My writings speak better of who I am, or who I used to be. That’s a fair share of content to read, but this is how you’ll get a better picture of my headspace and worldview, as incomplete as it will ever be.
The basics are that I’m about thirty, I’m French, I grew up near the Mediterranean sea, and I live in Paris right now. I learned English at school and then reading websites on Internet so my writing isn’t perfect. I am into (a non-exhaustive list) linguistics, mythology, sociology, gender studies, feminism and art. I am both skeptical and spiritual (but not religious), I incorporate in my beliefs system what I must admit by experience and what seems rational to me. A lack of tolerance annoys me as much as a lack of critical thinking.
I am a trans (-gender/-sexual/-feminist) person and I’ve been living as “male” for a bunch of years, though I identify more as “other” than anything. Physical transition feels long past behind me, though its memory is vivid and I still talk and write about gender regularly. I’m also an animal-person, which means I feel that my identity is other than only human. My inner-self is a combination of clouded leopard and common raven; every side is an integrated aspect of me, they are not entities living in my head. If you’re here you probably already know what a “therianthrope” is, but if not then you’ll find more information in the Echoes section.
This website has seen many redesigns and several essays used to be edited regularly as I found some things were not working for me anymore. At this point I’ve mostly made peace with the fact that growing as a person means I can come to disagree with things I believed and said in the past, and instead of trying to erase those I can simply leave them as just that – statements of who I used to be at a specific time, in a specific space, brought forth by a specific context. Keep this in mind and avoid holding grudge at my present self because of some old stuff you’ve read.
I started this website in 2004 as a way to store somewhere the ideas and opinions I had, several of which came in reaction to behaviors and discussions I witnessed among animal-people. I don’t consider this a good or bad thing in itself. The place has long become a more general archive for my self-ponderings, something to look at as I walk my path to remember where I come from and think further of what is ahead.
Hopefully you’ll take my words for what they are: written accounts of someone’s experiences and opinions, not an universal truth. The site has also become seemingly less animal-focused and more about how the different aspects of my identity and worldview play together. I like this. The teeth and claws are still there, underneath; just not advertised as such.
No need to ask if you want to link to my website from another place, but please do not repost my essays on other blogs and websites. It’s perfectly legal to quote excerpts from my writings, just give the source and be reasonable: quote to show a point or as an example, but do not quote instead of writing your own content. I feel I have to say this because someone in the past once asked to use my work and they took whole paragraphs from my stuff, using my introduction, conclusion and several other parts of my writing as their own. If you fail to respect copyrights, I will ask you to take the thing down, and I may contact your hosting service to take legal action.
Lastly, if you want to mention my stuff in your research paper or book, please contact me first. I’ve never said “no” to anyone but it’s better and more professional to ask before you do so, and I’m saying this as a fellow in the research field so I know what it can be like. People are not disposable resources, please respect the basic rules of politeness and deontology.