Did you know there's an official Alt+H Habitica guild? It was conceived on the Discord server as a way to reward QOTM participation, but our members have quickly started coming up with their own ideas for alterhuman-related challenges - like this one:

Ultimate 30 Day Alterhuman Challenge!

From the challenge page: "30 days of thought-provoking questions about your alterhumanity! This is an ongoing challenge, so there will be no winner, but it's a fun way to earn experience while learning and sharing more about yourself. Feel free to share the answers here in the guild, in the Discord, on Tumblr, or via your favorite sharing website! These are designed as a 30 day challenge, but go at your own pace."

If that sounds like something you want to participate in, contact us with your User ID to be invited to the guild. And hey, if the idea is really popular, maybe the questions will be shared outside of the guild too! 

Once you're registered for the challenge, you can, as mentioned, share your answers anywhere you like and bring our attention to them much like you would for a QOTM. If your site of choice allows hashtags, use #30daysofalterhuman to share your posts and find other people doing the same!

Make sure to give the creator of the challenge, skeletonxdreams on tumblr, some love too! Thank you for creating this, and to everyone who gets involved!

To Be or Not to be an Onion: An Alterhuman Review of Shrek

 

The 2001 animated film Shrek has become so well-known that it barely needs an introduction. This irreverent yet sincere movie about an ogre and his swamp has been delighting audiences of all ages for over 15 years, with its songs and sayings even attaining meme status. Though Shrek is largely loved for its comedic value, and certainly not meant to be taken too seriously; I would like to take a moment to review the movie from an alterhuman perspective, and compare it to a film that I reviewed before, David Cronenberg's rendition of The Fly (tokophobia and body horror cw at the link).

In Shrek as in The Fly, a major character is cursed (by magic or by science) to be a human-nonhuman hybrid being. Both characters (Princess Fiona and Seth Brundle) struggle with their hybrid identity, often rejecting the nonhuman aspect of themselves. However, while in The Fly being a hybrid- and ultimately becoming totally nonhuman - is portrayed as increasingly negative; in Shrek, nonhuman identity is more complex. It does help that Shrek takes place in a fantasy setting, where sapient nonhumans like ogres and talking donkeys exist; however, even in this magical world nonhumans are often marginalized, especially those viewed as unintelligent and dangerous, like ogres.

So, both Seth and Fiona are cursed to become nonhuman, and be outcast from human society as a result of their unacceptable states. Ogres and giant man-flies are both seen as lacking the virtues of humanity- kindness, compassion, intelligence, warmth- and capable only of the viciousness their ugly appearances might suggest. In The Fly, this assumption turns out to be true- Seth, in his transformation, becomes cruel and selfish. In Shrek, however, this is consistently shown as a shallow perspective that does not capture the complex layers of our nonhuman protagonists.

Why the stark contrast? It could be due to a difference in genre- Shrek largely being a comedy and The Fly a horror film. It is better for the shock of horror if something bland and familiar warps into a heinous monstrosity. Yet comedy doesn't always hinge on characters having hidden depths and overcoming others' prejudices. I think that a big reason for the difference in the treatment of hybrid beings in these two films, beyond just genre, is the ways they are willing to portray the nonhuman. Cronenberg's Brundlefly becomes inhuman, and thereby inhumane; while Shrek's outlook seems to be the opposite- that human morality and perspectives are not the only ones worth valuing.

This idea can be seen incarnate in the form of the villain Lord Farquaad. Entirely human himself, he disdainfully seeks to remove any nonhuman fairy tale creatures from his kingdom. He sees them as nonhuman in the sense of The Fly- not just other than human, but less than human as well. When Fiona transforms in front of him, he becomes disgusted; by being even partly nonhuman, she is unworthy of his respect, attention, or love. When Shrek kisses her and breaks the curse, turning her permanently into an ogre, he assures her that she is beautiful the way she is. Even if ogres are ugly from a human perspective, from an ogre's perspective they are not; one need not be human or share their values to feel love and lead a meaningful existence, worthy of respect.

The moral of Shrek, I think, can be summed up in a quote from the ogre himself: "I don't care what everybody likes, ogres are not like cakes." Cakes may be many-layered and well-loved by others, but sweet and popular isn't how Shrek lives his life, or wants to. He is a humble, smelly onion, and I have nothing but earnest praise for this goofy movie with the guts to let Shrek and Fiona stay themselves: complex and monstrous.

Images courtesy of Disney Screencaps.

June has arrived, and hopefully for most of you the sun has come with it. If not, there's always this month's QOTM to keep your brain warm:

Do you experience shifts? 

What are they like for you? How would you personally define or explain shifts? If you have multiple identities that cause shifting, are some shifts different from others?

You can answer on tumblr, twitter, or the new facebook page; or you can link us to something on your own site via any of our social medias or the #qotm channel on the Discord server.

Send your submissions to althstaff@gmail.com with an optional alias to have them published on the site. You can submit anonymously through the tumblr as well!

Submit what you like! It doesn't have to be a whole essay. It can be a paragraph, a sentence, a short poem. Hell, it doesn't even have to be writing! Art is welcome too. Interprative dance? Music? Sure! Whatever you have to contribute is valuable and appreciated.

Of course, there's also the QOTM Roundtable to look forward to. This month, it's on Friday 8th at 5pm EST. See that in your local time here and then join the server so you can participate!

And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you've got to show us this month!

If you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

"Machine Subjectivity:" The Life and Times of Internet Bots

 

Internet bots are ubiquitous, from algorithm-run Twitter accounts to chat server assistants and web crawlers racking up page-views. We are more or less familiar with what they do- performing basic tasks online. But have we stopped to really consider what they are? Last year, experts gathered at a Data Society workshop to do just that.

Their conclusions? Bots aren't just inert programming carrying out functions; they have a rich societal context, and even a unique umwelt, or way of experiencing and interacting with their world. Given that so much discussion of artificial intelligence seems to focus on how robots measure up to humans, this series of articles was a nice change of pace; trying to understand bots in their own contexts, as non-human actors with "lives" all their own.

How to Think About Bots

This "Botifesto" by multiple authors focuses on the moral and legal implications of bots' semi-autonomous nature.

What is it like to be a bot?

Samantha Shorey considers the enchantment of human actions, and the worldview of bots.

On Paying Attention: How to Think about Bots as Social Actors

When is a speed bump like a bot? When they both affect social behavior, m.c. elish suggests.

Our friends, the bots?

Bot-creator Alexis Lloyd encourages us to think about the uniqueness of "machine subjectivity."

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Where Are All The Postfurries?

Postfurry: a word just as nebulous as 'alterhuman' and just as intentionally so. First spotted in the early 2000s in the form of a circle of content creators, it was a 'micro-movement' that deigned to challenge, expand and play with the definition of 'furry'. The few public facing resources are barely organized but some phrases catch the eye:

"using postfurry to interrogate the boundaries of "human" behavior and how real/necessary they really are"

"mental, narrative, and ritual transformation as a lifestyle, with animal people as the preferred front-end"

"opening up a category of "socially non-human""

Sounds familiar, right? Sounds cool, right?!

A typical example of a 'postfursona':
a lava lamp vixen by Egypt Urnash

When I discovered the concept, I was ecstatic. I wanted to consume as much information about it as possible, but there was... nothing. I applied for a mailing list that didn't have enough public information for me to tell if it was actually active or not and got nothing. I looked for forums or IRC chats. None!

An entire empire had lived and died before I even learned its name, and now I stood, a wistful archaeologist, trying to fit enough scattered pieces together to tell the world what greats had come before it. Yeah, I'm majorly romanticizing this, but I was sincerely devastated to find something that combined all of my interests only to basically find out it doesn't exist any more.

Or so I thought. I found an essay on it dated January of this year earlier in the week that re-sparked my interest. Evidently, people were still interested in the concept. I revisited the old wiki and found, gasp, a Discord link. Hello! I said, I never thought I'd see a postfurry community in this day and age, but here I've found you! An admin responded thusly:

"i don't think any of us realised we were lost"

So what's up with that?

There are reasons the postfurry community might be so obscure, not least that its ideas are... pretty inaccessible to the average person. It is deeply philosophical, absurdist and abstract. And most people don't want to have to take a crash course in postmodernism just to understand how to play with imaginary animals. That's understandable! The appeal of the furry fandom for a lot of people is in its low barrier for entry, and postfurry kind of turns that on its head. It's not elitism - they're just playing with some inherently complex ideas.

Becoming Oneself by Grey White

That being said, there is an intentional reclusiveness I've noticed. Whether it's because a strong sense of community and deep interpersonal relationships are important to the ethos or they're just looking to shield themselves from ridicule I don't know, but it's enough to keep a significant amount of genuinely interested persons out, if my own experience is anything to go by.

But I sympathize, because it's easy to draw parallels here between postfurry and alterhumanity here. They're both about interrogating the model of humanity. And that's a scary thing to do, because it necessitates the questioning a lot of really fundamental social norms. It requires an active and ongoing effort to internalize contextuality and intersection and gray areas. You need a rudimentary understanding of ontology and semantics. Then you have to put that all together and figure out how that applies to one of the most deeply rooted categories of all time: humanity. This is not easy stuff to teach.

Nevertheless, we should try. The postfurry community has something important to bring to the alterhuman community. It has something important to bring to the people, like me, who think similarly on their own and don't realize there's a group to share their ideas with, and it has something important to bring to the people who have never considered such ideas before, even if, and maybe especially if, they're not alterhuman themselves.

What do you think? Have you come across postfurry before, maybe even found some good resources that I haven't? Do you think that a postfurry identity is an inherently alterhuman one, or that postfurry is worth mentioning when talking about alterhumanity in general? Lets us know in your comments.

If you're looking for more info on the subculture, check out the Postfurry Wiki.

Overcoming Anthropodenial: Tear Down That Wall

Anthropocentrism is unfortunately prevalent in Western society. According to this view, humans are accepted as having uniquely complex mental and emotional abilities. This might not initially seem like much of an issue- humans certainly are intelligent, creative, and expressive beings. The problem arises when anthropocentrism is taken to its inevitable conclusion: Since humans are complex, they are unique; and therefore separate from and even superior to all other animals.

Franz de Waal tackles the problem of anthropocentrism in a Discover magazine article titled Are We in Anthropodenial? Anthropodenial, de Waal proposes, is the flip-side of anthropocentrism: Because only humans may have complex mental lives, non-human animals are denied this complexity, despite numerous studies and observations suggesting intuition, emotion, and reasoning in animals.

De Waal suggests that we question the human exceptionalism that has become the norm; and allow ourselves a worldview of productive anthropomorphism. This isn't anthropomorphism in the sense of assuming animals have the same minds and motivations as humans; but rather allowing ourselves to see that our human traits aren't so unique after all, a rediscovery of the 'human' in the non-human.

The full article can be read at the link below:

Are We in Anthropodenial? By Franz de Waal

 

Image sources for article graphic: X, X, X

I Am Not Human

---

This is something I have been meaning to write for a good long time, but have struggled to find motivation and clarity to write it before now.

 
I am not human.

And I don’t mean this just in the sense of my spirit is not human, or my mind works in ways that feel inhuman, I mean that I am nonhuman in my whole being. Unapologetically.

In almost every refutation of misinformation from anti-kin, one will find “we all know we’re human!” in infinite variation. Even to the degree of “those who physically identify as nonhuman are not otherkin.” I understand where the sentiment comes from, considering we constantly struggle to keep p-shifters out and refute ideas that clinical lycanthropy is the same as what we experience. But there comes a point where I have to wonder if we've internalized this in a way that means we don’t take being nonhuman seriously. And I propose that perhaps viewing yourself as "physically nonhuman" doesn't mean the same thing as "I am not Homo sapiens."

I see it a lot in the idea that ‘species dysphoria’ is a transphobic way to describe the discomfort and distress of your body not matching your perceived species and body map, and in refutations that it exists at all. I see it in every “all otherkin know they’re really human” and especially in “being human is part of being otherkin.” I see it in forced human positivity posts, urging people to “accept that you’re human now and learn to love what your human body can do!” and in “Whatever you once were, you’re a human now, and you can’t let being kin become your life.”

And don’t get me wrong. I understand where all of these things come from. I understand that there’s variety of experience. But I also see this being pushed on others as the respectable way to be otherkin. The way where it isn't a huge part of your life, doesn't overlap with gender or orientation or any other part of your identity, doesn't cause you distress when called human, doesn't lead you to present in a genuinely nonhuman way, and especially doesn't lead you to call your body not human.

But here I am. I've been almost a decade in this community. I've held the perspectives in the past that have come to leave me out and make me consider how people really view our experiences. And they've changed. I’m not a ‘respectable’ nonhuman. I call my body nonhuman because my experience of self and world is nonhuman. Because I am not human, and this being my body, neither is it. I compare it to my trans experience in that way--the linguistic dysphoria is the same. I know what my body looks like, but what I call it is going to reflect how I view and experience it, not how you or anyone else does. And that deserves to be respected as much as anything else.

In fact, my nonhumanity is part of my transness, and the dysphoria I experience from both things can and has been linked. How does a thing that is not human experience and relate to a uniquely human idea of gender? Awkwardly. Or not at all. Or it refuses. I use “it” pronouns for about the same reason, and as part of combating that linguistic dysphoria. (But remember, no otherkin uses pronouns based on their kintype, right?)

Perhaps more drastically, in my case, is the desire for species modification. I have begun to and will continue to take steps to present myself as more physically nonhuman-looking. I plan very seriously on having my ears pointed. I will build digitigrade stilts to make up for the lack of paw-feet that I feel need to be there more than anything else. I may yet have dental work done. And above all, I continue to look for more ways to become comfortably less-human as part of my androgyny--to make people ask “what the hell is it?” on more than one level.

Im not human because “human” means so much more than just being a member of the species Homo sapiens sapiens. How can something be “subhuman” or “more than human” if that’s the case? How can we “dehumanize” someone, and what does that mean? Why does being “human” equal being compassionate, kind, relatable, and “inhuman” equal monstrous, evil, sadistic. If we spend so much time wondering “what does it mean to be human,” why can I not spend just as much time wondering what it means not to be? When I feel entirely alienated from the cultures, histories, values, experiences, or ideas of humans--even of groups of humans I should technically belong to--why should I be forced to call myself one of them and return to feeling alone and entirely unwelcome?

I may be Homo sapiens, but I will never be human.

Guess what? It's gonna be May! Time for this month's question:

How do you react to your identity 'in the wild'?
For example, if you're therian, what's it like seeing your species and similar?
If you're fictionkin, how do you react to fandom and fiction in general?

You can answer on tumblr or twitter; or you can link us to something on your own site via any of our social medias or the #qotm channel on the Discord server.

We're also giving you a new way to submit anonymously starting this month, as per some requests! Send your submissions to althstaff@gmail.com with an optional alias to have them published on the site. You can submit anonymously through the tumblr as well!

Submit what you like! It doesn't have to be a whole essay. It can be a paragraph, a sentence, a short poem. Hell, it doesn't even have to be writing! Art is welcome too. Interprative dance? Music? Sure! Whatever you have to contribute is valuable and appreciated.

Of course, there's also the QOTM Roundtable to look forward to. This month, it's on Friday 5th at 5pm EST. See that in your local time here and then join the server so you can participate!

And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you've got to show us this month!

If you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

Recommended Reads - Spring Edition

Spring is finally here, and bringing flowers and warmer weather with it. Alt+H would like to bring you something too: A short list of recommended reads for your alterhuman needs. Content warnings have been given where applicable, just as a heads-up. If you have any questions or concerns about content, feel free to ask.

Available for sale at Amazon.com

Fiction: Shifting Hearts

Shifting Hearts is an anthology of otherkin romance short stories, and one of the few books I have ever encountered that deal with the subject of otherkin directly. While the writing style of some stories can feel a bit unpolished, I greatly enjoyed what this book has to offer. Very few published stories contain any actual otherkin representation, and I found some of these to be relatable to my own everyday feelings of being nonhuman. A short and engaging read; I finished the whole book in a single day. Follow the journeys of human and nonhuman protagonists as they discover themselves, learn from each other, and maybe even fall in love.


Tokophobia cw for Ch. 1 (light) and Ch. 2.

Available for sale at Amazon.com

Nonfiction: Staying with the Trouble

Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene is Donna Haraway's latest book, and one that I have reviewed in the past. Haraway calls human exceptionalism into question, which is important from an ecological and ethical point of view, and also from an alterhuman one: To be strictly 'human' is less important than to "live and die well" with our fellow critters. Her closing chapter contains a work of speculative fabulation, in which some humans are genetically modified to contain the genes and express the traits of chosen critters, as part of an effort to restore balance between human and nonhuman nature. An intriguing read from start to finish, and largely straight-forward without much jargon, just a few novel uses of words.

Cw for some mentions of  human rights abuses (mainly ch. 3), animal abuse/neglect/death (mainly ch. 3 & 5), and light tokophobia cw (mainly ch. 5). 

Print books available for sale on Storenvy

Webcomic: Skin Deep

Skin Deep is a webcomic by Kory Bing about ordinary college kids who are also mythical creatures. They are able to shift between human and nonhuman form by the magic contained in medallions. Michelle Jocasta- unaware that she is not as human as she thinks- is given one such medallion by a stranger, unlocking her ability to shift. She is suddenly thrown into a tumultuous and fantastical world where monsters walk among us, and wars fought long ago still haunt the present. Overall, Skin Deep is an intriguing and unique comic that is ten years old and still ongoing, and can be read for free at the link below:

http://www.skindeepcomic.com/archive/issue-1-cover/




Have feedback about our recommended reads? Want to suggest content for our next list? Contact us and share your thoughts! 

Now that April Fools is safely over, it's time to get down to the Very Serious Business of answering the monthly question. Here's what you chose this month:

How do you outwardly express your alterhumanity?
If you're an artist, does it come through in your art?

You can answer on tumblr or twitter; or you can link us to your writing on your own site via any of our social medias or the #qotm channel on the Discord server. Speaking of the Discord, we'll be having our round-table discussion of this month's QOTM on April 7th, 5pm Eastern Time (see it in your local time here).

Your answer can be in any format as always, but because of the nature of this month's question it'd be extra nice to see art submissions. Drawing, writing, music - you name it, we want to see it!

And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you've got to show us this month!

And if you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

Vinny Ohh Is The Genderless Alien We All Wish We Could Be

Source: Vinny Ohh, Instagram

Makeup artist Vinny Ohh has been getting a lot of media attention after a series of interviews where they detailed their extensive plans for surgery to become sexless. "The overall image I want to do is an alien ... I do kind of look like a Martian. I have a really big head, no eyebrows and I've just been connecting with that," they told the Daily Mail. Reactions have been mixed, but we here at Alt+H are in love.

Vinny has already undergone surgery to shape their face into something much more extraterrestrial. They also frequently wear sclera contacts, fake talons and vibrant makeup to further accentuate their alien look. It's a sign of hope for many alterhumans who feel that their outsides don't match their insides - there are things you can do to look less human, and there are people who will help and support you in doing it.

The revolution won't be coming any time soon. The subject of species dysphoria is still a controversial one within the alterhuman community, to say nothing of its reputation outside of it. But people like Vinny Ohh are making it their mission to normalize all kinds of expression of self.

"I do it to inspire the world in a certain way," they said, "I want people to stop labelling others or putting them in boxes."

Marcela Anglesias, producer of Plastics of Hollywood added, "We have all these people, the freaks, the weirdos, and we want to make society understand them."

While it's certainly not a small step for Vinny, it could also end up being a giant leap for alterhuman kind.

---

You can learn more about Vinny Ohh in this Elite Daily report, this ITV interview, or their Instagram.

The Kids Are Alright: Solving The Terminology Problem With Responsible Communication

The neo generation of otherkin-identifying people - the so called "tumblrkin" - often call out the older folks for gatekeeping. 

They feel like older 'kin are imposing arbitrary standards on who gets to call themselves otherkin based on who appears respectable - elitism, essentially. Are they right to say that? Probably not, but honestly? I can see where they get the idea from.

It's the language, mostly. "You're not" is worse than "you are". "You are" is worse than "are you?". And which phrasing do you use? If it's one of the first two, then I'd suggest you might want to work on your communication skills. Hear me out.

Source: Puzzler4879 on Flickr

Spring has sprung, and so has another monthly question! This March, the community wants to know:

How does your alterhumanity interact with other parts of your identity?

How does it intersect with (for example) your gender, your spirituality, your nationality?

And if you're, say, both therian and fictionkin - how do those relate to each other?

(Alright, that might be paraphrasing the actual voted-on question a little, but we wanted to make sure that people who don't have multiple different types of alterhuman identity were able to answer too.)

You can answer via tumblr or twitter; you can link us to your writing on your own site; and you can join us for the round-table discussion on our Discord server on March 10th, 5pm Eastern Time (see it in your local time here).


And just like last time, at the end of the month, we'll round up our favourite thoughts and show them off here. If your answer is particularly thoughtful, entertaining, or inspiring, that could be you!

We're looking forward to seeing what you bring to the table this month!

Pssst, if you already have an idea for next month's question, let us hear it!

February Roundup

As February draws to a close and winter with it, let's have a look at what you've had to say about this month's QOTM:

What is your relationship to humanity?

Do you identify with any part of being human? 

Do you feel like you’re a blend of ‘other’ and human, or fully not human inside? 

Are you human but alterhuman in some other way?

1) "I don’t have to identify as either fully human or fully not"

- Aepaex gives us this great perspective on otherheartedness and existing in contrast to your environment.

2) "I consider myself, as I am now, to be a hybrid being"

- Fractal Boundary explains how humanity and alterity can coexist in the same body.

3) "Anthropophobia"

- Vagabond Sun contemplates otherness in the eyes of other people.

4) "We realized just how much rabbit is in our soul"

- KabitTarah talks about the comfort a deep rooted nonhuman connection can bring in this exploration of her therianthropy over the years.

5) "Pretty damn distant"

- Serpent of Solipsistful tells us that when it comes to feelings of otherness in alterhumans, it's not always your species that's to blame.

6) "Its very own brand of mixed nuts"

- BlueBoxOfSnark sums up some complicated feelings in a short and sweet statement on the weirdness of being human.

There was also tons of conversation throughout the whole month on the discord server's dedicated QOTM channel: together we explored the boundaries of the definition of 'human' and 'person'; body modification's role in identity and the nature of sentience in relation to and around the QOTM subject. It was a great way to get involved for the people who didn't feel up to writing a whole article, and an excellent supplement for the people who did. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Now we've got March to look forward to - what will the next question be? Check back tomorrow to find out!

It’s Official: Otherkin DO Real

According to an Otherkin News tweet on February 25th, the word ‘otherkin’ was added to the Oxford Dictionary, possibly earlier this month. The definition can be read here: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/otherkin

What does this development mean for otherkin and alterhuman communities? On the one hand, it is a powerful sort of validation that knowledge of one’s identity has become widespread enough to warrant inclusion in a dictionary, one of our society’s official arbiters of language. It makes a statement: This is not just some ‘made-up word,’ it has a dictionary definition. Pedantic naysayers can be redirected to highly-regarded source: Read ‘em and weep.

On the other hand, I don’t need the Oxford Dictionary’s approval to know that I exist, and that my feelings are real and meaningful. Otherkin have defined themselves as such since the 1990s, and were just as solidly extant then as we are now that we are officially defined. Further, definitions can be limiting, especially socially official ones such as dictionaries dole out: Do we have to conform exactly to this definition to be ‘valid,’ or is there still room for flux and change?

What you think? Share your opinions with us about ‘otherkin’ being added to the Oxford Dictionary!