Not like I'm into it, but I recently became aware of all this kin stuff and I'm genuinely curious..What is it? How does one become whatever they are? Why does it happen? Do you or other people genuinely believe you're part of this? How do other people react, and is this a thing that goes beyond Tumblr? How long does it usually last for? What are the effects it has on your life? Not to sound aggressive, I just really want to know what's going on inside the heads of kin people (if that's the term)
Lots of questions, my friend! I’m more than happy to answer.
Otherkin describes someone who identifies nonphysically as something other than human, partially or wholly. That identity can be spiritual or psychological (or both), but it’s generally understood to be involuntary - that is, one doesn’t choose to be otherkin, it’s just something you are or are not.
How does one become whatever they are?
Otherkinity isn’t a matter of becoming something - like I said above, it’s something you either are or are not, pretty much full stop. You can’t really “become” otherkin (or stop being otherkin, for that matter) if you’re not already. However…
…there are a lot of theories explaining why someone might be otherkin in the first place, both spiritual and psychological! Probably the most common is the “past life” theory - the idea that one lived as one’s kintype (the thing they identify as) in a past life, and the identity “bled over” into this life for whatever reason. I fall into this narrative myself. Other theories include walk-ins (the body’s original soul left and was replaced by another), misplaced souls (the nonhuman soul wasn’t supposed to end up in a human body, but did by some cosmic mistake), unconscious imprinting (the individual became so fixated on and familiar with the kintype, usually when young, that it became an irrevocable part of their identity), involuntary/unconscious coping mechanism (exactly what it sounds like), etc.
Do you or other people genuinely believe you’re part of this?
If someone doesn’t genuinely, literally identify themself (nonphysically, but still literally nonetheless) as nonhuman, they’re not otherkin, full stop. That’s something a lot of people on Tumblr don’t understand. Otherkinity is not something you do voluntarily to cope (someone who voluntarily adopts a nonhuman (or fictional) identity for coping reasons is called a copinglinker, and while there’s a lot of overlap, the two aren’t quite the same), and it’s most definitely not something you “do for fun”. It’s not roleplay. (There’s nothing wrong with roleplay! That’s just not what otherkinity is.)
How do other people react?
They don’t, for the most part, because from what I hear most of us really don’t talk about it outside our own community that much, for somewhat obvious reasons. It’s not something most of us want to discuss with strangers. However, I personally am someone who wants people to know things about me, so I’m probably more open about it with my non-’kin friends than a lot of us, and the reactions I’ve gotten post-explanation have thus far ranged from “yeah, that explains a lot” to “yeah, that seems right” to “I’VE BEEN WONDERING ABOUT THAT FOR SO LONG, THANK YOU.” There’s usually a lot of questions, because it’s a Weird Thing™ and it’s not an experience most people are even remotely familiar with, but I don’t mind answering questions.
On the other hand, there’s a reason most of us don’t talk about it with outsiders much, or want to talk about it with strangers. It is a weird thing, and it has the possibility to have pretty serious repercussions, what with accusations of “crazy” and all that. And, of course, there’s the antikin. So with rare exceptions, it seems like for most of us it’s either entirely private or it’s something we only talk about with people we trust. (And, after all, for a lot of people there’s no real reason to talk about it with non-’kin.)
Is this a thing that goes beyond Tumblr?
Most definitely; it dates back to physical snail mail mailing lists in the 1970s (the Elf Queen’s Daughters and the Silver Elves, if you want to look those two groups up) and has a recorded history since then. The actual term “otherkind” (which would then become “otherkin” at some point) was coined in 1990 in the Elfinkind Digest, a mailing list for nonhumans which was recently discontinued. Therians, or therianthropes (people who identify specifically as animals that exist or used to exist physically on this earth), can date their community’s history back to an IRC called alt.horror.werewolves (AHW), which was originally a fan page but eventually became a space for therians (then called weres) to talk; similarly, dragons can trace our community’s history back to the IRC alt.fan.dragons (AFD). Both of those communities have been at least partially absorbed into the “otherkin” umbrella; therian-specific spaces still exist, but there are very few draconic-specific spaces left. (I know the unicorn community also originated separately, but I’m afraid I don’t know as much about their origins.) Nowadays Tumblr and Discord are two of the most active places otherkin communities can be found, but a few forums still exist. Otherkin/therian Amino, from what I hear, is an even more misinformed and sketchy place than Tumblr, but I haven’t verified that myself, so take that with a grain of salt.
How long does it usually last for?
Again - you can’t really stop being otherkin. It’s an integral part of you. I can’t stop being a dragon any more than I can stop being nonbinary or stop being asexual. It is, of course, possible to stop self-identifying as otherkin because you realize another explanation fits your experiences better - but it’s generally understood that if that’s the case, you were never otherkin in the first place, you were just wrong about yourself (and that’s okay!).
What are the effects it has on your life?
Ranges from “basically nothing” to “huge impacts that I have to rearrange and compensate for on a daily basis” for different individuals, with most of us falling somewhere in the middle of that scale. For me personally, it’s not a huge impact, or maybe that’s just because I don’t really know what it would be like to not live like this. Supernumerary phantom limbs (the sensation of having body parts that are not and never have been physically present, in my case most often wings and/or tail but sometimes other parts as well) can be annoying at times, but I’m so used to ignoring or compensating for them that it’s not really a big deal. Homesickness, which is as close as I personally get to species dysphoria, is a similar deal. (People who do experience species dysphoria probably generally have a bigger impact on their life than I do.) Does it impact my behavior? Yeah, sure. Human body language is fortunately also relatively instinctive for me, but there’s definitely instinctive body language (and vocalizations, for that matter) that is not human I have to curb pretty much on a daily basis, at least when I’m in an environment where it’s inappropriate. But again - I’m so used to doing that, because it’s just normal for me, that it’s not really a big deal.
And, frankly, it’s kind of hard to quantify. There are a lot of things where I’m not sure and probably never will be sure whether it’s draconic, human, or both. It’s hard to tell, when I don’t really have super intense mental shifts (if any at all) and again, I don’t really know what it’s like to not be dragon-in-human-skin. And there’s a lot of overlap! Sometimes you just have to be okay with not knowing.
Props for using the right “a/effects,” by the way.
Hope this helped clarify some things for you! Remember, I’m always more than happy to answer questions or chat further - my inbox and DMs are always open :3
