necrophagist:

shadowfae:

tsugamori:

shadowfae:

tsugamori:

If an alternate version of me was… forced.. to identify as character, does that still make present me ‘kin of that character?

I would say if you still do ID as that character, then yes. If you don’t still ID as them, then no, probably not.

it certainly affect my identity, at least. A good number of traits from then have carried over into this life and have been present for years even before my awakening as them. like I said in my tags, I have identified as them for close to two years now, I was just suddenly curious about the semantics of it all.

My rule of thumb is just that if you’re not sure, check the definition. The why’s and how’s don’t matter as much as actually following the definition, and it looks like you do so you’re good.

But semantics are still fun sometimes. 😮

The wording here is a tiny bit off I think (unless I misunderstood you @shadowfae!)

Understanding your identity is infinitely more important than the term you choose to use for it, and no one should ever try and form their sense of self around preexisting terminology with the goal of fitting into a label. However, what often gets lost or forgotten (especially on Tumblr) is that you also shouldn’t ever use a word for yourself simply because you want it to fit you or you like the idea of belonging to a certain community.

That said, though, semantics are definitely an interesting part of nonhuman identities. @tsugamori Personally I think in a case like this, it depends a lot on how it currently affects you. It doesn’t necessarily sound like a kin thing to me, since it was something adopted (albeit forcefully) rather than something inherent, so is it possible that it’s a hearttype or something similar?

In this case, I don’t think you misunderstood so much as I forgot not everyone uses the definition I do. :p Victim also let me know that my wording wasn’t the greatest.

The definition I use for otherkin is roughly ‘someone who identifies partially or entirely as a nonhuman (or fictional, in the case of fictionkin) entity on a nonphysical, profound, and involuntary level’. In this case, if Tsuga still IDs as the character, they’re good in my book as fictionkin. If they don’t, then the label doesn’t fit, simple as that.

I don’t really consider labels to be all that important for much other than building a community (catch me putting my c’links, otherlinks, and kintypes all together) so to me it doesn’t matter exactly how someone came to identify that way – if it’s nonphysical, involuntary, profound, and they identify as the thing, they’re good in my book. The hows and whys get super diverse, so there’s no way to say someone’s in or out based on that, that’d be silly. 

I don’t too much forget about wishkin, but I know pretty well Tsuga’s not one of those people, so I did gloss over some nuance that I figured didn’t need to be mentioned. I probably should make that a little clearer next time.

Thanks. 😮

tsugamori:

shadowfae:

tsugamori:

If an alternate version of me was… forced.. to identify as character, does that still make present me ‘kin of that character?

I would say if you still do ID as that character, then yes. If you don’t still ID as them, then no, probably not.

it certainly affect my identity, at least. A good number of traits from then have carried over into this life and have been present for years even before my awakening as them. like I said in my tags, I have identified as them for close to two years now, I was just suddenly curious about the semantics of it all.

My rule of thumb is just that if you’re not sure, check the definition. The why’s and how’s don’t matter as much as actually following the definition, and it looks like you do so you’re good.

But semantics are still fun sometimes. 😮

tsugamori:

If an alternate version of me was… forced.. to identify as character, does that still make present me ‘kin of that character?

I would say if you still do ID as that character, then yes. If you don’t still ID as them, then no, probably not.

orionion:

shadowfae:

orionion:

yaboiniqk:

orionion:

A few years back I had a blog @cleansingfacialwipes and it was meant to be a joke at the expense of the otherkin/ plantkin community. It was insensitive and offensive, and I feel like I need to apologize for it because those actions and words don’t reflect my views now. I’m sorry for making a joke out of and over-exaggerating an identity that many people hold close to their hearts. It was an extremely shitty thing to do.

It wasn’t that shitty of a thing to do. Otherkins are jokes. They actually were started to mock the trans community(which is fucked up) and were meant to say “if u wanna be a boy and you’re a girl, I can be a dog lol.” so the people who jumped on board with it are either full of shit or just so caught up in what’s “real” on this godforsaken site that they believe they’re supposed to be fuckin seahorses and shit. Either way, it’s not shitty to make fun of them for that.

It may have started as a joke, but it’s not to a lot of people anymore. And I don’t believe it’s right to discredit those who are coming to terms with themselves and their identity. I’m not educated on the otherkin community and their impact on the transgender community, but it’s just hypocritical to to preach love and acceptance and not extend that to others of whatever identity.

Not to hijack, but I’m hijacking anyway.

OP, the otherkin community is not a transphobic one and definitely wasn’t made just for transphobia. So if Yab could not scapegoat us, that’d be great.

The spiritual beliefs found in our community go back thousands of years, and are found in most, if not all, cultures. However, our documents of the modern otherkin community go back to two groups of Tolkein elves – the Queen Elf’s Daughters and the Silver Elves, which were started in mailing lists and offline groups (as the internet largely didn’t exist yet) in the early ‘70s. 

The internet helped make things more widespread, and the term ‘otherkind’ was actually coined in 1990 by a very tired person who got sick of typing orc/hobbit/dragon/unicorn kin over and over. It literally means ‘not humankind, not elfkind’, because elves are like that.

The D got dropped somewhere in there, so now a lot of people think that the ‘kin’ suffix is meant to be ‘kinship’ – it isn’t. It’s the -kind suffix, like mankind and elvenkind, which were the original inspiration.

Otherkin isn’t a joke, as any community member who isn’t 13 or wishkin could tell you. We get a lot of trolls and antis because we’re weird. There’s a reason most of the community exists online in highly-vetted and difficult to enter private forums. Because people like Yab up there think we’re jokes and like to ruin everything nice we have, because they’re not much more than classroom bullies and just as pathetic.

It’s shitty to make fun of anyone for things that aren’t actively wrong. Otherkin is neither harmful nor helpful – in the same way that hair colour is neither harmful or helpful. It’s a part of your identity, nothing more.

Thank you for adding this!!

Not a problem. It is hugely appreciated that you took the time to apologize. You’re the second person in four years I’ve ever seen apologize for that sort of behaviour.

Obviously more should do that, but the fact that you did? That’s really good. So congrats on the character development and thank you for doing that.

bubblesthepuppy:

Trying this again

So I realize what I previous post sounded to blunt for some people so I’m going to try this again.

For the record I’m just trying to see what other people’s opinions are on the subject. Who knows maybe my mind will be changed.

If your kin type is an animal that does not exist, you are not a therian. Yes or no?

If you have a kin type that doesn’t exist like a blue dog or a dragon you are called an other in? Yes or no?

1. You can be therian or theriomythic – I’d lean towards theriomythic, but honestly, I’m neither so it’s not up to my jurisdiction.

2. That counts as both otherkin and theriomythic by definition, but which labels you use are largely up to you since you fit both.