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Q&A - 2017

It doesn’t sound stupid at all. I do deal with a bit of imposter syndrome about being otherkin, namely surrounding my bison kintype, so I think I know where you’re coming from. Whereas most people I talk to feel like they’re anywhere from 50 to 100% nonhuman, I feel more like I’m maybe 10% bison and 30% gnoll, at least right now. You can’t exactly quantify the different levels of nonhumanness like that, but I’m not sure how else to get my point across.

Point is, I know how it feels to be unsure of whether you’re faking it all, if you’re forcing yourself into this community, if you’re lying to yourself and others, and so on. But it seems like a somewhat normal thing for ‘kinity to ebb and flow. One day you might spend every moment riddled with dysphoria and homesickness, the next you’ll barely notice anything out of the ordinary.

I’m very sorry to say that I don’t have much advice for you except ‘give it time’ and perhaps a suggestion that you keep a journal to easier keep track of how your other-/fictionkinity seems to evolve. Perhaps take note of outside influences as well. I’ve only recently started doing that and I think I’m noticing a link in my ‘gnoll vs. bison levels’ related to stress. I don’t know, I tend to push most of those doubts away as they just make me anxious.


My opinion isn’t that easy to state. On one hand, being otherkin is based on experiences and I have a hard time wrapping my head around the experience of being a ‘star in a human body,’ but on the other hand I’m trying to put grilling culture behind me and listen to people instead of telling them what they are and aren’t.

I believe it’s possible to be objectkin, or in some cases conceptkin, because of various animistic beliefs. There are quite a few belief systems in which rocks, plants, rivers, etc. have souls or consciousnesses of sorts. So I won’t discredit it. But at the same time, often when I’ve seen people describe why they’re, for example, galaxykin, their description just doesn’t match up with the definition of otherkin.

It also seems like, quite often, people have remembered a trait or feel a strong connection to something like a song or a color, and decide that that must be their kintype instead of wondering if their kintype is instead something connected to that color (the difference between calling yourself purplekin and Twilight Sparkle-kin or Let It Go-kin instead of Elsa-kin).

I think aesthetically pleasing concepts like space, weather, colors, songs, and so on are a magnet for wishkin and tumblrkin, but I don’t think that most of them are in and of themselves impossible. Just unlikely. I admit, though, that I am wary of people who identify themselves as object- or conceptkin because of all the trolls and misinformed people who use those terms.


It seems like you’ve misunderstodd what otherkinity is all about. If you don’t mind, I’ll give you a few links that might better be able to explain it for you:

What otherkinity is to me
Otherkin and proof
What otherkinity is and isn’t
The anti-anti-otherkin post

Hope this helps! If not, feel free to ask again c:


I’d check up with a doctor about your blood and dizziness if I were you. You could perhaps benefit from vampirism, but most of the vampire ‘symptoms’ tend to be things like irritability and exhaustion (i.e., psychological things, not physiological things). I’m by no means a doctor myself, but sounds like you could have some kind of deficiency in your blood, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Burning quickly is normal for fair skinned people. I’ve never clocked how quickly I burn, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was around 10-15 minutes as well. Just put on the strongest sunscreen you can reasonably get your hands on and stay out of the sun as much as possible.

Remember that your sunscreen won’t protect you indefinitely. Americanskin.org writes that “a person with lightly pigmented skin who burns in 10 minutes would be protected for only about two-and-a-half-hours with SPF 15 (SPF 15 x 10 minutes = 150 minutes).”

Ironically, burning in the sun isn’t really considered a symptom of vampirism. Extreme photosensitivity (your eyes being sensitive to light) is, though.


The answer will vary from person to person (and someone who’s fictionkin will have a different interpretation than I do, since I am but a humble otherkin) but in my own words: Otherkinity is an ontological phenomenon and otherkin are people to whom that phenomenon applies. That doesn’t explain a lot but stay with me.

Ontology is “the philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations” (yes, I quoted that straight from Wikipedia). In other words, to study ontology is to study existence itself and an ontological phenomenon is a phenomenon relating to existence itself. There are plenty of well-known ontological concepts out there. Determinism, dualism, nihilism… All of them deal with what existence really means (or doesn’t mean).

Otherkinity is a phenomenon concerning someone’s interpretation of their own humanity. You can neither convert to, nor disaffiliate from it, like you can with a religion. If you are otherkin, you are otherkin and if you aren’t otherkin, you aren’t otherkin. That’s what the community has come to agree upon during these past few decades.

Again, I consider it to be an ontological phenomenon, first and foremost, and like to draw parallels between otherkinity and determinism. Not to say that they’re prefectly equivalent, but they have enough in common that I can use one to clear up points about the other.

To reiterate, the key factor in being otherkin is that the identity is based on consistent personal observations and some kind of evidence. Not evidence that we’re literally, genetically, or physically nonhuman, but evidence that we feel like we are.

What I’ve described so far is more of an emperical phenomenon than and ontological one. So, where does otherkinity cross the line from empirical to ontological? In my opinion, when one starts speculating on the cause of otherkinity, both in their personal identity and as a phenomenon. Some would argue that we truly are nonhuman, while others would argue that we only express behaviors that fall outside of the usual human experience. Some would argue that it’s a spiritual thing, others a psychological, and others again that it’s a mix of the two. Some claim that our otherkinity must be here for a reason, while others say that it’s just a random quirk. It’s not something that can be very neatly put into a box the way a religion or fandom or even a subculture can.

With that out of the way, let’s get into the more juicy stuff. The stuff that people make cringe compilations about: The reason why people pick up the moniker ‘otherkin.’

There’s no official community terminology for these things as a whole, but I refer to them as ‘indicators’ (or more affectionately and less seriously, kindicators). The indicators that lead us all to the otherkin community to begin with. These are different from person to person and I don’t think anyone experiences every single one of them. This is most likely also an incomplete list: Now is all this caused by us literally being nonhuman creatures in human bodies? Who knows. But it’s something that makes us feel like we are, on some level, nonhuman, and that’s what being otherkin is about.Otherkin are… weird. There’s no getting around it. We’re as weird as any other subculture and a bit more. It certainly doesn’t help that, to the dismay of much of our community, a lot of our “ambassadors” have been less than helpful in explaining otherkinity. But, weird or not, it’s just the way we are and though it can be exhausting at times and we’re harassed on an almost daily basis, we wouldn’t wanna give it up. Otherkinity is part of what makes me the one I am and I wouldn’t really be me without it.

Well, there is the therian community, but it doesn’t sound quite like that’s what you’re looking for. So, not from what I know, sorry. There are “teen wolves” but they don’t have a real online presence. That and they’ve been in steady decline after the whole Wolfie Blackheart scandal as well as the deaths of Amanda Resendiz and Adrian “Dei” Manley.

Therians are the only “werewolves” that I know of online. It’s important to remember that modern therianthropy started out on the alt.horror.werewolves newsgroup, and that we did call ourselves “weres” for a considerate amount of time.

The reason why there is a “real vampire community” but no “real werewolf community” is probably that the two creatures are so different. Vampires consume blood (or energy) and don’t like sunlight, among other things. That’s easy for a human to live by. Werewolves, on the other hand, physically transform into beasts, and as we all know, physical shifting is impossible.

So in summary, the closest thing we have to an online werewolf community are the likes of Therian-Guide and Werelist.


Hi Oke! Well, there are several possible options:

They were an escaped pet or roadside zoo animal. I live in Scandinavia, but we’ve occasionally had jackals running around because people aren’t careful with their exotics.

You met them in the astral/saw an astral form. A little out-there, I know, but that could explain it.

The memory was fabricated. This isn’t the nicest option, but it happens that people fabricate their own memories, both of this life and others.

As for the environment, it could still have been in North America. Just google American scrubland and African scrubland and you’ll see the similarities. Hope this helped! If not, feel free to ask again! c:


Hi Nonny! I’m sorry you have to go through all that and I hope you’ll soon be able to get some professional help. I can’t know for sure what works for you, so I’ll just give you a bunch of different ways to cope.

Try looking for what helps others deal with dysphoria. Gender dysphoria doesn’t behave too differently from general dysphoria or species dysphoria, so taking inspirations others here might be the way to go.

Again, I’m so sorry you’re in this situation and I really hope you can get the help you need soon. Take care!˂3

‘Kin is an abbreviation of otherkin and an otherkin is simply someone who identifies as a nonhuman creature on a nonphysical level (usually spiritually or psychologically).

I believe I am partially a bison on a spiritual level and partially gnoll (a hyena-like creature from D&D) on a psychological level. There are two ways I could go about answering why I believe this, so you’ll get both.

The first answer is what I believe to be the source of all this. For my bison identity, I believe it to be spiritual in nature. I believe all souls are made up of many fragments and that a large portion of mine came from a bison via reincarnation.

As for my gnoll identity, I believe that to be psychological. At a fairly young age, I discovered the art of DarkNatasha, a furry artist, and for some reason latched onto it. I think I kind of imprinted on her art or her art imprinted on me. Whatever the circumstances are, I feel like I might as well be one of her anthro animals, which just so happens to look exactly like a D&D gnoll. I could call myself “DarkNatasha’s anthro hyenas-kin” but that’s a bit of a mouthful, so instead I just say ‘gnollkin’ - they look and behave the same, anyways.

The second answer is more about what led me to this conclusion. I originally sought out the otherkin community because I consistently experience several ‘indicators’ that make me feel nonhuman.

For the bison part of myself, I feel urges to walk on all fours, roll in dirt/grass, push with my head rather than my hands, and other weird things. I also get phantom sensations, mainly a hump, horns, a tail, shaggy fur on my “forelegs”, and occasionally hooves. What mainly makes me feel like a bison is my dysphoria (yes, dysphoria is the correct term). I just feel dysphoric about having a human body, which I know sounds ridiculous, but bear with me. I know what I look like, of course, but nevertheless, I always expect/hope to see some kind of bison/human hybrid in the mirror. It’s not horrid and I can live with it well enough, but it is slightly distressing.

For the gnoll part of myself, I feel urges that match a vaguely predatory creature, which I choose to classify as gnoll. I want to hunt, snarl, raise my hackles, etc. All the stereotypical wolf therian stuff. What sets this kintype apart from wolves, though (because yes, I did consider if I was a wolf therian for a while before someone pointed me towards gnolls), is my phantom sensations. On top of my bison sensation, I will feel phantom paws/claws, a boxy muzzle with fangs, square-ish ears, and a swishy tail. Luckily I don’t have any real dysphoria surrounding this kintype. Just a vague homesickness.

Daily life for an otherkin is really no different than it is for most other people, except that we have to live feeling nonhuman. We still go to work/school, hang out with friends, engage in our hobbies, work out, etc. Otherkin are people too.

Hope this answered your questions! If not, feel free to come back! c:


Do you feel a general unhappiness about your species or surroundings? Dysphoria? A mismatch between your appearance in your head and your appearance in real life? Do you feel a longing for certain body parts without actually feeling phantom limbs? Do you get nonhuman urges or intrusive thoughts? Do you feel more comfortable around your identified species (e.g. dogs or cats) than your physical species (humans)?

Those are just a few examples of ways to feel nonhuman. One or two of these things don’t necessarily make you otherkin. Rather, it’s about the overall impression that your feelings and experiences give off.

I only rarely get phantom limbs and mental shifts (and I’ve only ever had one ‘memory’) relating to my bison theriotype, but there’s a near constant nagging feeling that my body has the wrong shape. It makes me uncomfortable that I don’t have a uniform round belly/chest like a bison. That’s dysphoria.

Likewise, I only ocassionally get phantom shifts relating to my gnoll kintype. Instead, my immediate or instinctual reactions to things are like those of a gnoll. My body image is a mix of bison and gnoll (i.e., when I picture myself in my head, it feels more natural to picture a bison head and gnoll paws than it does my own head and hands).

I don’t have any short, concise language for you, I’m afraid. But rest assured, you’re not alone. Plenty of people can only describe their nonhuman feelings in vague, flowy terms. There’s nothing wrong with having trouble finding the right words to describe your situation. I hope this was clear enough, if not, feel free to ask again! Good luck on your journey of self-discovery˂3


You don’t need memories or phantom limbs to be otherkin. All you need is an integral feeling of nonhumanness. If you feel like you are a siren (and you’re comfortable with using the label) then you’re otherkin.

Plenty of people believe that their otherkinity is caused by something psychological, and the vast majority of those don’t have any memories. This includes myself with my Gnoll-kintype, which I’m pretty sure was caused by imprinting.

Otherkinity is about what you are now. If you feel like you’re nonhuman, to heck with memories and past lives and whatever other causes there might be. You don’t need any of that jazz. All you need is to feel nonhuman on a nonphysical level by no choice of your own right now.

Hope this helps!


Your personal beliefs! I believe that I experience all the things that make me a bison therian because I was one in a past life. But I believe that I experience all the things related to my canine-ish kintype because of something psychological.

Some metaphysical reasons include reincarnation, energetic resonance, dual souls, link to magic/spirits/deities/totems, psychic connection, and soul shards.

Some psychological reasons include imprinting, archetypal resonance, dissociation, mental fabrication, primal association, and atypiccal neurology.

All of these are briefly explained in this post: http://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/164438214344/


I must’ve worded that wrong, because it seems like you misunderstood me! Simply only believing that you’ve had a past life as something isn’t enough to be ‘kin. But this doesn’t mean that people who believe they’re ‘kin because of a past life aren’t actual otherkin.

It doesn’t matter what you believe to be the cause, as long as the connection is still there. I believe I’ve been both a bison and a wasp larva in past lives, but I only feel a connection (and subsequent ‘indicators’ such as shifts and dysphoria) around the bison. The wasp is just kinda there in the back of my mind.

It sounds to be like you’re a crow therian, past life or not. Sorry for the confusion, I hope this makes sense!


I’m not sure I’m the most mature therian on here, but thanks for the compliment it helps boost my ego, it means a lot to me ;u;

First, writing down what makes you feel nonhuman can help. Is it phantom shifts? Mental? Body image issues? Memories? Urges? Dysphoria? Don’t think about what animals these ‘symptoms’ represent, just write them down to get a clear idea of what you’re going through.

After you’ve written your experiences down, you can start sorting through them all and categorize them. If you feel a very fluffy tail, that could indicate fox, if you long for packmates/a familial hierarchy, that could indicate wolf, etc.

Don’t become deadset on “I am either/or.” Perhaps one of them is a heartedtype or animal guide. They can sometimes manifest as shifts. Or perhaps you’re both, to varying degrees. Or maybe your theriotype is an entirely different animal that feels like a combo of the two, like a shiba inu or Ethiopian wolf or coyote, to name a few.

And don’t worry about being cringy! I know there are a lot of wolves out there, and it’s the stereotypical theriotype (”on all levels except physical, I am a wolf”), but don’t let that discourage you. Don’t let ‘cringe’ get in the way of exploring who and what you are!

Lastly, be patient. I thought I was a wolf with stilt-legs (i.e. a maned wolf) for four years before realizing that what I really felt a mix of canineness and bison-ness (and I’ve been trying to sort through the canineness for the better half of a year without getting any closer!). Self-discovery can take a lot of time. Don’t focuse too much on constant introspection. Eventually, you’ll figure it out.


I don’t have a specific list like that on hand, but I could put it on my to-do list to make one! Until then, you’re probably gonna have to deal with a bunch of seperate posts.

This old post is a good start. There’s also the trusted anti anti-otherkin post.

More specifically, this here is an excellent response to all the talk about phantom limbs.
This is a good post to show antis who demand proof of our otherkinity.
This is a fairly short, but concise, breakdown of otherkinity and gender.
This is a very detailed post about the otherkin’s appropriation of trans narratives.
Here’s a discussion of otherkinity as a coping mechanism (and why it’s not).
Lastly, this post talks about otherkinity and escapism.

I’ve also found that simply just explaining why you identify as nonhuman (i.e., what experiences have led you to join the otherkin community) helps anti-kin to understand and stop clogging up the tags with nonsense.

Hopefully this can get you started in quickly and easily refuting anti-kin gibberish.


I’m not saying you’re wrong for believing in reincarnation. Again, we don’t know how the metaphysical works, so if you want that to be the cause, be my guest. But it doesn’t fit my personal beliefs, so there’s little point in trying to convince me (at least it sounds like you’re trying to convince me. If you aren’t, sorry for misreading your tone of voice).

There are many possible reasons for canonmates sharing memories. If we take Keith and Lance from V/oltron (slashing to keep it out of the main tag) as an example, it’s implied that they’re attracted to each other. With experience taking, that implication could be turned into a ‘false’ memory.

Or if someone whose kintype is Keith talks about remembering being boyfriends with Lance, someone with Lance as their kintype might be influenced to suddenly ‘remember’ being in a relationship with Keith. Memories of things you’ve never experienced are pretty easy to create. Every so often, you’ll also just get a crazy coincidence, and your memories will match up, even if you haven’t belonged to the same canon.

On a slightly darker note, a supposed canonmate might just be straight up lying about the shared memory. You could go “I remember when I did that thing,” and it would take zero effort for them to say “I remember that too!”

I’m not saying that the belief in reincarnating from fictional characters is wrong. Just that I don’t personally ascribe to it, and that there are other possible explanations.


I’m fine with ‘em. I don’t personally believe that it’s caused by reincarnation, but since we have no idea how the metaphysical works, there’s no point in arguing it. My personal belief is that it’s caused by extreme experience taking. I don’t discuss fictionkin much because I have no idea of how it feels to be one, and I only know a really basic overview of the community’s history.


To be otherkin is to identify as something other than human on a nonphysical level (usually spiritually or psychologically, though some identify on energetic or neurological planes, etc.). We are aware that we’re physically human. Anything else would be a delusion, as it goes against all proof of the opposite. There are select groups of ‘p-shifters’, people who believe that physical shifting is possible, but they’re shunned from the otherkin community, and newcomers are warned of them.

Now, what makes me identify as otherkin? In summary, I experience phantom shifts, mental shifts, sensory shifts, a nonhuman body image, dreams and intrusive thoughts of being my kintype, a sense of not belonging, and, yes, the dreaded ‘species dysphoria’. I suppose all of these recquire some sort of explanation, though.

Feeling like you don’t belong with your social circle/society/humanity is a common human experience. It just seems to be more common, percentage-wise, among otherkin than among non-kin. It’s not exactly a strong qualifier, but realizing that you’re otherkin is really about all the little experiences adding up, I guess.

Next up, I experience phantom shifts (an otherkin term for supernumerary phantom limbs). Again, in and of itself, this isn’t a strong qualifier because cameo shifts (‘false’ shifts) exist and anyone can force themselves to feel a phantom limb. But they do happen, however rarely, and they’re more often than not bison-related. In the middle of performing a task, I might suddenly feel like my fingers are hooves, and will have to focus to make that feeling go away again. The most common phantom sensation I have is of horns, and I have on more than one occassion bumped my head into things because I got an urge to scratch my ‘horns’ onto said thing.

I’ve had two mental shifts, one of which I had to force away because it happened at an inappropriate time. Mental shifts are kind of like… sudden spells of drunkenness. Out of nowhere I feel drunk and have a hard time thinking coherently. They are very easy to force away (thinking about work or school is enough to bring your mind back), but they’re also extremely relaxing and satisfying to experience, so I don’t really want to stop them when they start.

Sensory shifts are shifts in your perception. When I get these, I’ll be a lot more focused on sounds and smells than on sights. Not much to say about ‘em, except that they’re distracting when they happen in the city, since there’s a lot to take in there.

The strongest manifestation I have of my otherkinity, is a non-human body image. Don’t get me wrong, I know what I look like and can easily picture myself in my head. It just feels more natural to picture myself as a humanoid bison, especially concerning my hands and spine. It just feels like I should have hooves, a potbelly, and a huge hump on my back, however weird that sounds.

I do also get episodes of species dysphoria. I’ll feel uncomfortable with my body, wanting my chest to be barrel-shaped, my spine to be raised into a hump, and my arms and legs to be made for walking on all fours. Luckily, it’s rarely that bad. For the most part, I just feel extremely awkward having to walk on two legs and having shoulders/arms made for grasping (for the discussion of whether ‘species dysphoria’ is appropriative of trans narratives, please refer to this post).

I don’t know why I feel this way, though I’m sure plenty of psychologists would love to tear into it. I’ve experienced most of this for as long as I can remember. If you ask 10 other otherkin about their experiences with this, I’m sure you’d get 11 different answers. Otherkinity is difficult to pin-point, since it’s neither a spiritual belief nor a subculture. I personally refer to it as an ontological phenomenon, since it’s based on some kind of personal evidence.

I don’t believe that I’m literally a bison, but the bison is the animal that most closely matches my ‘other than human’ experiences (which could all easily just be human experiences).


Hoo boy.

I think it’s best if I respond to this in parts. I’m gonna try to be as level-headed as possible, though I would hardly say you deserve it (and though I doubt you even want to read something that challenges your preconceived notions).

thegwakogamerking118 said: “when people do things like “cutting the head of a dog because he challenged my dominance as a wolfkin, but do nt worry he s not dead”

I guess this is referring to Wolfie Blackheart - a teen wolf (yes, teen wolf, not therianthrope or otherkin) who decapitated her neigbor’s deceased dog back in 2010. I’m not defending what she did, but 1) she did not decapitate the dog ‘to show dominance’, she did it because she wanted the skull and 2) the dog had been hit by a car and was already dead when she found it (source).

Wolfie never called herself anything close to wolf therian or ““wolfkin”“, until around 2015 (if Kiwi Farms is to be believed as a reputable source), and even then, it seems she was fictionkin, not a therian. Instead she found solidarity with the teen wolf community, and offshoot of the emo subculture, which was fairly prevalent around her city at that time.

So you can either blame the entire otherkin community for the acts of one person, blame the entire teen wolf community for the acts of one person, or accept that this person was a one-off who just happened to be affiliated with with these groups.

You’re guilty of faulty generalizations.

thegwakogamerking118 said: “consider themselves as godkin or space fairy dust dragonkin or whatever the fuckkin i truly wonder how you guys consider it normal or healthy. Other kin people need help”

Because it’s not unhealthy? They are able to live normal lives, have normal jobs, and have normal relations to other people. So why should a psychiatrist waste time trying to ‘cure’ them? Because you don’t like that different people enjoy different things and you’d rather not have to look at them?

I’m sorry but where is the logic in ‘these people who lead otherwise normal lives think that they’re reincarnated dragons and because of that they are insane (even though they show no behavioral signs of insanity) and we need a professional to waste his time in making them stop believing that they’re reincarnated dragons instead of using his time on something more important’?

What was the goal of your message? To vent? To make me change my mind? To try and seem superior? I’m terribly sorry to inform you that you only accomplished the first of those.


It would be nice if you could give me some examples, so I didn’t have to guess which terms you’re talking about, though I assume it’s about species dysphoria.

Species dysphoria is not an appropriation of gender dysphoria. Dysphoria is a thing you can get completely unrelated to your gender, and is, among other things, a common symptom of depression and withdrawal. Other things that have been known to cause dysphoria include:

Dysphoria really is the best word to describe feeling unhappy because your body feels wrong. And no, dysmorphia is not a good alternative, as discussed here http://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/159820771264/

All this has already been discussed to death, so if you’re interested in a more in-depth discussion, here are a some from my archive:
http://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/158465095749/
http://aestherians.tumblr.com/post/153118896079/

Now, are we saying that species dysphoria is as legitimate as gender dysphoria and should have equal status in medical fields? No. No, we aren’t. We just want people to be aware that it is a thing and that we’re using the right terminology when we call it dysphoria.

Alterhuman is an umbrella term that encompasses all people whose experiences fall outside of the regular human experience. This includes otherkin (and the elfenkind, therianthropes, fictionkin, and draconics who don’t identify as otherkin), vampires, soulbonds, copinglinkers, otherhearted, and – depending on who you ask – systems, and star children. I may have overlooked a few groups. ^^'


Well, from what I remember - and this controversy happened a while ago and my memory isn’t the best - it was all about cultural appropriation. The debate was similar to what you see in the fictionkin community about ‘having kintypes outside of your own race’, which completely misses the nature of being otherkin (that is, the fact that you can’t choose your kintype).

I did a little bit of digging and found a discussion from 2012 in which Swanblood, who appears to be Japanese herself, basically reaches the conclusion that “I think it really depends on how people act with it. If someone feels like they are a magical fox, and they jump to “I’m a kitsune!” without examining what that really means or doing any study, and just taking all their ideas from anime, etc. (and, you could be a fictionkin kitsune, but it’s definitely worth studying kitsune in other places before you assume that), then it is something that they should study more.”

She does also mention that “On the other side of things, there are things like the Livejournal community “asiankin” which is for otherkin from Japanese mythology, and doesn’t seem to have any background checks to see if you are actually culturally asian or using the mythology respectfully, and, I think ignoring that and just letting anyone say “I’m a kitsune” without asking them to do some cultural reading is problematic. […] But, I think if you are a white person who feels identified with another culture’s myths, it is respectful to do the research before you claim that - to research the original myth, the religion that is around the myth, and similar creatures to see if you could be something else.”

So yes, the entire controversy was basically the same as ‘if you’re white you can’t have a non-white kintype’, with the added layer that some mythological creatures hold religious significance.


Thank you for this question! While I’ve been a lurker in the otherkin community for around 4 years, I’ve only been active in it for a little under a year (this blog was created on June 15th 2016 for reference). So I don’t feel like I can really talk about the community of “the good ol’ days” ^^’

There are a lot of things that I both like and dislike about the community right now, depending on which part of it we’re talking about. Let’s get the bad things out of the way first:

Fluff: Fluff is every-fucking-where on tumblr. You can’t go three posts without catching some fluff. Wrong definitions thrown around like confetti, less than helpful pendulum and tarot readins, positivity spam, aesthetic posts and moodboards and stimposts cluttering the tags, you name it.
Fun is nice - I make aesthetic posts as well and post/reblog silly jokes - but when every other post you see is something only very vaguely related to otherkinity, it quickly gets frustrating. For reference, I scrolled through the tag for the first time in two-three days a few minutes ago and I found two (2) posts to reblog/comment on, one of which was from an anti-kin. There’s a reason why I don’t put my own aesthetic posts in the tag.
This ‘fluff culture‘ discourages serious discussions a bit and - because tumblr is the most well known platform for the community - makes us look like a bunch of ‘flower crown bean children uwu’, which, sure, some are, but not all, and it’s sure not the image that the majority of the community wants to give outsiders.

Grilling: This doesn’t happen on tumblr, but rather on the smaller, moderated communities. When new members join a forum, they’ll often be asked to explain themselves in grueling detail before being allowed to post. This grilling process is really uncomfortable for the one being grilled and extremely pointless since anyone can bypass the process by copying what other people have written and essentially just say what the griller wants to hear.

Trolls and anti-kin: This should be an obvious one. You’ll get trolls with every fringe group and weird subculture, but they’re still annoying. Anti-kin are worse, though. No matter how well thought-out your arguments are, they will not listen. Even when you cite psychologists and religious anthropologists, anti-kin will resport to putting their fingers in their ears and yelling that they can’t hear you. They’re afraid of having their status quo (that otherkin are insane) threatened by actually listening to people in the community.

Whew! I have a few more negatives listed on my phone that I’ll go into detail with in a master post some day (the list includes, among other things, p-shifters, factkin discourse, lack of respect for artists, gatekeeping and lack thereof, otherkinity as a coping mechanism). With that out of the way, it’s about time to look at some of the positives:

The people: When you finally manage to find a bunch of people with whom you just click, it’s amazing. I had no idea how much I needed someone to just vent to when I shift or discuss community drama with or shitpost with. You know who you are and I love knowing you guys. ˂3

Self-discovery: All the fluff aside, being in this community has seriously helped me discovering who I am as a person. I’ve become a lot more outgoing and confident after I stopped repressing every nonhuman part of my personality. I probably wouldn’t have done that without support from the community and guides to self-examination.

Actual discussions: Few thing are better than engaging in an actual discussion with someone, whether ‘kin or non-kin or anti-kin. I love when I can swap views with others, have my own views genuiunely challenged (no, saying “ur human” does not challenge my views), and sometimes being able to teach another person about otherkinity. It feels amazing to have actual non-hostile conversations with others.

Gathering resources: I love that our community has been able to gather so many resources on what it’s like to be ‘kin, and that most of them are very easy to find.


Though you obviously can’t control the masses, I’ve always maintained that an artist has the full right to tell people how they can and cannot treat the artist’s artworks and that it’s common courtesy to respect the artist’s wishes.

If it makes you more comfortable, tell people not to tag your art as #me. This might bring you unwanted attention and people would probably tell you to explain yourself on a lot of occassions.

However, if you want to avoid The Discourse™ you’ll probably have to learn to just ignore the people tagging your art as #me. There really isn’t any definite winning in this situation.

Lastly, a message to all you peeps who think it’s alright to argue with an artist over their art: You need to stop. Artists spend hours slaving over their work, yet you think it’s a-ok to come here and disrespect the wishes they have for their own art? You need to get off your high horse and pull that head out of your ass. If an artist tells you not to use certain tags, you should be an actual worthwhile human being and respect it!


Really, it all comes down to semantics. ‘Therian’ is more proper and has come to be associated with some level of seriousness about otherkinity (at least here on tumblr). ‘Kin’ is slang and, while it isn’t wrong, since therians are per definition also otherkin (i.e. they identify as something non-human), it can be considered immature or improper. I personally prefer the term therian but I won’t call someone out for using ‘kin instead, though it does make me wince a bit.


I have no problem with fictionkin. I don’t personally believe that the cause of fictionkinity is spiritual, but with spiritual beliefs, you have no way of knowing anything for sure. For all we know, Scientology could be true! Simply not believing in something should never be a reason to be against it.

I’m afraid I can’t help with any fictionkin stuff, though. I know next to nothing about the community/experience, so as with phytanthropes and draconics, etc., all I can offer is my support. ^^'


Yup, it’s possible to have more than one kintype. My primary kintype is a bison, but I have a secondary kintype that I’m not sure what is yet.

Having more than one kintype is called being polykin (which is yet another sub-set of otherkin).
Your kintypes can take turns to express themselves (so one moment you feel like a dragon, the next you feel like a wolf, as an example) or they can intermingle (so you’d feel like both a dragon and a wolf at the same time, but not as a dragon-wolf. They’re still seperate kintypes). Mine do a little bit of both.

Feel free to send in another ask if you need anything clarified! ^^


No problem! In this case, feral just means ‘acting like an animal’. So for example a dragonkin who remembers reading and talking and having human intelligence would not be considered a therian. But a dragonkin who remembers acting like an animal or who right now feels urges to act like an animal could be considered a therian.


The two terms have a bit of history behind them that I’ve discussed here, but in short:

Otherkin: An umbrella-term for mythological otherkin, fictionkin, therians, elvenkind, plantkin, and so on, and so forth.

Therian: A sub-set of otherkin (short for therianthrope). A therian is a person who identifies as a feral, non-sapient animal. This usually means a real life animal (including extinct ones), but a lot of people also believe that it includes mythological animals, as long as they act feral.

Because the therian community was originally created seperately from the rest of the otherkin community, some therians prefer to not be a part of the otherkin-umbrella. Most are fine with being called otherkin, though.

I hope that helps! If not, please feel free to send in another ask. ^^


I would like to start off by saying that I’m neurotypical, as far as I know, and can’t really relate to this struggle, so take my advice with a grain of salt. And if anyone would like to butt in with some corrections or suggestions, please feel free to do so. c: With that out of the way, here we go.

There is no right way to be a therian. The only criteria is that you have to identify as a non-human animal on some level (other than physical, of course). So if you feel like you have the soul or mind or instincts, etc., of an animal, you’re a therian. How others describe their experiences doesn’t matter nearly as much as how you would describe your own experiences.

My suggestion is to ask yourself what makes you feel non-human. Trying to define stuff like that always helps me get a better understanding of it. When you’ve pin-pointed it, try and examine your therianthropic feelings and see how they affect you. How does identifying as a therian affect your daily life? Maybe write it down somewhere to better keep track of it.

It does sound to me like you’re a cladotherian, if you feel like almost all canines fit. You shouldn’t feel forced to describe it to be accepted by the community, though. Rather, narrow down your descriptors to gain a better understanding of yourself.

Lastly, there’s no reason to apologize. I’ve made a help blog to help people the best I can! I hope at least some of this can make things easier for you, and I wish you the best of luck with your self-discovery. c:


Firstly: Thank you so much!! I’m so happy that you find my blog helpful!

And, well, it depends on who you ask. ‘Otherkin’ is generally used as an umbrella-term for all people who identify as something other than human (i.e., mythical creatures, animals, fictional characters, aliens, plants, etc.). Because of semantics and the community’s history, though, some therians, (i.e. ‘animalkin’), elevenkin, and draconics prefer to not be called otherkin.

You see, the current otherkin community can trace its roots back to the Elf Queen’s Daughters, a group of elvenkind that was formed around 1972 (give or take a few years). As time went on this group expanded, and dwarves, hobbits, orcs, unicorns, dragons, etc. etc. joined. To save space and time when sending around mails, the term ‘otherkind’ was coined to accommodate everyone who wasn’t an elf.

On an entirely different part of the internet, at around the same time (somewhere around 1990), the therian community was starting to rear its head. Back then it was called the were-community and, as far as we know, it had no connection at all to the broader otherkin community. While the elf/otherkin community mainly focused on Tolkien-ish high fantasy creatures, the were-community mainly focused on animals of the real world. It was much the same story with the draconic community, which (to my knowledge) formed unrelated to the otherkind and were communities.

Otherkind became otherkin, weres became therians, and draconics choose to either call themselves that or dragonkin. Nowadays, the different communities have all more or less rallied together under the banner of ‘otherkin’, but when looking at our community history, it’s fairly clear why some prefer to call themselves other things.

tl;dr - What we call the otherkin community nowadays started out as several smaller communities with their own names and terminology. Though they have all come together now, some still prefer to use the old words.

(Sorry for neglecting the fictionkin community in this post. I know next to nothing about your history, other than that lots of the original elvenkind would be called fictionkin today, as a significant number of them identified as reincarnated Tolkien elves.)


It’s not a bad thing to have multiple kintypes or to question multiple kintypes, though I’d suggest that you take a lot of time to question whether they really are ‘types or not. One or two of them could really be a heartedtype, synpath, or anything of that sort, since the sensations can be very similar (I’ve found that there’s often an inherent sense of admiration or adoration with a heartedtype/synpath, that’s not necessarily there for a kintype, but I don’t know how universal that is). Sometimes totems and power animals have even been known to manifest themselves in a kintype-like way! I’m starting to stray a little bit off topic now. ^^’

But no, it’s not bad to have/consider multiple kintypes. It just means that you either have multiple species identities or that you’re experiencing kintype-like sensations that aren’t caused by a kintype.

The key to figuring all of this out is, as always, lots of time, questioning, and introspection. If you search #reflection on my blog, you should be able to find a few posts to help you with it.

I hope this helps! Thanks for the question and good luck on your journey!


Though the two things aren’t inherently related (a kintype is you, while a totem is a seperate entity from you), there has been some overlap between them in the past. While Lupa doesn’t identify as a therian anymore, she did write about totemism affecting one’s therianthropy as well as the importance of keeping a distinction between the two concepts, back when she still identified as such. You can read it here.

It’s not too far-fetched that, even though Lupa isn’t a therian, what she wrote could be true for others.


Divine is such a broad term, that can cover anything from angels to deities, so I don’t inherently have any problem with people who identify as such. Deitykin are another ballpark. I have no problem with people who identify as ‘forgotten’ or unknown deities, as long as they don’t act superior because of it, nor try to build up a following or prey upon naïve youngsters in the community. If they identify as existing deities, however, I do have a problem.

I’ve seen people identifying as Loke, Odin, Mugin, and similar deities/personae that I believe in. People who legitimately believe that they’re reincarnated from Odin - a god who, to my knowledge, is still alive and kicking. This annoys me greatly, and I’m sure other people who believe in similar deities feel the same way. You are not my god. My gods are not dead.

There’s a distinction between outright stating that you’re a deity who people still worship and rather believing that you’re a godshard. I don’t inherently have a problem with godshards. While I don’t personally believe that it’s possible, it doesn’t infringe upon my religion to any noteworthy degree. I can tolerate godshards.

tl;dr - divinekin are a-ok, deitykin are fine if they’re unknown/forgotten deities but bad if they’re existing deities, and godshards can be summed up as the shrug-emoji. But that’s my opinion, of course.


Kintype: I am this thing right now, either partially or wholly. This is part of who and what I am. I don’t just see myself in this thing, I see the thing in myself.

Just past life: I have been this thing once, and though a tiny part of it might still be me, it’s not strong enough to really change who I am as a person. This is not a part of my personality anymore than my hair color is.

Heartedtype: I really like this thing a lot. Like, a lot lot. I like it so much that it has an impact on who I am as a person, but not to the degree that I feel as if I am this thing. I like this thing and it affects who I am, but I am not it.


Not a weird question at all! I do think that there is an upper limit as to how many different creatures you can be, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you what it is. Some people seem confused about just having one kintype, while others have +5 that they easily identify as. Then, of course, there are systems with 50 members who all identify as different species. So you can’t really draw a line and say that ‘if you have 10 kintypes or more, you’re fake.’

I do get more sceptical as the number of kintypes goes up because, really, how many creatures can one person be? I don’t doubt that some people really do have a lot of kintypes, but if you’re approaching 5-10, I’d advise you to question whether you actually identify as all of them right now, or if they’re just past lives, heartedtypes, or favorite characters/creatures.

There’s no shame in recognizing that a past life isn’t a kintype (as with me and my wasp life). Likewise, there’s no shame in just having strong heartedtypes.


Well, you can’t drop a theriotype, as you yourself say. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a theriotype. I’d suggest that you try working towards treating your PTSD, however hard that may be, at least to the point where you can connect with your therian side without feeling anxious. Hating the therian part of yourself, and wishing you didn’t have these therianthropic experiences will not help, that I can tell you. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful, but I’ve never been in a situation like that before.


While working on a glossary yesterday, I found it in a post on Kinmunity, where it’s defined as such: “The term Wishkin refers to an individual who wishes they were otherkin, or who pretends to be otherkin. The term is primarily used on Tumblr.”

The oldest instance I could immediately find of it was around 10 years ago on otherkin.wordpress.com.

I’m not quite sure why it has fallen out of use.


As always, I feel the need to make it clear that I am by no means an authority here and can only offer my own experiences what knowledge I have gathered during my short time in the community.

What I suppose you mean by ‘fictionhearted’ is the exact same as otherhearted (i.e. having a strong, fundamental connection with something) except the ‘other’ is replaced with a fictional character or species. Most people would refer to this as ‘synpath’ (a few would use ‘fictionkith,’ but the term ‘kith’ is seemingly getting rarer and rarer).
The one explanation of ‘fictionhearted,’ which I could find, claims that being fictionhearted is a choice, which I do not agree with.
So to avoid getting too deep into semantics (because, Lord, that seems to be the core subject of discussion in this community), let’s agree that ‘fictionhearted’ is a term to describe ‘the feeling of having a strong, fundamental connection to a fictional character and/or species by no conscious choice of oneself.’ I consider ‘synpath’ to refer to specific characters with whom you feel hearted, though that’s debatable.

If we go by this definition, I see absolutely no reason for it to not be possible, especially since I feel, not only unicornhearted, but also that I am synpath of Disney’s Tarzan and possibly fictionhearted with the Yautja aliens.

It’s entirely possible for these hearted-feelings to be the results of experience taking. I’d say that the distinction between fictionhearted/synpath vs. experience taking lies in the duration. Simple experience taking tends to wear off after a while, while the hearted-feeling persist (I have yet to hear of a genuine hearttype fading away, though it might be possible).