There seem to be some people on Lemmy who genuinely believe that they are an animal. They say they are an “unperson” or discuss conversing with “animals” who “happen to be born in human bodies”. They see their struggle as on par with the struggle for trans people, and their right to be recognized as animals as a part of a broader societal struggle for queer acceptance.

Well, this is fucking stupid.

First of all, comparing “I’m a puppy uWu” to gender dysphoria trivializes what trans people go through. Furries are not struggling like trans people. They are simply mocking trans people (whether that mockery is intentional or not is besides the point).

Second of all, you’re not a fucking animal bro ffs. Being an animal isn’t a state of mind. It isn’t a vibe. It isn’t a social construct. It isn’t something you’re assigned at birth. It’s about DNA. You have 50% of DNA from a human mom, and 50% of your DNA from a human dad, so you have 100% human DNA (granted maybe you have like 0.1% Neanderthal DNA but whatever). So you’re a human. This shouldn’t be a hard concept to grasp.

If you can speak a human language, and have the mental wherewithal required to use the internet, then you have a HUMAN MIND. And if you “just so happen to be born in a human body” then you have a HUMAN BODY. HUMAN MIND + HUMAN BODY = HUMAN. IT’S ALL HUMAN. YOU ARE HUMAN. Just because you have a bestiality fetish does not make you a fucking bobcat ffs

  • yottle@kopitalk.netOPEnglish
    710·
    2 days ago

    I have had rather frustrating conversations with two different people, on two separate occasions, trying to explain to them that they are not, in fact, an animal. To me this is a rather absurd situation to be in. So that frustration probably comes through in my post.

    • OwOarchist@pawb.socialEnglish
      9·
      2 days ago

      I have had rather frustrating conversations with two different people, on two separate occasions, trying to explain to them that they are not, in fact, an animal.

      Did those people actually claim to be animals, or were you putting words in their mouth just like you’ve been doing here?

      If those conversations were online, show some (anonymized) receipts.

    • bearboiblake [he/him]@pawb.socialEnglish
      7·
      2 days ago

      My sister has schizophrenia and pretty regularly has pretty severe delusions. Back before she was diagnosed and it was a new thing, I really struggled with feelings of frustration - I couldn’t get through to her, there was no amount of logic or reason or explanations that could help her understand that the things she was experiencing weren’t real.

      Over time interacting with her, I eventually learned that delusions come from something real, some genuine fear or memory or whatever. Directly telling her that things she was experiencing weren’t real got me nowhere. The best approach for me was to help her talk it out - what was she experiencing, how was she feeling, what situation led up to her feeling that way. Just talking, listening, and believing her - I know it sounds crazy, but just telling a delusional person that you understand and that you believe that their experiences were real to them - helps so much. A lot of the times the feelings of rejection and alienation are at the root of delusions, so validating their feelings helps them feel better. That would usually lead to her, unprompted, to realize herself that she was experiencing delusions, and then I can just validate it for her that yeah it probably was.

      You’re probably wondering, why am I telling you all of this – it’s not your job to be a therapist for random people on the internet, after all. You’d be totally correct to feel that way, it’s not your problem to fix, and if you really want to help someone you feel is delusional, it takes a lot of empathy, understanding, patience, and mental flexibility.

      Honestly, my advice would be to just not get into it with people you don’t know well, let them live their lives. None of us are responsible for the dysfunction of others.

      • yottle@kopitalk.netOPEnglish
        21·
        1 day ago

        Over time interacting with her, I eventually learned that delusions come from something real, some genuine fear or memory or whatever. Directly telling her that things she was experiencing weren’t real got me nowhere. The best approach for me was to help her talk it out - what was she experiencing, how was she feeling, what situation led up to her feeling that way. Just talking, listening, and believing her - I know it sounds crazy, but just telling a delusional person that you understand and that you believe that their experiences were real to them - helps so much.

        This is interesting, thanks for sharing (I posted this response earlier but it didn’t federate for some reason so I’m trying again)

        • bearboiblake [he/him]@pawb.socialEnglish
          1·
          1 day ago

          You’re welcome! It’s probably worth pointing out that that denying/rejecting delusions is a bad approach according to the broad consensus of mental healthcare professionals/resources too - you can find loads of resources online, but I’ll share this random Australian government health website since there’s not really a universal source - emphasis mine:

          When supporting someone experiencing psychosis you should:

          • talk clearly and use short sentences, in a calm and non-threatening voice
          • be empathetic with how the person feels about their beliefs and experiences
          • validate the person’s own experience of frustration or distress, as well as the positives of their experience
          • listen to the way that the person explains and understands their experiences
          • not state any judgements about the content of the person’s beliefs and experiences
          • not argue, confront or challenge someone about their beliefs or experiences
          • accept if they don’t want to talk to you, but be available if they change their mind
          • treat the person with respect
          • be mindful that the person may be fearful of what they are experiencing.

          I hope you can understand what I’m trying to get at, here - not only is arguing with people about their belief that they are an animal unhelpful, but might actually make the problem worse. I still think the best approach is to just leave them be unless they’re actually your friend, but if you really want to help them, I hope you remember this advice.

          Also, I hope you’ll reconsider your views on furries! There are lots of intolerant people out there sadly who like to punch down on us underdogs (pun not intended) for being a little outside the norm, and there are those who try and make out that the furry fandom is really fucked up and engages in really heinous things that furries are actually completely intolerant towards in reality. We don’t deserve half the abuse we get, we’re good folks on the whole - there are definitely some oddballs, like with any fandom, but the furry fandom is very accepting towards people who are different, that’s one of the things that makes it such a positive community.

          • yottle@kopitalk.netOPEnglish
            1·
            9 hours ago

            Also, I hope you’ll reconsider your views on furries!

            The person I was conversing said their belief they were an animal was a furry thing, so that’s the word I used in this post. Since then have been a number of comments here explaining the technical terms used to describe the different subtypes of furries. If someone just likes art of anthropomorphic animals then I don’t take issue with that

            • bearboiblake [he/him]@pawb.socialEnglish
              1·
              2 hours ago

              Yeah, some people consider Therians/Otherkin to be a subcategory of the furry fandom, some don’t. The taxonomy isn’t really that important, I think.

              I think most Therians/Otherkin are basically just teenagers exploring their identities, choosing to identify as their favorite animals online for a bit of fun and maybe some form of escapism from what might be pretty shitty lives.

              I just believe that people can and should identify however they like, as long as it’s not causing people problems, it doesn’t really matter!