canidbld

[canidbld]

Shout out to alterhumans and nonhumans who feel a connection with cities as their natural habitat but are too scared to go FERAL in one because of societal norms :,]

[canidbld]

i know we all love to overthink stuff but its important to remember not to lose yourself in the process. sometimes you just are, and thats okay.

[canidbld]

Therianthropy is physical...

Watched a video on YouTube by someone I consider to have decent takes about therianthropy and the community who I generally (for the most part) agree with and he talks about the topic of physical therians (specifically the rise of the topic on tiktok since it's kind of a discussion on theriantok atm)

He's respectful and I understand that he is not excluding people on purpose and with bad intent, he's mainly just distinguishing what he defines as physical and why that does not apply to his statement (that he still firmly believes and upholds) he said in a prior video saying: "Therianthropy is a non physical identity."

He discusses the topic of physical therians because there were people who said that his statement and definition of therianthropy should've included the physical aspect of therianthropy.

His says that therianthropy isn't physical at all and he quickly establishes that he means physical as in biological and that he understands that people externally can see themselves as their theriotype/kintype but he doesn't count that as a "physical" attribute to therianthropy because he mentalizes physical = biological.

When I watched the video, I was honestly disappointed.

I 100% believe physical therians deserve and have a right to exist in the community (as they always have) and that their experience in therianthropy being mainly physical is just as an important and real as a spiritual or psychological experience.

I believe that therianthropy is simply just identifying as an animal. "I am a dog" and so you are a dog. The origin, why, and details will vary but should include aspects like spirituality, culture and religion, psychology and trauma, and, of course, physical (among many other aspects)

He does address clinical lycanthropy and zoanthropy as well and states that the diagnosis is seperate from therianthropy (the definition)

I'm not educated well enough about clinical lycanthropy but despite that, I still know that they've always had a space in the therian community (mainly if they identify with the therian label, I know there are some who don't view themselves as a therian and dont associatcate with the community so I'm mainly refering to the therians who have the disorder) and I truly do support their right to exist as themselves with their experiences. They should be able to talk about it and, just like I said about the physical aspect of therianthropy, if thier identity as a therian is primarily based on delusions, then that is how they experience their therianthropy and so therefore therianthropy will have an aspect of delusion to it and it is just as real (and valuable) of an experience as someone who is a fox due to past lives.

Now, he never said that clinical lycanthropes and physical therians don't have a place in the community and I'm sure he considers them part of the community but that's why the title of his video and the way he says that therianthropy is NOT physical (plus his explanation about how therianthropy also isn't delusional) is unintentionally exclusionist. I think taking taking away and denying the physical (and in some cases delusional) aspects of therianthropy is exclusionatory to those who experience their animality that way and I think that's bad. Even more is how, by phrasing his definition of therianthropy like that and titling his video like that, he excludes so many therians who do experience therianthropy physically and through delusions.

That's what frustrates me the most because he is very well known on tiktok and is very much considered an educator on the app. Even I really liked a lot of his content and takes about certain topics regarding therianthropy. But that video and what he says on that video will influence therians who watch his content to believe that therianthropy isn't physical (and might prompt them to actively push out those with a physical experience) and I just think that it's reductive (and untrue) especially with the fact that physical therians do exist and have been advocating for the right to be in their own community.

So, really, it just sucks that someone with such a large following and knowledge about therianthropy would make a video like that, and I needed to spill all my thoughts about the video here. I'm upset, and I'm not even a physical therian.

To clarify, I don't think he is purposefully excluding people with malicious intent nor do I habour any ill will to him at all, I'm not even entirely upset with him but rather just the fact that there is parts of the community who do exclude physical therians and clinical lycanthopes and I believe it's just unfair.

So therianthropy is and can be physical and delusional.

[canidbld]

sigh packs up my things and walks away fuck my stupid gay ass tail…..

[canidbld]

[canidbld]

[canidbld]

Cryptid of the Day: Bungay’s Black Shuck

Description: On a stormy night in Bungay, England (1577), a creature manifested in front of a church. The creature resembled a hellhound, and it attacked members of the clergy. It disappeared, only reappear in a church in a neighboring town. 

[canidbld]

I am extremely domestic by therian standards. I am a house dog. I want to live in a house and sleep on a fluffy little bed and get treats and toys. Pls pet me, I’m just a little puppy

[canidbld]

thinking abt how my therianthropy is such a casual part of me now. when i first realized i was nonhuman i thought that if i wasnt constantly thinking abt my theriotype and how unhappy i am abt physically being a human i was a faker and a fraud who just wanted to be special. but now i can confidently say "yeah im a wolf" without feeling like I need to prove myself to anyone.

[canidbld]

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 c��rvido ("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.

[canidbld]

Expressions of Alterhumanity: A Shared Experience

When we talk about alterhuman expression, like the concept itself, it is often something personal, singular, and individualized.

But as a community, we do have community expression.

These come in the forms of inside jokes, in-community memes, events like howls, or as a convention hosted. It’s in the form of various collaborative digital zines, the data presented from the many surveys, even as some within a system engage in these miniature community expression through the creation of a collective sona.

The soup meme (Daski, Othercon), the various community mascots out of the “create a creature” panels in conventions (Daski and Nova), slogans and sayings like “feed your local archivist” (Page) or “you can do whatever you want forever” (Centaurus Festival).

It’s us putting forth ideas together, and all of our personal experiences combined into an amalgamation of expressions.

It can also still be a mixture of personal and community. In character maker shared, and everyone presented what they’d used the character builder to make something as close to an approximate of their identities, and showed it to their fellow community members. It is sort of amazing how even when using the same tool, we all are each so distinctively ourselves.

We may come together to put together a playlist with songs that connect to each of us differently, and maybe when others listened, they also found new songs they resonate with.

We may participate in community-wide art trade or gifting, getting to learn about our fellow alterhumans via expressing via art their various identities. Or maybe visual artists put down their brushes to paint scenes that capture the moment between members.

It is always in between the terminologies created to speak of our experiences, the long discussion we shared about our perspectives and stories, the prompts inviting folks to create and express our identities or selves, and the very community we made in various forms, physical meetups or virtual—on discord, dreamwidth, tumblr, reddit, tiktok, amino, bluesky, facebook, forums, etc.

And sometimes, we just want all flock and lounge on a sunny rocc, making noises at each other and sharing our food together.

[canidbld]

Petition to change ‘paw dysphoria’ (long, many syllables)

to ‘dyspawria’ (punny, short, less syllables)

[canidbld]

Looking for nontraditionally tame/domesticated therians!

A very good discussion was brought up on discord about the lack of recounts by therians who identify as tame/domesticated, but arent one of the traditionally domesticated species (cat, dog, horse, etc). Replies dont have to be an essay, just an acknowledgement or a couple paragraphs is fine :D

Wild and traditionally tame/domesticated therians are encouraged to reblog to reach a wider audience :3 This also includes “animalistic” creatures like dragons that have been pushed out of the term Therian (who 100% deserve to use it!)

[canidbld]

( 🐾 ) — dog terms that describe a canine experience :

Caninehood

Canineness

Doghood

Dogkinity

Puphood

[canidbld]

https://slumberdragon.itch.io/kind-zine

I put together a little zine pdf based around comfort and activities for non-human folk! Check it out on itch, it’s pay what you want, but I appreciate donations! 🍀

[canidbld]

It’s always so blatantly obvious when I’m shifting. For many reasons.

Reason/example 1 : my camera roll becomes this

[canidbld]

So paradox on paradox

the circumstances tell

of a hound who dwells in heaven

but lives his life in hell [x]