The wacky world of Tumblr "otherkin"
If you think some people on LiveJournal or Dreamwidth fly so far up their own asses they could spoon their own kidneys... you oughta see Tumblr.
Tumblr, according to Wikipedia, is "a website and microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog." A reblogged text post on Tumblr is a pain to read; it looks like an email that's been forwarded and replied to a dozen times or more. But an awful lot of "Tumblrinas" (not all of whom are female) have taken to sharing their Deepest Thoughts this way.
Tumblr's already gained a reputation for SJ warriors raging out of control. However, I had yet to learn about... Tumblr otherkin.
Oh, I already knew about otherkin. Turnipkin. Na'vi kin. Draconic bodies that live off Vanilla Coke.
But Tumblr otherkin... well, all you have to do is browse Tumblr's "otherkin" tag to see what I mean. That's how I found the "Human Privilege Checklist," posted by a self-identified "siren."
And Anti-Otherkin Troll Bingo. That comes from an entire post of special-snowflake links. (Oops, calling them special snowflakes is "ableist"!!) And the same Tumblrina felt the need to respond to an obvious joke Tumblr with a lament that the joke Tumblr "contains a lot of otherkin and therian hate, and speciesism. and other really problematic and oppressive things. that’s not cool."
But if you think that's offensive, you ought to check out Trans Kinfolk, which "aims to be a safe and helpful place for those who are trans* and otherkin, therian, or in any way non-human."
I like this person:Are you srsly asking me why being respectful and accommodating to people who are systematically disenfranchised, persecuted, denied social services, and constantly dehumanized isnt the same thing as agreeing that a human being is really a dog?
And you also ought to check out the "systems." As in, groups of personalities within the mind of a person with dissociative personality disorder. Such as "the Magneton System. Yes. Like the Pokemon. Yes. We have problems." And who themselves post a privilege checklist, for "singlets" (i.e., people who don't have DPD). And who sometimes claim to have personalities who are black, Hispanic, Asian, etc., even though the physical body these personalities live is white, and that these personalities, judging from multiple rhetoric, should be respected as real and valid beings. And then they reblog racial SJ posts talking about how you need to respect THEIR PEOPLE.
And then there are the animalkin who claim thatAnimals can give consent, we just have to be fluent enough in the animals language to see it. Think about sex in the animal kingdom, mating rituals.
And honestly any one who seems to thing zoosexuality is inherently sick, or a mental problem is horridly horridly close minded. Granted, there are limits (as in if the animal is being hurt and the issue of consent) but there’s no reason that animals can not enjoy a sexual relationship with people and vice versa.
If you disagree, you're kink-shaming! And otherkin-bashing! And very very hurtful to otherkin like Kavitiya, becauseUH HELLO I AM OFTEN A NONHUMAN ANIMAL AND I HAVE CONSENTED TO SEX WITH HUMANS
seriously, the phrase “non-otherkin nonhuman” is important there or a similar qualifier
Kavitiya also lets us know that she has privilege over "structurekin," who are people who think they are architecture and buildings and who fall under the larger umbrella of "inanimate kin."
Don't miss Kavitiya's self-description, either, in her left sidebar.
She sparked this hilarious comment:Splorfle. The thing that gets me about these cat otherkin people is their complete lack of understanding about, well, cats.
An actual cat's concerns about the colonial hegemony
1) Can I train the colonial hegemony feed me on demand?
2) Will the colonial hegemony let me make a bed of its £100 cashmere sweater...? If not, tough, I'm kneading it anyway.
3) Will the colonial hegemony provide me with a box in which to shit when it's too cold to go outside and change the litter in said box regularly?
4) How comfy is the colonial hegemony's knee and do they wear the kind of jeans I can really sink my claws into?
5) Will the colonial hegemony please do something about those embarrassing human specimens in the faux-fur ears? That meowling's seriously interrupting my nap time.
A True Moggy's Guide to Literature
Step one: Select a comfy looking book (preferably one that the colonial hegemony wants to use for work or vital exam revision at that very moment).
Step two: Sit on this book.
Step three: When colonial hegemony wishes to remove you from said book, adopt cutest position possible.
Step four: When colonial hegemony persists in removal effort, start to bat at pages.
Step five: Hold ground until colonial hegemony offers suitable bribe.
Another commenter quotes a post tagged with "otherkin":Online (or at least here), I’m some kind of fox-person. I believe the layman’s term is now “kitsune,” but I don’t like the auto-association with Japan and Japanese lore.
and translates it to: "I'm a self-professed nerd who thinks he is really a fox in human form, but I'm NOT one of those icky weeaboos! Eww!"
I think we can all agree with this nonny:Sometimes, I feel like the word "ableism" has lost all meaning, and that's not right. I've been witness to the shitty way one of my family members gets treated for having slurred speech and being in a wheelchair, and I know that society at large can be really awful to people with physical and mental disabilities. Those are real problems which need to be dealt with. I don't see how refusing to acknowledge that someone is really a Pikachu inside is remotely on the same level.
What I'm hoping is that at least half of the otherkin justice warriors on Tumblr turn out to be trolls. I mean, the usual internet trolls. Not trollkin who identify with mythological trolls. And, while I might be wrong, I strongly suspect that blogger is trolling.
ETA, 2-9-12: Unlocking for an off-DW/LJ friend.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1741649.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.
Tumblr, according to Wikipedia, is "a website and microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog." A reblogged text post on Tumblr is a pain to read; it looks like an email that's been forwarded and replied to a dozen times or more. But an awful lot of "Tumblrinas" (not all of whom are female) have taken to sharing their Deepest Thoughts this way.
Tumblr's already gained a reputation for SJ warriors raging out of control. However, I had yet to learn about... Tumblr otherkin.
Oh, I already knew about otherkin. Turnipkin. Na'vi kin. Draconic bodies that live off Vanilla Coke.
But Tumblr otherkin... well, all you have to do is browse Tumblr's "otherkin" tag to see what I mean. That's how I found the "Human Privilege Checklist," posted by a self-identified "siren."
And Anti-Otherkin Troll Bingo. That comes from an entire post of special-snowflake links. (Oops, calling them special snowflakes is "ableist"!!) And the same Tumblrina felt the need to respond to an obvious joke Tumblr with a lament that the joke Tumblr "contains a lot of otherkin and therian hate, and speciesism. and other really problematic and oppressive things. that’s not cool."
But if you think that's offensive, you ought to check out Trans Kinfolk, which "aims to be a safe and helpful place for those who are trans* and otherkin, therian, or in any way non-human."
I like this person:Are you srsly asking me why being respectful and accommodating to people who are systematically disenfranchised, persecuted, denied social services, and constantly dehumanized isnt the same thing as agreeing that a human being is really a dog?
And you also ought to check out the "systems." As in, groups of personalities within the mind of a person with dissociative personality disorder. Such as "the Magneton System. Yes. Like the Pokemon. Yes. We have problems." And who themselves post a privilege checklist, for "singlets" (i.e., people who don't have DPD). And who sometimes claim to have personalities who are black, Hispanic, Asian, etc., even though the physical body these personalities live is white, and that these personalities, judging from multiple rhetoric, should be respected as real and valid beings. And then they reblog racial SJ posts talking about how you need to respect THEIR PEOPLE.
And then there are the animalkin who claim thatAnimals can give consent, we just have to be fluent enough in the animals language to see it. Think about sex in the animal kingdom, mating rituals.
And honestly any one who seems to thing zoosexuality is inherently sick, or a mental problem is horridly horridly close minded. Granted, there are limits (as in if the animal is being hurt and the issue of consent) but there’s no reason that animals can not enjoy a sexual relationship with people and vice versa.
If you disagree, you're kink-shaming! And otherkin-bashing! And very very hurtful to otherkin like Kavitiya, becauseUH HELLO I AM OFTEN A NONHUMAN ANIMAL AND I HAVE CONSENTED TO SEX WITH HUMANS
seriously, the phrase “non-otherkin nonhuman” is important there or a similar qualifier
Kavitiya also lets us know that she has privilege over "structurekin," who are people who think they are architecture and buildings and who fall under the larger umbrella of "inanimate kin."
Don't miss Kavitiya's self-description, either, in her left sidebar.
She sparked this hilarious comment:Splorfle. The thing that gets me about these cat otherkin people is their complete lack of understanding about, well, cats.
An actual cat's concerns about the colonial hegemony
1) Can I train the colonial hegemony feed me on demand?
2) Will the colonial hegemony let me make a bed of its £100 cashmere sweater...? If not, tough, I'm kneading it anyway.
3) Will the colonial hegemony provide me with a box in which to shit when it's too cold to go outside and change the litter in said box regularly?
4) How comfy is the colonial hegemony's knee and do they wear the kind of jeans I can really sink my claws into?
5) Will the colonial hegemony please do something about those embarrassing human specimens in the faux-fur ears? That meowling's seriously interrupting my nap time.
A True Moggy's Guide to Literature
Step one: Select a comfy looking book (preferably one that the colonial hegemony wants to use for work or vital exam revision at that very moment).
Step two: Sit on this book.
Step three: When colonial hegemony wishes to remove you from said book, adopt cutest position possible.
Step four: When colonial hegemony persists in removal effort, start to bat at pages.
Step five: Hold ground until colonial hegemony offers suitable bribe.
Another commenter quotes a post tagged with "otherkin":Online (or at least here), I’m some kind of fox-person. I believe the layman’s term is now “kitsune,” but I don’t like the auto-association with Japan and Japanese lore.
and translates it to: "I'm a self-professed nerd who thinks he is really a fox in human form, but I'm NOT one of those icky weeaboos! Eww!"
I think we can all agree with this nonny:Sometimes, I feel like the word "ableism" has lost all meaning, and that's not right. I've been witness to the shitty way one of my family members gets treated for having slurred speech and being in a wheelchair, and I know that society at large can be really awful to people with physical and mental disabilities. Those are real problems which need to be dealt with. I don't see how refusing to acknowledge that someone is really a Pikachu inside is remotely on the same level.
What I'm hoping is that at least half of the otherkin justice warriors on Tumblr turn out to be trolls. I mean, the usual internet trolls. Not trollkin who identify with mythological trolls. And, while I might be wrong, I strongly suspect that blogger is trolling.
ETA, 2-9-12: Unlocking for an off-DW/LJ friend.
This entry was originally posted at http://ms-daisy-cutter.dreamwidth.org/1741649.html. Please comment there using either your DW account or OpenID.