Alterhumanity

It was last updated 05 Aug, 2024.

What changed: Unlisting entry. I'm not even gonna bother re-reading this one, I doubt it's any good anymore LOL

Because of my focus on fictionkin, I've been neglecting a lot of interesting or possibly important pieces of otherkin communities. I'm working to fix this, but I do want it to be clear that most of my so-called 'expertise' is in the fictionkin area.

A term floating around that you may have heard is alterhuman - the simplest definition I can give you is that it's a term for people who just plain don't feel human. More specifically, these people may identify as something other than what is traditionally considered human*. It should be noted that the experience of being alterhuman is spiritual for some.

The term alterhuman has been used by 'kin, therian, and other similar communities - however, some people who aren't part of any sort of spiritual community seem to also identify with the term (notable non-spiritual examples are furries, linkers, and systems). Some people do not belong to any community associated with the term at all.

I didn't touch on this term in my kin history post because it's a fairly recent development, and there's not much to say. Alterhuman was coined in 2014, and two people (or one person referred to in different ways?) seem to be credited for the term. While there are many organizations associated with alterhumanity, one of the more notable ones is Alt+H - according to WikiFur and the site itself, Alt+H started out as a Tumblr blog in 2016 before becoming a nonprofit in 2019. In 2022, it went back to operating as a self-funded group.

Websites like Alt+H aim to legitimize the experience of alterhumanity to outsiders. I'd argue they do a pretty good job, but this is mostly because the label is vague enough that anyone can identify with it - this, however, is also a downside for the exact same reason. The site is open about its staff, and even has (or had?) a Patreon you can subscribe to to help fund their effort.

A common thing alterhumans seem to experience is species dysphoria - while I'm not entirely sure what that entails, I'd assume common 'symptoms' of this experience include astral limbs. It seems some transgender alterhumans liken their species dysphoria experiences to their experiences with gender dysphoria.

It should be noted that not everyone is happy with the term's existence, and some alterhumans don't want publicity - most often attempts to explain alterhumanity are met with mockery, and the people who are trying to explain it to outsiders are often gawking at alterhumans themselves. The most recent example of this is the movie Wolf, a movie about a boy who believes he's a wolf. A quick scroll through the Alt+H blog provides some perspective on why this movie doesn't bring good representation to the alterhuman community.

Some are not fond of the term because abuse victims who have been made to feel not human have a chance of falling down this rabbithole and never healing. Some people who may not feel human have belonged to groups such as the indigo children or starseeds - both of these are terms forced onto others (namely children), making them out to be aliens from another world that are here for a reason. Often these people are brought up in cult-like environments, and/or the terms are used as an alternative to being diagnosed with a learning disability.

I've observed some systems complain of singlets identifying with the alterhuman label - I'm ashamed to say these people were my age, and had no idea what the history of the label was. While I don't expect them to have known (after all, alterhuman being about alters is a pretty easy assumption to make), it is kind of silly to me knowing about what it means now.