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Otherkin?

lionking

In the Peanut Gallery
lionking
Joined
Jan 23, 2007
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Location
Melbourne
I didn't know where to put this thread, so hope Social Issues will do (it could possibly be in Humor).

I was listening to a radio conversation with the usual host (Jon Faine to Aussies) and a spokesperson for Melbourne's transsexual community, and it was very interesting with people asking how to properly address a transsexual, others talking about discrimination in employment, housing and so on.

Somebody then rang describing him(?)self as a Furry Otherkin. He went on to say that he sexually identified with foxes. The host said "yeah, okay, not a funny joke", but the guy insisted that he was an Otherkin and spoke about his distress at not being taken seriously. Somebody rang in to say he knew people like that and how they go into the forest, wear tails and try to behave like foxes.

Not being April 1, I find that there are people like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin

So any comments or observations? Anyone heard of Otherkin? Are these people serious, or taking the piss. From Wiki:

Outside viewers may have varying opinions about people who identify as otherkin, ranging from considering them animal-human relationship pioneers (see 'zoophiles'), to psychologically dysfunctional.[5] Reactions often range from disbelief to aggressive antagonism, (and laughter, don't forget laughter), especially online.[17]
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My view is highlighted.
 
And I thought I was weird for imagining myself to be a dragon.

Someone's always gotta be crazier than me. How am I supposed to stand out?
 
ehcks said:
And I thought I was weird for imagining myself to be a dragon.

Someone's always gotta be crazier than me. How am I supposed to stand out?
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Did you not read the link?

Otherkin largely identify as mythical creatures,[4] with others identifying as creatures from fantasy or popular culture. Examples include: angels, demons, dragons, robots or androids, elves, fairies, sprites, plants, aliens
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You are an Otherkin my friend.
 
lionking said:
So any comments or observations? Anyone heard of Otherkin? Are these people serious, or taking the piss.
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They may think they're serious, but I'm pretty sure your view is accurate. It's not particularly unreasonable for a human to think they're a slightly different human. There's really not that much difference between different genders, races, and so on at the best of times, and the more we understand the more clear it becomes that most things are actually more of a continuum than a binary choice anyway.

But the trouble with animals is that they are not, in fact, human. People love to anthropomorphise them, but something like a fox simply doesn't have thoughts or emotions that are in any way similar to ours. The difference between a man and a woman is basically a couple of chemicals and some dangly bits. We interact with the world using the same senses in the same way, inputting to essentially the same brain. A fox focusses far more on smell and sound, and even that is much more similar to us than things like bats, pit vipers, various fish, and others that have senses we don't. It doesn't matter how much you pretend to be like them, you're actually pretending to be an incredibly inaccurate anthropomorphised version of them.

Of course, when you start talking about imaginary creatures like dragons the whole thing just gets rather silly. If you don't really understand biology and evolution it's at least possible to imagine your brain works more like a fox's than a human's. But there's not actually any such thing as dragons. There's nothing wrong with the occasional bit of fantasy, but anyone who genuinely believes they're an imaginary creature is mentally ill, no question about it.
 
Well from someone who lives in a magical land full of pink fluffy sheeps and bunnies........;)


Good points Cuddles.
 
The Otherkin I've encountered generally seem to relate to fantasy creatures rather than real ones. They vary in strangeness. Like most other people really.

Having said that you might not want to go to your favourite search engine and type the words "Elven Holocaust." You have been warned.
 
Otherkin and furries aren't synonymous, although I suppose a person could be both, and some might consider the latter as a subset of the former. But when I think of otherkin I mostly think of people who identify as elves, faerie, aliens, and so forth.

I'm wary of tossing "dysfunctional" around too carelessly, without documentation of distress caused to themselves or others by the beliefs and practices in question. I'm also wary of third-hand "I know what they do" stories due to their frequent resemblance to debunked historical fantasies about the activities of other out-groups (e.g. witches meeting in the woods to have sex with Satan and fly on broomsticks).

It's an interesting phenomenon in any case. As an underlying cause, I'd hypothesize a combination of weakening of other traditional self-identification categories (e.g. an increasing portion of jobs that have no specific category besides "employee") and steadily increasing exposure to colorful characters in immersive fiction. Is there some point between a young boy pinning a towel to his shoulders and pretending to be Batman, and an adult furry whose entire sex life takes place in the context of animal identity role play, where we can draw a line? Is there a "narrative disorder spectrum?"

Respectfully,
Myriad
 
I learned about otherkin when trying to figure-out Social Justice Warrior lingo when atheism+ first started up. Cat-faeries.

Tangentially...

headmates, spoons, people that wished they weren't self-identified as neurotypical.

Yeah...
 
I first heard about otherkin a year or two ago. I think of it in the same way I think of religious claims, as otherkins tend to believe it as a spiritual belief.
 
Alan said:
I first heard about otherkin a year or two ago. I think of it in the same way I think of religious claims, as otherkins tend to believe it as a spiritual belief.
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As a spiritual belief I can understand it a bit better; these folks don't literally believe they were supposed to be foxes and their bodies turned out to be human instead in a gender dimorphism kind of way, they just really feel like they identify more with foxes than humans. Or at least, they identify more with the anthropomorphic qualities human culture has attributed to foxes (or whichever animal).

I suppose I can respect it as not necessarily any kind of mental illness. As long as people aren't going around thinking that deep inside they're really cartoon ponies.
 
The Milwaukee Brewers stayed at the same hotel as a furry con a few years ago. Bob Uecker spent half the game talking about it. Absolutely hilarious.
 
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