Otherkin isn’t queer
I was on reddit, when someone posted about whether otherkin was queer or not. I stated that it was not, and somebody replied something that suggested I was being exclusionary and that it was “bigoted” of me to accept x group and not y group, and went on about how certain groups were excluded in the same way in the past. They weren’t actually Otherkin, they were just trying to call my out on my logic I think and figure out how I would justify it. Here’s my response, I didn’t want to waste it, so here y’all go:
“No, I’m simply educated on what the phenomenon of otherkinism is and isn’t. You’ll find 99% of the community agreeing with me. Just go into any Otherkin space and ask “is Otherkin queer?” Or “is Otherkin lgbt?”
I guarantee everybody will be correcting you, and quickly. Wait, better yet, go into an LGBT space and insist otherkin is lgbt. I’d like to watch… with a bowl of popcorn.
I don’t think otherkin should be invalidated because of lgbt or vice versa. I’m not trying to “exclude” them from anything. I think both should be accepted, and they don’t need to merge under one concept in order to do that. By saying “otherkin is not queer” I’m just saying what i explicitly stated: Otherkin is not queer.
Otherkin themselves do not wish to associate themselves with the lgbt community, not because there’s anything wrong with being lgbt but because they are not the same thing. Intersectionality between personal identities exist, so sometimes someone on an individual level will feel that their otherkin and lgbt identities are somehow linked, and that’s valid, but as a whole they are not similiar.
While LGBT individuals have been around for centuries, the community as we know it today has had a long ongoing history of oppression and fighting for rights, sometimes with their lives. First it was about sexuality, but eventually transgender and genderqueer individuals were considered part of the group as well. The community is for *sexual and gender minorities.* Otherkin is not either.
Now perhaps I’m misunderstanding, but depending on who you ask, “queer” is either a slur, or a catch-all term for all lgbt identities. If you have a different definition, please tell me. That’s why i mentioned the LGBT+ community so much.
*ahem* Queer: Queer is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning “strange” or “peculiar”, queer came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century.
But now let’s look at otherkinity, and perhaps the therian community as well, and see how it stacks up to common “queer” identities.
Therian: An individual who identifies, in part or in whole, (non-physically) as an earthly (or alternatively, instinctual and wild, meaning a dragon with a “feral” mentality could be considered therian rather than otherkin) non-human beast on a personal and integral level.
Otherkin: An umbrella term for an individual who identifies, as a mythical beast or other nonhuman creature on a non-physical level. Usually associated with more sentient beings, such as elves and fae, or a dragon that hoards gold (as opposed to therians who generally have a more animalistic experience.)
Transgender: Someone who identifies as a different gender than assigned at birth.
Now, for similarities, you will notice a few, ngl, and these overlaps are probably the reason why people confuse Otherkin for a “crazy type of transgender” rather than the unique experience it is. You’ll see in all definitions, the word “identity.” Both have an identity that dies not match their physical body. Except, for the case of transgender people, this “identity” is backed by science, while for otherkin, (and while this may change in the future) it is not. Otherkin actually falls under ontology, which concerns the philosophy of the nature of the self.
As well as all being considered an identity, both may experience a type of dysphoria. An otherkin or therian individual may feel dysphoria about their human body or situation, or, “species dysphoria,” but this is not always the case and not necessary to identify as otherkin. So yet again, that’s another reason why people might try to compare this to a queer identity. But you’ll find beyond the outside appearance, it can be very different.
The modern otherkin movement can be traced back to the 1970’s by a group known as The Silver Elves, a pagan group that believed they were elves and fae on a spiritual level, or sometimes genetically, as in they believed there was elf or fae somewhere in their family bloodline. It was a very spiritual concept, generally a belief that they had the spirits of elves rather than humans.
This soon expanded to include other creatures, such as gryphons, dragons, unicorns (of which both actually has their own seperate communities for a time, draconics and unicorns respectively, before being “absorbed” by the growing otherkind community) merfolk, nature spirits, angels, etcetera. The experience of all these people that made them alike was that they saw themselves as a non-human entity in a human body. For the most part, it was considered a very spiritual experience, and things like magic and reincarnation were also commonly discussed.
Therians: Therians, or weres, as they were called started on a usenet group called alt.horror.werewolves. The group was originally intended to discuss fictional werewolves, but soon had a growing number of people share their own experiences of feeling like an animal, and not just wolves. The topic grew in popularity, until fictional werewolves were rarely discussed, in favour of personal therianthropic experiences, birthing the first online gathering of therians. It was generally seen as an either spiritual or psychological experience, depending on who you asked. Everybody had different opinions.
I suppose what I’m trying to get across here is that otherkinity and therianthropy are either spiritual identities or a simple brain quirk depending on the individuals beliefs. They are personal and subjective and cannot be proven to anyone but the individual. (While being trans* is scientifically proven.) They are not an oppressed group and do not need legal rights or anything like that because being otherkin does not affect everyday life the way being queer might. The experiences are just so different that I find it hard to consider otherkinity and therianthropy anything but their own experiences. Those who identify as both transgender otherkin have outright said that the experiences are very different and that Otherkin identities don’t count as genders.
Tl;dr: I’m not being exclusionary or bigoted by stating that Otherkin are not queer. I wouldn’t try to invalidate my own community. Rather, I’m simply stating a fact. Queer encompasses sexual and gender minorities. Otherkin encompasses people who feel that spiritually or psychologically they are nonhuman. They are both identities but beyond that they are very different experiences. Anything that doesn’t involve gender or sexuality is not queer. Would you call furries queer?”
