#also the reason why i say nonhuman here instead of alterhuman is due to the fact that not all alterhumans are nonhuman

[kitotherianposting]

hello nonhuman ally / young uneducated nonhuman. you have a bomb strapped to your chest. to diffuse it, you must explain why alterhumans are valid without saying any of these phrases

- they still know they're human / it's not like they believe they're physically nonhuman

- well they're not delusional / mentally ill

- it's just a phase, don't bother them / let kids be kids / they're just exploring their identity

- well they're just [insert something that only describes otherpaws / furries]

you have 1 hour.

[mechanical-sunchild]

What do you think about the discourse around the term alterhuman?

I think that the general issue with labelling anything to do with identity is that not everyone who exists, who technically meets the definition of that label, is going to like it for a variety of reasons. If that term is the most popular term (often because it came first and/or is the most useful) this becomes even more frustrating when you don't like it.

So, I understand and support alternative terms and why beings spoke up about why they don't like it. But it's not going anywhere, sorry. The discourse or, let's actually call it debates to sound nicer, just shouldn't be happening here. There's a lot more interesting things to talk about together than who likes what term the best.

If you don't like the term, you should just not use it. I think it's been explained to death what the word fully means, why it gets used, the range of identities it encompasses which makes it useful etc and that should at least allow you to understand why there was/is a pushback against trying to completely erase/replace it. (But I dunno, words evolve, it might change one day just naturally).

What does makes me chuckle a bit though is when beings who happily identify as therian[thropes] say they just hate that the word human is in there, despite the alter part indicating an otherness or alternative to being [just] human. Because...the 'anthrope/anthropy' part in theri/anthrope/thropy comes from the Greek ánthropos which also means human. So therian could be loosely translated to literally calling yourself an animal-human. Which yeah could be exactly what you are, but I'm guessing those who object harshly to the human part of alterhuman do so due to having no human parts.

I'm rambling now, sorry. My point is, it's a good term, but you don't have to use it. Nonhuman is fairly popular too if you happen to like that. I happen to not like that for me, but I don't gripe at anybeing using it to include everyone technically even me. Maybe do that for alterhuman and just...think of the bigger picture a bit? Maybe we spend too much time putting importance on the labels of life instead of just experiencing life. -shrugs-