiority.”

[taxideermied]

Okay I don’t have time for a proper essay write up so we’re doing a list.

Things about my mental and physical conditions that make me feel physically nonhuman:

Social anxiety and neophobia: definitely makes me feel like a deer that’s just been chucked into a room with a bunch of humans. Because I am.

Waking up with my heart pounding: again, very deer on account of the paranoia and worry. I don’t think it would be this bad if I were a theriform deer (I don’t think prey animals are just balls of nerves) but having to live a human life with human stressors is very bad for my elk brain.

Being hungry and tired all the time: I think of this as a “conversion” issue. My body isn’t what it’s supposed to be, so there’s massive inefficiencies somewhere. That and the fact that elk are supposed to eat like 10,000+ calories a day and I am not.

Joint pain and slippage: my body isn’t supposed to be like this! Either communicating that with my brain causes pain, or I was put together poorly. My fingers slide very easily out of place which makes sense because I’m not meant to have them.

Difficulty standing: I should be quadrupedal.

Trouble recognizing myself in mirrors: does my face actually change all the time and no one else notices? Or am I just bad at perceiving my own ‘human’ face? Who knows. Either way, this isn’t what I’m meant to look like so no wonder I have difficulty encoding it as “me.”

I’m sure there are more but these are the most recurring phenomena that I have these thoughts with. 1 billion disclaimers that if you relate to these experiences you should consider seeing a medical professional etc etc and not “write them off” as being a kin thing. Whatever. Hopefully an essay deconstructing the intersection of disability and nonhumanity soon.

[taxideermied]

I will probably have more on this later but I think there is something to be said for the way depictions of anthropomorphized archetypical versions of animals in therian and otherkin spaces perpetuates misinformation. The dog as an icon of loyalty, the deer as a symbol of innocence, etc. The actual animal is obscured under artificial meaning-making until they become a consumable facsimile. Dogs buy this, deer buy that. Here’s a picture of an animal in distress captioned “meeeee :3”

[taxideermied]

Highly recommend every nonhuman learn about their local ecosystem even if it’s not their hearthome or where their species are from. I promise there is joy in the flora and fauna around you, yes even if you live in a big city. Chances are there is also meaningful action you can take to help the wildlife where you live.