Born or Made? | Otherkin General Discussion | Forums

Blu said
The way I see it, there are as many different types of otherkin as there are kintypes. Some of us use being otherkin as a method of coping with mental illness, some of us believe that we are reincarnated souls of nonhuman creatures, and some of us just feel like we’d be more comfortable in a nonhuman body. I feel like they’re all equally valid. Perhaps somebody does use being otherkin as a coping mechanism, and later on they find other, more effective methods of coping. This is a thing that we can’t really know until it happens, and the most important thing is that they can be supported by the community when they most need it.

At the time I joined the community, it was made very clear to me and to others new to the community that being otherkin was not about finding a coping mechanism, or dealing with mental illness.  People were actually encouraged to rule mental and physical illnesses out before deciding that they were otherkin.  At some point along the way that got lost, probably due to the rise of psychological otherkin.  After all, if one can be otherkin for psychological reasons why wouldn’t being otherkin for reasons of actual mental illness be ok?  Any dividing line there would be completely arbitrary, and rightly viewed as ableism.

The thing is, I don’t believe the otherkin community is equipped to support those who identify as otherkin for reasons of mental illness.  We are not mental health professionals.  We are not equipped to provide that type of counseling and support.

I really can’t agree with that. We turn people with mental illnesses away not because of any stigma against them but because of the simple fact that we cannot help them. We can’t have a duty to do something that we are simply not capable of. It’s not a matter of energy, it’s a matter of knowledge. We are not mental health professionals. And welcoming people with mental illnesses into our community and encouraging them to embrace a nonhuman identity as a coping mechanism for their own issues is just enabling escapism or outright delusion. How is that helpful to anyone? It’s also an issue of scope creep: if more and more people come into the community who believe they are otherkin due to being mentally ill, at a certain point the community is guaranteed to stop serving the people it was originally intended for. Because the simple fact of the matter is that people identifying as non-human for reasons of mental illness are going to have very different needs than those of us who identify as non-human for other reasons.

Arethinn said
Sorry for the zombie topic; I’ve been sitting on some items in my RSS reader for like four or five months now and keep going “Oh I should go reply to that” and just never getting around to it. I’m trying to force myself to do at least one and then maybe they’ll eventually get cleared out.

No worries.  I’ve been pretty busy myself the past few months.  Just got through moving and changing jobs, and I’m still unpacking and stuff.

Arethinn said
I don’t know how such a thing could work. I suppose it’s possible that something or some experience could act on the brain in such a way that it would uncover or unsuppress something that was already there, but I don’t grok how it could truly change a vanilla human into an animal or some kind of magical otherkin; only in an illness sense – e.g. a traumatic brain injury that somehow causes someone to begin to believe this about themselves.

In the non-illness psychological model of “becoming” therian, the explanation generally given is some form of mental imprinting, either through close association with domestic animals in one’s childhood or through exposure to media about non-domestic animals.

Arethinn said
I could see a use of a “kinsona” for fun in certain contexts, like personally designing an avatar for a virtual world. Or perhaps it could be a way to subtly express that in environments where “fursonas” are already understood and accepted – those who think it’s just play can continue to think that, and those with eyes to see could see. But if you’ve just created a nonhuman character for the heck of it, no matter how much you might like to roleplay as it, I don’t think that genuinely makes you otherkin. (Not in and of itself, anyway; it’s not unknown for people to awaken that way, of course, but then it goes back to “it was there all along, you were born that way.”)

In context, it seems to be more about creating a character than expressing what one already is.  One post on the furaffinity forums describes their “kinsona” in this manner: “My “kinsona”, and some backstory.  My fursona is kinda a mixture of my kintype that i made into an anthro fursona and gave a bit of a backstory…if that makes any sense.”  

Arethinn said
edited to add: See also “witchsonas”. (For example

https://www.tumblr.com/pada-viya/113179791757/i-made-it-just-in-time-for-witchsona-week-she-is

) It would seem that this “-sona” thing is part playful and part a serious expression of an idealized or intentionally mythologized vision of one’s self.

I wouldn’t give it that much credit.  The initial post about “witchsona week” described it thusly: “This week is WITCHSONA week! Draw yourself as your own witch persona; guy, girl, neither, both, animal, plant, or anything – anyone can be a witch!

What’s your familiar? What’s your power object? What kind of magic do you use? What kind of environment are your powers derived from? What’s kind of clothes do you wear?”  That doesn’t sound at all serious to me.  One of the submissions describes it as a “cartooning event” and I think that’s fairly accurate.  It could potentially be used in a more serious manner, in the way you suggest, but I see no evidence of that actually being done.