Jsyk, Most People Aren’t Dickwads About Therian Gear Irl.

for the longest time, I thought friends with benefits meant people who are friends for like some business exchange or to rely on each other financially/reputationally. IT TURNS OUT it meant something completely different.

SO THAT MEANS I'VE BEEN SAYING "Oh so in this story, you're saying the characters got a friends with benefits thing going on" AND NO ONE CORRECTED ME-

i like the identifier "overhuman/humanmore." i read it and immediately thought of myself. i am a coyote. i am a jackrabbit i am a dragon. but at the end of the day, i still participate in human society and have human goals. i still find importance in my human body and mind even if it's uncomfortable. it's okay to not be "totally" animal; it doesn't make you any less valid or less alterhuman. we are all different in different ways, and that's what i think is so incredible about this community

it irks me when i see discussions about dissociative disorders and they’re only exclusively focused on DID or OSDD.

the only reason folk may very rarely even try to mention or consider DPDR is to use it as another throw-away example. it’s used in arguments as a gotcha and then never mentioned again, never taken into account. i’ve seen individuals explain their experience in a way that fits so perfectly with DPDR and yet it’s so overshadowed by the other more complex dissociative disorders that they may not even take a moment to consider it an option…

non-plural dissociative folk exist, and we deserve a place too

I have to form my thoughts more coherently but with the discussions i’ve seen on Metaphorical vs Literal physical therianthropy / general nonhumanity, I have always thought it extended to more than just physical identities. But I don’t think it’s talked about enough nor acknowledged nor understood at all. I have a theory that a lot of therians actually identify in a more symbolic or metaphorical way,, whether that is psychological or spiritual or physical or something else, they don’t all identify as a 100% Real, Literal animal, though that doesn’t mean they don’t identify as an animal at all. Identifying symbolically is still identifying, but the experiences between that and more literal identity are different, and I think the distinction is important.

I think it’s the main source of a lot of identity discourse in the community, because we are running on two different types of therianthropy. Neither are wrong, neither are invalid, and neither are “less animal” or have less depth than the other, but there is this incongruence between discussions because of it.

I hope this makes sense, and I hope my observations don’t come off as rude (i’m scared people will misinterpret my words). But I’ve thought about this since forever, and I really think we need to start considering it as a possibility, because then maybe (heavy emphasis on the maybe) this identity will be more understood, and you can only hope for less infighting…

iirc, the definition of therianthropy has never really excluded more metaphorical/symbolic IDs either, it only makes sense that a large portion of the community falls under it. You only have to identify as an ‘animal’, not just a Real, Literal, Scientifically accurate animal (would exclude theriomythics and fictotherians anyways)

-> (additional note: I want to make it clear that I’m not saying i’m excluded from any this either, my dog theriotype comes from grief after all, to deny its existence as partially symbolic/metaphorical would be to deny myself. please don’t interpret this as some “I’m not like other therians” tangent)

Polycule but it’s just two people in a romantic relationship with each other and their third who’s pretty obviously aroace but also somehow so deeply intertwined in their lives that it’d just be wrong to not count them as involved. Is this anything.

DPDR culture is realizing you don't actually remember what it feels like to not be dissociating, and every time you try to think about it the dissociation gets worse.

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Alloaros are not inherently more sexual than anyone else, and they don’t have to have sex to prove their alloaroness. An alloaro who has never had sex or who no longer has sex — whether due to not being able to find a partner, being celibate, experiencing trauma, not being ready, or any other reason — is no less alloaro than someone who has had lots of sex or who has one or more foveo(s)/FWB(s). There is no shame in an alloaro person having sexual relationships that don’t involve romantic feelings (or even platonic feelings!), but being alloaro without having sex isn’t a contradiction either.

Being a ranger I spend a lot of time alone in the wilderness for hours in the company of one of four co workers.

One such worker for the purpose of this post we shall refer to as Dave.

Dave is a very quiet man. He confesses that if conversation happens too quickly and for too long he gets tired so we often work in silence. He's very polite and good natured but it's obvious that he would happily live and work alone for the rest of his life given the option.

He's very much in the previous generation of ranger, a practical man in his fourties or fifties happy to be kept physically busy for a day and then be sent home with some pay. I had to show him how to use a work issued smart phone.

Meanwhile the rest of the team is made up of the current generation of rangers; openly nurodivergent queer women in their twenties or thirties who work this job because it's the only setting where we can vaguely look sane.

So Dave sticks out a bit. It's really nice when he opens up though because he's an impulsive individual when left to his own devices and has plenty of stories to tell if the mood takes him. I really like working with Dave.

Anyway, one day we've got a job that takes a three hour hike to get to and early on the topic of deer comes up.

I hadn't realised this was the first time we had discussed deer, but blatantly it was. Dave's entire demeanour changes, there's a bit of passion in his voice, but it's also hushed as if he's talking about something sacred.

"Deer are my favourite animal." He says.

I'm also eager to hear Dave talk about himself, so I encourage him to say more.

"I'd love to be a deer myself."

And more

"If a genie offered me the opportunity to become a deer I'd take it. I wouldn't even stop to ask what the price was."

And more

"Sometimes I feel like I'm a deer having a dream about being a human.*

And there I am, a long time commuter to the therian/otherkin community keeping up the encouraging face of someone being politely interested, knowing that this man is straight up a therian with no frame of reference.

And I decided that I wouldn't push the subject outside of the bounds of what Dave is comfortable with, I wouldn't try to teach him the terms "Therian" or "Otherkin" but absolutely I would talk with this man as if he's a deer.

And it's a bit magical really. He's an impulsive individual so I have to talk him out of some risky choices every so often and "this is why deer like you keep getting stuck in fences" has become this magical phrase that allows him to step down from a mistake with a bit of a smile on his face.

people always have a lot of rude things to say about tumblr users, how we're antisocial or what have you, but don't believe a word of it. i personally have noticed a lot of people on this website are actually deeply involved in their campus greek life and i applaud them!! i don't personally know much about Theta Delta but they seem like a very positive force in students' lives, and very committed to inclusivity <3

pure love