why…does it matter so much as to what label you have to use…use what makes you comfortable? im ‘technically’ copinglink, but i dont like the term. so i use kin. it doesnt matter
‘kin isnt a choice’ has been so overused by people kinning with things they shouldnt kin with (like white people kinning with black characters), so i wont take that seriously. sorry
-mod abandon
Ok this is gonna be long but I’ll try to get this across as best I can why this is kinda bad and fuck’t, and why tumblr’s warping of a 50+ year old community and the phenomenon in general general is harmful.
“Otherkin”, “Therian” and “Fictionkin” describe ontological phenomenon which is, yes, involuntary fuckery with nonhuman (or fiction-sourced) identities. Otherkinity as an organized community is pretty new, stemming from newslists in the 70′s and maybe earlier, likely spurred by an increased ability to talk to people over longer distances (Hurray for networking!). As an occurrence in particular though, it isn’t new. For all we know it’s as old as people are. “Involuntarily nonhuman” is broader them most people seem to think, because that doesn’t just cover us in western countries. It covers religious, and cultural nonhumanity. It’s a relatively open term covering basically all instances of otherwise-normal people being involuntarily internally nonhuman for whatever reason, and as a label it’s for anyone who fits this who would use it. the In the west and highly westernized societies this is particularly useful, as the limits of what’s “acceptable to be” in these countries is very limited compared to how diverse humans actually are even in any one population to the extent psychologists are starting to go “hey maybe we shouldn’t do that to human diversity and embrace all people who aren’t doing harm to others by just being them”. However, since otherkinity is something looked down on in western society in particular, it’s confined mostly to a sub culture as it’s own community,
The terms in reference to a community are so people can find others they relate to. If it’s not involuntary, it’s not otherkin, and you have no need for the term. You also have no business using it if you do not respect the term, what it means, or it’s current 50+ year history. Moreover, people need to stop forcing them into social issues they have no business in! Otherkin/fictionkin isn’t a gender, a religion, or trying to claim to be another race. The latter of which is just something we can overall define as “gross”, as a kintype doesn’t mean you get to claim to be a race you’re not.Copinglinks aren’t any less “real” or “valid” either, so maybe we can please stop acting like it. It’s really shitty and it makes it harder for everyone to find the resources and support they need. If you’re “techinically copinglink”, that’s not what otherkin is, it’s copinglink. Which you know, is fine. You’re still alterhuman but otherkin would appreciate you not making it harder to find people we relate to and to stop pushing otherkin out of their own spaces. Otherkin just don’t get a choice. For a lot of us as otherkin it isn’t fun. A lot of the times it feels like shit tbh. Like, I’m reincarnated from somewhere and something else, but I remember it and still internally am the same as then. I have a home and loved ones I will not ever really see again. I constantly feel othered by humanity’s rules and have to put on this act of being a relatively normal person, I constantly experience things no typical human will or can relate to particularly outside of the community – that’s otherkin/fictionkin. If you don’t believe that sort of thing is well.. a thing, then you don’t believe in otherkin or fictionkin. Simple as that.
And for what it’s worth, you might have an easier time being openly copinglink on the internet in general then openly otherkin. We’re not oppressed or anything, otherkin just in general aren’t exactly the internet’s darlings, and comments range from neurotypical asshats wanting us to be institutionalized and sterilized to just… well, to just people being really rude to us. IRL people don’t care but on the internet strangers have less issue with being cruel to other strangers.That’s not to say otherkin and fictionkin don’t want to interact with copinglinks just the same. Like there’s always been elitists (ask even the oldest, most experienced otherkin in the community about therian elitists, who just have to be the The Realest Wolfs™, which is ridiculous if you ask me). I’m fictoonkin/otherkin (nonhuman and fiction-sourced, oops) and I’m a cat copinglink and I talk to cat therians (therian = specifically earthly animals) as peers, but I respect that I’m not going to understand firsthand not identifying as a cat basically against my will.
These things are so different in terms of how exactly we end up experiencing them that it’s necessary to have different terms to describe them. Otherkinity and fictionkinity are about self-discovery, sometimes bringing things up from the subconscious, while copinglinking is about coping with whatever you need to here and now. Considering the amount of survivors are among copinglinkers, myself included, I don’t think it’s hard to see how some of these elements can affect one of the other pretty madly when mixed up. The otherkin, fictionkin, and therian specific communities just aren’t built for it. But we can build copinglinking as a community around support for survivors and neurodivergent folk. And honestly, I think that would be a wonderful thing to have and get behind now that we have our own corner of the alterhuman community to call our own.
You can’t just make these things mean whatever you want, though. That defeats the purpose and does far, far more harm then good to the alterhuman communities.
