Otherkin: Difference between revisions

'''Otherkin''' are a subculture of real people who identify as not entirely human. Each individual comes up with their own reasoning for how and why they are otherkin, and what kind of being they are.<ref name="scribner simple">Orion Scribner. "A simple introduction to otherkin." ''Orion Scribner'' (personal site). Created September 16, 2013. Updated May 19, 2014. Accessed July 22, 2020. https://frameacloud.com/nonfiction/introduction-otherkin/</ref> Most otherkin believe they are nonhuman in a spiritual way, or otherwise somehow non-physical, such as from reincarnation, psychology, trans-species dysphoria, or metaphor.<ref name="fieldguide"/> All otherkin know that they are physically human, in that they look like humans, were born like humans, and live in the way that most humans do. However, some otherkin believe their own bodies are different from most human bodies, such as having genes from supernatural ancestors.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Psychic Vampire Codex: A Manual of Magick and Energy Work |year=2004 |publisher=Weiser Books |isbn=1-57863-321-4 |author=Michelle Belanger |author2=Father Sebastiaan}}</ref> Joseph P. Laycock, assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University, considers the belief to be religious,<ref name=laycock>Joseph P. Laycock. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.65 “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</ref> but most otherkin firmly disagree with being classified as a religion. This is because otherkin are not a formal organization with leaders or members, they do not agree on any cosmological or spiritual beliefs (some otherkin do not believe in spirituality at all), and otherkin independently come to the conclusion that they are other than human, sometimes without even knowing anybody else felt that way. By definition, otherkin is not a religion, and is not similar to a religion.<ref name="scribner simple" />

Otherkin largely identify as mythical creatures,<ref>{{cite book |title=Vampires in Their Own Words: An Anthology of Vampire Voices |year=2007 |publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |isbn=0-7387-1220-5 |author=Michelle Belanger |page=25}}</ref> with others identifying as creatures from fantasy or popular culture. Examples include: angels, demons, dragons, elves, fairies, aliens,<ref name=reale>{{cite book |title=Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, And Substances to Heal, Change, And Grow |year=2007 |publisher=Career Press |isbn=1-56414-904-8 |author=Isaac Bonewits |author2=Phaedra Bonewits |pages=196–197}}</ref><ref name=villagevoice>{{cite news| title=Elven Like Me: Otherkin Come Out of the Closet |first=Nick |last=Mamatas |newspaper=The Village Voice|location=New York |date=February 20, 2001 |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2001-02-13/news/elven-like-me/}}</ref><ref name="ascensionmagic">{{cite book |first=Christopher |last=Penczak |title=Ascension Magick: Ritual, Myth & Healing for the New Aeon | publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |pages=416–417; 441 |year=2007 |isbn=0-7387-1047-4}}</ref> and cartoon characters.<ref name=kirby>{{cite book |title=Exploring Religion And The Sacred in A Media Age |year=2009 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=0-7546-6527-5 |author=Kirby, Danielle |editor=Christopher Deacy; Elisabeth Arweck |chapter=From Pulp Fiction to Revealed Text: A Study of the Role of the Text in the Otherkin Community |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/exploringreligio0000unse_q7d1 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=questing />  

With regard to their online communities, otherkin largely function without formal authority structures, and mostly focus on support and information gathering, often dividing into more specific groups based on kintype.<ref name=questing>{{cite book |title=Through a Glass Darkly: Collected Research |year=2006 |publisher=Sydney University Press |url=http://ojs-prod.library.usyd.edu.au/index.php/SSR/article/view/259/238 |author=Kirby, Danielle |editor=Frances Di Lauro |chapter=Alternative Worlds: Metaphysical questing and virtual community amongst the Otherkin |isbn=1920898549}}</ref> There are occasional offline gatherings, but the otherkin network is mostly an online phenomenon.<ref name=questing />

"Otherkin" as an adjective was defined in the ''Middle English Dictionary'' (1981) as "a different or an additional kind of, other kinds of".<ref>{{cite book |title=Middle English Dictionary: O.3, Volume 0 |year=1981 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0-472-01153-7 |author=Sherman M. Kuhn |page=344}}</ref> The earliest recorded use of the term ''otherkin'', in the context of a subculture or people who identify as other than human, appeared in July 1990. The variant ''otherkind'' was recorded as early as April 1990.<ref name="fieldguide" /> The word "otherkind" was initially coined from the word "elfinkind", to refer to non-elf others who joined the communities.<ref name="timeline">{{cite web |url=https://frameacloud.com/nonfiction/otherkin-timeline-abridged/ |title=Otherkin Timeline: The Recent History of Elfin, Fae, and Animal People, Abridged Edition |last=Scribner |first=Orion |website=Orion Scribner |date=2013-02-27 |access-date=2020-07-10}}</ref>

The otherkin community has origins that go back to the 1960s, in Pagan spirituality groups of those who called themselves elves.<ref name="timeline"/> The word "otherkin" was created in 1990 by a group of people who identified as elves, to include people who identify as beings other than elves.<ref name="timeline"/> The otherkin subculture grew out of the elven online communities of the early-to-mid-1990s.<ref name="veilsedge">{{cite book |first=Willow |last=Polson |title= The Veil's Edge: Exploring the Boundaries of Magic |publisher=Citadel Press |page=95 |year=2003 |isbn=0-8065-2352-2}}</ref> The oldest Internet resource for otherkin is the ''Elfinkind Digest'', a mailing list started in 1990 by a student at the University of Kentucky for "elves and interested observers". Also in the early 1990s, newsgroups such as [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.horror.werewolves alt.horror.werewolves]<ref name="cursewere">{{cite book |title= The Curse of the Werewolf: Fantasy, Horror and the Beast Within |author= Chantal Bourgault Du Coudray |publisher= I.B. Tauris |year= 2006 |isbn= 1-84511-158-3}}</ref> and [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/alt.fan.dragons 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 came to have participants who identified as mythological beings.<ref name="fieldguide" /><ref name="Cohen">{{cite book |last=Cohen |first=D. |year=1996 |title=Werewolves |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=0-525-65207-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/werewolves00cohe_0/page/104 104] |url=https://archive.org/details/werewolves00cohe_0/page/104 }}</ref>

"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>

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>

* '''Origin:''' Kingender was coined by Tumblr user SadVaporWaveBabe (who also posted under SSailorSenshi, and who deleted their blogs later that year), in a submission on or before July 25, 2014 to the [[MOGAI-Archive blog]] (which was also deleted later that year by one of its moderators).<ref name="SadVaporWaveBabe">Untitled post. ''bye (SadVaporWaveBabe)'' (blog). Retrieved August, 12, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140812075603/http://sadvaporwavebabe.tumblr.com/</ref><ref name="kingender coin">Archive of a reblogged version of the since-deleted post to the ''MOGAI-Archive'' blog post where this term was coined. Retrieved April 2, 2019. http://archive.is/uEbAK#selection-373.0-373.16</ref> The Pride Archive blog instead says that Tumblr user AroAceHawkEye coined the term kingender.<ref name="kingender pride archive">"Kingender Pride." ''Pride Archive'' (blog). https://web.archive.org/web/20180902205218/https://pridearchive.tumblr.com/post/91215568026/kingender-pride</ref>

* '''Demographics:''' In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, two respondents called themselves kingender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census">"Gender Census 2019 - the worldwide TL;DR." ''Gender Census.'' March 31, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2020. https://gendercensus.com/post/183843963445/gender-census-2019-the-worldwide-tldr Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200118084451/https://gendercensus.com/post/183843963445/gender-census-2019-the-worldwide-tldr</ref>