How Many identify as Otherkin? What kind?

[RebeccaFog]

Hi,

   In retaliation, I mean, relation to the topic of people who identify as Otherkin (other species?) I have created this poll.

   You may change your answer up to 5 times. But you can only choose 1 option (I hope).

   If you do identify as Otherkin, please tell us a little about yourself so that those of us unfamiliar with the concept can be educated and informed.

   What does identifying with another species mean to you?
   In what way do you express this quality?
   Do you feel isolated from society?
   How did you figure out your identity?
   Is there a movement for this? (Are there groups dedicated to helping others)

   And so on...

I forgot to say. I chose No.

[Pica Pica]

Now I know we are an open community of evil deviant type people, but... WTF? Identifying as another species? Is that a serious issue? Now we may all be confused and liberated types, different and varied blooms as Emerald likes to say - but is anyone so confused they think they might actually be a badger forced into presenting as human??? I mean, really?

[Kendall]

I know someone that lives as a wolf in hir room. I know a person that leads a vampire cult, that goes by the name Occulus and sleeps in a coffin. I know a person a in this androgyne section has identified as a panther. I have known 2 furry androgynes from this site, that constantly are just that. Not too mention have heard of a few that identify with manga (not sure if its their identity).

I know on tv a person that turned hirself into a lion. A person that lives as a chetah out in the wild.

Interesting and nice people.

[Kate]

   If you do identify as Otherkin, please tell us a little about yourself so that those of us unfamiliar with the concept can be educated and informed.

Faery. Changeling. Or quite possibly Something Else that they find... amusing. In any case, a Native to The Dreaming.

What does identifying with another species mean to you?

That I'm nuts and always have been. And that I can't escape their influence and teases and taunts. We play, we wrestle... it's a grand game to them.

In what way do you express this quality?

Express it? Not sure how to answer that. Kinda like asking how someone is a woman or female. It's just me. In practical terms, it's how I relate to the world, how it feels to me. AND... I dream. Or they dream ME, really.

Do you feel isolated from society?

I think everyone does, truth be told. But yes, in a way, as people don't think the way I do. Or NOT think, really. I keep going on and on about how this place is a dream, full of magic and glamour... but people think it's a cliche, just cute words. I mean it LITERALLY.

How did you figure out your identity?

I didn't. Like the TSism, I just grew up with it.

Is there a movement for this? (Are there groups dedicated to helping others)

I played around in the community online a bit. I was actually trying to figure out something else at the time when I stumbled upon Otherkins. I wanted to know if anyone else had heard of a race of beings that sort of rule and police The Dreaming. I called them FireSnakes as a child (think of the G'ould from StarGate), and it turned out they had a pretty good grasp of the creatures too.

But it's all political and the typical group nonsense, so I lost interest. Bickering over who is real and who isn't, what qualities someone must have to be a REAL OtherKin, lol... yea, sound familiar?

~Kate~

[Tay]

Unlike many people who identify with animals, I do not consider myself a furry or an otherkin.  I consider myself part cat or close to being a cat, but I do not believe my soul or mind is that of a cat.  Instead, I consider myself to be half feral.

My family sucks.  Big time.  I ended up being largely raised by my cat when I was a child.  She would, at bed time, sit on the stairs and mewl.  When it was food time, she'd twist around my feet and mewl.  When I was sad, she sat in my lap and rubbed her face against mine.  When I was happy, she'd run about outside with me.  She was my parent and one of my best friends.  I miss her every day.

[Doc]

Now I know we are an open community of evil deviant type people, but... WTF? Identifying as another species? Is that a serious issue? Now we may all be confused and liberated types, different and varied blooms as Emerald likes to say - but is anyone so confused they think they might actually be a badger forced into presenting as human??? I mean, really?

I said the same thing: 'WTF?' and 'That's just silly,' and 'How offensive that these people claim to have a problem similar to that of trans people.'

But plug it into a search-engine and you'll find that there are really people who feel that way, and take time off to run around naked in the woods howling, or experience 'phantom limb' sensations so strongly that they're compelled to cut holes in their clothes to accomodate their dragon wings. I still have a strong feeling that this is utter wankery, but a lot of cisgendered people say the same about transgender feelings, so I am not going to dismiss Otherkin or insist that their feelings are invalid. Besides, there is actually some scientific evidence (behavior and feelings are to some degree genetically controlled, many other things that are genetically controlled have on/off switches in the genes and geneticists have discovered that they can mess with those switches and make a bird embryo develop into a bird-dinosaur with bony jaws and teeth, some sleepwalkers behave in remarkably accurate animal ways in their sleep, in spite of not having much real knowledge of the behaviors of the animal in question) that this sort of thing could be true.

[crosswired]

I've always had a connection with wolves, and mentaly shift into the thought patterns and behavior of one. I shapeshift more in dreams, though. I call myself a were. AS for my androgyn side, I considered myself a forgotten member of an androgynous race of people from long ago. ME and them were pushed out over time by the single-sexed people, (society rigid and against gender variant people as ourselves here). I was called Jagweh in that time and my soul was transferred to this present-day female who identifies as being bigendered, under the name of Jesse.

[RebeccaFog]

I've always had a connection with wolves, and mentaly shift into the thought patterns and behavior of one. I shapeshift more in dreams, though. I call myself a were. AS for my androgyn side, I considered myself a forgotten member of an androgynous race of people from long ago. ME and them were pushed out over time by the single-sexed people, (society rigid and against gender variant people as ourselves here). I was called Jagweh in that time and my soul was transferred to this present-day female who identifies as being bigendered, under the name of Jesse.

Pretty cool. A lot of detail there.