Voluntary identities being overlooked and stigmatized
Over the last couple of years, a word has been swimming around mostly the TikTok alterhuman spaces, but has since spread to other social sites. That word is otherpaw. Otherpaw means to wear animal masks and do quadrobics without being an alterhuman in any way. It's simply a word for a hobby. However, I've seen some people use otherpaw to mean choosing to identify as nonhuman. Otherlink is right there. And yet otherpaw is getting way more attention than otherlink, probably because otherpaw is an arts and crafts hobby focused word, and alterhuman TikTok prefers videos with pretty masks and graceful quads.
I notice that otherlink sometimes gets treated as a discard label. It's brought up as a correction label. Some people say that the otherlink and otherkin communities should be seperate. Some say that otherlinking just makes you a furry. Some argue that otherlink should be considered a subtype of otherkin. Some argue that otherlink isn't as genuine or integral as otherkin. Some argue that the voluntary involuntary binary shouldn't be so harshly enforced. Some argue that voluntary alterhuman identities are undermining the suffering and dysphoria involuntary alterhumans go through. Actually, the last one even applies to involuntary alterhumans who enjoy their alterhumanity. Over the last few years, alterhumanity, especially therianthropy, was being equated with suffering. "Being a therian is hard! What is there to enjoy about being a therian? Why would you enjoy therianthropy? You just don't understand what it's actually like..." If they said that therianthropy was hard for them but they think it's nice if you enjoy yours, that's fine. But these types of videos and comments imply that therianthropy is hard for every single therian in existence.
Why is there wariness of the idea of choosing to identify as nonhuman? Someone says that they chose to become something, and a few pitchforks and torches appear here and there. There are a couple reasons that happened in the past. The first one is kin for fun and trolls declaring that otherkin is a choice for everyone, that it's roleplay, and genuine identities are delusional. Fictionkind community was especially hit hard by this ordeal. Then in recent alterhuman community history, there was the drama about faunaluna. Someone tried to coin a word and declare that therianthropy is actually a voluntary identity, and involuntary identities have to use faunaluna. Rightfully, nobody was happy. If you want to use a label that puts voluntary identification in the spotlight, it's called otherlink. Going even further back in time, during the popularity of teen wolf subculture, there was a lot of grilling to try to keep the fluffs out. Jumping forward again, and we have therianthropy being watered down to just a connection in TikTok.
I've noticed one thing in common with these incidents: It's trying to speak for every alterhuman/therian/otherkin as a whole. Another example of the speaking for everybody thing is the exclusion of mythical animal therians/theriomythics, and that therian means identifying strictly as earthly animals. Unicorn and dragon therians have always existed. With the kff and grilling incidents, it has to do with thinking that alterhumanity is a choice for every single one in existence. So some of that wariness is understandable. It doesn't feel good to have someone assume that involuntary experiences is just roleplay. It also doesn't feel good for otherlinkers and other voluntary alterhuman identities when their experiences get mistaken for kin for fun, roleplay, or they get called clueless kids who have no idea what being nonhuman means, or they're told that they're making the alterhuman community look bad. The fear of making the community look bad is why there was such harsh grilling in the first place, and why therian/otherkin was watered down. However, the grilling and watering down doesn't stop the bigots from laughing at us.
Copinglinkers, otherlinkers, funlinkers, and every other type of voluntary alterhuman... Ya'll don't deserve to be demonized, hated, or excluded from our own community. 'Link labels shouldn't be looked down on or seen as corrections, either. 'Linkers and other types of voluntary identities are not making the community look bad. Remember: Bigots will be bigots.