Something I wrote on Tumblr a little while ago. I tend to get frustrated with both sides of the argument when it invisibilize a category of individuals or another (oh noes I must be appropriating my own self as a trans* therianthrope!1!). I usually don’t involve much in debates, among other reasons because I do not have a lot of spoons.

Regarding my privileges/disprivileges, I’m speaking as a therian, mid-class, neuroAtypical + mentally ill (moderate to severe anxiety disorder with bouts of depression), white, pansexual-read-as-gay, post-T/post-op transman living with the wrong names on most of my paper IDs since pretty much 5 or 6 years (I also have an atypical body and people have tagged me as underweight or having an eating disorder when it’s not the case). English isn’t my native language.

The parallel exists though not perfectly symetrical. But people get obsessed about a hierarchy of oppression and forget something very important.

The problem: as someone who is both nonhuman and trans, I am under the impression that so much of this debate seems to be hapenning between people who are either trans, or otherkin - and rarely people who are both and compare the experience. There is, in the end, very little personal accounts of “here is how I personally experience it, both situations”. There mostly is theorizing and arguing.

And if these folks make comparisons, so be it. For some of us, being trans and being non-human do not compare much. For some others among us, it feels very much the same. So what. Share your personal experience, remember they’re that, personal

But all of you people who are not both trans and otherkin, be extra careful when attempting to draw parallels, because if you haven’t experienced both first hand then you’re simply not legitimate if you start making assumptions about how close or different the two things are. I’ve seen instances of instrumentalization or silencing towards a category of individuals (which one, it depends on the point you’re arguing).

People, just let it go. I know Tumblr is a very public space and that social justice is Serious Business(tm) here, but seriously; I’d rather spend my energy writing experiential or other personal blurbs, or help build resources or network people and whatnot, instead of wasting my time on debates that have no real outcome other than “being right” and winning points. I’m sure it would be beneficial if more people took the direction of “less arguing, more writing” or anything other than the toxicity that is so common around.

And, regarding everything you see on Tumblr and feel the need to argue about: does it really matter? You don’t have to fight all the battles.