Short.

[liesk.livejournal.com]

Just a short thing about my relationship to other animal folk.

~

The fact that other people exist who feel similarly about their species identity never ceases to amaze me. Sure, it logically follows that if I'm an animal-person, there are probably others. But it's astounding that there are people who "get it." They experience the same, or similar, things as I do. Considering that this is a rare thing for me given only the general population, it has an impact.

I don't need these people simply for their animalness, and I don't necessarily need to discuss my animalness with them (but I would like to sometimes). Simply the fact that I know they, too, feel fur and muzzles and have thoughts that don't seem to match what is expected, that they feel the oddness of how flimsy the padding beneath our fingertips are -- and most confusing to me, the disorienting way my feet are so incredibly short and the other parts of my legs so damned long, the heel too muscular, simply to allow for some bizarre plantigrade walk -- the enjoyment of when you feel it as it should be, the frustrations of when it's not... all of it adds up to some role that other animal people play in my life.

That role being something along the lines of, "hello."

Comments

[aloiis.livejournal.com]

"Hello" can be enough. :) I've had the opportunity to meet up with animal people. I guess I also enjoy the fact that not only they "know", but they also understand to some degree. I don't feel the need to tell my IRL circle of friends about my animalness, because my animal behavior can be pretty obvious and they have aknowledged it, and because if they can't understand me in addition, it is very pointless to me. The animal does not care about having some sort of recognition. I would enjoy very much hanging around with animal people like I do with non-therians, as they'll understand an aspect of myself that others cannot, but that's about it. I don't crave for this interaction, and I'm doing fine both with non-therians and on my own.

My relationship to animal folk is very similar to the one I have with non-therians: those I relate to the most, and who relate the most to me, often are the ones I get close to, and those who aren't on the same intellectual lever as I am, and with whom I have nothing to say, are completely ignored. In the end it does not matter if what I have in common with people is animalness or gendervariance or something else. I just get along with people who can understand me to some degree, even if they experience the thing differently.