Online-world immersion probes 'possibilities of transformation'

[Shana A]

Online-world immersion probes 'possibilities of transformation'
Immersion conversion
By Scott LaFee, staff writer

2:00 a.m. December 21, 2008

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/21/1a21virtual162313-online-world-immersion-probes-po/?zIndex=25269

Micha Cardenas, a 31-year-old transgender art student at UCSD, spent 365 consecutive hours in the virtual world, Second Life. K.C. Alfred/Union-Tribune -

Micha Cardenas is a 31-year-old man taking hormones to become a woman. So, it's not surprising perhaps that Cardenas views the boundaries of gender as being somewhat fluid and has questions about what it means to be male and/or female.

But what if the question isn't merely gender identity, but an issue of species? What if one felt wrongly trapped inside their human body, preferring instead to be a cat? Or a lizard? Or some sort of unknown alien life form?

[Sephirah]

But what if the question isn't merely gender identity, but an issue of species? What if one felt wrongly trapped inside their human body, preferring instead to be a cat? Or a lizard? Or some sort of unknown alien life form?

They're known as Therianthropes, or Otherkin... and not as uncommon as you might think.

[Butterfly]

Online-world immersion probes 'possibilities of transformation'

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2008/dec/21/1a21virtual162313-online-world-immersion-probes-po/?zIndex=25269
December 21, 2008
By Scott LaFee, staff writer


Micha Cardenas is a 31-year-old man taking hormones to become a woman. So, it's not surprising perhaps that Cardenas views the boundaries of gender as being somewhat fluid and has questions about what it means to be male and/or female.

But what if the question isn't merely gender identity, but an issue of species? What if one felt wrongly trapped inside their human body, preferring instead to be a cat? Or a lizard? Or some sort of unknown alien life form?

[Pneumonica]

Before the word "genderless" had ever left my mouth in any discussion other than grammatical, I hung out with a lot of OtherKin.  It wasn't even really intentional - I just gravitated towards people of that character, despite feeling quite human (there was once an unofficial contest of "What is Pneumonica really?" - interestingly, the winning result was "a computer designed to think like a human").  They are much like we are - people who don't feel right in their bodies.  In their case, the matter is species rather than gender.  In point of fact, technically my fiancee stands among them.

And in many cases it's more than just animal-in-human-form.  The Therians are just a subset of a larger group.