#paranthropic

[wendi-bnkywuv]

Reasonable/rational misanthropy? UPDATED

I'll keep the original text up to show my original thoughts, but I thought I'd update this after giving it time.

I say misanthrope in a very broad sense. It's not so much humanity I hate as much as it is just the sole nature of being. I am probably not alone in this idea. I use misanthrope because that is what I've been lead to believe it means. According to dictionary.com it means "hatred, dislike, or distrust of humankind".

Since humans can be forced to do things that are vile under threats, brainwashing, cultural upbringing, myself included, THAT is where "misanthropy" came from. According to the definitions provided on the internet, that was the phrase that best fit, but in reality, it's a dislike for how nature of evolution works in general that I disapprove of, and it's not just limited to humans.

Now to the original text.

So I've been going back and fourth on my calling myself a misanthrope. I DO NOT LIKE THIS LABEL!!!! I don't hate ALL humans, nor all of humanity.

I love my human father. I love my counselor. I love my niece. I love my nephews.

I hate CERTAIN humans. I hate certain ASPECTS of human nature. If a nonhuman animal emulates something that I find distasteful in humans, I do not hate that animal or species, but I do hate the fact that it reminds me of the cruelties of so many humans I've been forced to endure. Thus, I hate the aspect, but not the animal.

Basically, I see myself as a victim of animal abuse. I am an animal. An animal human. A human animal. An animal that was forced to see itself as human. A primate. A great ape.

It's natural for animals raised improperly by their own species to latch on to other species for support and belonging. Other primates will bond with humans if they were neglected or abandoned by their own species. Cats too, and dogs as well. This isn't just a human thing. Many social animals do this very same thing. It's a social mechanism for survival.

Upon doing some thinking, I realized something. My maternal unit would (and STILL does) scream at me for saying that I'm not human, or not human in the same way she wants me to be. She gave me misanthropic thought patterns by generalizing the word "human" to make me see myself as one, and needing to stop being my version of human.

This gave me a very bleak and distorted view of what humanity is. I am a very strange human indeed. I had to learn to view myself as human, and had to learn to care about being a stereotypical human, and through highly traumatic means.

Dehumanization lead me to think that in order to be what I am, I MUST be something nonhuman, right? Maybe I'm more human instead, so why don't I feel more than human? I HAVE TO BE nonhuman! If I was nonhuman she wouldn't be giving me shit for any of this...ah ha! That explains EVERYTHING! I am not human! I am a mutant monkey! A mutant ape! A mutant suminia...and of course I'm not my paranthrotype with all of it's abilities! I AM A MUTANT VERSION OF THEM DUE TO MY BEING A PRIMATE, A HUMAN! YES! THIS IS IT!!!!!

If my imaginary species were classified as humans, I'd be all for it, embracing every single fucking aspect of humanity! If bonobos were considered humans, again, I'd fucking LOVE that! If my imaginary creatures were what humanity would evolve into, again....FUCKING WIN!!!! If humans were not doing all of the nasty vile things they do, I'd love ALL of humanity. I'm just MUCH more prone to notice the bad instead of the good due to my trauma and forced generalization.

[wendi-bnkywuv]

Any other alterhumans had this?

Growing up, not until around 14 years of age, I didn't automatically pick up on the taxonomical fact that I am human. I also didn't automatically get some of traditional human social things. There were some taboo sexual things that I thought were completely normal and even acceptable!

Many cultural things I didn't understand. Like even though I'm human, why does it mean that I have to do these "human" things, but not these "nonhuman" things? Why does being human mean that I even have to consider myself human, or to view myself as human?

I literally had to learn that I am human! It didn't come "naturally".

I accepted my being human solely in an abstract sense of being, like I have this human body and human biology, but so what? If I were the creature I see myself to be, it would still have much of the "human" stuff, but who's to say other animals don't also have this, they just lack the ability to express it due to their biological limitations?

Any talk like that was immediately shut down by my maternal unit, and pretty much anyone else I'd mention it to. There seemed to a push for humans NEEDING to believe we're somehow fundamentally different than other animals, and how that justifies e**erimenting on them (among many other things that I won't get into) that it drove me even deeper into my feelings of being something else.

The predisposition was there already, but cultural and societal factors only acted as a sort of confirmation bias or reinforcement for my feelings. My maternal unit tried to beat it out of me, but she only beat it in further, and other factors only drove the point further home.

So, any of you had to learn how to consider yourselves human?

[wendi-bnkywuv]

Identifying as an extinct species of human would still be therianthropy

I've seen this argument thrown around in some places, and since there's some misconception, I'd like to share my thoughts on this.

Yes, they ARE still humans, but the thing is, being therianthrope means identifying as a different SPECIES. We tend to think species as being synonymous with GENUS, but when people say they identify as a wolf, a wolf is not JUST a different species but also a different genus.

Homo erectus for example, is a human, but only by genus, and not by species. Homo sapiens is another species of hominid in the genus homo, thus, still human, but another species.

Therefor, I think it should still apply. However, this is part of the reason I came with paranthropy for those who don't feel the therianthropy/alterhuman label fits for them, yet identify as a different species of human, if even a purely imaginary one, which would be then thrust into the otherkin territory.

Ironically, paranthropus is an extinct species of human, and paranthropy sounds quite similar it! Isn't that ironic?

[wendi-bnkywuv]

Ever look at the evolutionary tree of primates and when it gets humans you just stop and think "damn, here's where nature really fucked up." looking back at the other primes thinking you should be back there somewhere? Or looking beyond the human branch wondering why your species isn't listed? Or you just stop at the human branch with a big "NOPE! That is SO not me!"?

What goes through your mind? Let me know, I'm a curious little monkeykin!

[wendi-bnkywuv]

Antikin. Pointing out our humanity does the OPPOSITE

Realized something from my past.

My maternal unit will often use the "you are a human" argument to get me to stop acting like my paranthrotype. However in doing so, she makes it worse. When I was younger, when she agreed that I was that creature, it would subside! Interesting isn't it?

The thing most antikin don't seem to understand is the more you push against the identity, the more it fights back, resulting in the antikin looking utterly foolish.

So yeah. Antikin, keep right on telling us these things. You're only making yourselves more deluded by thinking that pointing these things out is going to change us and even more so if you think it's going to be helpful.

[wendi-bnkywuv]

New terms! Paranthrope, and species differentia (UPDATED!!!)

I've been struggling with a term to describe my experiences, and I finally came up with some!

I've thought about expanding these terms, but I'm not sure that I want to create subterms when there are already so many.

I've used a term which I've heard Devin proctor use who has looked into the alterhuman identity, which he has referred to as "open bodied identification". It can include nonbinary identities, neurodivergence, etc. While I do enjoy this term, I'd like to come up with something which is a bit less of mouthful.

The creature that I am kith/kin with is nonhuman in appearance and biology, but I often see it as "being human" despite the major differences, as it is "me" a human, but in personality and not biology. So I came up with the umbrella term paranthrope (and as such, paranthropy) to describe my feelings, as para on the dictionary website is defined as "<Greek para-, combining form representing pará (preposition) beside, alongside of, by, beyond".

Paranthropy, being a paranthrope is NOT a choice, as that would fall under copinglink. Paranthropy is not something a person chooses, but is a sense of being out of place with human biology and human identity, or that is indifferent from human/nonhuman dichotomies. For some such as myself, we had to literally learn and be taught to "identify as human" and to see ourselves as "humans" or that we are members of the current human species.

I was always autonomous about what species I am, and I didn't automatically get the whole "human" thing, I basically saw myself as not a human, but also not a nonhuman, just a creature having an experience in this thing the humans who I view as my parents call life. I had no reason to see myself as human or nonhuman.

It's kind of like autokin where one simply identifies as themself without a specific label attached.

I had to literally be forced to consider myself fully human, something that has caused a lot of dysphoria.

Identifying "with" humans is still paranthropy, as identifying with=/= as.

Paranthrope, being an umbrella term, means someone who feels alongside humanity, and yet beyond, such as a different species of human (such as homo erectus, homo habilis, or an imaginary version of human that is vastly different in physical appearance, biology, origin, etc, such as those depicted in "All Tomorrows" by C. M. Kosemen), neither human or nonhuman, human plus something nonhuman, or intermixed.

In short, paranthropy is the ambiguous/neutral/indifferent view of one's identity in terms of human and nonhuman, a neutral or ambivalent sense of identity that does not fit into human/nonhuman exclusive boxes such as in my case, a creature in general, but not any specific one.

The body a paranthrope may feel they should have might not be attributed to being another species in particular, but more so a body in which they could be free to be themselves, a body that may feel more like them. The body in which I feel I should have not an identity as a set creature per se, but just as way for me to be myself without the pressures of society being placed due to an obvious nonhuman appearance and a biology vastly different than many creatures on this current Earth.

Paranthropes may not feel entitled about their identities, as the indifference/ambiguity over species would typically nullify any sense of entitlement.

If a person merely wants wings, claws, and a tail, or wants superpowers yet their identity/reasons for wanting such abilities is not rooted in the sense of being "other than human/species neutral", this would not count as paranthropy, as said person's identity would still very much remain human.

To expand, it could be used to describe feelings of "not deserving" to be human, or that one "should have been" something other than human, yet not necessarily having a nonhuman identity, such as someone who identifies as "speciesless".

It can also mean someone who sees themselves as human, yet perceives their "personhood" as being at odds with their biology and thus not "human", such as myself feeling certain aspects of my biology "go against" my personality and prevents me from being "who I am". Thus, my being in my ideal body would allow me to be the human that I am, but in a body biologically defined as "other than human".

Thus, "paranthrotype" would be the identity of said individual that doesn't fit in the category of "human" as we see it now, an identity which is neither human or nonhuman, a hybrid that is an indistinguishable blend of the two, or which is "from" human without being human specifically, such as the human imagination or said individual's personality that contrasts with certain aspects of their biology, yet still remains "them" without the "human" attachment.

Though I did think of a term "species differentia" (weird I know!) to describe those who feel estranged or different from humans without the species dysphoria. I know of voidpunk, but this term would be used for those that have not been (or have no memory of being) victim to dehumanization. So those who do not have a conscious history of dehumanization, yet feel other from humanity. It could also be used for those that are alterhuman, yet have no species dysphoria.

Species differentia can also be used to describe a past experience with feelings of "nonhumanity" without species dysphoria, but could still be applied to those who now have species dysphoria. An individual can have species differentia and species dysphoria, but that changes depending on mood, self image, etc. You can have species differentia, but if something comes along that makes you feel species dysphoria, that would still count because the dysphoria was not present earlier, but the nonhumanity/different humanity was.

What do you think? Repost if you think this applies to you!

[wendi-bnkywuv]

Feeling like your OCkin isn't valid? You created this kintype for a REASON!

I've been wondering if anyone feels their own character is invalid. I sometimes struggle with this myself, so there are more likely others.

If you create an OC/imaginary self that is a better version of your human self, remember that you must have created it for a reason. What was the reason or reasons? Is it because you see traits in your OC that you would like to have yourself? Does creating an OC with said traits help you cope? Do you use those traits as a way to better yourself?

I also feel that some might feel bad that their kintype is not real, and this applies to otherkin as well. However what matters is that you identify as it for a reason. It could be to find strength in yourself or finding traits about yourself that you would change if you could. You have these feelings for a reason. Even if your OC you kin as is mere fabrication of yourself, you have this identity for a reason, and the identity is REAL, NOT fabrication.

Having an OC as an identity could be a sign that you have not been able to find match for your nonhuman/paranthropic sense of self, and so you put your creativity to good use in order to make sense of it. No shame in that!

[wendi-bnkywuv]

So hard to feel good about your kintype being an evolved species of human when you've lost faith in the current species of humanity...

You feel me?