Please be careful with words that are used to describe groups of people. Do not obscure their definitions, it results in stigma that harms harmless people and permits the legitimately harmful entry into said groups. What do I mean? Let's take the word "furry," which

(this thread continues next tweet, but here's your content warning for topics of animal ab/use, zoo/philia, ped/ophilia, beast/iality, homophobia. read at your own discretion if mentions of that shit bothers you, thanks.)

is often misunderstood to mean "internet zoo/phile" or "beast/iality supporter." This is NOT what a furry is. A "furry" is "someone who likes anthropomorphic animal characters." It's not about real life animals, and it's not about sex. It's about artistic fiction and creativity.

Because of the "furries are creeps who have fantasies about sexual animal ab/use" stereotype, fans and artists not even creating or consuming 18+ furry work are unfairly judged. But what's worse is that if enough people THINK that's what a "furry" TRULY is, it opens

the furry community to those who ARE actually into zoo/philia / beast/iality, and animal abusers suddenly have a place to call home. When the "furry" label becomes blurred, they can hide in plain sight. And for those outside the now-blurry furry community,

I think they would rather be safe than sorry. Animal ab/use, ESPECIALLY of the sexual nature is vile and will be taken seriously over "hey I just like drawing my anthro wolf persona."

There's a similar problem happening with the LGBT community and "MAPs" ("minor attracted persons" AKA ped/ophiles using LGBT practices+terminology to get away with ped/ophilia in leftist/progressive spaces). Don't forget that queerness is still coming out of historical stigma

that INCORRECTLY DEFINED homosexuality as a paraphilia linked to ped/ophilia. I can't help but imagine that at least some amount of 21st century homophobia is still operating on this outdated understanding. If I THOUGHT that being gay was the same as being a ped/o,

of COURSE I would be mortified and outraged by the amount of support and traction the LGBT community has these days. Gay-Straight Alliances in public schools? Homosexuality being taught in health courses? LGBT Resources offices on college campuses? Pride parades?

An emerging field in LGBT studies? LGBT /children's books/ ???? If I thought all of this was being done for ped/ophilia, I'd be LIVID. But IT'S NOT. Because being LGBT IS NOT BEING A PED/O.

Your definition for a word that describes a whole group of people needs to gatekeep to SOME extent. Having boundaries is important, even on the community scale.

Why am I making this thread? Because I keep seeing the internet community terms "kinnie" and "anti" used INCORRECTLY by people both within AND outside of those groups, and I can see the same stigmatization already propping up.

A "kinnie" is "someone who identifies as a fictional character" (go look up "fictionkin" within the wider term "otherkin"), NOT "a person who has favorite character(s)." It's not a synonym for "stan" or "fan."

An "anti" is "someone who attacks content creators for supporting and perpetrating any fictional harm depicted in their artistic work,"
NOT "someone who opposes abuse/violence/paraphilia/bigotry."

PLEASE make an effort to use these words correctly, and if you are currently using them incorrectly, I urge you to reconsider. For the majority of people engaging harmlessly in entertainment media and minority of people trying to justify and legitimize misconduct.