Ooooooo I Love This Sm It's Such A Cute Idea, OP You're A Genius :3

nothing quite like a rat graffitied in a toilet

REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!

maybe there's something im not understanding here, and honestly at the end of the day i don't really care one way or the other this is a pretty exclusively online topic, but the whole "neo/xeno AGAB" thing is like... vaguely transphobic right?

and i am absolutely 100% NOT the person to try to tell others how they should identify or what labels they should be using, im literally a transmasc nonbinary mspec/queer lesbian transspecies werewolf who uses xeno pronouns for fucks sake, it doesn't really get anymore "queer as in wtf is going on" than that.

but from what i've seen and read about it, it kind of seems to be simultaneously reinventing and discrediting the definition of transgender. To directly quote the "AGAB Non-Conformity" infographic made by @/nonconformityhub,

"Those who reject their AGAB, are unassigned, or were forced to fit a binary sex at birth may wish to self-assign a different AGAB. It's based around the idea that we shouldn't be forced to stick with a falsely assigned gender."

like, am i not understanding something or is that literally just the definition of being transgender or gnc?? i think the thing that rubs me the wrong way about it is that it almost kinda implies that as a transgender individual you should or need to disclose the gender you were assigned at birth to others, which (unless it's for legal or health related reasons) you literally just don't. If you are a trans man, congratulations, you are a man. You don't have to be an "AFAB man", you're just a man. As far as anyone else needs to be concerned, you are male and have always been such. The whole point of being trans is to reject the gender you were assigned at birth because it's flat out not what you are.

Idk again I don't really care that much I don't think it's gonna single handedly set back trans liberation or anything of that sort, I just feel like we SHOULD be focusing on dismantling the system of assigning genders at birth to begin with and reasserting that sex ≠ gender, rather than simply modifying the system to appeal to certain individuals and disregarding preexisting communities trying to accomplish that goal, and would maybe just encourage everyone to look at this kind of stuff with some healthy skepticism

typa shit ive been on lately

DO NOT FORGET LUIGI!

Guys this isn't just a trend. While yes, he is hot. He stands for something more than that. He stands for someone who stood up for the working class and who gunned down an evil man. A man who profited off of millions of peoples misery and deaths.

KEEP TALKING ABOUT HIM! KEEP READING THE NEWS ABOUT HIM! KEEP SUPPORTING HIM! Never stop! This is important! We can't just forget what he has sacrificed for America...His freedom so we can have ours.

Or at least have a chance to fight back and gain our freedom from these insurance companies.

puppy is not a species puppy is a state of mind. anyone can be puppy regardless of their species

So How Do I Know if I’m Nonhuman?

Disclaimer: This post is largely targeted toward those who experience or are questioning nonhumanity in a non-physical way, such as therian, otherkin, and some nonhuman alter experiences, as that is the realm I have the most knowledge on. Please keep this in mind going forward.

I’ve been in the alterhuman/therian/nonhuman communities for *checks watch* eight years now, give or take. I’m very confident in my identity as a dog, and I live my life as a dog in a human body every day. I’m very open about it with people in my life. I’m just always like this.

I get asked a lot— in my DMs, in my asks, personally by people I know— how to know if you’re nonhuman.

Unfortunately I do not have an easy answer for that. Finding out you’re nonhuman, and being comfortable with that identity, is a long, confusing process for most. There are so many ways to experience nonhumanity, and a lot of people will tell you narrow definitions based on what their experience looks like.

My experience with finding out I was nonhuman is messy and long, and it took me several years to get as comfortable and as confident in my identity as I am. I know that’s not an answer people like to hear. I know how hard it is to just think “This will take time” and be cool with that.

So I think my biggest piece of advice would be: Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t be afraid to get it wrong.

There have been times where I’ve thought I was a wolf, a rabbit, a fox, a dragon, a husky, a bear, all kinds of things, before I finally figured out the right answer for me. I only have one theriotype. My theriotype is psychological and trauma-induced in nature. Yours might not be. You will very likely not experience nonhumanity in the exact same way as anyone else. That’s why it’s so confusing. That’s why it takes so long to understand your own journey.

Look dude. Get the gear you like. Do what makes you feel species euphoric. If you’re so worried about “faking” your nonhuman identity, chances are you’re not. Also? I personally wouldn’t care if someone who identified as nonhuman later retracted that identity, and I don’t know anyone who would care either.

If labeling yourself as some kind of nonhuman feels right to you right now, that’s okay. Your ‘types may change and grow overtime, you may feel more or less connected with them, that is all okay. Experience nonhumanity in a way that works for you right now. There’s not one way to know if you’re nonhuman. But I’d say if the community and the label is right for you, you’ll stay with it, and you’ll be more confident in it over time. And if it isn’t, that’s okay too.

Earlier today I was making a ceramic necklace pendant and was like "hey, I wanna make something werewolf related I can wear" so I was thinking and started wondering if there was any kind of general "werwolf symbol" out there that I could carve onto said pendant.

I found out that there is! It's an ancient shield emblem originating from Germany and Eastern France called Wolfsangel, which translates to "wolf's hook" and was sometimes associated with lycanthropy, and was later adopted by peasant revolutionaries as a symbol for German liberation in the 15th century. Pretty cool right?

Well not so much actually.

Im really really glad that I kept researching before I started carving because apparently Wolfsangel was actually appropriated by the Nazi's during WW2 and is now globally classified as a hate symbol. Great :|

All of this is to say that I think it's about time we created/found a new symbol for werewolves, one that doesn't have a shitty double meaning lol. Something like the theta-delta or elven star, but for werewolves (or werebeasts in general) specifically. Not sure if one already exists somewhere, I couldn't find one while researching but I wouldn't be surprised if there was one tucked away in some dusty old 2000's internet forum that someone would like to clue me in on. But if not, I think it'd be cool to start trying to figure out a new one, something that anyone who identifies with the "were" label for any reason can use!

If for no other reason, than at least just so I can find something to put on my pendant lmaooo

🐅 and 🐞!

🐅 ➤ Sort of? I usually only dress in natural/earthy colors which might be connected to my therianthropy in someway, as for specific theriotypes tho not really. If im feeling particularly connected to my canine types I might wear a tail or dress more masculine, but other than that no I dress pretty much the same all the time.

🐞 ➤ Yep! I have shifts from time to time. Mental, phantom, and dream shifts are the ones I experience. Most of the time they're canine centric.

Mental shifts are pretty uncommon, at least the ones that are actually intense enough for me to realize they're happening lol. I'll have them maybe once every few months. The ways I feel/act depend on what triggered the shift or what environment I was in when it happened, but usually I'll become energetic and more aware of my surroundings, I think less in actual thoughts and more so in basic emotions/instincts, I want to be away from humans and civilization, sometimes i'll have an increased prey drive or become more aggressive, and speaking feels uncomfortable. It's both a fun and annoying experience; fun because i feel more in tune with myself and feel physically stronger, annoying because usually when it happens im not in a place/situation where I can indulge it so I have to ignore it and act normal to the best of my abilities until it goes away.

Phantom Shifts really only happen when I meditate, or my body is otherwise relaxed (like when Im trying to sleep). The most common limb I'll feel are paws in place of my hands, but Ive also felt paws on my feet, a muzzle, wings on my back, and fangs. The best way I can describe how they feel is like wearing a glove or a shoe. Even though it technically isn't part of your body, you can still feel it attached to you, and if someone touched it you'd still be able to feel it.

Dream Shifts are the least common but most enjoyable shifts I have. Oddly, Im rarely physically nonhuman during these shifts, rather Im just able to run on all fours really fluidly, fly, vocalize, and/or in a mental shift mindset. I've always had extremely vivid and lifelike dreams where I can see, hear, and feel almost everything (both a blessing and a curse), so it's nice being able to feel almost fully nonhuman for once.

Anglocentrism in alterhuman communities: ramblings of a Spanish-speaking dragon and a cat

[original in spanish here, though i have no doubt that this version will be disseminated more widely] • [original en español aquí, aunque tengo la certeza de que esta versión se difundirá más ampliamente]

this post was originally written as part of The Sol System's Alterhuman Writing Challenge. written by @talon-dragonbeast, with the help of my sibling @watcherwingedcat. we hope you like it!

word count: 2422

This writing, which is more of a rant with myself than a proper essay, is one I've been meaning to write for a long time; ever since I first joined an online community, to be more precise. Anglocentrism, according to Wikipedia (and yes, the irony of the article not being available in Spanish is not lost to me), is "the practice of viewing the world primarily through the lens of English or Anglo-American culture, language, and values, often marginalizing or disparaging non-English-speaking or non-Anglo perspectives."

If you are monolingual and your native language is English, chances are you have never stopped to think about the advantage this gives you over those of us who are not so fortunate as to be born with the lingua franca on our lips. Yes, you may have had to study some Spanish in school, but let's be honest, very few people remember what they learn in elementary school. As an English speaker, the whole world is built for you, and it's the rest of us who have to fit your mold. Culture, scientific articles, movies, books, video games, the internet, online communities, technical language, educational videos: even in the most international spaces, everything revolves around English. Which brings me to the subject of this writing: The Alterhuman community.

My name (as I am known on the internet, at least) is Talon. I've been a member of the alterhuman community, and more specifically, the otherkin community, for a little over a year now. Otherkin (a word that comes from other, in Spanish otros; and kin, shortened form of kind, in Spanish tipo) are people who identify as nonhuman in some way. For example, I identify as a dragon (among other things), and that's what I am, even if I look human on the outside and am perceived as such. There are many reasons why someone might believe they are not human, but I'm not here to discuss that, so let's get back to the topic at hand.

Since I've been in this community, I haven't written a single post in Spanish. And not for lack of desire, nor because I am intimidated to share something as personal as my mother tongue. No, the reason is simple: The community does not exist in any language other than English. By this I don't mean that there are no non-humans outside of England or the United States, because of course there are (even if they are on other platforms like TikTok or Instagram), and I'll talk about those later. But simply put, the reason you don't see many alterhuman communities in other languages is because all the resources, the introductions, the chronologies of the (English) alterhuman community, the definitions of the terms, the terms themselves, everything is in English.

I have always been bilingual. Well, trilingual actually, although my third language is not too relevant in my day to day life and I only use it in classes or when someone starts a conversation in the language. It's hard to explain how your brain works when you speak multiple languages fluently, but basically it's like running two parallel systems at the same time, but with thoughts. I don't usually think with words, but when I do it usually happens that some of my thoughts are in Spanish, and others in English, roughly in a 50/50 ratio. Or it can also happen that I start the thought in one language, but finish it in another. Or I may try to use a specific word in English that does not have an exact translation into Spanish, so that when translated literally the sentence does not make sense. Basically, everything I write or say out loud I have to run it through several filters first, one to remove the words from the other language, one to find the words to replace them with, and one to make the sentence make sense. Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? It is. Now imagine if in order to express yourself as you really are, in order to participate in a community with beings who understand and accept you like no other, you had to basically suppress half of who you are, all the time.

The problem is not only not being able to use my native language to express myself. As I have demonstrated in the last year and a half that I have been in this community, I am fluent enough in English not only to be understood when I speak, but also to express such complicated concepts as the self, human nature, the psychology of being, and all that comes with existing as nonhuman. The real problem comes when I try to express relatively common alterhuman concepts in my native language. I'm not just talking about labels like otherkin or therianthrope, which can be adapted to Spanish with relative ease. It's the little things, the simplest things.

For example, the term shift. The word itself is already difficult to translate; during my searches, I found a glossary of terms on the Otherkin Hispano website in which they call them "desplazamientos", which... is an accurate translation, I guess, but impossible to use comfortably in everyday life. There are also terms whose definitions use expressions that simply cannot be translated into other languages. For example, otherkin and otherhearted. In English, the difference between these two terms is that otherkin means "[to] identify as" while otherhearted is "[to] identify with". But this is a purely English expression. In other languages, the distinction does not exist, or it makes no sense to use it; therefore, these terms are totally inaccessible to any international user. Or compound words like "catkin", which are difficult to express in other languages. According to Otherkin Hispano, in Spanish it would be said as is without translation, Soy catkin. But that... is not grammatically correct, since it would be mixing two languages in the same sentence. The most appropriate would be to say Soy gatokin, which sounds wrong and doesn't make sense anyway, because kin is still an English word. Or "hearttype", which in Spanish could be roughly translated as "tipo del corazón" (kind of [the] heart). When saying that you have a specific hearttype, for example "corvidhearted", one way of expressing it could be a simple Soy corvidhearted, which carries the same problems as catkin. Or you could, as Wikipedia advises, say Soy corazón de córvido ("I am heart of corvid"). I don't dislike it, to be honest, but some might find it too metaphorical or poetic.

Finally, and before reaching the conclusion, I want to dedicate a few paragraphs to talk about the alterhuman community that exists in other languages. I mentioned before these communities; that although they do exist, they are very scattered through platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, with which I am not so familiar. But since I can't talk about Anglocentrism without at least talking about the Spanish-speaking alterhuman community, I asked my sibling Watcher @watcherwingedcat what it thought about the topic. This is what they wrote:

Hi guys, I'm Watcher, and I'm here to talk a bit about the Spanish-speaking therian community, which I think is the pristine example of the hate we receive both from people outside the community and from those inside, both Spanish and South American. While this post focused more on the language barriers, I want to focus on the real consequences of this barrier, how it divides us in the way we interact with each other: The social part of this whole thing (as I already said some other time or another and some of my followers know, I am studying Social Education, so from my point of view the social part is very relevant for everything we do). As my sister already said (hi Talon!), the English community is the majority in alterhuman spaces, but, what is the Spanish-speaking community really like?

Not very large, is the answer. The term itself is not very widespread, and the community is quite small. However, after a while of searching, I found it in a little corner of the internet. When I found a community in my own language, I was excited, but my curiosity and joy were soon extinguished... When I saw the reactions to their videos and posts on tiktok mainly. They were packed with hate messages. Packed. If you think hate in the English community is bad, you are not prepared for the hate received in other communities, especially the Spanish one. This is more a matter of culture, a little bit also due to the closed mindedness in countries like Spain, Argentina, or Colombia.

In general, the non-humans of the Spanish-speaking community mostly post about quadrobics and masks. At least, I haven't seen much beyond that, and the community is mostly in tiktok. And the reception of their expression of way of being? Disgusting. To give an example of how bad the hate is, in one of the videos I found (I think it was a therian making a mask or something), humans and non-humans were insulting the therian posting the video, discussions about how we are crazy and sick in the head and should be in mental institutions... It was horrible. The worst were the death threats, even, wishing the therian to die, or hang themselves, or worse (I've even seen rape threats). Comments that said things like, "If my sister told me she was a dog I would take her clothes off and force her to sleep outside and eat animal food, if she wants to be a dog I will treat her like one." Threats of abuse, both physical and sexual... Absolutely disgusting. And the worst thing is that the tiktok platform did not remove these hate accounts, the copy and paste messages of insults, the threats....

I am proud of the Hispanic community for being so open about their identity, don't get me wrong, but there are times when it is safer to just not share that part of who we are with others, especially if you are a minor and vulnerable. That's another issue that concerns me, as I've seen people coming out to parents, siblings, friends, and them just belittling them. That, coupled with misinformation, is a recipe for disaster.

I couldn't help but notice the deep root of misinformation in the non-human community itself. They confuse definitions, the different terms, which leads them to spread even more misinformation. This I don't think is entirely their fault, or that they are so young for the most part, as I have not seen Hispanic therians over the age of 18. I think this is largely due (as Talon already mentioned) to the language difference, and the lack of translation of certain terms. In general, when talking to friends with whom I am open about my non-humanity, I use English terms. It is a little weird to use those words in English while speaking in Spanish, but I am bilingual and for now there is no solution to that. I think the Spanish community would benefit from spreading correct information, and having a platform to express themselves with their own, like tumblr is for the English community. Something my sister expands on in dreir post. As for me here I finish my little comment, I'll leave you with Talon now. Watcher out.

As a conclusion, I would like to talk about the consequences that Anglocentrism might have on non-English speaking alterhumans, and then propose some ideas on how we might begin to address (or at least mitigate) it as a community.

First of all it is the obvious; the vast majority of non-English speaking alterhumans simply never realize that they are alterhumans in the first place, on account of the language barrier. All of the resources for beings who are questioning their humanity or lack thereof are in English, so they are not accessible to people who don't understand the language; therefore, a non-English speaker would have a much harder time accessing them. Another consequence is not being able to express your alterhumanity fully, both internally and externally. Remember when I mentioned that my thoughts are evenly distributed between English and Spanish, always keeping a 50/50 ratio? Well, recently, I have noticed that when reflecting on my identity as a dragon, all my thoughts are automatically generated in English. I find this deeply shocking, as I feel that a fundamental part of my identity is being eroded. It is devastating to feel that you can only express half of who you are, suppressing what could otherwise be a complex and multifaceted identity. Not being able to express myself in my other language limits my ability to explore that part of myself.

Anglocentrism is a cycle that never ends; since all the resources are in English, no members in other languages can join, and since there are no members in other languages, all the resources that are created are in English. And while I wish I could say that I have a solution to end this Anglocentrism once and for all, unfortunately, I do not. I am only one person (dragon), and this is a problem that I alone cannot solve. True, there have been some commendable attempts by the international community (translations of writings, alterhuman blogs in languages other than English, the Eurokin server on Discord are some examples); however, these initiatives often don't often get very far because of the very nature of the community. As I have already said, most of the alterhumans are North American or English, therefore any attempt to globalize the community would be restricted by the fact that there are not many members who would be interested in this in the first place. So what can we do to change this? The answer lies in you, reader. If you have a second language, encourage yourself to create writings in it from time to time. If you come from a culture other than the mainstream, talk about how that affects your identity. If you have traditions specific to your country that you believe are alterhuman in nature, share them. And if you are part of the English-speaking majority, I invite you to contribute in a positive way through simple actions, such as listening to us when we express ourselves in other languages, recognizing that we do not all share the same culture, and keeping an open mind when discussing topics that may be unfamiliar to you. Our strength as a community lies in the diversity of our members; let's embrace it.