If you clicked this, you've probably heard a joke about someone identifying as nap-kin. If even that goes above your head, well, this is still the article for you.

Otherkin have a relatively brief history--in 1990, someone coined the term 'elfinkind' to describe members of a forum who identify as elves (the fictional race, pointy ears, an affinity for archery), and from that term was born 'otherkind' and eventually 'otherkin'. Mailing lists started sending out the beacon for people who identified as something other than human, starting with those elves, and these dark corners of the internet were kept relatively small to the mainstream for a long time.

And then, Tumblr dot com happened. As always, the nature of the website enables people to browse content tags on a whim. The conversations and discussions centering around Otherkin (now accompanied by words like 'therian', 'nonhuman' and 'fictionkin'--if we were to have Otherkin Vocabulary that would be its own article so these are yours to Google) were now open to the public, and without any context, it does seem like the most reasonable course of action is to mercilessly make fun of these people and their 'delusional lifestyle', right?

"What do you mean they identify as an elf?"

If we're going to get psychological about it, it means the person feels most comfortable, most at ease when identifying themselves as another species, another character. Although Otherkin were largely based on species for a long time, as the term got older people found themselves identifying also with fictional characters. People post longingly for their 'canon,' or original story. There are some complaints of 'feeling' their wings, talons, or tail where they are supposed to be, some even say they are in pain.

Otherkin are entirely aware that their body and limitations are human. They are just deeply dissatisfied with that limitation-wouldn't you be?

"That is so weird! Why should we be letting them delude themselves? These people need help!"

That is so interesting that you would say that. The nature of a delusion is one which does not overlap with popular perception of reality (I mean, we could get into what reality truly entails and how subjective of an experience it is, but that is a story for another article), and the main reason that delusions become psychiatric concerns is that it can pose a danger, an anxiety, or it can get in the way of functioning. A popular line of thought is that the incessant 'animal behaviors' of Otherkin get them fired, make them lose friends, or get them sick through things like eating raw meat or trying to fly.

In reality, these behaviors are not often exhibited, due to the fact that they are all quite aware of the fact that they do indeed inhabit a human body. It is more about the 'soul,' the spirit, or as some more psychologically-minded Otherkin would put it, a coping mechanism. The identity and its politics are very difficult to navigate. If there is something terrible in your life that being a snake helps you cope with, I say, all the more power to you. Hissssss.

"But what does your therapist say about that furry? Furry extremist? Furadical?"

First of all, great term-coining, especially since Otherkin in its early days did have some overlap with the furry community (and if you're not familiar with what that is, I must insist that I google that for you). Surprisingly to most people outside of the community, though, the psychiatric community is more than understanding. Psychiatry tends to support any coping mechanism that does not inherently cause harm and anything that can give their patients happiness is encouraged. I have heard countless stories of supportive therapists who encourage their patients to talk about their feelings of being nonhuman, who maybe show a gentle guiding hand when the behaviors get hard to cope with and give tips about assimilating and appearing 'human' in soul.

"But you can't be a fictional character!"

This just shows a grand misunderstanding of how fragile and malleable the human (sorry) psyche is. Chemically and psychologically speaking, you can be anything, at least in perception and in feeling. Is that not, in an abstract way, just as real as any other observation we can make about the world around us?

Let's face it--we don't make fun of them because of any danger they pose to us. Otherkin are largely peaceful and quiet communities who simply want to congregate with one another, share experiences and cope with feeling at home with a world far from here, a world that might not really exist or a world in another habitat like the forest or the sea. We make fun of them because we have finally found something that sounds so ridiculous that we can feel better about being a jerk about it. We make fun of Otherkin because they represent the weird kid who ran like Naruto at lunch.

We make fun of Otherkin because of a deep insecurity within ourselves--are we Other? Are we the enemy?

We can't be, as long as someone else is under the bus, right?