Otherkin

Otherkin are people who identify as partially or entirely nonhuman. A dragon, a lion, a fox—you name it—there is probably someone out there who feels like they are more these things than they are human. The otherkin community can be found lurking on Reddit, Tumblr, TV Tropes, and other online forums.

Fiction-hearted: chose their identity, do no experience memories, identify WITH a character or a fictional world

I'm sure you all have heard of otherkin and/or fiction-hearted. If not I have provided a definition for you~ Basically, uhm. I'm catkin. I feel as if I was a cat in my past life, and somedays when I feel very strongly about it (as in today) I feel as if i am physically a cat. As for fiction-hearted, I identify with Rin Hoshizora and Peridot, and possibly Fluttershy from My little Pony.

Basically, my question/discussion or whatever for you is, what do you think about otherkin/fiction-hearted? Do you think it's all bogus? Do you think it's legit? How do you feel about it? Do you identify as otherkin or fictionhearted? Or maybe even both?

Honestly I'm totally OK with it, I wouldnt say im 'otherkin' but I definitely deeply identify with certain things that became an integral part of my being throughout my life (specifically computers and bugs). It's a fun thing that I don't think people should take so seriously. I know that otherkin stufg gives people great joy and comfort, especially people with trauma or mental illnesses.

There is such a stigma around otherkin (often harmful and borderlining on straight up harassment/abuse) that make it difficult to talk about.
I just want to underline some common misconceptions about otherkin that many people have.
1. Otherkin know they are human. Like, no shit sherlock lmao. Unless they are truly mentally disturbwd, otherkin very clearly know they are human. If not, then they likely have a severe mental illness which at that point has nothing to do with kin.
2. Otherkin are making fun of transgender people!!! Well... literally every otherkin I have met was transgender, so... maybe that doesnt really count because its a personal experience.
3. 'Otherkin claim to be oppressed which if offensive to minority groups' there are dozens... DOZENS of troll blogs that exist solely to make fun of otherkin. Due to the sheer volume it is easy to take these troll blogs seriously.

I am not asking anyone to understand otherkin or take it seriously. All i want is for people to explore their identity without being ridiculed. Live and let live.

Sorry about spelling errors im on my phone and dgaf

I'm very indifferent towards it. Tumblr just ruined the fun of it, is all. I don't id as otherkin or anything, but. Yeah.

Honestly don't see any reason to be against this aside from just the sake of being argumentative or "traditional". People that identify this way clearly aren't hurting anyone through this identification -- as long as they're happy and no one is getting hurt, I say why not? I personally have never heard of anything like this nor do I feel like I fit into either of those categories, but I'm not going to invalidate your identity just because I myself don't understand it. Life is wayyyy too short to argue over how other people live their lives as long as they aren't doing anything to harm others.

I actually just learned about the existence of otherkin a couple days ago, so I'm not all that informed on the subject. Honestly, unless a group exists with the intent to do harm to others/does harm to others through its existence, I see no problem with it, and people who identify as members of this group don't seem to be malicious as a whole in any way. Thus, in my mind, there's no reason to talk down to this group of people or belittle it in any way, even though I don't consider myself part of said group. I think it would be interesting to learn more about otherkin and fiction-hearts based on my sheer curiosity; it's always nice to be more informed about new things. Seeing as I don't know that much about otherkin or fiction-hearts, I don't think I'm in a position to call it all "bogus" or anything of that nature; in my opinion, it's a bit foolhardy to make such assumptions about things before becoming more informed about them. Even when one is informed about a subject, preconceived notions about a subject can cloud one's judgments about it. Obviously, it's not possible to view all the world's topics through an objective lens, but I think with sensitive topics, especially those that are near and dear to people personally, it's best to try to see it through the eyes of the people who see that topic or subject as important, whether that topic be otherkin, fiction-hearts, or something entirely different.

I don't mind "Otherkin" as a whole; however I do draw the line at some point.

It's perfectly fine to identify with some other living organism, fictional character who is also living organism or some within a fictional universe that is considered living in that fictional universe.

Furries comprise a large portion of otherkin kind. These are people who often identify as animals of some type at least in their own mindsets. They often hang around together with other furries as well.

However the identification as any kind of inanimate object or thing immediately sets my bullshit alarms off. Usually this is a tactic favored a lot by trolls and others on the internet without good intentions.

I suspect Tumblr breeds a lot more of the kind that sets off my bullshit alarm than most other communites do; and I don't know why. I avoid tumblr for this and many, many other reasons entirely. (The entire community on that website is often capable of great toxicity)

What does it mean to identify as something non-human?

Kanzler said:

What does it mean to identify as something non-human?

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Basically to identify as a cat, a dog, anything that is not a human basically, in simplest terms.

hoshiko said:

Basically to identify as a cat, a dog, anything that is not a human basically, in simplest terms.

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Is otherkin similar to the sex vs. gender difference? I dont quite understand... is it like identifying as biologically black if you are biologically white?

hoshiko said:

Basically to identify as a cat, a dog, anything that is not a human basically, in simplest terms.

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"What does the term 'identify' mean?" is what I meant in the original question.

Kanzler said:

"What does the term 'identify' mean?" is what I meant in the original question.

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From what I understand, it's basically like transgenderism but replace "I am a man in the body of a woman" with "I am a poodle in the body of a person."

Anyway, my view about this sort of thing is that I simply don't care. You do you. If you're not bothering anyone or hurting anyone/anything, who honestly cares?

BadSheep said:

Is otherkin similar to the sex vs. gender difference? I dont quite understand... is it like identifying as biologically black if you are biologically white?

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Er I wouldn't compare it to that, but.. I mean, most otherkin know that they aren't whatever kin they identify as right now. I guess the difference between what you compared it to is that, the people in that situation are in the present or the now. Otherkin just identify as someone or something (example, voidkin or spacekin for some/thing/ or catkin or dogkin for some/one/ I guess?) in their past life and they know they're not one right now. Or at least most do.

People who don't identify as traditional identities have been some of the nicer people I've encountered in person. (Can't say the same for the internet though.) It doesn't bother me even when I see something that seems too outside my own experience because it really doesn't hurt anything or anyone. At most it's annoying to people who get annoyed at things like this. I mean, if you think the way someone is expressing themselves is an affront to you or your values then you should look at yourself before you criticize someone else. You might think it's bull**** personally, but if it's harmless bull**** then why do you care so much? I can understand wanting to protect a young person from doing something that you think seems weird, but that might easily slide into concern trolling so just let people learn on their own and express themselves however they want.

Eh you do you I guess. Just dont pee on fire hydrants I guess? Im not sure what to say /Shurg

I'm surprised a good amount of you are ok with it so I'm gonna come out and say that I'm dragonkin and fictionkin! I have a lot of kin friends as well. I don't really mind it of course. Of course I'm not really open about it except online.

@Aya: Ah I'm so happy for you! I'm glad you've found what you're kin with :3 We should talk about it through VM!

gimmepie said:

From what I understand, it's basically like transgenderism but replace "I am a man in the body of a woman" with "I am a poodle in the body of a person."

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No. Transgenderism happens when gender roles created by society and forcefully thrust upon us all don't match up with someones ideal self-image. Gender is a spectrum, with masculine at one end and feminine at the other. If neither extremes match up with someones ideal self-image, then they usually identify as agender, or non-binary, or whatever they prefer.

Being an otherkin is much less of a defining characteristic of a person. It is mostly for fun, or in the case of Furries it is a fetish.

Keiran said:

No. Transgenderism happens when gender roles created by society and forcefully thrust upon us all don't match up with someones ideal self-image. Gender is a spectrum, with masculine at one end and feminine at the other. If neither extremes match up with someones ideal self-image, then they usually identify as agender, or non-binary, or whatever they prefer.

Being an otherkin is much less of a defining characteristic of a person. It is mostly for fun, or in the case of Furries it is a fetish.

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Being a furry is not always a fetish necessarily. That's a horrible oversimplification of it. Like all communities; like humanity itself, it has it's erotic underbelly that one can argue is based on fetish. Some legitimately identify as animals; some like to roleplay as animal, some people like to do art; some people just enjoy or identify as animal spiritually and many more things. Furries are a diverse a community as our own. Of course the internet would portray them as a fetish; that's just the nature of the many uninformed people online. Many furry communities do not shun the more erotic side; but let's remember that isn't unusual if you consider most of these people feel more close to their wilder instinct than regular people might feel.

Most people do that sort of thing online though and they may be misinformed as to what else to do; but I've traveled in the deeper circles of the community and it's not always necessarily just about eroticism. Many people are there for as many reasons as people are here. You'd probably get offended if I said that "PC was all about ROM Hacking"; though I know clearly it's not, and that's just a type of member we get many of. You can't always expect new members to any community to be able to integrate with a community on such a deep level immediately without guidance; and unfortunately that "reputation" of it being a fetish thing does attract a ridiculous number of fetish driven people. That isn't something you can fix on the internet; it's an Eternal September thing. This is where the number of newcomers far outstrips the number of members who can guide them into becoming an integral part of the community.

-How serious is it? Do you feel oppressed if someone scoffs? Do you feel 'closeted' in real life before coming out as 'otherkin'?
I feel it's pretty serious for me. I would be offended or 'oppressed' I guess if someone scoffed. I've never came out to anyone in real life as otherkin except for my sister. I've vaguely hinted to it at my mother and she doesn't seem to mind.

-Do you feel physically out of place or distressed, or the need to mimic the idea/accepted form of the 'kin' you identify with? I.E. are you dysphoric?
I'm not sure what this is asking..

-Do you behave as though you are the animal you identify with? Or is it a more spiritual acknowledgement? "I remind myself of this animal" E.G. likening your agility and cunning to a cat or likening your loyalty and aloofness to that of a dog's?
Sometimes I will sort of put my hand on myself and 'groom' myself as a cat, or I'll play with my cat on four legs. Mostly though I think I remind myself of a cat with certain personalities.

-Personally, do you feel you decided to identify as 'otherkin' or was it something you felt was always there, waiting to be discovered?
I think it's always been there waiting to be discovered.

And the last question I separate because a lot of people can't answer it, but often times it's a really helpful in regards to understanding. "What are your reasons behind identifying as this?" It's extremely vague and up to interpretation so I leave it to you to decide how to answer it, if at all. I'm just looking for some emotional insight.
My reason that i identify as catkin is because I've always liked cats and felt that I sort of find myself mimicing cat behaviors or what not. i guess it just makes me feel comfortable to identify as catkin or fiction hearted, especially fiction hearted because it makes me happy to find characters I can identify with.

The dysphoric question is meant to mean like. Do you feel uncomfortable in your human body- do you feel like your body should be that of the kintype you identify with?

I also wonder if... so you talk about fictionkin, right? What is the difference between identifying with a character and feeling like you ARE that character? I find that I identify with lots of characters, but I have never felt like I am one, so I find this a point of confusion.

Thanks for answering so readily! :)