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A request to change the docs etc for those of us who aren't human. (self.support)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by SweetCitrusBuzz to c/support

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We were wondering if the docs etc here could be rewritten in such a way so as to not call all of us human since some of us are not.

Much like being transgender, being otherkin, alter{human/being} or transspecies can have a lot of dysphoria attached to it and we have had to at least explicitly tell one person on lemmy that we are not human even though it is in our profile.

We think that being more inclusive is always a good thing and will gladly work with those who can edit the docs etc in order to find more inclusive ways to say what needs to be said without misspeciesing any{one/many}.

Thanks for reading this and we hope this finds y'all well.

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[–] elfpie 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I know little about the subject, so forgive me if I express myself in the wrong way. I support being inclusive to otherkin, but it seems to me that the changes would require more nuance. My question would be if we can attribute human characteristics so broadly to non human beings. Different demographics experience different realities, changing the language might help, but it might just be something aesthetic that doesn't translate the specifics.

Is this case just a matter of the broadest category being inadequate? Similar to masculine forms being also neutral and general?

[–] SweetCitrusBuzz 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You're actually correct if we understand what you are saying. We guess we're just the first to ask and not many others have put forward their voices either because there are no other non/not entirely human(s) on this instance or they are too shy to say anything.

Personally we identify as transspecies, not otherkin. However, we are supportive of those that use other labels and have different experiences around this. We realise that we are probably compromising a lot in what we are asking for.

If it was up to us we would just rewrite it ourselves to be as inclusive as possible, but we're not sure that would be accepted and it might take quite a bit longer.

Well, we aren't human, we don't feel human, it causes us distress and dysphoria to be called and thought of as human, and we guess others have similar experiences to us.

We would completely transition this body if we could but instead we have to rely on technology, add-ons and aesthetics. Hopefully it'll eventually reach a point where we can but for now we do what we are able, just like being transgender too and the medical science not being there all the way either to give us what we need/want to be completely happy so we do the best we can with what is avaliable.

Well, masculine in the language we primarily use is thankfully being decentred as the neutral and general, though in some cases yeah and it still is which bothers us greatly and we seek to find or make truly neutral language instead wherever we can.

We aren't sure if this answers your question however, hopefully it does.

[–] fwygon 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

As an otherkin; I can personally attest that I don't personally mind being called human; but that's because one of my OtherSelf entities is an angel; which is humanoid enough to confuse some.

So we don't consider it malicious usually unless it's done in a specific situation/context.

Fwy am also plural too; but we speak in unity as a System via Melody; our resident Flygon/Angel.

I don't mind speaking as if we are human though personally though; and do understand that some Others do not feel the same; as my partner in this realm most certainly dislikes some human terms. Fwy still gets occasionally corrected when fwy absentmindedly drops human words in conversations. It's something we're familiar with; and I'm genuinely glad the admin team is willing to hear things out and make things a little more inclusive where it makes sense when they can.