I always feel a little uncomfortable when people say that being otherkin is nothing like being transgender and we need to stop saying it.

Because I have a nonbinary gender. And even though the two aren’t linked for me, they feel so much alike. And I really feel like I can’t say that without being silenced by the community for making everyone look bad.

Back on March 30th someone asked about possibly having memories/dreams of another kintype than the one they identified as, what this might mean, and whether anyone out there remembered more than one existence.

I have admittedly fragmentary recollections of a number of existences, some as Earth-human and some as a variety of kintypes. For a while some years ago (maybe ten or so) I considered myself mildly “aspected” because of this, but over time it became clearer that some were just that - past (or other) lives - which did not particularly affect my “me-ness” here and now, and others were stronger, enough to identify with. I finally settled on calling myself a sidhe or faery, but dragon-bits still occasionally pop up enough for me to wonder…  (funnily enough, “sidhedragon” was one of the first words I used to describe myself when I originally awakened.)

Sometimes this kind of thing can lead people to jump to a conclusion that they must be some kind of elf-unicorn-fox (or whatever) hybrid, but while some such peculiar “chimaerae” may exist  (creatures of the “Dreaming” if you like), I think it’s less common than the individual types.

As for how common this is, I had to chuckle a little at the remark about not having personally met anyone who remembered more than one existence in this fashion, because in my experience it’s reasonably common in people who get into this kind of spiritual work at all, although not universal. In fact there was a while there in the kin community where it seemed to me “aspecting” seemed almost a fad (although I suppose by the same token there are a lot of fairly large multiple systems walking around these days, which is odd to me).

“Otherkin is not a legitimate identity, it is a coping mechanism.” - Trolls

Everyone has coping mechanisms. 

Everyone needs to deal with pain, depression and loss at some point in their lives. If you think you are a tough, unbreakable person who who just stands there in the face of hardship and screams “BRING IT ON, REALITY!!!! I DON’T NEED TO COPE! CAN HANDLE EVERYTHING!!!!” - Congratulations, that in itself is a coping mechanism. 

 Also, I’m not sure why this is so confusing to people, but “coping mechanism” does not mean “pathetic crutch that weak people need in order to get through the day”. 

There are such things as beneficial coping mechanisms that actively help the person and improve their quality of life, make them happier and more comfortable. Some examples:

-Meditation

-Positive thinking

-Hobbies

-Spiritual beliefs

-Being part of a supportive community

- (insert your favourite coping technique here)

And here’s the main point I’d like to make: while you can call something a coping mechanism because it helps the person, you can’t say that it’s no longer legitimate because of it. That would be as silly as saying:

“Mary likes to collect stamps. Too bad for her, it’s not a legitimate hobby since it helps her deal with her grandmother passing away!”

This type of troll-logic fails even with coping mechanisms that are bad:

“Alcoholism is not a legitimate addiction. Mary is just using it as a coping mechanism after the stamps didn’t help.”

So as you can see, the fact that Otherkin or God or the joy of stamp collecting may be a “coping mechanism” is completely irrelevant in discussions on whether or not it actually exists. It’s not a legitimate argument.

“I hope you are well and thank you for getting back to me. The documentary we are hoping to make is a collaboration with the community where hopefully Otherkin / therians have a voice to be able to tell their story and be able to express themselves in order to educate the general public.

My interest in the Otherkin community stems from a development idea our NY office came about and we as the London office are now elaborating on and taking over the idea for a UK channel. The idea of the documentary is to allow individuals an outlet to tell others about themselves. The general public find cultures and communities that differ from the norm an interest and hopefully we can create an outlet for the community to educate an audience. Initially I am looking to speak to be about the community and learn however furthermore to ask individuals to take part in the show and express themselves. Our documentary will not be a comedy, laugh at them, scare documentary. It will be observational and insightful into the community and attempt to give an understanding of Otherkins.

We are not asking people who don’t want to be involved to be involved. We don’t want to “out” anyone not wanting to too tell their friends, families and loved ones. We feel the Otherkin community has not been (fairly) represented in the media and there is a misunderstanding of the community, they are often linked with furries and labelled wrongly.

We are going to create a fair and honest representation of the community and in an ideal world take some UK contributors over to the US in order for them to meet their counterparts and maybe the individuals who they speak to regularly online. This will be an observational documentary where the Otherkin will have opportunity to tell there story, explain there feelings and talk about the culture, community and perceptions that already exist.

I hope this goes some way of explaining what were doing and in part answer some of your questions. I am still desperately trying to source and speak to UK Otherkin who are interested in taking part and if you know of any one who may be interested it would be great if you could put me in touch with them?


Kindest Regards

Joe





p.s here are a list of generic questions I have been asking people it would be great if you get a minute if you could answer them?





What is your Therian/ otherkin name?

What is your therian/ otherkin identity?

How old are you?

When did you awaken / discover your therian identity?

When did you awaken?

Where abouts are you based?

Is there much of a Therian / Otherkin community where you are?

Are there meet ups?

How does the community differ to the states?

How prominent is the online community to therians / Otherkin?

Does your identity ever become physical attributes?

Some Otherkin / therians have tails / teeth that make them feel more like there Otherkin / identity – is this the same as you or do you differ?”

Honestly? This sounds OK to me.

Admin’s note: If we can believe them/trust them. I definitely recommend reading this link before anyone takes part in anything. http://otherkin.livejournal.com/546207.html

I would advise people to run far, far away from this “Joe from TV” person.

See, it’s not interesting if they show Otherkin living ordinary lives, going to work and doing laundry and stuff. They don’t want that. They want circus freaks. They want people who run around biting strangers’ ankles on the street. So they’ll take clips of what was said out of context, do no research whatsoever, edit it together, and end up with something like:

“Otherkin are freaks who live in mountain caves away from human society. An otherkin can change into their animal form during full moon, which is when they are particularly dangerous. Otherkins can mate with humans, but the child is usually a horrible mutant. Easter is a very important holiday for Otherkin because that is when they wake up from hibernation and lay sparkling pink eggs in the woods.”

Ugh. So yeah…be careful talking to the media. Especially media that’s related to the National Enquirer variety.

The submission about the TV Program? It was found that this company had partnered with the National Enquirer in the past…so be careful if you are interested? There’s a thread on Werelist with more info.

Edited to add: