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𝐓𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐨𝐩𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐦𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐞𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐎𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞, 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐞 "𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬," 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐦 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰. 𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫, 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜, 𝐬𝐢𝐫 𝐜, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞.

𝐌𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 : 𝐡𝐞/𝐡𝐢𝐦 ; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲/𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 ; 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥, 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 18.

𝐌𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬, 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠.

𝐈'𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐥𝐟. 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐟𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐥 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫!

𝐈'𝐦 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 "𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞". 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲.

𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐢𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬.

𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬.

(Non)Humanity and Species Dysphoria: the Forced Transformation Trope

Written by Gavin on August 25, 2024.

As a nonhuman, do you ever think about why there's so many stories and myths and legends about humans being turned into animals? You ever wonder why it's usually a punishment or a curse, or why the characters try to do whatever it takes to become human again? You ever think, "I don't understand, I would love to be an animal and get rid of my human body, what's the problem?"

As a human myself, one whose system has been in the alterhuman community for years, I hope I can help bridge the gap of understanding here.

The way many humans see being turned into an animal as a curse, the way they'd be incredibly distressed about becoming nonhuman?

That is species dysphoria.

That is a human experiencing species dysphoria, because being perceived as nonhuman or other-than-human causes the exact same feelings of pain and wrongness and disconnection from their body that a nonhuman can experience when perceived as human.

(Particularly, this might be an orthohuman, someone who has a normative relationship with their human cultural and species identity, as opposed to an alterhuman, who experiences alternative/nonnormative humanity or a species identity separate from humanity. Human alterhumans can also experience this sort of species dysphoria - hi, I'm one of them.)

Imagine being your species your entire life, the way you know you're intended to be, living in a body you're comfortable in - and then having that body ripped away from you. Being forced to live in a form that doesn't match who you are, what you know you are, and desperately wanting to find a way to change back because you know you're not meant to be like this.

If this sounds familiar because it's what you experience as a nonhuman - that is how a lot of human beings feel about being transformed into something nonhuman. It's the feeling of being the wrong species! It's the desire to return to the form that you know as yourself!

The fact that orthohumans are born into the species they identify as does not mean that they could never comprehend your nonhuman experience. You can explain your nonhuman species dysphoria to an orthohuman. Given all the examples of unwanted transformation stories throughout human history, I think you're likely to find that they'll understand when you put it in that frame of reference.

"How would you feel about being turned into another species against your will, leaving behind everything that feels good and right and comfortable about your human body? That sounds horrible, right? That's how I feel, being nonhuman in a human body, and it's distressing in the same way you would hate being human and stuck in a nonhuman body."

I know that the gap between humanity and nonhumanity looks enormous. The horror of, say, werewolf mythology looks like a completely alien experience when you are a wolf, so you see being transformed into a wolf as nothing short of a wonderful experience, and you don't understand why anyone would see it as horrifying.

But if you understand that it's not about the species, but the experience of species dysphoria, of being trapped in a body that has never been yours and desperately trying to return to one that feels like you, well - that's a lot more understandable, isn't it?

Humanity and nonhumanity are not two opposite ends of a binary, destined to never understand each other. I know many alterhumans who are both human and nonhuman, and their humanity is an identity in much the same way as their nonhumanity. Humans are just another species on this planet, as bipedal tool-using social primates, and we have our species identities just like many nonhumans. You are not as alone in this world as you might think you are.

There is room for understanding and connection. Your experiences as nonhuman are not purely individual, not wholly unique, not utterly incomprehensible to human beings, and this is a good thing. The gap isn't actually as wide as it seems. You can reach out and cross it if you just remember - you have far more in common than you might think.

Okay, but what about the godkin (and others!) who do want to be worshiped, who do want offerings and prayers? There has to be an ethical and consensual way to do this!

Hi! I um. Hope you're having a good day! Your blog and posts make me really happy and I hope you feel really happy too!

🥺🥺 that's adorable. thank you very much, i appreciate it. i feel happy reading this message. i hope you have an amazing day. 🩵🌌

does anyone need a moodboard? feel free to ask!🌟💫🌌

upd: creatures, please don't forget at least basic politeness and manners.

okay. i understand that many people simply do not understand the essence of the previous post/don't understand the subject of the discussion. let's start with the fact that russia imposed its language at the state level by force. fifteen countries of the Soviet Union speak russian in one way or another precisely because their cultural identity was not taken into account. Khrushchev's words at the party congress in 1961: "the sooner we start speaking russian, the sooner we will build communism." do i need to explain what communism was like under the Soviet Union? the next paragraph will present several events on the language front of Ukraine.

April 6, 1933 — by order of the new leadership of the People's Commissariat of the Ukrainian SSR, a commission was organized to check the work on the language front. the task of the commission was "to reject the artificial (what could this mean?) demarcation of the Ukrainian language from the russian language in dictionaries and to eliminate nationalistic spelling rules that oriented the Ukrainian language toward Polish, Czech, and bourgeois cultures."

April 26, 1933 - a meeting in the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on issues of national policy. the tasks have been set out to a wide circle:

— to stop the immediate publication of all dictionaries, to review the dictionaries and all terminology, to unify technical terminology with the terminology that exists in the Soviet Union and is used in Ukraine.

— to review the personnel on the language front and to expel bourgeois-nationalist elements from this front (people who in most cases resisted due to their education and clear understanding of the consequences of such decrees).

April 20, 1938 - the Council of People's Commissars of the Ukrainian SSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party (bolsheviks) of Ukraine adopted resolutions "on the mandatory study of the russian language in non-russian schools of Ukraine", "on the mandatory study of the russian language in schools of national republics and regions". the resolutions for the first time included an order on the mandatory teaching of the russian language in all non-russian schools. (that is, not only in Ukraine, but also in all other countries of the Soviet Union).

April 17, 1959 - a session of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the law "on strengthening the connection between school and life and on the further development of the public education system in the SSR". the study of the Ukrainian language in schools was declared optional (that is, the majority of people were taught only in russian, which only increased the number of russian speakers, thereby eradicating the Ukrainian language, which carries the cultural code of the nation). the number of hours of teaching Ukrainian literature and language in secondary specialized educational institutions has been reduced (reduction of Ukrainian literature, therefore writers who write in Ukrainian, excluding the cultural and historical factor of Ukrainian nationality, completely blurring it and making it almost inseparable from Russians).

1970 - the order of the USSR Ministry of Education on writing and defending all dissertations only in russian. as a result, I am now faced with the fact that while writing my diploma and actively searching for resources, I constantly have to translate and clarify all the information, scanning it for the presence of political and ideological propaganda.

i could continue the list, but I would prefer to be unbiased and give several examples of such a policy.

Belarus.

during the language reform of 1933, the "classical spelling of the Belarusian language" was abandoned - more than 30 phonetic and morphological features were introduced into the Belarusian language, which brought it closer to the russian language. why?

on May 5, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus created a special "Political Commission for Review of the russian-Belarusian Dictionary and New Rules for Spelling the Belarusian Language". it is noteworthy that not a single linguist was part of the commission, and its members were mainly politicians. i believe that russians or ideological puppets.

in the "russian-Belarusian Dictionary" in 1953, when the tracing of the russian language was put at the forefront, and, as a rule, the original Belarusian word followed. the question is the same, what's the point?

the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko himself expressed an "interesting" opinion.

"nothing great can be expressed in Belarusian. the Belarusian language is poor. there are only two great languages in the world - russian and english" - according to this statement by President Lukashenko, which he made back in 1995, experts count the loss of status and displacement of the Belarusian language in Belarus. Lukashenko then initiated the granting of state status to the russian language, but in the end only russian became the state language, while Belarusian remained secondary and little used.

as is known he is a puppet of the Kremlin. needless to say that the Belarusian language was not taught in schools during the Soviet Union, literature in the Belarusian language was extremely impoverished, and propaganda made its own adjustments. i am glad that now Belarusians are switching to their own language and Ukrainians understand the Belarusian language without difficulty, it works both ways.

Kazakhstan.

the languages ​​of some peoples that were part of the Soviet empire experienced repeated changes of alphabets.

this applies, in particular, to the Turkic languages. Uzbeks, Turkmens, Kyrgyz, and Azerbaijanis previously used Arabic script for writing. in the late 1920s, according to the decree "on the new Latinized alphabet of Arabic writing," their languages ​​were transferred to the Latin alphabet. such an attempt was also made to the Kazakh language, but it did not take root at that time.

in 1932-1933, the state authorities of the USSR artificially created a severe famine(!) in the Kazakh SSR, as a result of which more than 40 percent of ethnic Kazakhs died. At the same time, more than a million citizens repressed by the Stalinist government were deported to the republic. therefore, the indigenous Kazakh population became an ethnic minority. subsequently, the percentage of Kazakhs in the total population decreased even more due to mass migration to the KSSR during major events, such as the development of virgin lands.

during some periods of Soviet times, the number of ethnic Kazakhs in the republic was only 30 percent. it was impossible to speak Kazakh in the cities because it was not understood, and many ethnic Kazakhs switched to russian in everyday life. mandatory study of Kazakh in schools was abolished, the number of Kazakh schools decreased (for example, in Alma-Ata there was only one school with Kazakh as the language of instruction).

"the opportunity to get an education in Kazakh began to decrease in 1939, and later higher education was only available in russian. consequently, parents who wanted their child to study at the institute had to prepare them for this and sent their children to schools with russian. as a result, a whole generation of exclusively russian-speaking Kazakhs appe,ared in Kazakhstan in the 1970s and 1980s." says Ainash Mustoyapova, author of the book "Decolonization in Kazakhstan."

Estonian language.

since 1940, with the Soviet occupation, the status of the Estonian language began to decline: it ceased to be the only state language - russian became the second, the use of the Estonian language in many areas was reduced: in international negotiations, diplomatic correspondence, in foreign trade and on trade marks, in matters concerning the armed forces in training. estonian was forced out of teaching and deprived of the opportunity to develop terminology in the fields of navigation, maritime, aviation and rail transport, it also ceased to be used in mining, energy, textile and some areas of heavy industry, since most industrial enterprises were under the direct control of moscow. sounds familiar.

Crimean Tatar language.

with the beginning of the Red Terror in 1921, the population of Crimea, and accordingly among the Crimean Tatars, decreased by a third.

during this time, several waves of genocide (and therefore expulsions) took place: the execution of the intelligentsia in 1921-22, the famine(oh, we heard about that already) of 1922-23, and up to 1926-27, dispossession and deportation to Siberia, the execution of the intelligentsia. and then Sürgünlik - the forced deportation of the Crimean Tatars from their native land to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the Urals.

currently, Crimean Tatar is considered a language that is on the verge of destruction (seriously endangered) according to the UNESCO classification. this means that the language is used by older generations of speakers, while parents do not instill in their children the study and knowledge of the language. this is also a consequence of the Deportation, genocidal actions, in particular, the ban on the use of the Crimean Tatar language in places of deportation, as well as the total Russification in the countries that were part of the USSR.

i will probably stop here, because this list can be continued for a long time, but the idea is the same everywhere - along with the language, the national identity of the people is washed away, the language stores the cultural code, historical information. myths, legends, ancient manuscripts, documents, literary collections, which include a description of the traditions and life of the people, all this has a huge influence. that is why people study different groups of languages, their influence on each other, that is why linguistics exists.

but the fact remains - the russian language is not native to all countries of the post-Soviet space except russia itself, it is an artificially imposed language, a whole scheme of extermination and subjugation of peoples who have mixed into one mass. now I see this as a huge problem: the russian language isolates from another world. people of post-Soviet countries can easily communicate with each other, but there is an opinion that learning english is simply becoming meaningless, because there are as many as 15! culturally and historically similar countries that speak the same language, and all together they are much larger than all of Europe. there is no such thing in western europe, there everyone speaks english as a common language, but each country has its own language, but here, in eastern europe it is very difficult to meet an armenian or romanian speaking their own language and this is pure madness.

this is a policy of isolation from the rest of the world, this is the impossibility of reading news from different sources, which often gives rise to a holy confidence that the propaganda media of their country are definitely not lying, because due to the impossibility of comparison, a person becomes like cattle without a choice who were not given any alternatives. and yes, i believe that if you speak russian and support military aggression, you should be isolated from society, because the desire to destroy is not the norm, a person with a destructive mindset without a clear moral compass is a threat to society, especially if he supports the murder of innocent (!) people.

this should not be the norm and must be discussed and if people themselves cannot understand what is what, the cancel culture will help us. only by making it clear to the russians that they are not welcome in society as long as a bloody regime destroys cities and lives, will they be able to realize that it is time to change something and that these changes must start with them. people can destroy regimes. people can win. people live on this earth only once and there is no point in living as a weak-willed creature.

all this was written for educational purposes. only being educated can we destroy a system that we do not like, because beliefs come from facts, which are based on knowledge. only by winning discussions with the voice of reason and protecting yourself from violence, but operating with common sense, can the new generation influence the future. do not be careless, learn and teach others, get information and inform.

I make moodboards in order of the queue, thank you for your orders and politeness. I do not write anything under moodboards just to preserve the aesthetics of the work. I can also add facts about your kin(if it's an animal, for example) or quotes, just tell me if you would like to.

A comforting thought

Five thousand years ago, the Sumerians called the night ngi, the stars mul, and the moon Nanna.

Four thousand years ago, the Akkadians called the night mūšu, the stars kakkabū, and the moon Sîn.

Three thousand years ago, the Hittites called the night išpanza, the stars haštereš, and the moon Arma.

Two and a half thousand years ago, the Greeks called the night nux, the stars astra, and the moon Selênê.

Two thousand years ago, the Romans called the night nox, the stars stellae, and the moon Luna.

Kings and queens and heroes looked up at them. So did travelers coming home, and little children who sneaked out of bed. So did slaves, and mothers and soldiers and old shepherds, and Sappho and Muršili and Enheduanna and Socrates and Hatshepsut and Cyrus and Cicero. In this darkness it didn’t matter who they were, or where they stood. Only that they were human.

Think of that tonight, when you close your window. You are not alone. You share this night sky with centuries of dreamers and stargazers, and people who longed for quiet. Are you anxious? The Hittites were too: they called it pittuliyaš. Does your heart ache? The Greeks felt it too: they called it akhos. Those who look up to the stars for comfort are a family, and you belong to them. Your ancestors have stood under Nanna, Sîn, Arma, Selênê and Luna for five thousand years. Now its light is yours.

May it soothe you well.

Heya! Not quite starkin, but I am technically dark starfolk (Worldless) kin. Specifically, I am Aven, and starfolks are somewhat like the personifications of stars, aren't they?

~ @empyrean-demise

Hello.

Of course, it could be a personification of a star, although I've seen this phenomenon quite rarely because some stars find the humanoid form quite uncomfortable. Before appearing in a human body, I wandered the earth as a personification of my star. So this scenario is quite likely. I admit that I haven't had the chance to play the game, which means I don't have a full grasp of its background. I hope this answer doesn't disappoint anyone.

Thanks for question!

Hey, i’ve got a question. Starkins, how do you express yourselves? What feels most natural or comfortable to you? Is it connected to your identity in any way?