What is Isofic?
In summary, Isofic is a movement/group of ideas based in the alterhuman/fictionkin community about the way fictionkin should be treated. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of fictionkin, I suggest you put time into researching it because the ideas Isofic tries to convey won't really make sense unless you've already spent some time observing fictionkin spaces.
Why?
Much of alterhuman language was not constructed with fictionfolk in mind. A lot of it implies that one is a part of a larger group, rather than a specific individual. For example, the term "kintype" is often synonymous with "species" in a therian context, which makes a little bit more sense than being synonymous with one's entire identity. This is not an inherently bad thing, but it needs to be taken into account when discussing fictionfolk, and it rarely is. The world, including our own community, was not built for fictionkin, and Isofic is an attempt to correct that.
Fictionkin or fictionfolk?
Fictionfolk is an umbrella term for all with identities based in fiction, and I sometimes use it interchangably with fictionkin because it rolls off the tongue better and is more inclusive of similar experiences. To clarify, Isofic is intended for people who identify as fictional characters rather than necessarily otherhearted/synpath/other experiences (while still obviously supporting them). There are more ways to do that than being fictionkin, though, hence the usage of 'fictionfolk' even though it's not a perfect substitute.
Beliefs
- The core belief of Isofic: Fictionkin are the characters they say they are, in an extremely literal sense.
- Interpretations of someone's identity, regardless of what they are, should exclusively come from the person themself. It is no one's place to tell someone the who, what, why, or how behind their fictionkinity.
- People know themselves better than anyone else, and no one is to be questioned on their fictionkin identity on the basis of their personality, appearance, or other traits that one deems "innapropriate" for a given identity.
- No one should be judged for their actions in the media they come from, or pushed out of the fictionkin community because they identify as something "problematic." Fictionkin spaces can not and should not gatekeep on the basis of source unless the space is intended for a specific media.
- Ultimately, it's no one else's choice how someone talks about their identity, asks to be referred to, or concieves of who they are. Fictionkinity is not an exception, and more scrutiny needs to be placed on disrespect towards fictionkin self-determination.
- Fictionkinity is not "promoting delusions," nor "unhealthy," nor "anti-recovery." Fictionfolk identities born out of delusions are still valid, and people have the bodily autonomy to decide how they want to have their delusions treated.
- Forced source/media separation is extremely harmful and it is up to one's own discretion to choose how they talk about their fictomere(s)/fictionselve(s).
- Most fictomisia and alterhumisia comes from a place of repackaged transphobia and sanism, and it's not productive to act like it's not harming anyone in the "real world" or even that it's less important than more mainstream transsanism.
- Talking about fictionkin as if they are different from the character they identify as is disrespectful unless the person wishes to be discussed that way. Third personing, or the act of using third person pronouns on fictionkin in scenarios where second person pronouns are standard, is akin to misgendering. This is often done on the basis that they're talking about their "kintype" rather than the actual person, but this is of course in most cases a nonexistent distinction.
Terminology
Third personing: Referring to someone with third person pronouns (she, her, their, his, etc) as opposed to second person (you, yours, etc) when talking to them directly on the basis that you're talking about their fictionself rather than the individual. Of course, that distinction doesn't exist. Don't do this unless the person you're speaking with is okay with it.
Misaltering The alterhuman equivalent to misgendering. The names of these terms are a bit on-the-nose, yes, but they convey their meaning well. An example would be telling a therian that they don't behave like their species should.
Malaltering: Similar to the above, this is a gender equivalency. An example would be making out a fictionkin to be a worse person in a conflict because of how they behaved in their source media.
Dealtering: The final gender equivalency. An example is refusing to use any species terms on an otherkin and choosing vagueness over validating them.
Fictomisia: The hatred of or prejudice towards fictionfolk.
Alterhumisia: The hatred of or prejudice towards alterhumanity.
What isn't Isofic?
Isofic is not against words like kintype, kin as a verb, or source seperation, nor the people who use them. Isofic does not think these words should fall out of use in the fictionkin community or that they are bad. Isofic does not think people who want to source seperate are invalid or wrong or promoting anything "unhealthy." Isofic just believes that all of these things are a choice, and that the pressure fictionkin feel to comply with the norm needs to be examined so the norm can be changed. If you feel attacked by that, look inwards.
Isn't this all a little silly?
I can't stop you from thinking that. The vast majority of people will regardless of anything I say. But when it comes down to it, the forces working against the self-expression of fictionkin are the same ones working against trans and disabled people. If you examine anti-kin talking points, it becomes very clear that it's all a result of unchallenged biases against trans and mentally ill people being applied to another group that's more socially acceptable to target. If you're fine with that being allowed to exist, then go ahead.
(This page is written out of quirk to make it as universal as possible, although I'm not 100% sure if the construction of the site is accessible on it's own.)