Nonhumanity in Our Own Words
About us:

This survey is being presented by Nøkken and Pvnk, members of the Otherkin, Therian, Vampire and other nonhuman communities. We have been a part of these communities for over 20 years, since the early days in the 90s and 2000s.
We also admin and moderate communities in the GOC (Greater Otherkin Community) and the GVC.

Currently, we are working on a major project for nonhumans called Wildpath. Originally it was a channel on CG's Darkened Mirror (DM), and it grew into its own server, a place to discuss serious topics in nonhumanity with open discourse.

We've recently begin creating The Wildpath Library: https://wildpathlibrary.org/. (Still in the early stages of development.) This will serve as a cultural, academic and community journal, publishing literature, art, music, research, news and resources, all created by members of the community as well as scholars who collaborate closely with nonhumans. It is our hope that this will provide a much needed place for information about our experiences and identities as nonhumans from as broad a range of perspectives as possible.

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About the survey:

This is an opportunity to share your thoughts, experiences and feelings of nonhumanity with others and to have your voice be heard.

This survey will likely take a bit of time, and please feel free to return to it and think over which prompts you would like to answer.

This is less of a survey and more of a "written response," intended to present our diverse voices in our own words, to be included within a book written from nonhuman perspectives about nonhumanity with support from academic research and literature. We may also include some responses on the Wildpath website, to help others understand themselves better throught the perspectives of individuals who experience this.

A few initial demographic questions are included at the beginning.

Other than that, the main part of the survey is write-in responses based upon prompts that are open-ended and will let you say what you wish to say about your experiences, identity and perspective. All of these questions are optional, and you may feel free to only answer the questions that you want to (we expect that most people will only answer a few). Most of the questions focus on personal beliefs, experiences, understandings, letting our voices be heard as they are. This is an opportunity to be heard in a book that presents our identities and beings in a positive and thought-provoking light.

*A few questions may deal with difficult personal issues, such as harassment. I have included content warnings for these questions, and please do not feel obligated to answer them. However, the more people who are brave and speak up about them, the more we can show others the problems that we face because of our identities.

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Statement on Privacy:

By taking the survey, you grant us permission to include your responses in Wildpath publications or on the Wildpath Library website, and to make minor proof-reading edits where necessary. We will not make any changes to your words and thoughts, only to clean up minor grammar or to protect your privacy (see below).

You have the option to remain anonymous or to provide us with an alias you would like included with any quotations (please do not use legal names, we will default to anonymous in this case).

All survey and personal information will be protected. To protect survey-takers' privacy, we will omit any information in publications that can potentially identify them such as real names, places, specific events, etc. To help us protect your identity, try not to refer to specific places or information that might relate back to you.

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About the current book and project:

Nøkken and Pvnk have been writing an academic book that explores nonhumanity in philosophy concerning nonhuman/animal from the perspectives of nonhumans ourselves. This is because we have felt that the academic literature on our identities and beings to this date has largely been very inadequate and presented from the researcher's own human-centric biases. This book will cover a lot of ground, including issues that we face, different kinds of beliefs, misinterpretations some academics have made, what "anthropocentrism" is and why our identities conflict with it so much, and new philosophical concepts and tools that can help us better understand and talk about nonhumanity in a critical manner.

The book will take a focus on being nonhuman as an *actual condition of our natures/selves*, in contrast to outside academic research which has almost always presupposed that we are "only human and that there are no real nonhuman aspects to our being/identity". We see this book and others that will follow as filling a much needed gap in academic literature produced by our own community voices, rather than others "talking for us." The book itself is already nearing completion.

We conducted a survey in the past on misrepresentation of our experiences and beliefs as nonhumans in both media and academia, which will also appear with the book.

This book will be made publicly available for free to our communities, the end-result of many years of work, hoping to give us something positive to begin to build off of for future explorations and the restoration of the community.

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Contact (questions, concerns, followups):
nokken.research@gmail.com

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Please provide an e-mail address below. **This will be kept secure and will not be published.**


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May we contact you for follow-up questions via the above e-mail?
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Basic Demographic Questions
Help us get to know you and what relations you have to the nonhuman communities.
Are you nonhuman? *
If yes, can you describe what kind of nonhuman you are, and what your identity/being is? (If you answered no or questioning/uncertain above, can you describe your relation to nonhumanity or nonhuman communities? You are still welcome to fill out the form even if not nonhuman, since we have human-identifying members of our communities too.) *
Are you a part of any nonhuman communities? (Please check all that apply.) *
Required
Are you a part of any other communities that might focus on nonhumans/animals or are peripherally related to your interests? (Not required.)
What is your age range? *
If you have been a part of a nonhuman community(ies), how long have you be apart of it? *
How long have you been awakened or known yourself to be a nonhuman? *
Which gender identities most describe you? (Check all that apply.)
What country do you currently reside in? (To get a sense for where nonhumans are located in the world/where our respondents are from.) *
How did you find out about our survey?
If you would like to have an alias included with your responses if we quote you in the book or include them on the Wildpath website, please write it below. (Please do not use your legal name. Legal names will be made anonymous by default to protect anonymity. If you would like to remain anonymous, please leave this question blank. )
Main Survey Questions
The following prompts are all optional. You do not have to answer them directly, they are meant as guides for talking about yourself. You may say whatever you like about the topic. Please choose which you would like to answer and write as much as you would like. And feel free to leave any prompts blank if you do not wish to answer them.
Can you describe in your own words what being nonhuman is like for you?
Do you experience species dysphoria, the feeling that you are in the wrong species body and/or life? If so, please describe your experiences with that. How often do you experience it? How intense are the experiences? Does this negatively impact your life?
How do you understand your nonhumanity? How would you explain it to someone else and how do you understand what you are?
Do you ever perceive your own body as nonhuman/have any unusual body experiences as nonhuman (such as shifts, phantom body parts, visual perceptions of yourself as nonhuman, etc.)? ***Some questions to consider: What kind of senses does this include? Do you experience this all the time? Sometimes? How much of your body is nonhuman? What parts? All of it? Do you ever experience yourself as completely human or do you never? Do you experience this suddenly, all the time, as a transformation/shift, always fluidly changing/never quite human? Think of how you would describe it to someone who has never had an experience like this without using jargon they would be unfamiliar with.
Can you describe in detail a specific vivid experience of being nonhuman?
Have you ever experienced difficulties in your life from being nonhuman? If so, can you talk a little about them?
Do you feel afraid to tell others about your nonhuman identity and/or experiences? What are some of the fears you have? Have you ever disclosed this to someone outside of the community? If so, what was it like?
Do you ever feel like you have to "perform" being human in your daily life? Do you feel a need to hide yourself from others or maintain a "mask"? Do you have to keep certain instincts/behaviors in check?
Do you ever do anything to help yourself get more in touch with your nonhuman/animal self? If so, what sorts of things do you do?
How has being nonhuman influenced your human life? Positively? Negatively? Both?
If you could become the species/being that is your nonhuman self physically, would you do so? What if it was permanent, and you would live as that being from then on? Would you choose to do so if it included a complete change of your mind/mentality to the species, and you were the species completely?
What kinds of feelings do you have towards your own kind/kin? Do you feel a sense of duty or responsibility to your nonhuman kin? Or nonhuman life in general? What sort of things are they? Are there any things you do to realize them?
CW: Hate, Harassment, Violence
THE FOLLOWING 3 QUESTIONS DEAL WITH HARASSMENT, HATE, AND ISSUES OF VIOLENCE.
Have you ever experienced harassment, hate or bullying from being nonhuman or known as being nonhuman? Do you have to deal with this occasionally? Regularly? What are some things you have experienced or have been said to you?
In the past, have you ever been threatened, experienced violence or have suffered loss or threat to livelihood (such as work) as a result of being nonhuman or known as being nonhuman? Have you ever been doxxed or had your personal information threatened? (Also, if you currently are experiencing any of these, please seek help from the proper authorities.)
If you have ever experienced anything like the above 2 questions, what is it that you think makes people behave that way towards nonhuman persons? What do you feel is the cause of it? Do you feel this was caused by attitudes people have towards nonhumanity in general? Or is it caused by something else?
END CW
Is there something you understand or feel that you wish you could teach humans?
What was it like finding others that are like yourself in the world?
If you are a part of a nonhuman community, what is the primary thing you get out of it? What does the community fulfill in your life or provide you with? What is your reason for being a part of it?
If you are spiritual or religious, can you describe your spirituality? Does it have a formal name? Some practices? How do you as a nonhuman being fit into your spiritual/religious beliefs? Why do you think you were born into a human life? Do you believe in reincarnation? Are you a nonhuman/animal spirit?
If you are NOT spiritual nor religious, can you explain your understanding of your nonhuman identity? What makes you nonhuman? How do you explain/experience this?
What are your views about humanity and the environment? Have you ever experienced "ecogrief," a sense of despair or depression created by destruction of the natural world/living beings? Do you experience misanthropy or anger at human treatment of your kind or other species? What do you think about humanity's treatment of nonhuman life and the natural world?
What are your views on the identity of nonhuman-bodied beings (such as nonhuman animals, plants, spirits, ecosystems, etc.)? Do you understand them as persons (in a philosophical sense, not legal terminology)? What do you feel about 'Western' views which generally do not treat nonhumans as persons?
What are your feelings and thoughts towards 'anthropocentrism'? (Anthropocentrism is the general attitude of a lot of human culture, ideas and beliefs which places humanity at the center of meaning, value and focus, while often denying these things to the nonhuman or placing the human above the nonhuman.)
Do you feel that there are topics in nonhumanity that are suppressed or stifled by the way nonhuman communities approach talking about this? If so, what sort of things do you feel go undiscussed, ignored or erased? What do you think the nonhuman communities can do to improve this?
If there is anything else you would like to talk about here, feel free to use this space for anything you would like.
What would you like to see in a book about nonhumanity and nonhuman identity/being? (Possibly even in future books?)
Are there any topics you would like us to survey in the future?
What kind of resources would you like to see available on a website devoted to providing accurate information about our communities? (This may influence how we develop the Wildpath Library.)
What do you think our communities need most?
A copy of your responses will be emailed to the address you provided.
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