Otherkin

Otherkin is a subculture of people who identify as partially or entirely nonhuman. Some otherkin believe their identity derives from non-physical spiritual phenomena, such as having a nonhuman soul or reincarnation. Some otherkin give non-spiritual explanations for themselves, such as unusual psychology or neurodivergence, or as part of dissociative identity disorder or multiplicity. Many otherkin say they are physically human.

The otherkin subculture developed primarily as an online community during the 1990s. It had partly grown out of some small groups of people who described themselves as elves during the 1970s and 1980s. During the late 2000s, the word has come to be treated as an umbrella term for some other nonhuman identity subcultures.

Etymology

The word ''otherkin'', in the context of a subculture, was created in July 1990 by participants of the mailing list Elfinkind Digest. It came along with the variant "otherkind," which appeared first in April 1990. It was a more widely inclusive derivative of the mailing list's name. Mailing list participants used both interchangeably for a while. Over the following decades, the word "otherkin" entered common usage enough to be later added to the principal historical dictionary of the English language. In 2017, the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defined otherkin as "a person who identifies as non-human, typically as being wholly or partially an animal or mythical being."

Coincidentally, the word "otherkin" also existed in the Middle English language. The ''Middle English Dictionary'' (1981) defines the adjective "otherkin" as "a different or an additional kind of, other kinds of".

Terms and identities

The term ''otherkin'' includes a broad range of identities. Otherkin may identify as creatures of the natural world, mythology, or popular culture. Examples include but are not limited to the following: aliens, angels, demons, dragons, elves, fairies, horses, foxes, wolves, sprites, unicorns, and fictional characters. Rarer are those who identify as plants, machines, concepts, or natural phenomena such as weather systems.

The term "therianthrope" commonly called "therian" refers to people who spiritually, physically, or psychologically identify as an animal. The species of animal a therian identifies as is called a theriotype. While therians mainly attribute their experiences of therianthropy to either spirituality or psychology, the way in which they consider their therian identity is not a defining characteristic of therianthropy. The identity "transspecies" is used by some.

Community

Otherkin communities online largely function without formal authority structures and mostly focus on support and information gathering, often dividing into more specific groups based on kintype. There are occasional offline gatherings, but the otherkin network is mostly an online phenomenon.

The therian and vampire subcultures are related to the otherkin community, and are considered part of it by most otherkin but are culturally and historically distinct movements of their own, despite some overlap in membership. The word ''alterhuman'' exists as an umbrella term which intends to encompass all of these subcultures, as well as others such as plurality.

Symbols

A common symbol for otherkin is a seven-pointed star, specifically a regular heptagram, known as the ''Elven Star'' or ''Fairy Star''. Otherkin have used it for decades. For example, one early use of it was by the Silver Elves in an article they published in the summer 1986 issue of Circle Network News.

Religious and spiritual beliefs

Joseph P. Laycock, assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University, considers otherkin beliefs to have a religious dimension, but asserts that "the argument that Otherkin identity claims conform to a substantive definition of religion is problematic". Many otherkin themselves reject the notion that being otherkin is a religious belief.

Some otherkin claim to be especially empathic and attuned to nature. Some claim to be able to shapeshift or "shift" mentally or astrally, meaning that they experience the sense of being in their particular form while not actually changing physically. Moreover, the claim to be able to physically shift is generally looked down on by the community. They may also describe being able to feel phantom limbs/wings/tails/horns, that coordinates with their kintype. Some otherkin claim to also go through an 'awakening' that alerts them to their kintype.

Many otherkin believe in the existence of a multitude of parallel universes, and their belief in the existence of supernatural or sapient non-human beings is grounded in that idea.

History

1990s

A student at the University of Kentucky created the ''Elfinkind Digest'', a mailing list for "elves and interested observers." Also in the early 1990s, newsgroups such as alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW) and alt.fan.dragons on Usenet, which were initially created for fans of these creatures in the context of fantasy and horror literature and films, also developed followings of individuals who identified as mythological beings.

2000s

On 15 December 2006, the Minneapolis-based newspaper ''Star Tribune'' published an article about dragons that included a section about the otherkin blog ''Draconic''. The article took quotes from the mission statement of the blog, written by site founder Chris Dragon.

2010s

On 7 April 2010, the Swedish newspaper ''Dagens Nyheter'' published an article titled ''"Ibland får jag lust att yla som en varg"'' (“Sometimes I get the urge to howl like a wolf”) in which Lanina, founder of the Swedish language otherkin and therian forum therian.forumer.com, described the basics of what it is like to be a therian. The article is the first known article to offer a description of "therian" identity by a major European newspaper.

In 2011, the International Anthropomorphic Research Project (IARP), a Canadian- American multidisciplinary research group, expanded the scope of its annual ''International Furry Survey'' to include otherkin and therians for the first time.

Research

Daniell Kirby wrote the first academic paper on otherkin in 2008, which served to introduce the community to other academics. Kirby described otherkin as sharing ideas with the neopagan movement, however she called this an "interim classification", and warned that "to construe this group as specifically neo-pagan or techno-pagan obscures the focus of the participants". Subsequent research has treated the otherkin community as having an essentially religious character.

From 2016 onwards, otherkin research has taken more of a narrative identity approach, investigating how otherkin come to understand their experiences. Reviewing prior research, Stephanie C. Shea criticizes the prevailing conception of the otherkin subculture as being, or being alike to, either a religion or a spirituality.

In four surveys of furries (with a sample size of 4338, 1761, 951 and 1065 respectively), depending on the sample, between 25% and 44% responded that they consider themselves to be "less than 100% human", compared to 7% of a sample of 802 non-furries surveyed at furry conventions.

Public perception and media coverage

Outside viewers may have varying opinions about people who identify as otherkin, such as considering them psychologically dysfunctional. Reactions often range from disbelief to aggressive antagonism, especially online.

Otherkin have been called one of the world's most bizarre subcultures, and a religious movement (or a "quasi-religion") that "in some of its forms, largely only exists on the Internet". Although otherkin beliefs deviate from the definition of "religion", they share the primary interest in the paranormal.

Joseph P. Laycock argues that the otherkin community serves existential and social functions commonly associated with religion, and regards it as an alternative '' nomos'' that sustains alternate ontologies.Joseph P. Laycock
“We Are Spirits of Another Sort”: Ontological Rebellion and Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin Community
. ''Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions''. Vol. 15, No. 3 (February 2012), pp. 65–90. University of California Press Professor Jay Johnston feels that nonhuman identity "is perhaps not so much pathological as political".

According to Nick Mamatas, they represent a dissatisfaction with the modern world, and they have taken fairy lore out of its original context.

See also

* Changeling
* Clinical lycanthropy
* '' A Field Guide to Otherkin''
* Tulpa
* Walk-in
* Depersonalization
* Quadrobics

References

Further reading

*
*
*
*

“Why be human when you can be otherkin?” University of Cambridge, Research published 16 Jul 2016

"Otherkin are the internet’s punchline. They’re also our future"
The Daily Dot, article published September 26, 2020

External links

{{Furry fandom, state=collapsed

Internet culture
Spirituality
Subcultures
1990s neologisms
Collective identity
Reincarnation
New religious movements established in the 1990s
Transhumanism