bogdwelling

[bogdwelling]

Delusion is 100% a valid and acceptable reason to be alterhuman. Nowhere is it required for you to have any other feelings or beliefs towards alterhumanity other than what you feel you identify as.

[bogdwelling]

What’s going on with the therian community lately??

It can’t be just me that’s noticed how much more snowflakey(for lack of a better term) the community has gotten recently, specifically on tumblr. More term policing, more “what about me”-isms on every post, more bullying, lack of critical thinking, it’s just so much worse.

I could post something like “Aw man, I wish I had the body of a wolf” and someone will commment some shit like “Uhm actually the correct term is theriform wolf bc some people already consider their body to be a wolf body based off their identity.” Like ok?? This isn’t about them the post is about me??

I could say “Therianthropy at its core isn’t a delusion, it’s an itentity.”(a basic fact) and someone will cry about how delusional therians exist(not disputing that, I love my delusional homies<33) so that means the identity as a whole MUST be a delusion.

Or a child posts a TikTok calling themself a therian. They wear an animal mask, a tail, and do quads. TikTok is a social media platform averaging video that are 10sec-2min long, misinformation is EVERYWHERE just like the rest of the internet. The average person only knows what a therian is from the first result that pops up on google bc let’s be real, what person, especially a child, is taking hours out of their day to research the history of therianthropy and learn every term? Maybe that kid does actually identify as an animal, or maybe they don’t, either way who honestly cares??

“But they’re using a term that doesn’t fit them!!” And they’ll figure that out in time, can kids not explore their identity anymore??

“But therianthropy is serious identity!” Maybe your therianthropy is serious to YOU, but that’s not the case for everyone. There’s nothing in the definition that says you must treat your identity super seriously in order to be valid.

“They’re making therians look cringe!” Cry me a river, therians are already the cringiest people on the planet, it’s nothing new.

Can we just stop being weird towards others please?

[bogdwelling]

Bat culture is being constantly frustrated with the bat kin/therian tags because nobody seems to know anything about bats.

Everything is just generic bat. Black and white, Halloween, vulture culture, stupid "sky puppy" sentiments, etc. I even saw a moodboard for a "vampire bat" using the image of a black flying fox and frozen forests. Kin help posts are a mix of "eat fruit" and "wear fake fangs" and gothic fashion. Almost nothing for specific species beyond flying foxes and vampires.

Please do research. Pull up a Wikipedia page, at least. Bats are such a diverse group; we go beyond flying foxes and vampires. There's THOUSANDS of us. We live in jungles and deserts and even close to the sea, roosting in trees and buildings and cacti, not just caves. We eat bugs and fish and nectar and small animals -- it's not all fruit and blood! Not all of us echolocate. Drop the stereotypes, pick up a book, and learn something.

.

[bogdwelling]

P-shifters: why the term needs to die

I welcome the growing acceptance of "weird" or "scary" folk in the nonhuman and alterhuman communities: the factkin, the object- and conceptkin and of course, physical nonhumans. I myself am a werewolf holothere, most of our system are holotheres and I interact with other physical nonhumans on a regular basis.

But recently, I have been observing a push towards the acceptance and "reclaim" of the word p-shifter/p-shifting - and this is worrying me. I want to write an elaborate post, shedding light on the roots and origins of this term and why I think it isn't a good choice to label yourself this way. I will back my claims up as good as I can, but there are quite obviously no studies on this and the general amount of archived sources is also quite low, because it is in the nature of toxic and manipulative behaviour to happen in the privacy of (long gone) servers or in DMs. So, I will have to resort to use personal experiences and anecdotes as my main sources - that's not ideal, I am aware.

Also, two things before you reblog, comment or otherwise agree/disagree with me: 1) none of this is at all about the validity and subjective realness of individual experiences, only about this specific term being used; and 2) please make sure you read this carefully and wholly. If I find you just try to twist my words, I will just ignore and block you. I also mean exactly what I say, there is no need to look for an "undertone" or "hidden opinions".

All of my sources will be linked at the end in chronological order of usage. Footnotes are numbered in [brackets], scroll to the end to find them.

1) Roots, original usage and meaning

Pinpointing the exact time at which the term was coined is pretty much impossible, but the earliest mentions I found go back to the early 2000s - namely, there is Swiftpaws Real guide to P-shifting from 2004 which mentions the term p-shifting in a way that suggests it has been more or less widely known at that time. Acoording to the alterhuman wiki, the term originated alongside the therian-community in the early 2000s, even on the same website as they did (but it doesn't mention which website that was). Based on what I've observed with my own eyes on this website [1] and backed up by various forum posts I found, the term p-shifting always referred to those who claimed the following things: 1) They have literal, tangible, objectively Real [2] physical shapeshifting abilities, 2) they do not experience delusions at all [3]. Finding old posts by p-shifters is almost impossible, I know a lot of blogs no longer exist, so I have to go off my memory here and also what @a-dragons-journal (hope you don't mind the ping!) has talked about on their blog many times, but I also know that a lot of them claimed to be able to teach others how to shift [4], which usually resulted in pack-like structures, with a few elite leaders who also functioned as "teachers". Another claim I have seen many times is how they had to prepare for a "war" or straight-up "the end of the world", but I have to admit, the last few points are not something every p-shifter I've seen talks about.

To hopefully provide some solid proof, have qoutes from a few self-proclaimed p-shifters:

by @/thefirstfamilypack: "We are not people with lycanthropy [CLCZ], we are actual physical shifters. This is a totally different community than those who have clinical lycanthropy or mentally "identify" with someone that's not "human" such as otherkins. We never claimed to be that, that's a whole different thing." "If you don't have the genes for it then sorry you're not a shifter."

by @/h-micideinthemirror (apparently deactivated, found a reblog of a post by them): "I'm so fucking tired of seeing therians talk shit about actual nonhumans [...] I'm not delusional [...] I'm just a person, who happens to be a wolf."

by @/harloqui: "However, I 100% agree with the message towards delusional alterhumans. [...] What shifters can do you cannot [...]"

by @/stonedlycanthrope (as a reply to an ask about how they knew they aren't experiencing delsusions): "I had 2 friends tell me the exact same thing [...] I had shifted in my sleep and [...] she stepped on my tail trying to get over me is what she told me." -> this is exactly what I mean when I say they make claims their shifting is Real.

There are so so many more, just go to thefirstfamilypack's blog and dive deeper from there. What you will find is the exact same rethoric I talked about, over and over again: "We are ACTUAL nonhumans, we are NOT delusional, we can ACTUALLY shift, etc etc" - I hope you also noticed the casual arrogancy towards otherkin and therians.

In conclusion: p-shifting originally referred to tangible, Real physical shifting, while vocally, aggressively excluding delusional folk and looking down on them (and otherkin as well).

I might add more on how exactly folk were hurt in these packs later on, but currently don't have the energy for that. I believe outlining the inherently probelmatic stances of the og shifter communities should be enough to support my point for the time being.

2) Why you can't reclaim the term

Now let's get to the actual point of this post - the push towards reclaiming the term p-shifter. By definition, reclaiming a term describes "a word that was at one time pejorative but has been brought back into acceptable usage, usually starting within its original target, i.e. the communities that were pejoratively described by that word [...]" - in simpler terms, the community that was originally negatively targeted by the term in question can reclaim it by using it in positive way to describe themselves. This is by definition not possible with the term p-shifter: in order for delusional folk to reclaim this term, it would have had to be a deragatory word to describe delusional folk, which it never was. Yes, the community looked down on delusional people, but the term itself actively excluded CLCZ and similar beings. Generally speaking, the term was never a slur used for anyone, it was always a positive and self-choosen term, created by the community for themselves. You cannot reclaim this term by definition.

"But what if we just change the definition to something positive, so anyone can use it?"

That is not a good idea for several reasons. I want to specifically quote @/a-dragons-journal and @who-is-page (hope you don't mind the ping!) for this one:

a-dragons-journal: "[...]using the word is still making it sound like you're making a physical claim. [...] This is admittedly not the best parallel [...] but it's a little like trying to "reclaim" the word TERF by changing it to mean something somehwat similar but ultimately different, and then being surprised people assume you're a transphobe and treat you as such."

who-is-page: "[...] You can't erase the history of the term [...] and the ways in which it's been used (and, most importantly, continues to be used!) to hurt others. [...] You can't reclaim [...] the terms "anti-otherkin", or the zeta symbol [...] because they're still being used by the cummunities who originally coined them to mean what they were intended to mean. [...] There is no way to seperate the people who are 'reclaiming' it and those who are just... Using it. [...] Also, thinking more on it, it's kind of fucked up for someone to try and steal another communitie's terms and forcibly redefine them? Like, we critcize that all the time in the otherkin and therian communities, and that's not exactly a one-way street. [...]"

Please take the time to fully read both of the posts, I have linked them below with everything else!

But they both really get the point accross in my opinion.

I hope now anyone can see why anyone should be wary of those who use p-shifter as a term: either they are completely unaware of the terms history and thus, should really do more research before advocating for the usage of a term they know nothing about. Or, and that's the worse option, they are aware of everything I listed above and either secretly agree with it, or just don't care. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to be associated with beings who advocate for a term that has an inherently harmful, ableist history and is STILL actively used in that way.

Calling me ableist for refusing to accept the usage of this term is absolutely pathetic.

P-shifters have harmed and continue to harm delusional folk, spit down on them, disrespect them and put themselves above them. Why on EARTH would advocating for the usage and acceptance of this term be a positive thing? How would that help?

It won't.

------------------------------------

Footnotes

[1] I joined the community roughly in 2016, most of the posts I saw back then on p-shifters and by p-shifters were from around that or a few years older.

[2] When I write "Real" or "Reality" with a capital R, I am referring to the shared reality all people experience. Unlike subjective reality, you (technically) need to provide proof to claims you make that refer to Reality.

[3] Moreso, they often held very ableistic beliefs, spitting down on "the crazy ones", aka. folk with delusions. They put themselves above them, claiming they were "actually shapeshifting" and not "just delusional".

[4] The rest usually claimed it was based on DNA. I don't know percantages on this, but from what I have seen, I would say at least half of them claimed to be able to teach (or claimed they learned from someone, which supports the same stance from a different pov).

Sources

[bogdwelling]

reading warrior cats again has done something to me, i referred to kittens as "kits" and my peers at college as "my clanmates"

but honestly it makes me wish i could say those things openly & not be seen as 'cringe,' i wanna thank starclan >:(

[bogdwelling]

silly stupid vent art xT was meant to be born as a warrior cat

[bogdwelling]

fellow riverclan cats where are you. i miss yall. lets go fight for sunningrocks together or smthing idk

[bogdwelling]

Hooves that go clippy clappy clippy clappy

Reblog if you agree

[bogdwelling]

Sheep therian?

Yes, that too, but consider...

Sheep therian

(not trying to force an esthetic onto an identity- I just wanted to make a post on how other sheep tend to see themselves vs how I tend to see myself :3)

[bogdwelling]

“Species Dysphoria” (2021)

I’ve been waiting to post this one for a little while now! This comic was made for the Inky Paws Zine, a collaborative fiction zine created by nonhumans and alterhumans!

In hindsight, I should’ve probably leaned a little bit more into making this a fictional piece to better fit the zine’s theme…nevertheless, I’m still happy with it! This was something I created to try and articulate some of my personal feelings about my species dysphoria through the lens of someone who’s also trans, and maybe feels that those two identities are really the same.

[bogdwelling]

Serenity.

[bogdwelling]

Reblog if you want Asks/Messages from your followers in your inbox

[bogdwelling]

I Had A Breakthrough On My Inventions. So I Get To Say Eureka

[bogdwelling]

i came across this post which is about a poetry template made for kids to get creative with words. its a cool poem, and altho it was obviously made for little kids i think a lot of alterhumans could also have fun with it! heres my entry, feel free to write your own in the reblogs or in a separate post ^^

My name is Talon

Today I feel like a swirling void floating aimlessly

Sometimes I am an inhuman creature whose shape is not its own

And sometimes I am a gentle beast that closes its eyes and stretches its wings under the warm sun

But always I am me.

I ask the world, “Does anything matter?”

And the answer is

a swirling void floating aimlessly.

[bogdwelling]

by the way, you can and should project your experience onto fictional characters and headcanon them as alterhuman/otherkin/therian/etc.

It is not cringe or "chronically online." Our incredibly complex and profound identities have been boiled down to cat masks and doing quadrobics online, therianthropy is seen as something akin to being a furry, when in reality it is something far deeper. It is ok to project that onto characters you like, it is ok to see characters' complex stories and identities and see them explained through therianthropy. If someone is unwilling to see the nuance in your identity and think you're doing the next Miku binder Thomas Jefferson or whatever then it is their fault for not listening to your experiences and perspectives, It's not your fault for existing in a way that has been misinterpreted. (Note. i am not saying that there is anything wrong with being a furry, or enjoying cat masks, or doing quadrobics. all im saying that boiling down alterhumanity to the commonly portrayed "tiktok therian aesthetic" gets old and is not an accurate representation of what being alterhuman feels like for alot of people)

[bogdwelling]

"nobody will accept me": a diagram

you dont have to be the "acceptable" kind of otherkin. like, seriously. don't try to be something you're not just because you think you'll become more "acceptable" to the people who unfortunately just dont accept anyone who's a single inch out of their expected portrayal of the average "normal" person.

go be a creature. please.

[bogdwelling]

I fucking love alterhumans who are between "identify with" and "identify as", I fucking love alterhumans who are fluid between the two, I fucking love alterhumans who use whatever language they want to use to convey their experience, I fucking love alterhumans that use terms that only partly define their existance

I love ya'll