including alternatives to the term “dehumanization” that don’t imply loss of humanity = becoming less than humanity

these terms can be used to describe both voluntary / involuntary and ontoeuphoric / ontodysphoric changes in

behavior

mentality

physicality

metaphysicality / spirit

social perception by self / others

etc

————

humanization

becoming more human or human-like

similar to “anthropomorphization”

example: some therians feel humanized in a dysphoric way; orthohumans assume their equal depth of emotion is a human product instead of a sign of equal personhood of our own.

orthohumanization

becoming more orthohuman or orthohuman-like

“orthohuman” is the exact opposite of “alterhuman”, as some humans are actually human or partly human in an alterhuman way — eg. factfolk, fictionfolk, archetropers, some otherkin/therians, some pluralities, etc

exhumanization

becoming less human or human-like, especially after being human(-like) or humanized first

originally pitched as “imhumanization”, but changed to “exhumanization” per @paperdragonsong ‘s suggestions

ahumanization

having never been human, human-like, or humanized at all

synonymous with “nonhumanization”

example: a theriform animal is ahumanized or nonhumanized; it has never experienced being taken for human or being raised with formative human influence

alterhumanization

becoming more alterhuman or alterhuman-like — whether to replace, transform, or add alongside orthohumanity

Dysphoria and euphoria are a defining facet of alterhumanity for many people, but the current prevailing terms, species dysphoria and species euphoria, are highly limited in scope and carry the implication that any alterhuman-related feelings of this kind worth naming are caused by identifying as a nonhuman living thing. This terminology fails to acknowledge dysphoria and euphoria experienced by human-identifying alterhumans and those with non-"identify as" identities, and can feel alienating for those who identify as something nonhuman that would not typically be considered a "species", such as an object or concept. It also does not provide any lexical framework to describe the wide range of alterhumanity-derived dysphoric and euphoric experiences often discussed in the community.

People in all alterhuman demographics deserve to have a way to distinguish their experiences from "typical" types of dysphoria and euphoria experienced by orthohumans (non-alterhumans), so I am proposing a new set of terms:

Alterdysphoria: Feelings of unease, wrongness, dissatisfaction, or alienation that stem from one's alterhuman identity.

Altereuphoria: Feelings of joy, comfort, catharsis, or affirmation that stem from one's alterhuman identity.

A dash may be added after the prefix (e.g. "alter-euphoria") for ease of legibility/pronunciation if desired.

EDIT 11/26: I've changed these to my original inclination of just using "alter", which I initially didn't use because it's a different root language than dysphoria and I was worried it would be misconstrued as dysphoria/euphoria experienced by alters, but after thinking it over I don't see that really being an issue given how well-used the word alterhuman is. It's a much more intuitive option than using "onto" but if people prefer that I will change it back!

Alterdysphoria and altereuphoria are umbrella terms that include species dysphoria and euphoria as well as dysphoria and euphoria due to being otherhuman, concept- or objectkin, otherhearted, fictionfolk, plural, or any other type of alterhuman.

Common types of alterdysphoria or altereuphoria someone may experience are:

Physical, related to one's current physical body

Ability, related to things one can or cannot do in their current body and/or environment

Mental, related to one's emotions, interests, or thought processes

Sensory, related to one's sensory experiences (or lack thereof)

Gender, related to one's internal or perceived gender

Cultural, related to one's cultural environment

Social, related to social interactions/relationships with others

Perceptual, related to how one is perceived by others

Environmental, related to one's physical surroundings

Reality, related to the contents, history, physical laws, etc. of one's current subjective or objective reality

Examples of each of these types is under the cut at the bottom of the post. When discussing these experiences in contexts where it is clear someone is referring to alterhuman-derived feelings, the "alter" can be dropped for brevity (e.g. reality dysphoria, perceptual euphoria). The distinction is for clarity of communication only. For example, a person who experiences height dysphoria due to their alterhuman identity could choose to distinguish it from transgender height dysphoria by using the phrase "height alterdysphoria".

Differentiating alterhuman-related feelings from other origins of dysphoria and euphoria does not denote a hierarchy or binary between alterhuman and non-alterhuman experiences. Many alterhumans have dysphoria or euphoria with unknown or mixed origins, and those experiences can absolutely be considered partially or entirely alterdysphoria or altereuphoria if doing so feels helpful. Any alterhuman who feels these terms are useful to them can use them in any relevant context.

Some examples of alterdysphoria not objectively covered by the "species dysphoria" term are:

Physical or gender dysphoria experienced by anyone due to a human kintype

Dysphoria experienced by those with nonliving kintypes due to being in a living body

Dysphoria experienced by those with non-corporeal kintypes due to being in a physical body

Social or cultural alienation experienced by those with a connection to other worlds, time periods, or societies

Disconnect or distress experienced by anyone with a hearthome due to their current surroundings

Disconnect or alienation experienced by those with a connection to a world/time period/etc with different flora, fauna, landscapes, or physical laws from present-day Earth

Disconnect or distress experienced by otherhearted people when others discuss/treat their hearttype in a dismissive or disrespectful way

Physical, age, or gender dysphoria experienced by system members while fronting in their host body

Disconnect or distress experienced by system members when they are presumed to be another alter/facet/etc

Alienation or distress experienced by plural systems when they are presumed to be a singlet

Disconnect or distress experienced by fictionkin/fictives when their personality or age is perceived differently from their identity

Disconnect or distress experienced by canon divergent fictionkin/fictives when interacting with their source or fandom

Distress or discomfort experienced by fictionkin/fictives when seeing or interacting with doubles

Disconnect experienced by anyone with exomemories/exotrauma (events that were not experienced by their current physical body)

Disconnect or distress experienced by endels when someone or something "reality checks" them

Alienation experienced by mediums or spirit workers due to having a different subjective reality from others

Any kind of alterhumanity-derived dysphoria experienced by nonhumans that feels unrelated to their species

Alienation or distress experienced by any alterhuman when they are presumed to be orthohuman

Some examples of altereuphoria not objectively covered by the "species euphoria" term are:

Affirmation experienced by anyone when dressing up or depicting themselves as their human kintype

Euphoria experienced by objectkin and conceptkin when engaging with their kintype

Joy or comfort experienced by someone with a hearthome upon visiting or looking at that place or somewhere similar

Joy or affirmation experienced by archetropes from doing activities that align with their identity

Comfort experienced by fictionfolk when engaging with their source media or fandom

Joy experienced by an otherhearted person when engaging with their hearttype

Affirmation experienced by a fronting member of a system when being referred to with their own name and pronouns (instead of the ones typically used for their host body)

Joy or comfort experienced by an otherlinker when shifting as their linktype

Any kind of alterhumanity-derived euphoria experienced by nonhumans that feels unrelated to their species

Euphoria experienced by any alterhuman upon having their identity affirmed by others

This is by no means an exhaustive list, alterdysphoria/altereuphoria is an inclusive concept and there is theoretically no limit to the types of situations these terms can cover.

I hope that this terminology can provide a clearer, more inclusive framework for identifying and discussing these kinds of experiences!

EDIT: Since I've been asked, if you are alterhuman you automatically have permission to use these terms wherever you want and don't need to credit me! My intention for this concept/terminology is that it should be community-owned and accessible, the only reason to link me to it would be to use this post to explain what it means :)

Example of dysphoria/euphoria types below:

#human alterhumanity

Hey alterhuman tumblr! We wanted to give a shout out to @through-lines for starting off the "human alterhumanity" tag, to discuss experiences of being alterhuman that intersect with being human.

We think this is really cool, seeing how the alterhuman tag is very lively and full of nonhuman experiences and essays and jokes and community, but there's not nearly as much coverage of human alterhuman experiences.

And there's a ton of different ways to be human and alterhuman! Human fictionkin have been a part of this community for over a decade - check out A Timeline of the Fictionkin Community by House of Chimeras!

And human alterhumanity is not limited to fictional characters - our good friend Rani has a post listing a variety of different alterhuman labels that don't indicate nonhumanity or fictionality, and there's more in the notes!

We want to see more human alterhumans talking about themselves! We have so many wonderful, interesting things to talk about, and it's a shame that we haven't had a place to collect it all. We want to find and make community with other human alterhumans, to have a space to talk about our experiences, which are as important and impactful to us as nonhumanity is to so many others!

It's a little lonely in that tag right now, only us and a few friends posting about our identities, but we already have some good stuff in there! And we'd really love to see more people using it!

(an essay about bein alterhuman. cw: eye trauma, pluralphobia, fictive dysphoria. )

i am a double image.

in the left eye im a person. i was born in south korea in the 70s. got adopted. grew up in the suburbs in illinois. had some bad shit happen, died, kept walking. grew old, didnt grow up. died again, and wound up in a world where none of that was real.

in the right eye im a construct. i was "born" in 2010 in a couple different states. product of a depressed gay teenagers imagination. an oc if you wanna call it that. he roleplayed as me for years. kept asking the character questions, put himself in my shoes through all the worst parts of my life. some bad shit happened- to him, to me. he asked me for help. i listened, and woke up in a world where i was suddenly real.

i have my own memories. i share all of my hosts like theyre mine. I know what fuckin happened- at home and here. i know what ive seen.

... having double vision gives me a headache.

sometimes i can close an eye to get through the day. i can just see whats useful and cut the crap. sometimes i get hit on the head and both eyes jolt open. i dont know how to do somethin i should. i know how to do somethin i shouldnt. i run into hosts old google docs w notes about "me", or he starts reminiscin with an old rp buddy.

it hurts like hell. makes me dizzy. makes me wanna puke.

i get jealous of ppl who can see the same world w both eyes. other fictives who can do source calls and get an answer. ppl with total source separation. other headmates who aint fictive. 'normal' people.

but i cant talk about it with most people. especially the normal ones

cause some of those people? they want me to cut out an eye. they say if i just look at things through the right eye and stop havin a left ill be okay and the pain will stop. they want me to be a cyclops.

thing is in the real world? the world in my right eye? a cyclops dies when its born. its a birth defect with how their brains form. they never split so they only have one eye, and they croak if they have to breathe. some of these fuckers know that. they want me to stop breathing. some of them dont, but it dont matter.

even if i stabbed out my eye and dug a knife in there until all of it was gone- every nerve and muscle and splintered bone- id never be a cyclops. id still have a split brain and 2 sockets. id just have a hole where an i used to be.

thats not the answer. i know theres gotta be one. ill find a way to clear my vision someday. see one thing through both eyes.

Shoutout to alterbeing selfshippers that aren't (just) therians and otherkin.

Otherhearted, otherlinks, otherhumans, archetropes, daemians, soulbonders, and all sorts of alterbeing identities that I might've missed.

Your F/O(s) are more than happy to explore these identities with you, and perhaps some of them may even be one or more of these themselves!

Edit: This post is about alterbeings that don't get nearly as much representation as therians and otherkin. Please do not derail this post to talk about otherkin and/or therians.

Horses look a lot like zebras, don’t they? Four powerful legs ending in one single toe, long muzzles, deep chests, manes gracing their necks. They look related, they look like they function the same way. When you look at how a horse moves and how a zebra moves side by side, you can compare them easily.

The kind of species dysphoria I’m discussing is only partially based on perception, not so much from other parties but specifically from oneself. It pulls from experiences that are thrust upon me through cameo shifts, specifically. I’m often forced into the circumstance(s) of being what I am not, and that struggle is what motivated me into posting this.

As a member of both groups, there’s parts of humanity and nonhumanity respectively that I can’t imagine being while having those experiences (generally) at the same time. In a way, I’ve developed an aversion to various kinds of humanity and nonhumanity that I don’t fall into.

I’ll explain what I mean with a few examples under the cut.