puff’s pride stuff

Culture - how does your culture influence your identity, if at all?

"culture - how does your culture influence your identity, if at all?"

oooo... hmm!!! this will be a little all over place but! mwy cultures affect everything.. to no surprise >_<.

being japanese comes with the hyperfeminization non asians place onto many japanese men/boys.. yet also being native american and filipino comes with hypermasculization as well. i was very obviously physically intersex so foster homes constantly flip flopped what to "make mwe", gender wise. the culture stereotypes didnt help. i won't go into detail but that affected mwy identity a lot.

i was essentially forced to pick a side. so i ended up a hypermasculinized boy. i took on strictly that as an identity, never touched the feminine things i was curious about, never touched the idea of being a girl or both, never let mwyself explore or embrace mwy cultural differences from white western standards. society💥💥💥.

it changed a lot when i was finally able to start reconnecting with mwy cultures, especially mwy native side. i did research, moved close to tribal grounds, made a family of mwy own. suddenly there were so many labels, so many options and roles. as i explored my cherokee family i naturally explored more of my japanese and filipino sides. it led to mwe becoming many labels but specifically in the context to what i was, because those around mwe didn't have the same definitions of what they deemed masculine, feminine, a boy, a girl. then one day i just went "im this and that's mwe." im フェム, im アンドロジナス, im a ボーイガール, a pinoypinay, a two-spirit ᎠᏧᏣᎠ⁠Ꭸ⁠Ᏻ⁠Ꮳ. im 跨性別 and 雙性人. im, taliquo didantvn, atsoine, im both ageyusdi udanta and asgayusdi udanta.

it's a bit funny.. i went from a hypermasculine boy who couldn't tell if i was cis or trans, to a femmasc cis boy, to fem trans boy, then landed on hyperfeminine tris boy & trans girl. masculinity exists but only in a femme and gentle way, a soft butch way. all of which are directly tied to the cultural labels i use above. :] sorry for being all over the place idk how to speak of things without wandering in the discussion..

mwy gun who was part of the last 2 day answers didn't want to say much for this, just that he wouldn't be surprised if his experience/memories in a strict old fashioned family of colour influenced him being so heavily aromantic, afamilial, and cassgender. many poc will probably immediately know what those types of parents are like ××; it also likely influences his rebellious, mischievous, and defiant out of spite related identities he's hoarded over time !

"body - what's your relationship to your body? how does it affect how you identify?"

a bit of an interesting one. mwy body is mwine as im the owner. sysmates, and the entire headpace tbh, does not claim the body nor see it as xwm&, it's only a flesh suit to control nothing more. ive always been the owner and do use terms related to that but i won't get too into it since im not inviting syscourse to touch this. anyway!! ^-^

im holothere so there's a sense of this body is mwine while also feeling a strong disconnect due to knowing many who see it will not immediately be able to tell what i am, which is frustrating & makes leaving the home even more uncommon than it already is. many identities i tend to hoard in a sort of.. making up for it way. i put so much effort and hoarding thought into labels in an attempt to make sure people know exactly what i am! not always the most helpful way but it is the affect. im also very intersex looking by default, can't really pass as either binary in the way some societies expects which affects things.

being a shapeshifter is a very important part to what i am as well.. so there's the issue of trying to balance earthly limits, trying to express to others whenever my form changes and the money limitations that make it harder to stock up various clothes, accessories, species affirming gear, etc.

i wouldn't say i hate this flesh, ive grown more comfortable and confident with it, finally being happy being chubby/bigger, finally being happy to lean into my intersexness. its mwy own and its very fun to style it, adapt with it and explore it to better show mwy various forms and labels ^~^!!!!

like the last post mentions, a sysmate fronting with mwe decided to also add in an answer!, doesn't want to be named so he/him and mwy gun is the only thing that will be used. im writing out what he says to mwe

"relationship with it is basic. is there even a relationship to have with a body that can never die, never suffer permanent issues. i can do anything i want because this place doesn't follow earth logic or limitations." [he means the headspace, the insys world lacks many limitations since no money, government, can travel anywhere, people respawn like video games for fun. etc.. >_<!!] "i can use cartoon logic when it's funny, i can change between full rabbit and full human thing. i can change it, edit it, manipulate it. whatever i want. uhh.. idk the stuff i said before probably answers how it affects me. cause yknow. all that comes with fun chaos and mischief i can cause. there's some annoying shit that came with the headspace like verse things but i work with that fine. so id say i have a fine relationship with it most of the time."

Day 2, B, Body

TW for dissociation/depersonalization

Jeremy writing for the most part

Uhhhh its.. there. While some headmates have different opinions, I think my statement applies pretty generally.

Maybe its the dissociation and depersonalization talking but it’s not really my body I just kinda live in it ig. But its not really the same as dysphoria?? Its like idrc about anything in particular cause all of it is so detached that its more like I’m just possessing a random body, so of course its not gonna be exactly like me.

Sometimes dysphoria hits when I’m feeling xtra MAN, but usually idrgaf.

Q: how does your culture influence your identity, if at all?

A: to some degree of course, as it's not really avoidable. i had my initial perspective of gender shaped by being raised in an irish-catholic family in rural new england. i am entirely fine operating (at least socially) within the framework of what is expected of me, since as previously mentioned, i have very little in the way of dysphoria/euphoria factors, etc..

[ID: A flag with seven horizontal stripes, the middle of which is thinner. They are cream, soft gold, soft brown, black, dark orange, muted yellow-green, and pale gray. In the middle is a black circle with a pale gray icon of a Corydoras catfish. /End ID.]

Corydogender - A gender related to Corydoras catfish (and any other genera that are considered "cory cats" like Brochis, etc.)

Compercidomsongic - a gender connected to the song, complete and total percussive dominance by rumbleragga.

Day 1, A, Alterhuman

Also this is ngl just a huge rambling, hope it makes sense. And this is Astrophel writing.. mostly. Jeremy is here too i guess.

We are collectively nonhuman in a way that is distinctively tied to our plurality, genderlessness, and generally being neurodivergent in one big cluster.

We have always aligned ourselves outside of the norm, the second we heard of the concept of xenogenders we attached heavily to it, and didn’t even know what it meant. After learning about fictionkins and therians and otherkins it opened up a whole new world.

Our host at the time (Me actually) was unaware of our plurality and began as a shapeshifter and as multiple fictionkins. Some stuck, some were likely other headmates.

The identity as a whole came to stick, even to other headmates. After a while, we came to come to the identity of collectively being nonhuman, and otherwise unlabled after that, as we got more label-averse collectively.

Our nonhumanity has made it easier to grapple with being “abnormal,” and brought us community. It has also made the moments where we must conform to societal standards that much harder.

Anhuwilderic - when one's wilderic identity is directly impacted by alterhumanity.

how does your culture influence your identity, if at all?

i'm sure culture affects my perception of self in many ways i don't realize, but i can think of two significant examples:

1) my cultures' emphasis on marriage contributed to my internalized homophobia, and consequently, to my hiding behind the "queer" label instead of bisexual. i thought that if i did not want heteronormative relationships with women, i must not really be attracted to them. i thought that because i'd always imagined that if i married, it would be to a man, that erased my attraction to women. a combination of jewish and american cultures' ideas of what love should look like, plus american lgbtq+ culture's reclaiming and broadening of queerness, led to me effectively re-closeting myself for years until very recently

2) american culture, even american lgbtq+ culture, sees a desire for friendship as a given. those who do not want/have friends are pathologized and rejected. it took me 18 years to accept that i just do not enjoy friendship, and that there's nothing evil about that. culture does not allow me to be proudly aplatonic because it labels me as a monster

[IDs in alt text to save space]

Corydoras Catfish Alterhuman flags! As with the species flag, this includes all species of Corydoras catfish along with those considered "cory cats" from other genera such as Brochis

Alterhuman | Nonhuman | Therian Otherlink | Synpath | Otherhearted Otherkin | Transspecies | Endel

[ID: Two flags with seven horizontal stripes, the third and fifth of which are thinner. In order, they are cream, soft gold, soft brown, black, dark orange, muted yellow-green, and pale gray. In the center of the second flag is a soft brown icon of a Corydoras catfish with a thick black outline. /End ID.]

Corydoras Catfish Species Flag - A flag for those who are any species of Corydoras catfish (and other closely related genera considered a "cory cat" like Brochis)