Otherkin: Difference between revisions

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==Otherkin, transgender, and nonbinary identity==

Otherkin is an identity, but not a [[gender identity]].

Otherkin is an identity, but not a [[gender identity]]. Much of the otherkin community is made up of folks who are [[transgender]], [[genderqueer]], or nonbinary. This has always been so, ever since the 1960s.<ref name="timeline"/> For this reason, the otherkin community has a tendency to be accepting of anyone who is transgender, genderqueer, or nonbinary.

That said, some otherkin do think of their gender identity as part of, influenced, or best described with their otherkin identity. For example, a [[nonbinary]] person who has decided that the best way to describe their gender identity is to say, "My gender is elf." (There are also people outside of the otherkin community who use similarly non-gender-related concepts and archetypes to describe their nonbinary genders; see [[xenogender]].) The word "men" can mean people who are male, or it can mean humans, so some otherkin-- especially the earliest of them, the Silver Elves-- have enjoyed playing with denying that they are either of those things.

That said, some otherkin do think of their gender identity as part of, influenced, or best described with their otherkin identity. For example, a [[nonbinary]] person who has decided that the best way to describe their gender identity is to say, "My gender is elf." (There are also people outside of the otherkin community who use similarly non-gender-related concepts and archetypes to describe their nonbinary genders; see [[xenogender]].) The word "men" can mean people who are male, or it can mean humans, so some otherkin-- especially the earliest of them, the Silver Elves-- have enjoyed playing with denying that they are either of those things. An anecdote told before 2000 by the Silver Elves, who are an otherkin group which formed in the 1960s, and includes many transgender and gender nonconforming people, goes like this:

"We were early at the party [...] when a beautiful woman arrived who was quite accustomed therefore of getting her way with men. She sat near them very quietly at first then suddenly she sighed and said, 'It sure would be nice if some man built us a fire.' [...] Then Zardoa, looking to Feral said, 'Do you see any men about?' And Feral Faun peering around said, 'Not a one.' The woman gaped astonished while we faerie folke chuckled quietly among ours'elves [sic]."<ref name="silver elves true tale">"True Tales of the Elves." Retrieved May 29, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20000529201548/http://www.jps.net/elve/trutal.html</ref>

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The equivocation and denial of both "human" and "male" in this anecdote is more than wordplay. Zardoa had also written that he had spent much of his youth "trying very hard to be a 'man' even though he knew in his heart that he was not a 'man', could never be a 'real man' [...] and succeed in the world of men but never felt accepted there," until a spiritual experience in meditation made him realize that "elf" was a better description of who he was at heart than either meaning of "man."<ref>The Silver Elves. "A brief history of the silver elves in this lifetime thus far..." Retrieved August 18, 2000. https://web.archive.org/web/20000818010501/http://www.jps.net/elve/history.html</ref> The Silver Elves were one of the earliest otherkin groups, dating back to the 1960s. Many of them were transgender as well as considering themselves as elves or other mythological beings, so much so that when they released a music album, they described it as trans-elven rock.

Some otherkin who are transgender describe themselves as "trans species," saying that their gender and the otherkin aspects of their identity feel connected and similar.<ref>[https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yvwknv/what-does-it-mean-to-be-trans-species “What It Means to Be Trans Species“ by Eliza Graves-Browne, VICE Apr 17 2016]</ref>

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==See also==

*[[Xenogender]]