thank you for responding. you’ve very succinctly written out what i wanted to know.
I'm glad to hear it :)
this seems to me to be much different than one’s gender identity or lack thereof.
gender identity is another social construct. why do man and woman need a privileged status over deerkin or whatever else? what difference does this make to anyone but the person in question?
to give you some context on my beliefs i’m an athiest and don’t believe in any sort of spirit, soul, etc.
consider it like this -- if this way of understanding themselves makes some people happy, what's the skin off your back?
moreover, gender identity is a very private thing. if someone is talking to you about their own, they're sharing something quite intimate. (in reality, someone's pronouns are also potentially very private -- this is why we only ever ask for preferences.) so do you object to the existence of people that believe they're spirits or that their souls descended from mythological creatures? would you respond to someone sharing something so personal and intimate with you with that kind of objection? you are free to believe whatever about the "objective" truth of the matter ("objective" because this is a fundamentally subjective matter, a matter fundamentally about the subjectivities that make them who they are and how they see themselves) but aren't you kind of a dick if you push that kind of existence-denying objection onto a person who has put themselves in an extremely vulnerable position in front of you?
this denial of existence is so core to the societal oppression of queer people, to the hatred and disgust that spawns so much violence against us, that everyone should always think three times before saying anything to the effect of "I don't believe that's real" when speaking of peoples' identities, and even then, probably not actually say so.
so do you object to the existence of people that believe they’re spirits or that their souls descended from mythological creatures?
well i do object to that specific belief. as well as i object to religion. i guess the best way would be to treat them as i would treat someone's religious beliefs, with respect. cause after all, the only reason "otherkin" seem much more alien to me is due to societal influence and acceptance. if the roles were to be reversed to where religion were the new idea i hadn't heard of, i presume i'd have the same qualms.
again, thank you for responding to me so much. you've really helped educate me on this topic.
right but their belief is about their own existence and their relationship with their own existence. so 1. it's fundamentally different than religion, which makes claims about the world as a whole; 2. there's no institutional authority; and 3. that means you have to be careful or what you're saying means in effect "these people don't exist".
I'm glad to hear it :)
gender identity is another social construct. why do man and woman need a privileged status over deerkin or whatever else? what difference does this make to anyone but the person in question?
consider it like this -- if this way of understanding themselves makes some people happy, what's the skin off your back?
moreover, gender identity is a very private thing. if someone is talking to you about their own, they're sharing something quite intimate. (in reality, someone's pronouns are also potentially very private -- this is why we only ever ask for preferences.) so do you object to the existence of people that believe they're spirits or that their souls descended from mythological creatures? would you respond to someone sharing something so personal and intimate with you with that kind of objection? you are free to believe whatever about the "objective" truth of the matter ("objective" because this is a fundamentally subjective matter, a matter fundamentally about the subjectivities that make them who they are and how they see themselves) but aren't you kind of a dick if you push that kind of existence-denying objection onto a person who has put themselves in an extremely vulnerable position in front of you?
this denial of existence is so core to the societal oppression of queer people, to the hatred and disgust that spawns so much violence against us, that everyone should always think three times before saying anything to the effect of "I don't believe that's real" when speaking of peoples' identities, and even then, probably not actually say so.
well i do object to that specific belief. as well as i object to religion. i guess the best way would be to treat them as i would treat someone's religious beliefs, with respect. cause after all, the only reason "otherkin" seem much more alien to me is due to societal influence and acceptance. if the roles were to be reversed to where religion were the new idea i hadn't heard of, i presume i'd have the same qualms.
again, thank you for responding to me so much. you've really helped educate me on this topic.
right but their belief is about their own existence and their relationship with their own existence. so 1. it's fundamentally different than religion, which makes claims about the world as a whole; 2. there's no institutional authority; and 3. that means you have to be careful or what you're saying means in effect "these people don't exist".