Lately I've been trying to describe my gender and how it relates to my draconity, partly using a really cool resource that one person came up with for framing gender in non-binary terms: this thread/zine by frogwatching.

I got as far as filling out one blank diagram, but the more I tried to clarify, the more I felt like I was just tying myself in knots, trying to explain something that was just out of reach of the structure I'd been given.

Then, I had an epiphany. Well, several, but here's one.

( CW: gender and species dysphoria, sexualisation of AFAB kids, gamer bro creepiness )

The English language uses the root word "human" (and its derivatives, such as "humane", "humanity", etc.) in many confusing, vague, and sometimes unfair ways. Here's a short list of reasons you might want to learn how to use it less.

• To clarify your speech and writing by saying exactly what you mean, making it more accessible.


• To avoid the humancentrism that pervades our language, and conditions us to automatically think of nonhumans as "lesser" beings. This leads to countless nonhuman rights abuses.


• To validate and include therians, otherkin and others (such as me!) who, for spiritual, neurodivergent or other personal reasons, don't feel human. These people often feel invisible, so by being careful with your language you could really make someone's day!


• To add realism to fiction that involves nonhumans.

And here's how we do it, with a breakdown of when and why you may want to use (or avoid) each individual word!

( mentions: politics, prison abuses, migrant abuses, climate change, natural disasters, animal rights, general cruelty and injustice )

I call upon all wildlings—where by wildlings I mean the therianthropes and theriomythics, the phytanthropes and their mineral kin, those with the blood or souls of the Fair Folk and the Tuatha Dé Danann, of the elves and goblins and pixies and gnomes, the treelings and seafolk and skylings; as well as the animal-hearted, the plant- and the mineral-hearted, and those kin to rivers and ponds and clouds and stars, and anyone who supports them or feels bound to honour such a pledge—to witness the below manifesto.

( Mentions: climate change, governments )