#otherkin discourse

[mechanical-sunchild]

"Otherkin identities come behind race stuff" do you hear yourself? You sound just like the "you can't kin outside of your race" people if someone is a wendigo then they're a fucking wendigo you're not even native so stfu

I'm sorry to tell you that no, being otherkin doesn't mean you can do whatever you want regardless of things like racism, cultural appropriation and respecting the wishes of closed cultures. Which is what I actally said, but yeah I guess that's 'race stuff'.

Your comparison is also very ignorant.

The 'you can't kin outside of your race' drama by and large started because of the large number of anime-sourced fictotypes and the general backlash against 'weeaboos' whether they were doing anything 'wrong' or not. By and large this issue was created and perpetuated by non-Japanese people trying to be morally good.

It was stupid not because 'it's not a choice to be otherkin!' but because fictional anime characters who are technically Japanese aren't real people and it's not harming any real Japanese people to identify as/be a fictional character who is technically Japanese.

You might want to exercise some kind of delicateness around the racial aspects of your fictotypes sure, but in general fictional is fictional and anime characters don't hold any special meaning or significance to Japanese culture other than artistically. I mean maybe some Japanese people were upset about it, but most of the people I saw were white and had created the problem in the name of Japanese people.

Meanwhile, real people in this world of various races who belong to various closed or otherwise marginalised and oppressed cultures have spoken out about how their folkloric, religious/spiritual and otherwise deeply rooted cultural figures are not 'cryptids' or similar. That they're sick of mainly white people changing the lore around these things and then using them in whatever way they see fit.

This includes for some who are aware of it, otherkin who use the names of these creatures and entities directly instead of just accepting that your otherkin identities aren't as important as the rights of these groups to tell you that it's closed off to you, you cannot use that name. Use some other name. Make your own creature name. Or, accept that you're part of the cultural appropriation of these creatures and practices and not morally pure, I guess.

It's not just the job of natives of the culture to defend it, by the way, what's the point of white privilege if I'm just sitting on my ass about stuff I know is wrong? I didn't invent this issue, I shut up and listened about it.

I'm not even saying that these people aren't what they say they are, especially if you believe otherkinism is purely involuntary, just that there's elements here which don't apply to other actual cryptids like mothman or bigfoot or something and our comfort as otherkin comes below not being racist and culturally appropriative even if like only two people are uncomfortable for racial reasons you should just not use that word.

[mewos-laptop]

Physical therians are valid,

Chosen therians are valid,

Mentally ill therians are valid,

Delusional therians are valid,

Traumatized therians are valid,

And all of you need to SHUT THE FUCK UP about them before I start making blocklists of your pathetic asses.

[lizardywizard]

This! Radical acceptance and blind faith are not the same.

Radical acceptance, in my understanding, is about questioning your kneejeek impulse to pick someone apart just because you're personally uncomfortable. You don't have to like everyone in the community, and you're even allowed to think a microlabsl is silly or weird.

But you also have to question your own "ick" response and the part of you that tells you that your first emotional reaction to something is correct, and when you find something that makes you feel that way, go and do research as to whether it actually is this terrible thing you've been afraid of. That's the "radical" part: you have to be willing to change when you get new knowledge. That's hard.

And then, even if you decide you're personally uncomfortable with something, don't be a gatekeeper about it. That's the "acceptance" part. If you genuinely have evidence that someone's doing direct harm (e.g. animal abuse), don't be a lone keyboard warrior - gather the community about it. Actual animal abusers get kicked out pretty fast here.

Otherwise, unfollow/block/mute if you have to. It's up to you to decide where you draw the line of real harm, but if making people justify their cane use is on the same side to you as preventing actual physical harm, despite other disabled people saying that normalisation of aids in society would help them, you're not very radical or accepting, and you're not going to get far in anything labelled "punk". Because gatekeeping does harm to your community too.

Question things, be willing to accept you're wrong, don't be a dick. If you value your personal, inner kneejeek reaction-as-scepticism over "letting people do thing", you're still welcome in the otherkin community, but you're not a punk, yeah?

Signed, someone who uses a cane because I have shitty hips sometimes, and also finds it species euphoric.

I’m heavily pro-endo so that statement was meant literally (polytherian does not experience any form of plurality but calls themselves a system purely based on having multiple theriotypes).

Even if we were just talking about self expression. As a disabled person, does being radically accepting mean I have to accept nonhumans who are not disabled (who have said they are not disabled) using medical equipment to express their nonhumanity (i.e. someone using a cane solely for the purpose of showing they should not be bipedal). Because, it’s their right to express that way but it doesn’t sit right with me that I’m watching someone use medical equipment as an accessory. It’s not harmful but it’s also not something I can agree with.

I guess my point is. Where do you draw the line with radical acceptance? If we believe everyone about everything, if we accept every form of expression, at what point can we recognize what is harmful and not? If a couple people are hurt by it, is that harmful or just a personal opinion?

By no means is any of this meant as an attack. I’m really just trying to figure out where the radically accepting folks come from (as I once thought myself to be RA but found it brought on much toxicity and drama to spaces that weren’t that way before). As I said. I love Beastpunk for all its other qualities… just not the radically accepting (basically blind faith in my opinion) part…

Look, as someone who walks with a cane and wishes it was as well-loved and accepted an accessory as glasses currently are, so I'd get less shit about using one and accessibility for canes would be more baseline, I think you seriously need to reconsider why you can't agree with that. And why, even though you openly admit it isn't harmful, it's still being used as an example in this scenario.

Let's open the doors on this-- we're talking about a concept where we are trusting people to know themselves better than we know them, and where we are accepting the aspects about people that they cannot change, and where we are accepting people's non-harmful forms of self-expression. Where does any of that suddenly scoop your ability to think critically and deeply about information being presented to you out of your skull? I'm hunting through my essay and, you know, I simply just can't find the part where we yoink out your common sense or ability to question others.

Beastpunk is against plenty of harmful ideaologies and communities-- like pshifting, for instance, for historical reasons as outlined in the essay. You can be beastpunk and have opinions about what constitutes harm and what doesn't. But, as I said before, you're conflating radical acceptance as spoken of here with tucking tail and showing off your throat and belly, so to speak. You are confusing radical acceptance within this framework with an inability to confront others and to dig in deep to question why you are uncomfortable with something to decide if it really truly causes harm or if it's just internalized shit you need to unpack (re: the cane thing). And look, I cannot give you that skill. And being beastpunk requires that skill.

I cannot in good faith recommend beastpunk to you when you have so blatantly misunderstood what it represents, and seem to have a total inability to grasp one of the underlying, core principles of it.

Other folks are also welcome to chime in.

[aestherians]

*sigh* Look, we don't choose our past lives. We don't choose our attachments. But if you happen to have some kind of strong connection to a Nazi officer who murdered people in our present world, whose descendants and relatives are still alive and hurting, and whose suffering is continuously downplayed, or even denied, to this day - I think the least you can do is treat it with the appropriate somberness.

There's a difference between having an attachment to a genocidal murderer from a source of fiction and having an attachment to one from this world, and the difference is that there are millions of people presently around you who are still reeling from the effects of our present-world genocidal murderers. When you downplay or gloss over the Holocaust, you are downplaying and glossing over the sufferring of millions of Jewish, Romani, disabled, and queer people who were murdered in literal assembly-line death factories.

Having a past life as a nazi officer is morally neutral. You didn't choose that. But making cutesy heart edits of said officer and going "omg he's so me" while ignoring the piles of bodies he left in his wake is, speaking politely, really fucking shitty. At best it's ignorant and at worst it's perpetuating the minimization and denial of Jewish suffering under the Nazi regime.

[nyctohyloph0bia]

Honestly y'all need to chill with the "nonhumaness needs to be involuntary!"

The only reason you're saying that is due to wanting to present 'valid' enough for outsiders. It's not a choice so they won't bully you, like they do furries or other people.

And I hear you cry "but KFF!". KFF aren't nonhuman, they just relate. If someone comes over to me and says "I choose to be nonhuman today, I am nonhuman no matter what other ppl tell me. I genuinely identify as nonhuman." That isn't KFF, that's a nonhuman.

Truly, I'll just go "woah...that's so based". Because truly, what are our differences? We both genuinely identify as nonhuman....and yeah that's about it.

You might say, "they don't experience shifts!" There's nonhumans that don't experience shifts. And there's humans that experience shifts, we call it the "shifter's disease". Basically when a full human researches or is around nonhumans and begins feeling phantoms or feeling nonhuman, despite not being nonhuman. So it isn't exclusive to us.

"They don't have noemata!" There's nonhumans that don't have noemata.

"They don't suffer species dysphoria." Theres nonhumans that don't experience species dysphoria. Also cool transmed rethoric.

"They weren't born with it!" There's nonhumans that become nonhuman later on in life.

"They didn't wish their whole life to be a different species!" And? I can imagine there's some nonhumans that didn't even realize they wanted to be/were a different species.

"It's disrespectful to nonhumans that suffer due to their identity!" Another cool transmed rethoric. It's only disrespectful to you because you're up your own ass and believe that anyone who didn't suffer like you did, that didn't have it as hard as you isn't as valid as yourself. But what you don't realize is by having that belief you are excluding such a large portion of your community.

There's involuntary nonhumans who don't suffer from their identity at all and they're still part of our community.

The line between voluntary and involuntary can get blurry very quickly and hard to describe. But truly, you are no one to say who can use a label that rightfully describes their experiences.

Get real and truly think about why you're so upset at someone having a good faith identity.

[xxpunkbovidxx]

Here's a loud fucking reminder for those of you in the back about being transspecies

Being transspecies is no more about transition than being transgender

Yes it can be a heavy part of it but not all transspecies individuals will even want to transition

And then there's the topic of what's considered transitioning

If you have been in any transgender spaces then you may have heard the term called "social transitioning" (yes, transgender spaces includes nonbinary spaces, being nonbinary is trans)

Social transitioning tends to include things such as: changing your name, changing your pronouns, using a different bathroom (if applicable), cutting your hair, wearing different clothes, and utilizing trans gear such as packers, tucking kits, binders, prosthetic breasts, etc.

Why did I bring this up? Well, I brought this up because I've seen other beings say that what fellow transspecies beings were posting wasn't transitioning, I think this completely disproves that.

The examples they provided that apparently "weren't transitioning" were: beings wearing tails, ears, paw shoes, and other animal or nonhuman related gear. This is clearly a form of social transitioning in a transspecies way.

[BIG FUCKING WARNING: I will not tolerate any bullshit or bullying in my comments, also before you comment, transspecies is not and never has been a radqueer term.]

[werevyote]

I'm nonhuman because I know therefore I am. Sometimes for some it's not that deep and we can just exist with that

[flinnir]

targeted at the alterhuman community, but applies to everyone

you need to relearn what "harm" means.

harm is (broadly) defined as "actual or potential ill effects or danger."

someone having an experience that falls outside the bounds of shallow, insignificant research or strict socially constructed boxes and putting that into appropriate words does not fall under the definition of harm. someone being open, honest, and constructive about their hallucinations/delusions does not fall under harm (it can be healthy, even). being fluid, complicated, weird, or uneven doesn't fall under the definition of harm(ful).

the only thing that could make an internal experience remotely harmful to outsiders is the way you externally go about it

you are not inherently harmful and you are cared for. discourse DNI

[paleodeer]

I don't want to engage in discourse, but I've seen so many posts here lately talking about "Tik Tok Therians" and worries about them migrating to Tumblr.

I'm just imagining what it's like for them. Imagine coming to Tumblr for the first time and discovering all this hate and infighting. Your main way of seeing content of others like you has been taken away from you, so you turn to Tumblr, only to find hundreds of posts making assumptions and generalizations about you. Imagine coming from Tik Tok and the first post you see on here is someone calling you annoying.

Are we really as accepting as we claim to be? Now is the time to prove it.

Yes, I would absolutely be bullied off the face of Tik Tok if I ever ended up there, but that doesn't mean I will treat them the same if they ended up here. If you're scared of Tumblr turning as toxic and hostile as Tik Tok, maybe the answer is to simply avoid being toxic and hostile.

Also, a bit of a tangent, but sometimes the best way to go about things is just agreeing to disagree with those around you. I can't even count how many times I've changed my mind about something because I saw someone with a different opinion and had a civil discussion, or did proper research about something I was misinformed on because I befriended someone new. Of course we are all entitled to opinions, and we can't always see eye to eye, but that's life.

Personally, my blog will welcome these "Tik Tok Therians" with open arms. They will see that I'm weird, but most importantly they will also see that I am one of them, I am kind, and willing to educate without hate.

[tiercelgreen]

'Common' Theriotypes. Why They Exist and What The Cause Might Be.

Aka. Uh oh guys, Tiercel’s been thinking a little too much about nonhumanity.

If you've been active in the therian community for any amount of time, you may have noticed the prevalence of a few animals absolutely dominating discussion boards, video posts, and therian-centric sites. I am, of course, referencing the high number of wolves, domestic or large cats, and foxes. You may have also noticed that folks in (or outside) of the therian and broader alterhuman community claiming that a majority of people with these theriotypes 'must be faking' due to their (apparent) majority. I won't deny that certain theriotypes seem more 'popular' than others, but I don't personally believe that their prevalence actually has anything to do with 'faking therianthropy'. I'll be breaking down why this might be into multiple sections to better organize my thoughts on the subject matter. Easy Visibility When a therian first awakens, discovers what the therian community is, or begins to question their therianthropy, they often reach out for help or search for resources to assist them in figuring out what their theriotype may be. Frequently they're told by other therians or the sites they look to to research animals that align with their instincts, shifts (if they experience them), and the environments they remember (if they believe the origin of their therianthropy to be a past life) and/or feel most comfortable in.

The primary issue with this advice is that animal behavior, while specific to each animal, can be generalized across clades and even across unrelated species. If the questioning therian searches for their theriotype based on their food-guarding tendencies, growling, and love of cold climates, they're equally likely to be a wolf, a marten, a wolverine, a fox, a bear, a lynx, or any other predatory cold-biome mammal. Which one of these animals do you think is going to pop up first when they're researching cold-climate predators that match their specifications.

A Wolf. And because questioning therians are not frequently encouraged to search further than the first result, or are not sure how to fully determine if the animal is their theriotype, or is just one they feel a strong connection to, they go with the first animal that popped up. This is the primary reason why 'popular' theriotypes happen. They're the first animal(s) in the search bar when questioning therians go looking, and they're often not informed enough about the process of discovering one's theriotype to look for other options. They may also feel pressured to have figured out their theriotype already, given that every other therian around them already seems to know. Solving this issue is as simple as encouraging further search and not jumping headfirst into declaring an animal your theriotype. Reassure questioning therians that it's OK to not know their theriotype immediately, and it's OK to keep looking. It's also OK to find out you were wrong later on and 'change' (not actually change, but rather adjust the label of) your theriotype to your more accurate one.

Not A Theriotype Perhaps controversially, the 'popular' theriotypes may not be theriotypes at all. When questioning therians are introduced to the community they're often unfamiliar with terms such as otherhearted, otherlink, copinglink, or archetrope. Because they're unfamiliar with these other words and definitions, they assume any sort of connection with an animal (extant, extinct, or mythical) is therianthropy. The reason that 'popular theriotypes. may show up more often as hearttypes, links, or tropes (though this one is fairly nebulous) is because they're often easier on a fundamental level to relate to or project feeling, emotion, or connection onto. They're easier to identify with from a human perspective due to the human nature of anthropomorphizing nonhuman animals and due to humanity's familiarity and fondness towards them, and so they appear more often as hearttypes/links. In the case of links especially, because it is a voluntary identity, more 'popular' animals are chosen specifically because there is an aspect of choice involved. 'Popular' animals do have a 'cool factor' to them that makes them more beloved by linkers and more likely to become links. And this isn't a bad thing in the slightest! This particular issue can simply be resolved by further educating the alterhuman community on the terms used within it. I personally recommend the Alterhuman Dictionary as it has easy to understand and up-to-date definitions. Not A Therian We must be able to calmly confront the fact that, at the end of the day, some of these therians with popular theriotypes may not be therians, otherhearted, otherlinkers, or copinglinkers at all. However, that does not mean that they are faking, and it's harmful to assume so or claim that someone is. Firstly, many of the therians with 'popular theriotypes' that other therians complain about are very young. 12-16 most of the time. Secondly, this age is when a lot of things about one's personal identity are in flux, and it's prime time to begin discovering who you are. Exploring one's identity is fundamentally nonharmful, and this can mean testing out labels and identifying as something you may turn out to not be at all. There's no shame in this. I myself thought I was some form of canine for many years before realizing that my ‘canine’ behaviors were not canine at all, they were draconic. And ultimately, age does not factor into this as much as you’d think it does. Yes young therians are likely to be a little more tactless than adult therians on the internet, and are more prone to bullying, but anyone of any age is capable of exploring their identity and getting it wrong the first few (or few-hundred) times.

Therians in New Spaces The real catalyst for the vast majority of this [extremely pointless] discourse is the fact that therians are in the public eye now more than ever. Videos of therians go viral on TikTok, the news (inaccurately and harmfully) reports on us occasionally, and bigots who scream about ‘identity politics’ and ‘blue hair and pronouns’ have latched onto us as a new target to bully and harass. This is nothing new, the community has weathered harassment before, but the widespread nature of it is what’s inflaming this discourse. People make fun of ‘popular’ theriotypes because they want to distance themselves from ‘cringe therians’ (usually just vocal and proud younger therians), they want to avoid the bullying that easily targeted therians are facing so they join in, or because they feel like gatekeeping the community from supposed ‘fake’ therians is the only way to keep ‘true’ therians safe. The best way to mitigate this is to correct misinformation, educate, and if worse comes to worse, block. The block button is your best friend on the internet (where most of this discourse and bullying occurs), if someone is harassing you and won’t let up, or even if they just severely irritate you, blocking them does no harm and is ultimately better for your mental health and (sometimes) safety. Conclusion While perhaps more scrambled, I hope this essay has helped you understand the inane discourse around ‘popular’ theriotypes and what to do about it (if anything). I’ll leave you on the reminder that you’re under zero obligation to educate those who won’t listen, your experience with alterhumanity is going to be different from everyone else’s even if there are similarities, and you do not have the knowledge or right to tell anyone you do or do not know that they’re faking an aspect of their identity. Leave people with ‘popular’ theriotypes alone. And by the fucking gods, please stop arguing about it. It does not matter.

[taxideermied]

I swear, every time you pop open the hood on the latest therian discourse it’s guaranteed to be someone leveraging their own insecurities and/or discomfort to police the language and identification of others. Have you considered maybe the experiences of strangers are not about you and should not center your feelings?

[psychology-department]

i'm starting to feel less and less safe in this site as a fictionkin, so i just wanted to call out (factkin dni please):

INTERACT WITH THIS POST IF YOU'RE FICTIONKIN

INTERACT IF YOU RESPECT ALL KINTYPES REGARDLESS OF MEDIA

[wulfbones]

This might be a hot take, but animal packers are not bad. Being trans-species is not bad. You may not understand it, but who are you to tell someone how they can and can't identify?

Do not correlate trans-species creatures and animal packer users with zoophiles. There is a BIG difference.

[sleepy-gaybian]

Tiktok therians seem to be really adamant about putting others in boxes recently, and it's like nobody considers that everybody experiences their identities in different ways than others on there. I don't care if I'm an Otherpaw or a 'real' therian. Please just let me chew on my bone in peace.

[clownshifting]

"Exodus"

Now, you all know I'm not into drama anymore nor do I want to stir anything. I believe having a conversation rather than fighting genuinely helps the environment because too much smoke fogs our lungs. Let's be real, just for a second.

The alterhuman community as a whole needs to mind their own business.

When I say that, I mean, everyone. Even you. When I say that we need to mind our own business, I damn sure mean that every single alterhuman who has ever used the label, is using it, fits under it, or identifies complexly - needs to mind their own business.

It seems like everyone is speaking about and for everyone and the answers that are being popped up are from the "graymuzzles" and the popular blogs who just can't seem to stop not minding their own business, especially in conversations that has nothing to do with them or identities that aren't bothering anyone. This leads to a "monkey see, monkey do" effect where those followees then find time out of their day to go and single out the subject of their curiosity and further develop (negative or positive) feelings about their identity. They turn their real experiences into discourse topics.

This extends to any alterhuman, by the way. Let's make a scenerio. Subject B is factkin. R is the follower. G is the blog owner. G has a lot to say on subject B because subject B, in their eyes, can't fit into the otherkin label because of it not being "historically connected" to otherkinity. R sees this and agrees, but because of the message, R wants to share said message and have their own opinion.

Here's where that should end and where people should mind their own business. You see, R publicly posts this on their own blog and continues the cycle of posts seen by those who are of subject B's identity pool. Those who are "of B" are then left feeling hollow and out of touch, and then with how little (recent) the community "of B" is, their relavence is dwindled down into being a tie breaker for many in the community, where the utilization of DNIs and BYIs and BYFs listing subject B or those "of B" on it either negatively or positively.

While this is an oversimplified version of it, this has happened in the alterhuman community before by use of graymuzzles and dogpilling in public servers. I was hurt by the discourse around subject B back in 2020/2021. This has happened online for decades and will continue to happen in a cycle, as it always is, because those in the alterhuman community who wish to be the authority - understand not what it's like to be the minority. They already have the blog and the following to simply persuade others into that drama and agreement because they're seemingly wiser. And it's a shame that you'll see this mob mentality with no way to stop it all while they will be the ones calling your identity a cesspool of cults.

Let's step back for a moment and breathe... Ready? One, two, everyone in the alterhuman community should mind their own business. Better?

You may be asking, why did I put that screenshot up there? Don't worry about it, it'll come back lat -

So apparently someone in the alterhuman community decided to open their mouth again with an opinion about something that had nothing to do with them because it's not their identity, it's not their group, they didn't even know it was happening. And I'd have to ask ... how?

These are not all from 2025.

How did you not know?

It's because you don't hang around those groups of people enough to formulate an opinion. Which is when you should actually begin minding your own business. Actually, no, it's because you don't care about these groups until they're actually needed to be used as a way to belittle other groups OR prove you're right. You've classified all those who are exoduses as tokens of their group in which you use in a slot machine to win. That's all you've done and your discourse, your disdain for other groups, makes them absolutely disgusted being in the wider alterhuman community.

Now. What is the act of minding your own business? It's simple.. "If it ain't got anything to do with you, it ain't got anything to do with you."

No hate watching, not vagueposting, no reacting, no thinking about it or theories or trying to figure it out. If you truly wanted to know about it, you'd research outside of these spaces and find understanding there - you wouldn't see it happening and immediately ask another person who doesn't fit any of these groups their opinion - an opinion that can very well sway groups of people.

If you're already deep in the shit, step away like you're mature enough to be on the internet, and claim fault for engaging. Turning to another discourse is not disengaging.

Mastering the art of minding your business is important too, especially for those who are impulsive or can't seem to shake the need to talk about it. You may be knowledgeable about the situation, but if you are not mentioned and if there is ongoing discussion, you are not needed. In cases where your opinion does matter, especially if you are putting a label or flag or symbol in place, you very well can speak. Other cases like an essay, misinformation, corrections, and open discussions are alright too - the only places which don't need your help is "the stirring of the pot", aka, discourse and identity experiences.

Nobody needs an "uhm, actually" when they're talking about their frolicking in the fields of identity.

"If it ain't got anything to do with you, it ain't got anything to do with you," extends to if you don't know a subject either. If you don't know, refer to another, or post resources. You can't be the authority on every single topic, stop trying to and mind your own business. Stop contributing to ableism and gatekeepy practices that enable others to feel safe enough to share derogatory fables and terminology in your circles, because that also gives way for egregious amounts of backlash and discourse.

Why mind your own business? That's simple... it's not hard to find it in yourself to be kind. A lot of people think that helping is kind, and I agree. You should strive to help in the alterhuman community - in any community really - but help doesn't extend to knowing everything and formulating opinions where there needs none. I don't need to know why a homeless person is homeless in order to help them get a home. I don't need to know why you're physically nonhuman or factkin or fictionkin or a linker in order to help you feel welcomed in these spaces. Help doesn't mean knowledge, it means understanding and sympathy, even if you don't have any. It means being kind enough to share the message to those who can help.

This.. exodus is not new. CLCZs have been feeling disconnected from the wider community since they were a topic of discussion (as late as 2019) as a whole and opinions about their actions when you're unaware of it is unhelpful and nosey. It's a way to steep yourself back into be reliable and all knowing. It is a way to see yourself as able enough to be authority. Let go of that, find what you're good at, and find joy in the art of minding your own business and sharing resources instead.

You should be your own authority, for only you can have control over your palace of the mind.

[through-lines]

Obligatory disclaimer that this isn't in direct response to any recent discussion (and as it stands, I've been OOTL anyway), but this seems to be an evergreen issue:

You do not have to identify with any label you don't want to. Just because you "can" use a label doesn't mean you have to.

But if you're going to explain why you don't use a label, and it involves making sweeping generalizations about what a group does/doesn't or can/can't experience, that group is well within their rights to push back and tell you you're wrong.

Identity labels are coined at different times under different contexts to describe experiences that are rarely exclusive from those described by other labels. If you try to limit which experiences can fall under which labels, 99 times outta 100 you're just plain wrong.

That doesn't mean you have to start using the label. But you do have to stop spreading misinformation about the individuals who use the label.

That's not an unreasonable thing to expect, right?