dragonpurrs

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3 Heads One Brain Cell

Why am I here? 1/2

This strip is just a concise way of saying I keep trotting and thankfully have headmates to remind me to finish tasks and wtf I'm doing. - Hortense

Who are these people? Check out our website to learn about us and our other project.

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[dragonpurrs]

Experiencing Transspecies Identity Through Philosophy

by Sivaan of Candlekeep

No blurb. This is a short, self-explanatory one.

Estimated reading time: around five to six minutes

This morning, I decided to chat a bit about being transspecies and why my experience is mostly approached from an ontological angle. Although I’m interested in options that’ll physically align with my identity, I’m not looking to immediately hit these goals. I’ll consider those pursuits when I have the time and money for them, but I’m not in an environment where I can.

Furthermore, that’s not why I label myself as transspecies. When I first considered it, I started out by reading “Transspecies: Two Flags & An FAQ” at the Sundragon’s Roost.

Initially, I was skeptical over whether or not I’d fit the label. It was the first option I considered outside of the alterhuman community. Although plenty of alterhumans use the label (such as myself), I also knew the term took root decades prior to and outside of alterhumanity as we know it today. I wanted to get a basic understanding of the label and its community first.

While reading, this particular passage caught my interest:

“People who choose this label also often have political reasons for doing so– making a statement of refusal of the social construct of humanity, and deliberately drawing comparisons with the transgender experience in order to make people think about how we construct these categories.”

This follows after information regarding physical and/or social transition within the transspecies community. This perspective wouldn’t be the only one I’d find. It came up again in other transspecies readings such as Aster’s “Why I Call Myself Transspecies”:

“What I'm trying to get across is that the status of "human" is socially constructed. It's been granted and taken away based on things like race, ethnicity, disability, orientation, gender, and far more throughout history into the modern day. "Human" and what that means has been looked at in myriad ways by different peoples since homo sapiens could first question our own being. "Human" is not the same as Homo sapiens. And I feel neither.”

“Part of "transspecies" for me is criticizing the mixed messages I'm sent by society as a queer, Mad, crippled, plural, nonbinary alterhuman that I must be human -- but I'm not human and don't deserve to be treated like one. It's saying "fine, I'm not human, and I refuse to be." With the "dehumanization" I've faced, I'm choosing to embrace it. To say "no" to every effort to make me conform to the idea of "human" that is constantly shoved down our throats. To some degree, it's Voidpunk. But that's a very recent stance I've taken on it, and it's far deeper and older than that for me, too.”

“So, "transspecies" comes from two places for me: both a place of "human" as a social/political construct that I reject entirely, as well as an innate and literal part of myself. One rooted in lifelong dysphoria and a deep desire to change my body to resemble inhuman beings that's tied firm to my sense of gender and body.”

For the rest of the essay, Aster goes into detail about faer experiences with dysphoria (species- and gender-wise), how faer gender identity and species identity intertwine, the steps fae wants to take or already has taken to transition, and faer personal thoughts on the pursuit and struggle of attaining body modifications.

This includes seeing a therapist who supports faer identity, gaining tattoos to ease paw dysphoria, and estimating the financial requirements for faer transition ($4,800 upwards for ear-pointing surgery, digileg prosthetics, and other attributes). Although I’m not sure how old this essay is, I still resonate with it to this day.

Similar to Aster, my relationships with species and gender overlap. Each journey began with the realization that I didn’t need to confine myself to the standards of my surroundings. The society in which I live in is culturally Christian, increasingly cisheteronormative, and anthropocentric to its core. Time and time again, it’s been shown that this society doesn’t want any space for individuals like me and my communities. However, not once has that stopped us from embracing our personal autonomy.

Of course, I have my own reasons for using transspecies as a label:

1. My journey with my species identity parallels my gender identity.

Neither were known from the beginning, as much as I try to find signs in my childhood. Regardless, both resulted in my detachment from my society’s ontological “norms”.

2. Much like gender, I believe not only humanity but species as a whole is a construct.

I hold the right to express and interpret my species how I see fit. If I say I am a shapeshifter, then I am a shapeshifter. That should be acknowledged.

3. I resonate with the following definition: “crossing the cultural boundaries of species”. In my case, I am crossing the cultural boundaries of both species and reality.

I am transfictional. I am a fictional character and a member of several fictional species while existing in this world. Typically, your average person won’t believe my existence. After all, fiction is known for containing imaginary events, people, and worlds within its medium. Therefore, fiction isn’t regarded as a part of our reality.

What we define as “reality” can be split into two categories: shared reality and personal reality. The former is something we all exist within and engage in, but what we share doesn’t determine the finer details of one’s personal reality. At the same time, no one is obligated to adopt another’s personal reality but they’re still obligated to respect and coexist with it as long as it isn’t harmful.

Let’s use spiritual belief as an outside example. I am an agnostic animist. I don’t follow a religion, but I do believe that all things contain a spirit of sorts— that includes plants, theriform animals, elements of nature, and inanimate objects. I don’t expect others to adopt my beliefs in order to respect me.

Conversely, do I believe this world was made by a single, all-powerful God? I used to. It’s not my cup of tea anymore. Do I believe in pantheons? I think they make more sense than a single god controlling everything, but nope, still not my cup of tea. My reasoning? I believe we have no set way of proving nor disproving the creation of this world through divinity.

That said, I do believe this world has a supernatural quality to it. In other words, I believe in spirits. Although our beliefs don’t align, I’m not clashing with a devout follower or an atheist. That’s a part of their personal reality. It’s not a part of mine, but I respect it at a distance. No one’s required to add the existence of fictional worlds to their list of beliefs around me. But, basic respect is required if we’re going to interact.

Being a part of this world and in this body doesn’t define me as an individual. I involve myself in the social and political climate of my surroundings, because it will ultimately affect my experiences here. That said, I don’t need to adopt every concept of being as my own in the process— that includes how I’m perceived in this society and the world at large.

4. I challenge the notion that personhood is exclusive to human beings.

Gender and sexuality, for example, are steadily deconstructed in our societies, not only on the basis of personal experience but how these concepts are perceived in our cultures and their social mores. If we’re capable of deconstructing these concepts on such a level, then the same case should be made with the concepts of species and personhood.

Consider those who entirely reject humanity. Now, consider those who experience humanity and nonhumanity as a spectrum, or are already nonhuman and developing their own connection to humanity. What of those who created their species or have no species of their own? Where do those of us belonging to multiple species, with fluctuating species, or experiencing all species at once fall? Personhood is an open concept. Anyone and anything can exist as a person in our societies.

Personhood shouldn’t have to involve human identity unless an individual feels that it is applicable to themselves. Anthropocentism has governed the concept of being for as long as Earth’s been spinning. By being transspecies, and transfictional no less, my existence contradicts the notion that only humans of this planet and reality can be people.

As mentioned in Aster’s essay, this same demographic has continuously stripped personhood from their own kind on the basis of race, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexuality, and many more concepts. What grounds does humankind have in claiming that only they can be people? Some of humankind’s worst actors don’t recognize more than half of the planet’s population as people because they don’t fit their image of supremacy. This is also touched on in Akhila’s argumentative essay, “On the appropriation of trans narratives by therianthropes”, but under the context of humanity:

“We should also keep in mind that in the past the humanity of some people was denied and some groups were considered closer to nonhuman animals than humans. What constitutes “humanity” has been subject of centuries of philosophical debates, and the boundaries defining “human” has always been rather blurry and shifting depending not only on scientific progress but also on cultural and historical contexts.”

And that’s only covering humanity as a concept, given that it’s treated as synonymous with all things “just” and “civilized”. Never mind the fact that human (species) and person (concept) are also treated as synonymous. Yet, if a human being is denied personhood for the constructs they fall into, where does that leave us?

What makes someone a ‘person’? When personhood can be revoked and redefined so easily by a ruling class, that begs the question of whether or not personhood is truly based in humanity. If humanity is no longer the defining factor, then what is?

Humans can’t argue on the basis of general intelligence, that’s for certain. I’ve discussed in a separate post that plenty of non-sapient animals, such as dolphins and octopi, are incredibly intelligent on their own. As are humankind’s closest living relatives, chimpanzees and other primates. If we were to use intelligence as a metric, not specifically sapience, then that would open up thousands of doors. Anthropocentric thought often ignores the fact that all animals are intelligent, with or without sapience.

Topics such as these are why I consider my transspecies experience to be largely philosophical. We should continue to push the boundaries of species, especially regarding who our societies choose to recognize as people and who they don’t.

[dragonpurrs]

me

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keeping wild animals as pets is bad. except me. let me into your house

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YOU THERE

HALT !!!

sniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniffsniff

[dragonpurrs]

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.

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A good resource for carnivorous kins who are vegitarian, pescetarian, or vegan in this life.

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Texas's F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Bill Scheduled for Hearing Tuesday Morning

This blog post was written by Orion Scribner (frameacloud) on 2025 April 26 for our Dreamwidth community blog Otherkin News, which is a volunteer run project about real-world current events relevant to alterhumanity. We welcome other people to submit articles. Learn more about this project and what we’re looking for.

An anti-furry bill will be heard early this week

Texas House Bill 54, which nicknames itself the "F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act," has been scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, at 8:00 AM (Texas Legislature). This is a very early stage in the bill's progress toward becoming a law: it is not yet a law, and this hearing alone is not enough to make it become a law. Eighteen other bills about public education that will be heard during that session as well. Don't let the sensationalism of this bill distract you from the others: sometimes legislators intentionally write outrageous bills not only to satirize the issues they genuinely care about, but to distract attention away from other bills that they hope will pass into law unnoticed (Jones 2024). The government web page at the first link tells where people can submit comment or testify, where to see a live video broadcast of it. Common wisdom in the furry fandom warns to take caution in talking with the media or bringing other forms of publicity. Be aware that the bill author had said that he "expect[s] the subculture to show up in full furry vengeance at the committee hearing" (Bahari 2025). This suggests that he is looking forward to it being bait for an embarrassing spectacle.

Here's a recap of this bill and the urban legend behind it

In March, Republican Representative Stan Gerdes filed Texas House Bill 54 (TX HB 54, formerly TX HB 4814). Here is the state government's page about the bill, and here is their text of the bill itself. Calling itself the F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act, the bill proposes an amendment to the state constitution to ban public schools from allowing students to do anything on its list of "non-human behaviors." The bill would impose tens of thousands of dollars of fines on faculty for allowing those behaviors, section 6(f), found on page 10. It would redefine abuse to include letting children think that those behaviors are societally acceptable, section 5(1)(A), found on page 7. Gerdes claimed he wrote the bill in response to an incident in the school district of Smithville, which is 45 miles away from Austin and has only 1,885 students. He didn't describe the incident, and journalists found no sign of it there (Bahari 2025; Villareal 2025). The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, publicly spoke in favor of this particular bill, saying that these non-human behaviors were one of his reasons to take government funds away from public schools, using the money for some parents to send their children to private schools instead (Wermund 2025; Wermund and McKinley 2025).

Some of the activities described in the bill never happened in real life. For example, it forbids children from getting surgeries to make themselves look like animals, or using litter boxes in school, in section 2(a)(6), found on pages 5 through 6. It's the eleventh bill that Republicans in the US have sponsored in the past three years based on the litter box urban legend (Scribner 2025 March 18). The legend has been debunked by Reuters Fact Check, PolitiFact, and Snopes (Reuters, 2022; Czopek, 2022; Palma, 2023). Invented and popularized by Republican politicians and public figures in 2021, the urban legend says that public schools in the US have been providing litter boxes for students who identify as animals, which it calls furries. Journalists confirmed that has never happened. Only one district-- that of Columbine High School-- had litter in its emergency supplies for if classrooms were locked down without restroom access for many hours during a school shooting, along with other last-resort options for maintaining some rudiments of cleanliness and dignity while surviving unimaginable conditions (Kingkade et al 2022). That had some media attention in 2017 (Garcia 2017). In real life, use of litter boxes is not characteristic of the furry fandom. Nor do furries typically identify as animals (Plante et al, 2016, pp. 113-114). It has been decades that sexists have made grotesque comparisons between transgender restroom access and animal-people demanding to use something other than toilets, but it is no coincidence that the change from joke to urban legend happened after the 2020 Supreme Court decision G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board in favor of transgender-friendly restroom policies in high schools.

Why are Republicans doing this?

There are a variety of reasons why Republicans are spreading urban legend and why they're proposing laws based on it. The purpose of the urban legend and the bills is to satirize transgender students who ask to use the right restrooms for their genders. Another of its purposes is to justify defunding public schools in favor of private schools. Defunding public schools would make it impossible for some children with severe disabilities to go to school at all (RA Staff 2025 March 6).

Though the bill specifically names some activities that no students have done, it has other aspects that are worded so broadly that it would also apply to a range of behaviors that are normal in children's pretend play, teacher-guided learning activities, and hobby clubs (Codega 2025; Fields 2025). Most children play at being animals or engage in some form of what could be considered role-play as part of education or entertainment. Do Republicans have a vendetta against that, and if so, why? For one thing, fascism and other very controlling government ideologies disapprove of play. Controlling ideologies misinterpret play as only a distraction and diversion. There is little care for its importance for development, learning, discovery, and enrichment. Instead, fascists prioritize molding youth to conformity and obedience in utilitarian purposes in war, labor, and reproduction, with scarcely any life outside of it. Any hobby not in service to the structure is seen as a threat to it, because exploring outside of or making exceptions to the paradigm may lead to questioning it. Instead of approaching unfamiliar ideas with curiosity, thinking is fended off by means of shallow yet emotionally sensational reactions of either derision or outrage.

For another thing, sexists try to misrepresent transgender people as playing make-believe, saying that a transgender child is no different than a child pretending to be an animal one afternoon on the playground. Sexists say that gender confusion is a temporary phase that people shouldn't be encouraged in, should grow out of, or be forced out of by conversion therapy, rather than being allowed to socially transition. This is contrary to everything science knows about transgender people. Transgender people are who they say they are, allowing them to be themselves saves their lives, and obstructing that is needlessly destructive to their survival. The council of the world's largest psychological association overwhelmingly decided for a policy that supports transition as medically necessary and the healthiest choice for transgender people of all ages who desire it (APA Council of Representatives 2024). It also has a policy that recognizes conversion therapy as abusive and ineffective (APA Council of Representatives 2021).

In their urban legend and anti-furry bills and what they use them to justify, we see many values of what now calls itself the American Republican party. Republicans such as Governor Abbott show us that they oppose education for people other than the wealthy. Republicans are against the survival of youth who are different because of being queer, disabled, or other reasons. They oppose young people engaging in hobbies or playtime. If any of this situation feels undesirable or discouraging to you, the end of one of my previous articles about this bill has a section about what you can do to make positive changes to the world around you. There will be an opportunity to speak up about this bill this week. If you do, please make sure you are well-informed and careful.∎

Previously... Here is a list in reverse chronological order of some of our previous posts on Otherkin News about TX HB 54 and other anti-furry bills in the US:

* 2025 April 19, our second article about TX HB 54: A Roundup of News Coverage of Texas’s F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act. * 2025 March 18, our first article about TX HB 54: Texas Governor Wants Constitutional Amendment to Punish “Non-Human Behaviors” in Schools * 2025 January 18: Mississippi and Oklahoma propose laws against students who identify as nonhuman animals * 2024 March 24: One anti-furry bill died, the other two wait to be heard * 2024 February 25: One of the anti-furry bills might become about religion in schools instead * 2024 February 18: Republicans introduce a 7th anti-furry bill and work to undermine student freedoms on a wider scale * 2024 February 9: Will Oklahoma Call Animal Control on Students? * 2023 April 24: Proposed amendment to Montana net censorship bill would ban transgender and transspecies people * 2023 March 14: A formerly anti-alterhuman but still anti-transgender bill will be heard Wednesday * 2023 February 22: In US, three anti-transgender bills also oppose alterhumans; similar recent Supreme Court cases

References

APA Council of Representatives (February 2021). APA RESOLUTION on Gender Identity Change Efforts. American Psychological Association.https://www.apa.org/about/policy/resolution-gender-identity-change-efforts.pdf

APA Council of Representatives (February 2024). APA Policy Statement on Affirming Evidence-Based Inclusive Care for Transgender, Gender Diverse, and Nonbinary Individuals, Addressing Misinformation, and the Role of Psychological Practice and Science. American Psychological Association.https://www.apa.org/about/policy/transgender-nonbinary-inclusive-care

Bahari, Sarah (2025 March 17). Texas bill would ban ‘furry subculture’ from public schools. The Dallas Morning News. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2025/03/17/texas-bill-would-ban-furry-subculture-from-public-schools/ Archived 2025 April 8: https://web.archive.org/web/20250408185746/https://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2025/03/17/texas-bill-would-ban-furry-subculture-from-public-schools/

Codega, Lin (2025 March 19). A Texas conformity bill could impact tabletop roleplaying games in schools statewide. Rascal. https://www.rascal.news/texas-furries-act-tabletop-roleplaying-games-in-schools/ Archived 2025 March 20: https://web.archive.org/web/20250320225725/https://www.rascal.news/texas-furries-act-tabletop-roleplaying-games-in-schools/

Czopek, Madison (2022 December 15). Debunking, rebuttals didn’t stop claim about litter boxes in schools from spreading before midterms. PolitiFact. https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/dec/15/debunking-rebuttals-didnt-stop-claim-about-litter/ Archived 2022 December 15. https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://www.politifact.com/article/2022/dec/15/debunking-rebuttals-didnt-stop-claim-about-litter/

Fields, Alyssa (2025 March 17). Furries, Meowing in School Now a 'Radical Trend,' According to Lawmaker. The Dallas Observer. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/texas-bill-aims-to-eliminate-furries-in-schools-21926996 Archived 2025 April 9: https://web.archive.org/web/20250409081416/https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/texas-bill-aims-to-eliminate-furries-in-schools-21926996

Jones, Alyse (2024 January 18). How many newly filed bills will become law in Oklahoma?. KOCO-TV. https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-new-filed-bills/46431213

Kingkade, Tyler, Ben Goggin, Ben Collins, and Brandy Zadrozny (2022 October 14). How an urban myth about litter boxes in schools became a GOP talking point. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/urban-myth-litter-boxes-schools-became-gop-talking-point-rcna51439 Archived 2025 March 16: https://web.archive.org/web/20250316154051/https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/misinformation/urban-myth-litter-boxes-schools-became-gop-talking-point-rcna51439

Palma, Bethania. (2023 January 30). How Furries Got Swept Up in Anti-Trans 'Litter Box' Rumors. Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/ Archived on 2023 March 30. https://web.archive.org/web/20230330232007/https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/

Plante, C., S. Reysen, S. Roberts, and K. Gerbasi (2016). FurScience! A summary of five years of research from the International Anthropomorphic Research Project. FurScience: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ISBN: 978-0-9976288-0-7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304540208_FurScience_A_summary_of_five_years_of_research_from_the_International_Anthropomorphic_Research_Project The relevant section of the book is also on the project’s official web page here: https://furscience.com/research-findings/therians/7-2-animal-identification/

RA Staff (2025 March 6). School Choice or School Inequality? Children with Disabilities and the Texas Voucher Debate. Reform Austin. https://www.reformaustin.org/education/school-choice-or-school-inequality-children-with-disabilities-and-the-texas-voucher-debate/

Reuters Fact Check (2022 October 18). Fact Check-No evidence of schools accommodating ‘furries’ with litter boxes. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT Archived 2023 February 13. https://web.archive.org/web/20230213110524/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT

Texas Legislature (2025 March 15). Texas House Bill 54. Texas Legislature Online. https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB54

Texas Legislature (2025 April 24). House of Representatives Notice of Public Hearing. Texas Legislature. https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/schedules/html/C4002025042908001.htm Archived 2025 April 25. https://web.archive.org/web/20250425165649/https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/schedules/html/C4002025042908001.HTM

Texas Legislature (2025 March 13). Texas House Bill 4814. Texas Legislature Online.https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/Authors.aspx?LegSess=89R&Bill=HB4814

Van der Loos, M. A. T. C., Hannema, S. E., Klink, D. T., den Heijer, M., & Wiepjes, C. M. (2022). Continuation of gender-affirming hormones in transgender people starting puberty suppression in adolescence: a cohort study in the Netherlands. The Lancet. Child & Adolescent Health, 6(12), 869–875. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(22)00254-1

Villarreal, Daniel (2025 March 13). GOP legislator files bill to stop ‘furries’ from using litter boxes in schools. LGBTQ Nation. https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/gop-legislator-files-bill-to-stop-furries-from-using-litter-boxes-in-schools/ Archived 2025 March 14: https://web.archive.org/web/20250314064854/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/03/gop-legislator-files-bill-to-stop-furries-from-using-litter-boxes-in-schools/

Wermund, Benjamin and Edward McKinley (2025 February 13) Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says vouchers could lead to less funding for public schools. Houston Chronicle. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-school-vouchers-20165943.php Archived 2025 February 18: https://web.archive.org/web/20250218163839/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-school-vouchers-20165943.php

Wermund, Benjamin (2025 March 13). Greg Abbott cites debunked claim that public schools catered to ‘furries’ in latest voucher push. Houston Chronicle. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-furries-vouchers-20220159.php Archived 2025 March 15. https://web.archive.org/web/20250315071709/https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/greg-abbott-furries-vouchers-20220159.php

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Maned Lioness and Maneless Lion pride flags

Pride flags for anyone who identifies as, or with the concept of a maned lioness or a maneless lion, for any reason, including But Not Limited To: being intersex, gender nonconforming, trans in any way (and of any gender), or alterhuman/otherkin!

The colors were picked from photos of real lions and lionesses, and are completely symmetrical to represent how there's no "wrong way" to be a maned lioness or a maneless lion. There is no gender requirement for either flag.

Other people with completely different genders to you might identify as the same one as you, and this is a good thing. Have pride in your community. There is no wrong way to be a maneless lion or maned lioness. There is no gender requirement or policing.

Insert pride puns here.

These pride flags and icons are Public Domain, meaning there is no copyright on them, and you can do Literally Anything you want with them, at all. (Because there's no point in making a "pride flag" if no one is allowed to actually use it as a pride flag)

[ID: Three versions of two pride flags, both with seven horizontal and symetrical stripes, with the top, bottom, and center stripes being the same color. The first is the Maned Lioness pride flag, with stripes of: Black, tan, light brown, black, light brown, tan, and black. The first version of the flag has a white icon of a maned lionness in the center, with a spiky mane. The second version has just the stripes. The first version is the icon against a white background, with the flag stripes inside the lines of the icon itself. The second flag is the Maneless Lion pride flag, with stripes of: very soft gold, tan, light brown, soft gold, light brown, tan, and soft gold. The first version of the flag has the head of a maneless lion in the center in white. The second version has just the stripes, and the last version is the icon itself against a black background, with the stripes inside the icon. End ID.]

All of these images are archived on the Internet Archive. This post will be saved to the Wayback Machine as soon as it is posted. You are encouraged to download and share these anywhere and everywhere you want. Just please include the relevant sections of the image description for accessibility.

Again. Cannot stress this enough. There are no gender requirements for either of these terms.

You might identify with the same term here as a woman, or a man, or a nonbinary person. This is not a bad thing. This is fantastic. Celebrate your shared pride and have joy in your community.

Protect everyone around you just as strongly as lions defend members of their own prides, no matter the differences between you, whether you're a maned lioness or a maneless lion, or neither, or something in between.

Bare your collective teeth at those who want to harm us all.

[dragonpurrs]

in honor of the Centaurus Festival beggining today <3

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An Intersex Zine, by Versegm

Content: Rated PG-13. Mentions of medical violence and other necessary topics when explaining about what intersex means. It doesn't depict or go into graphic detail about any of these.

Medium: Nonfiction zine, designed for being read on a computer screen.

Length: Seven pages. About a ten minute read.

About: An introduction to what intersex means, written by someone who is intersex. This zine is in English, and a French translation is available too.

Vibe: Informative, a touch of humor, some heavy topics.

I put this zine in my itch.io collections: intersex and LGBTQIA nonfiction. This is part of a series of Tumblr posts that I’m queueing where I review and feature other people’s cool creations that they have put on itch.io to celebrate and bring attention to them.

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Ahoj Rani,

Doing some quick googling there seem to be a few instances of cosexual being used in discussions of evolution of sex chromosomes. This document from 1982 does specify that cosexual may be used for animals. https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.13.110182.002351

Kindly, Kala

Oh thank the gods, and it actually defines cosexual clearly - and I was right, it’s an umbrella term for “hermaphroditism, monoecy, gynomonoecy, andromonoecy, and polygamonoecy”. Thank you for finding this! This is one of the articles I found the abstract for but couldn’t hunt down a full-text for, so I’m gratified that I was at least on the right track.

All right! Hesitance on that front rescinded. We do actually have a good solid replacement then. (This even suggests that you could say “sequential cosexual” in the same way you’d say “sequential hermaphrodite.”)

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original comic from vsemily , little kossai riff version . :P

treat others with decency even if fail to understand experiences !

[dragonpurrs]

Important PSA:

If you live in or around the wilderness, regardless of if you're a therian or not, it is your responsibility to take care of the wildlife by preventing unjust harm. This means picking up netting, old fishing line, anything an animal could get trapped and die in. It's good to pick up other trash as well, but if you're going to do anything at all, netting is your top priority.

I've had to untangle bullfrogs from plastic netting like what I picked up today. My family has had to unwrap groundhogs from cloth netting. I've seen water snakes wrapped up and choked to death by fishing line. Whatever is discarded or washed down in the wilderness will catch and harm animals existing in their natural environments.

Always pick it up, comb through for any trapped animals, then take it back to your house and throw it away/recycle it.

[dragonpurrs]

Admonishment to self loathing - nobody ever got better through self hate and suffering! Take the ibuprofen! Your brain is not a confessional where you are an eternal penitent! Forcing hardship upon yourself doesn't make you noble it makes you injured!

Black and red version and trans version both on my redbubble

[ID: a digital drawing of a wolf caught in a bear trap, stylized like a risograph print. There are two colourways - one in black and red, the other in pink and blue, both on a soft cream background. Text reads "Your suffering is not noble. no absolution will materialize from your pain. End ID]

[dragonpurrs]

For the ones that need it today

[dragonpurrs]