hey, i’m really sorry if this offends anyone, but i’ve been seeing a lot of similar patterns lately.
so, the kin community had a really huge boost of members in about 2014 or 2015. it was mostly people who believed in reincarnation or such, or people who were just getting into it (both just getting on the bandwagon and learning something new about themselves). today, the kin community has died down quite a bit. and i know there are lots of you out there who are just as passionate as me, or maybe you’re just a casual therian / firm believer in reincarnation.
but what i’ve noticed is that there’s been a huge decrease of people who actually believe in reincarnation and the such and actually ‘care’ about kin. most people are treating it as just a silly game or something, i’ve seen tons of people refer to it as roleplaying.and, i know everyone has their own perspective and definition of what kin really is, but… i’m pretty sure that’s not what any of this is? wouldn’t that be a synpath or otherhearted? relating with a character because you identify with them a lot or roleplaying as a character you relate with or project onto isn’t what kin is at all, and i’m seeing tons of people getting all the definitions mixed together and it’s almost kind of alarming. from my understanding, it’s about identifying AS, not with characters, and in the case of therians (and even fictional characters!), learning about your past lives and connecting with them. this isn’t a lifestyle – it’s not something you necessarily need to devote your time and identity to, but it also isn’t some silly hobby or game. i’m not saying you have to take it seriously to be considered ‘valid’, but please do some research before you call yourself otherkin, fictionkin, or a therian!
again, i’m really sorry if i offended anyone. reincarnation is a huge thing in my family’s culture, and i’ve been a firm believer of it since i was young, it’s just a really big part of my identity and it kind of disheartens me to see that the most of the community nowadays is people who aren’t even sure if they’re kin or not. 😦
thank you so much for reading! feel free to reply, i actually encourage you to argue since i’ve never really had a chance to speak my opinion on this and would like to see this situation from different perspectives
You are entirely correct, but you do seem a little confused so I’d like to explain what happened here.
Otherkinity, or rather, a very very warped version of it came to tumblr. I’d like to say 2012-2014, but honestly, I don’t remember. One of the earliest records we have of this warped version on tumblr is the Yandere Bitch Club. There aren’t many records left of them, but there are people who saw it firsthand and can tell you about it. The YBC was a few white girls pretending to be Japanese transwomen with DID in hopes of claiming all their favourite anime characters as their fictotypes without encountering doubles.
They are the ones who started the “kin is a verb” and “you can’t be kin outside of your race” – along with other misinformation. They used their definitions and false authority to try and dictate others, but otherkin either looks crazy or super cool to outsiders, so they and others like them drew a lot of people in. Mostly teenagers.
Effectively, we were looking at the start of a cult-like mentality. Now, I heard about the community in 2015 or so, so I didn’t witness this myself. It wasn’t as bad as it is now about it, but it was kinda bad. It spun out of control and we were looking at a few hundred to a couple thousand people who aren’t otherkin, but think it’s a fancy roleplaying thing or a coping mechanism that allows them to dictate fandom and control others.
And yes, a large percentage of these people, who we’re going to call tumblrkin as that’s what they’re generally called, are also fandom antis. The older term for them is wishkin, but tumblrkin are the warped cult-like teenagers (and sometimes folks in their early 20s) who do this. They don’t understand it’s a personal spiritual and / or psychological belief. They have no idea what it actually is. It’s swapping kintypes like trading cards and using them to control people. And then it’s all dusted up in pastel pink, ‘uwu’ concern trolling, ‘think of the poor defenseless minors / POC!!’, and glitter.
It’s toxic and vicious is what it is. I had a tangle with it about a year ago. I still have no idea if the 21yo guy who got dragged into it was an actual pedophile or if he was framed because claiming ‘pedophile’ is a really good way to ruin someone’s life and 13yos are vicious and don’t understand consequences. (My digestive system is also still royally fucked up.)
The amount of actual otherkin and fictionkin is about the same ratio as always – maybe a little bit more, as the community gains more visibility and more people have words for their experiences. But never, and I cannot emphasize this enough, never take tumblrkin for actual otherkin unless you know that they are. Because they’re not. They’re so, so not, and all they’re doing is spreading misinformation and hurting people.
If you think you can correct some of them, try. But if you can’t or if you know you don’t have the patience / the willpower, don’t even bother, just block and move on. It’s not worth it.
That being said, if someone who was previously tumblrkin wants to know what’s really going on, what otherkinity and fictionkind actually are – tell them! Let them know! And if they need help getting out of tumblrkin spaces, help them or direct them to someone who can. I’m all for giving people second chances and listening to them. But be careful about it, and you’ll be okay.
Now you know what happened, so you’ll be able to make better decisions about it now. 😀 If that helps?
The tumble tag #otherkin was started in 2011. By early 2012 it had already become a slightly less extreme version what it is now.
That makes sense, yeah. It’s been a while since I ran through history posts and I just started a new job, so time is an alien concept to me at the moment. I’m sure I could hunt up the posts later if needed, I’m sure they’re around somewhere.
I just remember because I was there >.>
Oh, cool! Now if OP has questions or if I do because I can’t remember something, we’ve got someone to ask. :O I don’t envy you, though. Tumblrkin aren’t fun.
Yeah, I had to activly leave the community for a while because I was having hours worth of hardcore discourse daily between antis and tumblrkin. I have some backlogs of the old convos on my main that’s truly ridiculous
If you heard something, that was me audibly wincing. I don’t blame you for taking a break – it isn’t worth it to argue with them most of the time, though those’d probably make decent examples of what tumblrkin look like to those that don’t recognize them yet.
To me all of it just seems like one big fantasy of being special and more powerful than other people but HEY, that’s just me c;
I know that’s just you. It’s almost like people don’t give a fuck what you identify as so long as you’re not in-their-face-obnoxious about it. Not that you’d know about that, of course; that usually comes with self-awareness…
Oooo a feisty one! I value truth and reason. If I see something online that is completely insane and a large group of people believe it or ‘identify’ with it then I’m going to look into it more, and asking the above question was just myself trying to satisfy a curiosity.. no need to get your panties in a twist c;
Perhaps instead of getting triggered and insulting me you could educate me. Are you a member of the otherkin community?
PS. If people post about what they ‘identify’ as they should expect to get some form of response from both the pro and anti sides. While I’m sure your utopia would be one where everyone has the same thoughts and opinions and if we didn’t we would just keep it to ourselves, I’m afraid that’s not the world we live in. Yes what people ‘identify’ as in their own homes is none of my business and due to free speech they can talk about it in public, but thankfully if they do so I can also throw my 2 cents in.
‘A feisty one’, like what am I, some science experiment? Pff. That’s kind of pathetic. And of course, I could explain some things, but you don’t seem to understand that ‘triggered’ is a general response to recurring trauma, and this just doesn’t cut it. Or do you really think I care that much? :p Nah, I don’t. You’re just one more anti with an argument I’ve heard about a billion times, and it’s pretty evident you haven’t done any research either.
Protip, kid: If you’re not part of a community, you don’t get an opinion on what they do. You don’t tell a witch what crystals they’re not allowed to use, you don’t tell us what we can and cannot identify as. That’s called being respectful. Not that you’ve heard of that, by the looks of things.
If I wasn’t a member of the otherkin community, I wouldn’t be responding, now would I? I’m both otherkin and godkin, because generally being godkin means you fit under the definition of otherkin. I don’t much appreciate people who refuse to do research complaining loudly about my existence, especially since they don’t know what they’re talking about.
If you’re gonna be disrespectful and mocking right off the bat, you’re going to get nothing but snark in return. If you want to actually learn, it’s called ‘ask for resources if you don’t know where to start research’, and it helps to be polite. 😀
Lolol you claim to not care however someone that really didn’t care wouldn’t have replied in the first place. It’s okay to care about other people’s opinions you know, you don’t have to deny it.
“If you’re not part of a community, you don’t get an opinion on what they do” is a complete and utter lie. I can have an opinion on anything and everything. YOU don’t get to restrict how other people think and what they think about. Same as how you can’t tell me how and when to use the term ‘triggered’. If you weren’t aware, people have been using it outside of its medical term for years now, therefore a new definition has been applied to it.
While this has been interesting I’ll let you have the last word. I don’t have time to rile you up any longer. c; Have a good day.
This is entertaining, silly. You’re acting all high and mighty and clearly acting like you think you’re oh-so-special when it’s very clear that you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m laughing at you. :p
Awww, look at that. Too scared to learn something? Gotta run away before you face criticism or learn about something new. (Oh, I didn’t say you physically couldn’t. I thought I made it quite clear that it’s disrespectful and rude. You should get your reading comprehension checked.)
I wouldn’t say a new definition. Maybe a disrespectful slang term at best, but if you had any respect, you wouldn’t take important words from people coping with heavy stuff and use it to mean ‘offended’. Y’know, if you think about it, that’s really just making fun of folks with trauma. Not that you’d care, of course, because they’re not you and thus they don’t matter.
But honestly, I don’t know what I expected. Hateful people never want to learn. I do hope you have a good day, maybe it’ll ease the knot of hatred in your pants and you’ll realize being hateful is really a waste of time. If not, oh well. That’s your problem. 😀
😂 Okay, teach me something important.
While I get that you Tumblrinas tend to prefer social media over the real world, assuming that I’m a hate filled self absorbed person just because you’re triggered by my posts is pretty idiotic. Or should I use the word retarded because I know that’ll add to the fire?
You don’t know me just as I don’t know you. I don’t deny that you could be a nice person in real life so why deny me that courtesy?
Oh well, that’s okay. I’m a self absorbed selfish asshole that hates all minorities. I’m a privileged able bodied, straight, white male. Of course I am.
Apologies for telling a lie beforehand. I’ll let you reply once more and I won’t post again.
Oh, a tumblrina, am I? Buddy, I talk about all of this offline too. There isn’t any fire, I’m still scoffing at how uptight you are.
I’m denying you that courtesy because you started it. You start off being an asshole, you’re going to get snark in return. And I’m not making any assumptions about that, here. I’ve seen some pretty non-privileged people by Tumblr’s standards still be just as hateful. A black woman can still hate the very idea of say, Jewishness, or nonbinary genders. It doesn’t erase her oppression as a black woman, but nor does that oppression erase her hatred of others. Make sense?
If you weren’t hateful and condescending, you’d probably ask about what otherkin is, because judging by the replies on this post, you seem to think it’s just roleplay and coping. It really isn’t. We’ve documented the community itself to at the very least the early 70s, but the ideas that are prevalent here go back millennia, if they do get sensationalized with the general cultural stories of magic and whatnot. There’s no way you don’t know of animal people; and that’s a pretty common thing.
(On that same note; autistic folks will find a lot of similarities between themselves and the stories of changeling children, I’ve heard. It’s an interesting idea, since people didn’t understand the autism spectrum and attributed it to the fae instead. Such widows’ tales and theories stretch back forever. Otherkinity, as we now call it, is one of them.)
It really isn’t just roleplaying. If you decide to stop throwing generally rude words around and actually listen for once, because I do know what I’m talking about, I could explain all of these things. I could tell you the community history and how most of us are less likely to be uptight and self-absorbed as we are always striving to question things and find explanations for patterns and phenomenons in our lives. You won’t find much of that on tumblr, there’s a lot of misinformation and people who say they’re otherkin but don’t know the definition of the word. On forums and offline? You’ll find a whole treasure trove of good stuff.
So d’you want to learn about all of this, or d’you just want to continue being whiny because I’ve made it clear I’m not going to take your condescension? Up to you; no hard feelings either way.
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