youarenotyou:

swanblood:

suncalf:

candybutthole:

doctorsheldoncooperforthewin:

i don’t have to understand it. i can think it’s weird. i can not think it’s valid. i can do allll of those things.

respecting otherkin individuals is not about approving of and accepting them as totally in your paradigm.

no one is asking you to do that. i’ve never seen an otherkin ask someone to do that.

i’ve seen a lot of SJW blogs claim that it happens, but it’s usually in the midst of jokes about raping otherkin to cure them and ‘i hope it’s illegal to fuck an otherkin’ (quoted bit by unknowablewoman, a Fat Activist hero who is actually a bigoted piece of shit. tired of people with this much bigotry being heralded as feminist heroes.) and harrassing otherkin for existing, telling them to go kill themselves.

what we’re asking (demanding) for you to do is respect them as individuals. think ‘um, okay’ and dont’ comment on it. don’t harrass them about it. just say ‘okay, good for you.’

this really isn’t asking too much at all.

lol except that I can call them out on their bullshit because they say terrible hurtful things about phantom limbs and transgenders ???

if a member of any community says something that is hurtful and appropriative and just generally bad then yes, call them out on it. but call that person out, don’t act like that one person is the representative of an entire group of people. because, well, they’re not. what the heck. 

honestly, i’ve seen a lot of discussion within the otherkin community on the subject of, for instance, “phantom limbs” - whether it is appropriative, whether a different term needs to be used (and different ones, such as “invisible limb” and “other-limb” are also being used now), and whether is it a case of - i can’t remember the term, but it starts with s? darn. anyway, it’s about people who feel what seems to be phantom limb pain where there is not only no limb, but no limb ever was. can’t remember the word though.

but it is not simply a case of every single person in the community blindly accepting a term that could be appropriative and applying it to themselves. some do. not all. some do not know better, and only need to realise that a term is appropriative or cruel to stop using it. it’s a mixed bag. i myself have never had any sort of phantom limb sensation - i’ve never lost a limb, nor felt anything monster-related - and so it’s not my place to comment on this, and i am sorry if i have said anything wrong. but i’m sure that some nonhuman-IDing folk have lost limbs before - i’ve heard of one, at least, and that one said that the feelings were similar in their case. not a case study exactly, of course, but still. 

once again, yeah, there are problems in the nonhuman community. there are problems in every community. and you are more than welcome to call someone out on that if you see them being hurtful and appropriative. but those are, for the most part, not problems that every single person in the community has. many people within the community also call out each other on matters of appropriation and similar.

and deer gods, why does this have to be said, but be polite and courteous if you are going to call someone else out if at all possible, and with any luck they will return the favour and be more likely to listen to what you are saying. this is directed towards everyone. be polite when possible. it will help.

also, the original post of this is very good, thank you.

Hmm, first… (all of this is to candybutthole and people who make similar points, not suncalf, you made a wonderful reply <3)… I don’t have a lot of faith in someone who starts talking about why we need to call otherkin out for these serious and important issues by saying “lol”… and second, “transgenders”? I think that one word is more problematic than anything I ever have heard otherkin say about phantom limbs.

Personally, I’m in pain. I’m in pain right now. It’s hard for me to walk. I have a birding trip in the end of January and I worry about whether I will be able to walk around well. Because I have pain, that started from a phantom pain in my wings and spread down my body. I have seen a doctor, I have seen a physical therapist. I am having blood tests. I’m not sure what is the cause, but it started with that pain.

So, some otherkin do experience the same kind of pain from a limb that is not there and was never there, that people can experience when a limb is removed. This also happens to non-otherkin, it’s called “supernumerary phantom limb” (that’s the word you meant, suncalf ^v^), so, saying “phantom limb” is only used for people with amputations, is wrong. In the medical language, our situation already exists and it is called, phantom limb, and it has been studied.

Honestly, this is what I think: I think the “otherkin are appropriating the language from amputees” is a concern trolling. I have only seen one actual amputee talk about this situation and whether it bothers them, and that person was otherkin also and was defending the use of the word. For everyone else, why are you taking the problem of what language amputees would want as your defense, without asking them if they actually are bothered by it? I think it’s because you simply want to have a way to make us be quiet: “think about the poor amputees!” You are using people’s experiences for your own benefit, without talking to them about it.

And, you are doing it because of a judgment you already make: the judgment that we are not serious. I think that if a human identifying person said that they experience a supernumerary phantom limb, and they have pain from it, there would be no complaining at all. But, because we have a strange identity, the fact is, you don’t believe us. And, all of this is simply because you think it is not possible that we experience this.

But the fact is, some of us do.

So, what is your argument now, about how we are saying terrible hurtful things? What have we done, except to describe an experience? And, is it you who has done the hurtful thing, of assuming that we are ridiculous, judging us, and saying our experiences are imagined?

And, yes, I definitely think otherkin should be called out if we do something appropriative, like anyone else. I also think that a lot of the reasons otherkin are called appropriative, is because we are using serious words to describe our experiences, and people believe our experiences are not serious and believe that what we are doing is making fun of the people with “real, serious” experiences. But, definitely, if it’s not about that: yes, sometimes otherkin need to be called out like anyone.

Just, make sure you are not calling us out just because we are otherkin and you don’t believe us.

bolded for emphasis.

people are just looking for an excuse to make fun of those they think are weird/different. but a call out isn’t an excuse to bully someone. 

and it’s not a “call out” to tell someone “i don’t believe you, and your identity is stupid.” it’s being cruel.

Bolded and italized one part, because for the love of all that is good in this world please do not refer to trans* people as transgenders >.< Just no, don’t ever do that okay. Also by that comment I am guessing that the person who said that is not trans, so they may want to take a look at what trans* people have said on the subject matter before attacking otherkin in order to earn ally points ‘cause yanno some trans* people are okay with the comparison.

Oh and ya some of us belong to both groups and would really like to have people realize this. I’m not sure how my own identity can somehow automatically hurt my other identity, and I am getting rather annoyed with the cis people shouting about all otherkin hurting trans* people, when some trans* people like me and the other mods here are also otherkin.

-Haven

(via thenameoftheworms)