Dear Furries, "herm" Is A Slur For Intersex People.

Dear furries, "herm" is a slur for intersex people.

Please stop referring to your fursonas as hermaphrodites.

Yes, even if they do fit the definition of a hermaphrodite and have two sets of reproductive organs. This isn't for the sake of accuracy, it's for the sake of making your spaces less actively hostile and fetishistic of intersex people. Referring to a sapient/humanoid creature in fiction as a hermaphrodite is in extremely poor taste.

Other terms you can use for 'hermaphrodite' characters;

Dualsex

Bigenital

Salmacian

Terms to avoid;

Futa/futanari (this is just hermaphrodite in Japanese)

Intersex (Intersex people do not 'have both parts', this is a stereotype; *if a character is genuinely intersex (DO YOUR RESEARCH) feel free to label them as such however)

I hate how slurs are just built into so many furry art sites. This shit sucks and makes it so hard for intersex people to participate in the fandom. It makes it hard to find intersex representation in furry art because most furries think 'intersex = bigenital' and thus all the tags are clogged with a fetishistic stereotype of our bodies. I hate when furries find out I'm intersex in furry spaces because they'll immediately assume I have both genitalia, or they'll ask invasive questions.

And it just sucks even more because anthro art is such a cool medium to properly represent intersexuality through! Male calico cats, cardinals with red and brown feathers, does with antlers, bucks with none, etc etc etc! There's so many cool ways you can mix animals' sexually dimorphic traits in intersex character designs! But I just. Never fucking see it! Because furries treat intersex as a porn category that only refers to genitalia we don't even fucking have! I've never once seen intersex ambiguous genitalia like what I have represented in any NSFW art tagged as intersex.

I hope that one day the furry fandom is safe for intersex people to participate in.