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Otherkin: Difference between revisions
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| meaning = The sunrise/sunset colors are an embodiment of the new beginnings, ends, and ones deepest sense of self. The variety of colors represents otherkin diversity, and the seven-pointed star is the classic Otherkin seven-pointed star that's been used for decades. Designed by soporine on Tumblr! | | meaning = The sunrise/sunset colors are an embodiment of the new beginnings, ends, and ones deepest sense of self. The variety of colors represents otherkin diversity, and the seven-pointed star is the classic Otherkin seven-pointed star that's been used for decades. Designed by soporine on Tumblr! | ||
| name = Otherkin | | name = Otherkin | ||
}}'''Otherkin''' are a subculture of people who identify as something other than human. Each individual discovers for themself how and why they are otherkin.<ref name="scribner simple"> | }}'''Otherkin''' are a subculture of people who identify as something other than human. Each individual discovers for themself how and why they are otherkin.<ref name="scribner simple">{{Cite web|url=https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/708359714734489600/simpleintro|title=A Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes|last=Scribner|first=Orion|date=February 11, 2023|website=frameacloud.tumblr.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230524164119/https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/708359714734489600/simpleintro|archive-date=May 24, 2023|access-date=December 10, 2023}}</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. | Joseph P. Laycock, assistant professor of religious studies at Texas State University, considers the belief to be religious,<ref name="laycock">{{Cite journal|last=Laycock|first=Joseph P.|date=February 2012|title=We Are Spirits of Another Sort|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.65|journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions|volume=15|pages=65-90}}</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" /> | ||
==Description== | ==Description== | ||
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<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
"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"> | "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">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jps.net/elve/trutal.html|title=True Tales of the Elves|authors=The Silver Elves|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000529201548/http://www.jps.net/elve/trutal.html|archive-date=May 29, 2000}}</ref> | ||
</blockquote> | </blockquote> | ||
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 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>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jps.net/elve/history.html|title=A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SILVER ELVES IN THIS LIFETIME THUS FAR....|authors=The Silver Elves|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000818010501/http://www.jps.net/elve/history.html|archive-date=August 18, 2000}}</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> | 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>{{Cite news|last=Graves-Browne|first=Eliza|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/yvwknv/what-does-it-mean-to-be-trans-species|title=What It Means to Be Otherkin|date=April 17, 2016|work=Vice|access-date=December 10, 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> | ||
===Kingender=== | ===Kingender=== | ||
[[File:Kingender.png|thumb|Kingender pride [[flags|flag]], for individuals whose gender identity is closely related to their otherkin type. Term and flag created by Tumblr user aroacehawkeye. The stripe color meanings follow the conventions of other pride flags: yellow for [[genderless]]ness, blue for [[male]], purple for mixed female/male nonbinary gender identities ([[androgyne]], etc), and pink for [[female]].<ref | [[File:Kingender.png|thumb|Kingender pride [[flags|flag]], for individuals whose gender identity is closely related to their otherkin type. Term and flag created by Tumblr user aroacehawkeye. The stripe color meanings follow the conventions of other pride flags: yellow for [[genderless]]ness, blue for [[male]], purple for mixed female/male nonbinary gender identities ([[androgyne]], etc), and pink for [[female]].<ref name="kingender pride archive">{{Cite web|url=https://pridearchive.tumblr.com/post/91215568026/kingender|title=Kingender Pride|authors=aroacehawkeye|date=Jul 8, 2014|website=tumblr|publisher=pridearchive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531074003/https://pridearchive.tumblr.com/post/91215568026/kingender|archive-date=May 31, 2022|access-date=December 10, 2023}}</ref> The seven-pointed star has been a symbol for otherkin since the 1990s, and for elf people since the 1960s.<ref name="fieldguide">{{cite book |author=Lupa | title=A Field Guide to Otherkin | publisher=Immanion Press | pages=25–26, 50, 52 | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-905713-07-3 }}</ref>]] | ||
* '''Name(s):''' Kingender (from otherkin + gender) | * '''Name(s):''' Kingender (from otherkin + gender) | ||
* '''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"> | * '''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">{{Cite web|url=http://sadvaporwavebabe.tumblr.com/|title=ok ive though t about it more and i think this time i can make a better apology..|authors=ssailorsenshi|website=tumblr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812075603/http://sadvaporwavebabe.tumblr.com/|archive-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref><ref name="kingender coin">{{Cite web|url=https://littlebunnykin.tumblr.com/post/92885358913/kingender|title=kingender|authors=sadvaporwavebabe|website=tumblr|publisher=mogai-archive|archive-url=https://archive.is/E8V0G|archive-date=June 23, 2021|access-date=December 10, 2023}}</ref> The Pride Archive blog instead says that Tumblr user AroAceHawkEye coined the term kingender.<ref name="kingender pride archive" /> | ||
* '''Meaning:''' Kingender was defined by SadVaporWaveBabe as simply "the only thing defining your gender is your kintype (this gender is otherkin specific)."<ref name="kingender coin" /> SadVaporWaveBabe (or possibly someone else who took over their blog) later posted a note admitting that they had submitted this and other content to the MOGAI-Archive blog to make fun of trans, neurodivergent, and otherkin communities, which they later regretted, and apologized for doing.<ref name="SadVaporWaveBabe"/> The other person claiming to have coined it, AroAceHawkEye, defined kingender as "a catch-all term for individuals whose gender is closely related to their kintype."<ref name="kingender pride archive" /> | * '''Meaning:''' Kingender was defined by SadVaporWaveBabe as simply "the only thing defining your gender is your kintype (this gender is otherkin specific)."<ref name="kingender coin" /> SadVaporWaveBabe (or possibly someone else who took over their blog) later posted a note admitting that they had submitted this and other content to the MOGAI-Archive blog to make fun of trans, neurodivergent, and otherkin communities, which they later regretted, and apologized for doing.<ref name="SadVaporWaveBabe"/> The other person claiming to have coined it, AroAceHawkEye, defined kingender as "a catch-all term for individuals whose gender is closely related to their kintype."<ref name="kingender pride archive" /> | ||
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* '''Keywords:''' genders about things other than connection to female or male, nonbinary, otherkin, [[xenogender]] | * '''Keywords:''' genders about things other than connection to female or male, nonbinary, otherkin, [[xenogender]] | ||
* '''Demographics:''' In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, two respondents called themselves kingender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census"> | * '''Demographics:''' In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, two respondents called themselves kingender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gendercensus.com/results/2019-worldwide-summary/|title=Gender Census 2019: Worldwide Summary|authors=Cassian|date=March 31, 2019|website=Gender Census}}</ref> | ||
{{Clear}} | {{Clear}} | ||