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{{Jargon
|title=Otherkin
|coinedby=[[Torin]] (''otherkin''); Elezar (''otherkind'')
|wherecoined=[[The Elfinkind Digest]]
|status=Current
|datecoined=April 18, 1990 (''otherkind''); July 9, 1990 (''otherkin'')
|alternativeforms=Otherkind
|partofspeech=noun
|communityusedby=otherkin
|antonyms=[[Mundanes]]
}}

[[File:Circuitseptegram.png|thumb|300px|A [[Septegram]], used by some as a symbol for otherkin.]]
[[File:Otherkin believe a.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Otherkin Emblem]] created by [[Kaltezar]]]]

'''Otherkin''' is a term for those who believe that they are mentally, spiritually, or physically other than human.<ref name="fieldguide" /> The word and its elder variant '''otherkind''' both originated on [[The Elfinkind Digest]], a mailing list, in 1990.<ref name="wordhist" />

The term is used in two overlapping senses. Narrowly, it refers to people whose nonhuman identity is with a mythological or folkloric being — most commonly elves, fae, and dragons. Broadly, it serves as an umbrella covering a range of nonhuman identities. Which identities the umbrella covers has varied across decades and venues; the community historian [[Arethinn]] observes that smaller communities have tended to be absorbed into it over time, and that most present-day speakers mean the general nonhuman category unless they specify otherwise.<ref name="mythsongdef" /> Some groups, such as the [[Fae-born]], have made a point of declining the label.<ref name="timeline" />

It is generally held within the community that otherkin are born, not made, though otherkin are not generally born with an awareness of their nonhuman nature. Instead they become aware of it through a process known as [[Awakening|awakening]].<ref name="wakeup" />

Otherkin have no doctrine, no scripture, no clergy, and no membership criteria, and no individual or body is accepted as having authority to determine whether someone is otherkin or in what way.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="wrsp" /> Explanations for nonhuman identity vary widely between individuals, and may be spiritual, philosophical, metaphorical, experiential, behavioural, or psychological.<ref name="timeline" /> The community has existed primarily online since its emergence, and its history is closely tied to the succession of platforms it has occupied.<ref name="wrsp" />

== Etymology and terminology ==

[[The Elfinkind Digest]] was founded by [[R'ykandar Korra'ti]] and operated from the University of Kentucky, with the first digest sent on March 26, 1990. Although established for people who identified as elves, it attracted subscribers with a range of other self-identifications, and the vocabulary expanded to accommodate them.<ref name="timeline" />

'''Otherkind''' — with a ''d'' — appeared first, in Elfinkind Digest #16 on April 18, 1990, in a post by a member named Elezar, a dwarf. '''Otherkin''' followed in Elfinkind Digest #71 on July 9, 1990, in a post by [[Torin]].<ref name="wordhist" />

Accounts of the coinage differ. [[Orion Scribner]]'s ''Otherkin Timeline'' attributes both forms to Torin, and records Torin's own recollection that he "got tired of typing elf/dragon/orc/etc.-kin and just used otherkin," describing it as convenience rather than deliberate word-formation.<ref name="timeline" /> Arethinn, working from a complete archive of the Digest, attributes ''otherkind'' to Elezar rather than Torin, and questions the recollection: Arethinn reports finding no evidence in the Digest of anyone writing out such lists often enough to tire of them, notes that ''otherkind'' had already been established for several months, and observes that neither Torin nor anyone else used ''otherkin'' again until March 1991 — which, Arethinn suggests, makes the July 1990 instance look more like an unintentional variant of the established word than a deliberate spelling.<ref name="wordhist" />

The two forms were not equally common. In 1990–91 Arethinn counts nine uses of ''otherkin'' across nine digests against 509 uses of ''otherkind'' across 122; ''otherkin'' did not overtake ''otherkind'' on the Digest until April 1997, and never surpassed it in total across the list's history.<ref name="wordhist" />

A common account holds that ''otherkind'' was coined by elves to distinguish themselves from non-elves. Arethinn finds this unsupported by the archives, noting that Elezar was a dwarf, Torin a wolf and centaur, and that the comparable list-formations were written by dragons; and that the early uses distinguish other-than-humans from humans rather than other-than-elves from elves. In the post first using ''otherkind'', Elezar explicitly included elves.<ref name="wordhist" />

Whether animal-folk were covered at this stage is, in Arethinn's assessment, neither explicitly settled nor excluded. Several wolves were already on the list in early 1990, and in May 1990 Torin asked whether the Digest might serve people unsure of their complete affiliation with humanity; a member responding listed dwarf, hobbit, dragon, nymph, hawk, wolf, and a Wookiee among the kinds already encountered. The Usenet group that gave rise to the therian community would not be created for another two and a half years.<ref name="wordhist" />

The suffix ''-kin'' has proved productive, generating terms including ''dragonkin'', ''elfkin'', and later ''[[Fictionkin|fictionkin]]''. The phrase "kin to the other," from which ''otherkin'' is sometimes glossed, was coined by [[Jarandhel Dreamsinger]].<ref name="timeline" /> The clipped form ''kin'' has served as an abbreviation for ''otherkin'' since well before its Tumblr-era prominence, and has been used to cover mythological otherkin, therians, and fictionkin alike.<ref name="terminology2015" />

'''[[Kintypes|Kintype]]''' denotes the specific nonhuman identity a person holds, and is used for fictional characters as well as species; the alternative ''fictotype'' was proposed but never widely adopted.<ref name="terminology2015" /><ref name="lexicon" />

'''Alterhuman''' was coined on September 26, 2014 by Lio of the Crossroads System, then writing as Malchior under the username phasmovore, as an umbrella term for anyone with an identity beyond conventional ideas of being human. It was prompted by a dispute over whether people who identified ''with'' rather than ''as'' an entity were otherkin.<ref name="alterhuman" /> Whether it supersedes, contains, or sits alongside ''otherkin'' is unsettled.

== Beliefs and self-understanding ==

There is no otherkin orthodoxy, and no belief is required beyond identifying as other than human in some way.<ref name="wrsp" /> Individuals account for their identity in markedly different ways, and the community has generally treated the choice of explanation as a personal matter rather than a point of membership. Scribner groups the explanations as spiritual, philosophical, metaphorical, experiential, behavioural, and psychological.<ref name="timeline" />

'''Spiritual and metaphysical accounts''' hold that the person's soul or essential self is nonhuman — most often through reincarnation from a nonhuman life, sometimes with memories retained.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="fieldguide" /> Accounts of this kind frequently involve belief in otherworlds or in a nonphysical layer of reality in which the kintype is located.<ref name="fieldguide" />

'''Psychological and neurological accounts''' treat nonhuman identity in psychological or neurological terms rather than metaphysical ones.<ref name="wrsp" /> The later term ''copingkin'' has been described within the community as a development from psychological otherkin, the distinguishing question being whether the coping mechanism is conscious or unconscious.<ref name="terminology2015" />

'''Ancestral accounts''' hold that the person's descent includes cryptozoological or supposedly legendary species.<ref name="wrsp" /> Claims to nonhumanity in a physical or ancestral sense are, in Scribner's assessment, the rarest of the explanations offered.<ref name="timeline" />

Robertson observes that the resulting personal mythology rests ultimately on unverified personal gnosis — belief reached and legitimated through introspection.<ref name="wrsp" />

Being otherkin is not in itself a religion, and community writing has been explicit on the point.<ref name="timeline" /> Otherkin hold a range of religious positions; Lupa's survey found the majority under a Neo-Pagan label.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="fieldguide" /> Academic treatments have nonetheless approached the subject through religious studies.<ref name="laycock2012" /><ref name="kirby2013" />

== Kintypes ==

{{main|Kintypes}}

A '''kintype''' is the specific nonhuman identity a person holds. Commonly reported kintypes include elves, fae, and dragons; animals, where usage overlaps with [[Therians|therianthropy]]; angels, demons, and elementals; vampires; extraterrestrials; plants (see [[Phytanthrope]]); and fictional characters and species (see [[Fictionkin]]).<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="fieldguide" />

Kintypes vary in specificity, from broad category to species to particular individual. In the therian community the term [[Cladotherian|cladotherian]] describes identification at a taxonomic level broader than species.<ref name="lexicon" />

Distinct subgroups have formed around particular kintypes and their associated cultures. Among the longest-established are the [[Elenari]], elven otherkin whose remembered lives share elements of history, culture, and language, including a set of named homeworlds and the cultural concept of ''Des'tai''. Material discussing the Elenari as a distinct group circulated before 2001, including a collaborative Elenari language page on [[Rialian]]'s ''Synesthesia Symbiosis'' in 1999 and a dictionary compiled by [[Estara Korai]] in 2000.<ref name="elenarilang" /><ref name="elenaridict" />

The credibility afforded to a kintype varies with the origin of its source material. Kirby notes that contemporary popular-culture sources are commonly judged silly or infantile within the community, and that participants regarded as young, or as having a faddish interest in related media, are subject to similar scrutiny.<ref name="kirby2013" /><ref name="getzler" />

== Common experiences ==

None of the experiences described here are reported universally, and the emphasis placed on each has varied considerably between communities and eras.

=== Awakening ===

{{main|Awakening}}

'''Awakening''' is the process of becoming aware of one's nonhuman nature. It is frequently reported as occurring during adolescence, though earlier and later awakenings are described.<ref name="amenti" /> It may be triggered by a dream, a meditative experience, or an encounter with fiction, and community resources for newcomers commonly recommend an extended period of research and self-examination rather than a quick conclusion; Lupa recommends treating awakening as an ongoing process, since people experience false starts, identify as multiple kinds of being, or continue to learn about their nonhuman self over time.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="fieldguide" /> Community writing has cautioned specifically against settling an identity on the strength of a single experience, such as one dream or one isolated sensation.<ref name="terminology2015" />

The paired notion of "sleeping" — a prior state of obliviousness — carries Buddhist, Jungian, and Western esoteric overtones.<ref name="wrsp" /> The word most likely reached the community from ''[[Wikipedia:Mage: The Ascension|Mage: The Ascension]]'', the 1993 White Wolf roleplaying game whose lexicon defines "the Awakening" and extends "the Awakened" to werecreatures, changelings, and vampires; a poster on alt.horror.werewolves called it, in passing, "a White Wolf term" in March 1997.<ref name="ahwwgirard" /><ref name="magelexicon" /> That is not the only possibility. The word was already in print in the elven community seven years earlier, in the Summer 1986 issue of ''Circle Network News'', where the Silver Elves wrote of "inspiring and awakening the elf in all who are open and ready".<ref name="cnn1986" /> Nothing yet connects that usage to the communities that later adopted the word, however: the Silver Elves joined the otherkin community only after it was established, and longstanding participants describe their influence on it as slight.<ref name="arethinn2021" /> A community FAQ derived the word instead from spiritual practice, though only in its 2001 rewrite; the same FAQ's earlier versions define Awakening without proposing any origin for the word.<ref name="crisses" /><ref name="crissesfaq3" /> The accounts are not exclusive; see [[Awakening]]. There is also a concept of rejecting one's awakening by "going back to sleep."<ref name="crisses" /> The term is shared with the therian and vampire communities, and some otherkin dislike it while continuing to use it.

=== Shifting and aspecting ===

'''Shifting''' refers to a temporary intensification of the kintype in a person's perception, mentation, or bodily sense. The vocabulary originated in the therian community on alt.horror.werewolves and was subsequently taken up by otherkin,<ref name="timeline" /> and an extensive terminology developed around it, including [[Cameo shift|cameo shifts]], [[Bi-location shift|bi-location shifts]], and [[Berserker shift|berserker shifts]].<ref name="lexicon" />

Phantom sensation — the felt presence of wings, talons, a tail, or other anatomy the person does not physically have — is among the most commonly reported forms. Metaphysical explanations offered for it include sensitivity to an astral or energetic body, or memory of a body from a past life.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="fieldguide" />

The centrality of shifting to otherkin experience has been questioned. In a 2015 forum discussion, [[Jarandhel Dreamsinger]] argued that the therian community's emphasis on shifting was largely a social artifact of its origins on alt.horror.werewolves, and that much of what was termed shifting corresponded to what otherkin separately called [[Aspected|aspecting]]. The same discussion recorded that shift terminology had by then largely disappeared from Tumblr-based usage.<ref name="terminology2015" /> The relationship between the two terms remains unsettled.

=== Memory ===

Some otherkin report memories associated with a nonhuman life, ranging from fragmentary impressions to detailed recall.<ref name="wrsp" /> Interpretations differ as to whether such material is literal, symbolic, or of uncertain status,<ref name="laycock2012" /> and its reliability has itself been a subject of community discussion, with guides circulating on how to check remembered material for internal consistency in the absence of any external evidence.<ref name="memcheck" />

=== Other reported experiences ===

Otherkin sometimes report embodying traits associated with the physiology of their kintype. Discomfort with one's own body is described by some in the language of dysphoria, and the terms ''transspecies'' and ''transspirit'' have occasionally been used, with an early community FAQ drawing an explicit analogy to the experience of transgender people.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="crisses" /> In the vampire community and among some otherkin, a reported need to [[Feeding|feed]] on blood or energy is described. The Tumblr-era term [[Kinfeels|kinfeels]] covers emotional responses connected to one's identity; it has seen limited uptake outside the platform where it was coined.

== Community and culture ==

The otherkin community has been online-first throughout its existence, moving successively through mailing lists, Usenet, personal websites and webrings, message boards, journaling platforms, Tumblr, and Discord.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="timeline" /> The community is loosely affiliated, acephalous, and has very few formal authority structures.<ref name="kirby2013" /><ref name="wrsp" />

Offline gatherings, called ''[[gathers]]'', have been held since 1990: the Elfinkind Digest arranged a meeting in North Carolina from December 28 to 31 of that year, attended by nine people and including both elves and dragons.<ref name="timeline" /> The equivalent therian gathering is called a ''[[howl]]'', the first held in Ohio in autumn 1994.<ref name="timeline" />

Although the vocabulary originated in English, discussion communities have formed in Spanish, Hungarian, and Czech, with therian communities additionally in French, Russian, Swedish, and Portuguese.<ref name="timeline" />

=== Conventions of speech ===

A distinctive feature of otherkin discourse is the systematic marking of statements about one's own nature as personal report rather than assertion. The community's characteristic epistemic move is an appeal to {{w|unverified personal gnosis}}: belief reached and legitimated by introspection, offered as one's own and not as evidence binding on anyone else.<ref name="wrsp" />

This convention operates together with a norm against adjudicating other people's identities. Community writing states the norm directly — that nobody can tell another person that they are otherkin, or in what way they are, because only the individual can do their own introspection.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="fieldguide" /> The Silver Elves stated a version of it in 1986, writing in ''Circle Network News'' that they conferred elfdom on nobody and that no one had the right to say who is or is not an elf save the individuals themselves.<ref name="timeline" /> Where identity claims are not open to challenge, first-person qualification serves as the corresponding constraint on speaking authoritatively about anyone else.

Neither norm has been settled, and both have been objects of dispute rather than background assumptions. Writing about a year after founding Otherkin.net, Tirl Windtree characterised the community disputes of the period as turning on, among other things, whether a poster had included enough "In My Opinion" disclaimers, and whether it was acceptable to tell someone that what they claimed to be did not appear to fit their traits.<ref name="harmonydiscord" /> The two questions are the hedging convention and the adjudication norm respectively, and the essay records both as contested at the time rather than established.

Windtree's stated view was that discord is itself valuable — that disagreement is how a community learns, and that the site's full name, ''Otherkin.net: Harmony & Discord'', was chosen to reflect this.<ref name="harmonydiscord" /> Moderation practice, insider and outsider distinctions, and collective processes of "othering" have continued to shape which ideas succeed in a given venue, sometimes implicitly rather than by stated rule.<ref name="getzler" /><ref name="robertson2014" />

=== Symbols and creative work ===

Neither emblem associated with otherkin is universal. The seven-pointed star — variously the [[Septegram|septegram]], heptagram, Elven Star, or Fairy Star — has the longer history: a version appears in Elf Queen's Daughters material published in ''Green Egg'' in March 1976, and the Silver Elves published a ritual built around it in ''Circle Network News'' in summer 1986.<ref name="timeline" /> The rainbow celtic septegram created by Arhúaine as the logo of Otherkin.net has become widely identified with the community.<ref name="okn" /> The [[Otherkin Emblem]], also called the Otherkin Sigil or Otherkin Logo, was designed over the summer of 2002 by [[Kaltezar]] working with a graphic artist, and published on his own site that year. He set out to make something legible to outsiders, on the reasoning that a stranger would not read ''otherkin'' from a seven-pointed star, and settled on representational figures — an elf, a dragon, and a wolf — as identifications common enough to stand for both animal and legendary kintypes. Kaltezar released the emblem for public display while reserving it against alteration and commercial use, and for several years sold stickers and other items printed with it at no profit through CafePress.<ref name="emblem" /><ref name="timeline" />

Creative work — fiction, poetry, visual art, comics, and video — has been a substantial part of community output.<ref name="wrsp" /> The anthology [[Shifting Hearts]] collects short fiction with otherkin and therian protagonists.

== History ==

{{main|History of the otherkin community}}

'''Precursors (1972–1989).''' The Elf Queen's Daughters formed in about 1972 and published letters through ''Green Egg'' and by mail through the mid-1970s, ceasing publication around 1977. The Silver Elves, whose founding members encountered the EQD in 1975, continued the practice from 1979 under a succession of names, settling on their present one in 1981. Both groups were embedded in the Neo-Pagan milieu and appeared in contemporary Pagan reference works.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="adler" />

'''Mailing lists and Usenet (1990–1995).''' [[The Elfinkind Digest]] began on March 26, 1990, and supplied the venue in which ''otherkind'' and then ''otherkin'' appeared that April and July.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="wordhist" /> Parallel communities formed on Usenet: alt.horror.werewolves was created on November 16, 1992 and by 1993 had become a venue for people describing themselves as werewolves, giving rise to the therian community and to the shift vocabulary; alt.fan.dragons was created on December 1, 1993 and became the home of the dragon community, where the term ''draconity'' was in use by September 1995. The term ''therianthrope'' was proposed on alt.horror.werewolves in December 1994.<ref name="timeline" />

'''The web (mid-1990s–2000s).''' The move to the World Wide Web produced the first substantial public archives of community writing, alongside mailing lists including TirNanOc, begun in October 1995, and DarkFae-L.<ref name="timeline" /> Subgroup material proliferated, including the Elenari writings gathered on Rialian's ''Synesthesia Symbiosis''<ref name="elenarilang" /> and the [[Lostkin Project]].<ref name="lostkin" /> Otherkin.net, launched by Tirl Windtree on October 12, 2000, became one of the central hubs, indexing mailing lists, websites, essays, and a directory of otherkin; ownership passed to [[Jarandhel Dreamsinger]] in 2016.<ref name="okn" /> The period was contentious: writing around 2001, Windtree described a community that had been heavily factionalised, with personal disputes escalating into sustained conflict between groups, followed by a cooling into what Windtree characterised as smaller and duller disagreements over conduct and terminology.<ref name="harmonydiscord" /> Frequently Asked Questions documents became, and remain, the principal resource for newcomers, and are continuously rewritten as definitions shift.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="crisses" /> Much of this material has since been lost or survives only in web archives.

'''Message boards and journals (2000s).''' Forum software and journaling platforms displaced personal sites as the primary venue.<ref name="wrsp" /> The period saw the first sustained mainstream media attention, beginning with a 2001 article in the ''Village Voice'',<ref name="villagevoice" /> the first scholarly treatment, Danielle Kirby's 2006 "Alternative Worlds",<ref name="kirby2006" /> and the publication in 2007 of Lupa's ''A Field Guide to Otherkin'', the first book-length survey.<ref name="fieldguide" />

'''Tumblr (2011–2016).''' The community expanded rapidly on Tumblr, with a substantial influx of younger participants and considerably increased visibility.<ref name="wrsp" /> Vocabulary diverged: contemporary observers within the community noted the near-disappearance of shift terminology, new constructions replacing older ones, the sorting of kintypes by intensity, and coinages including ''copingkin'', ''other-hearted'', and ''synpath'' — developments received with some hostility by participants from earlier venues.<ref name="terminology2015" /> The period also brought sustained trolling: the Prince-Koyangi account, run by three teenagers, was admitted as a hoax in 2012.<ref name="betabeat" /> Disputes over the boundaries of the umbrella produced the coinage of ''alterhuman'' in 2014.<ref name="alterhuman" />

'''Dispersal and documentation (2015–present).''' Activity has since distributed across Discord, forums including [[Kinmunity]] — founded in December 2014 — and [[Otherkin Phenomena]], and a range of smaller venues. The same period has seen increased academic attention and a corresponding effort at community self-documentation, including [[Orion Scribner]]'s timeline, lexicon, and directory of writings, Arethinn's history essays, and this wiki.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="timeline" /><ref name="wordhist" />

== Related and overlapping communities ==

The boundaries between the groups described here are disputed, and the account below reports the positions taken rather than resolving them.

'''[[Therians|Therians]]''' identify as animals, most commonly wolves and felines. The community began on alt.horror.werewolves in 1993, apparently without contact with the otherkin community for some years afterward, and has retained a distinct identity, vocabulary, and set of venues.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="robertson2013" /> Whether therians fall under the otherkin umbrella is answered differently by different people.

'''[[Vampires|Vampires]]''' describe a need to take in blood or energy. Community usage distinguishes sanguinarian and psychic vampirism.<ref name="wrsp" /> The vampire community developed separately and the two have historically not mingled socially to a great extent; Scribner records that vampires "may possibly count as otherkin," which is as far as the sources go.<ref name="timeline" />

'''[[Fictionkin|Fictionkin]]''' identify as characters or species originating in fiction, and were earlier termed ''otakukin'' or ''mediakin''. Inclusion under the otherkin umbrella has been contested, particularly for those whose kintype is a human character; community discussion has generally settled on including them, on the same reasoning that includes people who remember human lives on worlds other than Earth.<ref name="terminology2015" /> Fictionkin terminology draws largely on otherkin, plural, and soulbonder vocabulary rather than being distinct.<ref name="terminology2015" />

'''Otherhearted''' people describe a strong affinity with a nonhuman being without identifying as it. Whether the distinction warranted its own term has itself been disputed, and the dispute was among those that prompted the coinage of ''alterhuman''.<ref name="alterhuman" /><ref name="terminology2015" />

'''Incarnate extraterrestrials, star people, and walk-ins''' emerged from a separate New Age lineage traceable to 1970s writing.<ref name="wrsp" /> Scribner treats these communities as connected to but outside the scope of otherkin history proper.<ref name="timeline" />

'''Plural systems and soulbonders''' describe more than one person, or more than one sense of self, sharing a body; plural vocabulary includes terms such as [[Co-fronting|co-fronting]] and [[Core Personality|core personality]]. The two communities overlap in membership: Crisses' ''Otherkin FAQ'' carries a section on "Otherkin Multiples" reporting that "a reasonable number of people in the otherkin community are, for whatever reason, not only one person or mind in their body," and the Otherkind-Hosts mailing list ran for that intersection, described as "primarily an Otherkin list" and as "the list for exploring different types of multiplicity."<ref name="otherfaq" /><ref name="otherkindhosts" /> They overlap in vocabulary as well, and the companion ''Otherkin Multiple FAQ'' records the traffic term by term, tagging each glossary entry by origin &ndash; psychiatry, the multiple community, the otherkin community, or general use. ''Front'', ''alter'' and ''headspace'' are marked as arriving from psychiatric and plural usage; ''host'', ''resident'' and ''house rules'' as otherkin coinages.<ref name="multiplefaq" /> Fictionkin usage draws on the same shared pool: in a 2015 forum discussion, [[Jarandhel Dreamsinger]] put it that the fictionkin community "doesn't really have a lot of terminology unique to itself &ndash; it uses a combination of otherkin terminology, multiple terminology, and soulbonder terminology."<ref name="terminology2015" />

'''Furry fandom''' is a fandom rather than an identity community. Its Usenet origins are contemporaneous — alt.fan.albedo was created in November 1990 and renamed alt.fan.furry about a month later — and spiritual or philosophical discussion was not its original purpose and was not always welcome there.<ref name="timeline" /> The two are frequently conflated in press coverage; a 2009 article in the ''Michigan Daily'' is one documented instance.<ref name="michigandaily" />

== Reception and study ==

{{main|List of Otherkin Media Appearances}}

Mainstream media coverage dates to at least February 2001, when the ''Village Voice'' ran an article on the community.<ref name="villagevoice" /> Coverage since has been uneven, with recurring patterns including conflation with furry fandom<ref name="michigandaily" /> and the treatment of individual interviewees as representative. Robertson observes that media pieces, whatever the author's intent, reliably provoke hostile audience responses; Laycock argues that the hostility is prompted less by the beliefs themselves than by the fact that their holders have found mutual support.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="laycock2012" /> Community responses have ranged from participation to refusal, and prominent community writers have advised others to avoid the media entirely.<ref name="wrsp" /><ref name="jarandhelfaq" />

Trolling has been a persistent feature of the community's public exposure, particularly on Tumblr.<ref name="betabeat" />

Academic attention has come principally from religious studies, digital anthropology, and identity studies. Kirby's 2006 chapter was the first scholarly treatment,<ref name="kirby2006" /> followed by a monograph in 2013;<ref name="kirby2013" /> Laycock published on the community's religious dimensions in 2012,<ref name="laycock2012" /> Robertson on online therianthropy in 2013 and 2014,<ref name="robertson2013" /><ref name="robertson2014" /> and Getzler on discursive exclusion within the community in 2013.<ref name="getzler" /> The community has also produced substantial documentation of its own, notably [[Orion Scribner]]'s timeline and lexicon and Arethinn's essays on the history of the terminology.<ref name="timeline" /><ref name="lexicon" /><ref name="wordhist" />

Clinical concepts including clinical lycanthropy — the delusional belief that one is an animal, reviewed systematically by Blom in 2014 — present features that outside observers have compared to otherkin descriptions.<ref name="blom" /> Robertson records that while some community members do attribute their identity to psychological or neurological causes, there is little interest within the community in a medical "cure," and considerable protest against inclusion in the psychiatric literature as a disorder.<ref name="wrsp" />

== See also ==

{{div col}}
* [[Awakening]]
* [[Draconity]]
* [[Fictionkin]]
* [[Kintypes]]
* [[:Category:Otherkin Jargon|Otherkin Jargon]]
* [[Therians]]
* [[Vampires]]
{{div col end}}

== References ==

<references>
<ref name="fieldguide">{{book
| first = Lupa
| year = 2007
| title = A Field Guide to Otherkin
| place = Stafford, UK
| publisher = Megalithica Books
| isbn = 978-1-905713-07-3
}}</ref>
<ref name="timeline">{{website
| last = Scribner
| first = O
| year = 2012
| title = Otherkin Timeline: The recent history of elfin, fae, and animal people, v. 2.0
| publisher = The Art and Writing of O. Scribner
| url = https://frameacloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Scribner_Timeline2p0.pdf
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260602154806/https://frameacloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Scribner_Timeline2p0.pdf
| archivedate = June 2, 2026
}} Updated September 8, 2012.</ref>
<ref name="wordhist">{{website
| first = Arethinn na'eleth aTinderel
| year = 2021
| title = A Brief(ish) History of the Word "Otherkind"
| publisher = Mythsong
| url = https://www.mythsong.net/history/wordhist.html
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260310162015/https://www.mythsong.net/history/wordhist.html
| archivedate = March 10, 2026
}} Last updated September 6, 2021.</ref>
<ref name="mythsongdef">{{website
| first = Arethinn na'eleth aTinderel
| title = What are "Otherkind"?
| publisher = Mythsong
| url = https://www.mythsong.net/basics/definition.html
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260207073141/https://www.mythsong.net/basics/definition.html
| archivedate = February 7, 2026
}}</ref>
<ref name="lexicon">{{book
| last = Scribner
| first = O
| year = 2013
| title = Otherkin Lexicon: A Multi-Lingual Dictionary of Jargon Used in the Communities of Otherkin, Therianthropes, and Other Similar Peoples, Abridged Edition, v. 0.1
| publisher = The Art and Writing of O. Scribner
}} January 21, 2013.</ref>
<ref name="terminology2015">{{website
| first = Kitty Alexandre (Skylark) and Jarandhel Dreamsinger
| year = 2015
| title = Terminology and its modern use
| publisher = Dreamhart.org forums, Otherkin General Discussion
| url = https://dreamhart.org/forum/otherkin-general-discussion/terminology-and-its-modern-use/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20201025170745/https://dreamhart.org/forum/otherkin-general-discussion/terminology-and-its-modern-use/
| archivedate = October 25, 2020
}} December 15&ndash;26.</ref>
<ref name="otherfaq">{{website
| first = The Crisses
| year = 2001
| title = Otherkin FAQ v 4.0.1
| publisher = KinHost.org
| url = https://www.kinhost.org/res/Otherfaq.php
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20040610174300/http://kinhost.org/res/Otherfaq.php
| archivedate = June 10, 2004
}} February 8. Section 7.3, "On Otherkin Multiples."</ref>
<ref name="otherkindhosts">{{website
| first = The Crisses
| title = Otherkind-Hosts ListPage
| publisher = KinHost.org
| url = https://www.kinhost.org/res/lists/Otherkind-Hosts.php
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20040812225008/http://kinhost.org/res/lists/Otherkind-Hosts.php
| archivedate = August 12, 2004
}} List owner Malcolm&amp;, co-moderators Crisses and Arhuaine.</ref>
<ref name="multiplefaq">{{website
| first = The Crisses
| title = Otherkin Multiple FAQ (Beta)
| publisher = KinHost.org
| url = https://www.kinhost.org/res/Multiplefaq.php
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20040710150245/http://kinhost.org/res/Multiplefaq.php
| archivedate = July 10, 2004
}} Glossary of Terms.</ref>
<ref name="okn">{{website
| last = Windtree
| first = Tirl
| year = 2000
| title = Otherkin.net: Harmony & Discord
| url = https://www.otherkin.net
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140730044021/http://www.otherkin.net/index.html
| archivedate = July 30, 2014
}} Launched October 12, 2000.</ref>
<ref name="harmonydiscord">{{website
| first = Tirl Windtree and Mike Windtree
| title = The Harmony of Discord
| publisher = Otherkin.net
| url = https://www.otherkin.net/posts/the-harmony-of-discord/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260716234158/https://www.otherkin.net/posts/the-harmony-of-discord/
| archivedate = July 16, 2026
}} Publication date unknown; internal evidence places it about a year after the site's launch of October 12, 2000. Migrated from an earlier version of the site.</ref>
<ref name="elenarilang">{{website
| first = Various
| year = 1999
| title = Elven Language Page
| publisher = Synesthesia Symbiosis
| url = http://www.rialian.com/elvslang.htm
| date = March 25, 2012
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/19991118042833/http://rialian.com/elvslang.htm
| archivedate = November 18, 1999
}}</ref>
<ref name="elenaridict">{{website
| last = Korai
| first = Estara
| year = 2000
| title = Elenari Language Dictionary
| publisher = Iseum of the Green World
| url = http://greenworld.spiritualitea.net/elenaridict.html
| date = March 25, 2012
| archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20110817123051/http://greenworld.spiritualitea.net/elenaridict.html
| archivedate = August 17, 2011
}}</ref>
<ref name="wrsp">{{website
| last = Robertson
| first = Venetia
| year = 2015
| title = Otherkin
| publisher = World Religions and Spirituality Project
| url = https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/otherkin/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20250921160847/https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/otherkin/
| archivedate = September 21, 2025
}} Posted September 5, 2015.</ref>
<ref name="wakeup">{{website
| last = Crowsdaughter
| first = Miaren
| year = 2001
| title = So... You're Awake
| publisher = Otherkin.net
| url = https://www.otherkin.net/articles/wakeup.html
| date = April 6, 2012
| archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20160826002710/http://www.otherkin.net/articles/wakeup.html
| archivedate = August 26, 2016
}}</ref>
<ref name="amenti">{{website
| last = Amenti
| first = Countess
| year = 2007
| title = The Dilemma Over Awakening Teens
| publisher = Sanguinarius.org
| url = http://www.sanguinarius.org/articles/Amenti_dilemma.shtml
| date = April 2, 2012
| archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20260716223622/https://www.sanguinarius.org/articles/Amenti_dilemma.shtml
| archivedate = July 16, 2026
}}</ref>
<ref name="lostkin">{{website
| first = Gazer
| year = 1999
| title = The Lostkin Project
| url = http://lostkin.org
| date = April 2, 2012
| archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20251216151526/http://lostkin.org/
| archivedate = December 16, 2025
}}</ref>
<ref name="crisses">{{website
| first = Crisses et al
| year = 2000
| title = Crisses' Otherkin & Awakening FAQ v 3.0 Beta
| publisher = KinHost.org
| url = http://kinhost.org/res/Otherfaqold.php
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20050109122136/http://kinhost.org/res/Otherfaqold.php
| archivedate = January 9, 2005
}} January.</ref>
<ref name="ahwwgirard">Debi Girard, "Alternate religions..." alt.horror.werewolves (Usenet), March 5, 1997. https://groups.google.com/g/alt.horror.werewolves/c/JIV_rzb0VUU/m/3_llUAXLdkwJ In context: "midway through my seventh grade year -to coin a White Wolf term you might say an &quot;awakening&quot;". Spelling as in the original. Earlier, unglossed uses appear on the same newsgroup: Spyder Everhunger asked "that I be Awakened" in a "werecard" self-description posted April 18, 1996 &mdash; the same post listing his hobbies as including "LARPing with White Wolf groups" &mdash; and wrote of "my Awakening" on August 1, 1996. https://groups.google.com/g/alt.horror.werewolves/c/YUk6A6Dy-Z8</ref>
<ref name="arethinn2021">{{website|first=Arethinn|year=2021|title=Reply on the Silver Elves and choice of identity|url=https://arethinn.tumblr.com/post/652382886510690304/aestherians-arethinn-aestherians|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20260204120942/https://arethinn.tumblr.com/post/652382886510690304/aestherians-arethinn-aestherians|archivedate=February 4, 2026}} Dated May 27, 2021. Arethinn was an active participant in the elven community from at least 1998. The post states that the Silver Elves' ideas "were not necessarily embraced when they were even heard of at all", that many regarded them as "fringe or too fluffy", and that their influence on otherkin online is "pretty dilute in the specifics".</ref>
<ref name="crissesfaq3">{{website|first=Crisses et al|year=2000|title=Otherkin &amp; Awakening FAQ v 3.0 Beta|url=https://kinhost.org/res/Otherfaqold.php|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010425192936/http://kinhost.org/res/Otherfaqold.html|archivedate=April 25, 2001}} Headed "v 3.0 Beta (1/13/2K)" over an earlier heading "v 3.0 Beta (9/27/99)"; &sect;2.0.1, which answers "What is an Awakening?" descriptively and offers no account of the word's origin.</ref>
<ref name="cnn1986">Zardoa Silverstar and Silver Flame (The Silver Elves), "Elven Group Dynamics And Bonding Ritual," ''Circle Network News'' Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer 1986), p. 13. Quoted from the scanned issue, digitised at the Internet Archive under the identifier <code>bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_circle-network-news_summer-1986_8_2</code> — a cataloguing error that does not describe the contents — where it is lending-restricted. https://archive.org/details/bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_circle-network-news_summer-1986_8_2 The partial transcription of this article circulated on Rialian's site from 1999 is not a faithful reproduction; see [[Awakening]].</ref>
<ref name="magelexicon">''Mage: The Ascension'' (White Wolf Game Studio, 1993), Lexicon, s.v. "Awakened, The" and "Awakening, The". Quoted from a transcription at http://backupwod2.wikidot.com/mage:mage-lexicon (retrieved July 27, 2026); edition and page not confirmed against a physical copy. The other ''World of Darkness'' lines use the Embrace, the First Change, and the Chrysalis for the equivalent moment.</ref>
<ref name="emblem">{{website
| first = Kaltezar
| year = 2002
| title = The Otherkin Emblem
| url = http://kaltezar.furvect.com/otherkin.html
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20021014032242/http://kaltezar.furvect.com/Otherkin.html
| archivedate = October 14, 2002
}} Site defunct.</ref>
<ref name="memcheck">{{website
| first = overlord_mordax
| year = 2021
| title = Memory Checking
| publisher = From Fiction
| url = https://fictionkin.org/memory-checking/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260719031801/https://fictionkin.org/memory-checking/
| archivedate = July 19, 2026
}} Originally published April 22, 2021 at fromfiction.net; migrated to fictionkin.org.</ref>
<ref name="jarandhelfaq">{{website
| last = Dreamsinger
| first = Jarandhel
| year = 2012
| title = A Revised Otherkin FAQ
| publisher = Dreamhart.org
| url = https://dreamhart.org/2012/01/a-revised-otherkin-faq/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260427042405/https://dreamhart.org/2012/01/a-revised-otherkin-faq/
| archivedate = April 27, 2026
}} January.</ref>
<ref name="alterhuman">{{website
| last = Scribner
| first = Orion
| year = 2023
| title = Masterpost about the meaning and origin of the word alterhuman
| publisher = frameacloud (Tumblr)
| url = https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/727473573282856960/masterpost-about-the-meaning-and-origin-of-the
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20260214025055/https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/727473573282856960/masterpost-about-the-meaning-and-origin-of-the?
| archivedate = February 14, 2026
}} September 3, 2023; updated January 26, 2025.</ref>
<ref name="villagevoice">{{article-newspaper
| last = Mamatas
| first = Nick
| year = 2001
| title = Elven Like Me: Otherkin Come Out of the Closet
| periodical = Village Voice
| month = February
| day = 13
| url = http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-02-13/news/elven-like-me/1/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20121116150651/http://www.villagevoice.com:80/2001-02-13/news/elven-like-me/1/
| archivedate = November 16, 2012
}}</ref>
<ref name="michigandaily">{{article-newspaper
| last = Stahl
| first = Eileen
| year = 2009
| title = Furries have feelings, too
| periodical = Michigan Daily
| month = January
| day = 21
| pages = 4A
| url = http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NGNjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FXkNAAAAIBAJ&dq=otherkin&pg=4984%2C446695
}}</ref>
<ref name="betabeat">{{article-newspaper
| last = Tiku
| first = Nitasha
| year = 2012
| title = Teens Admit to Trolling Tumblr: JK, There's No Such Thing as Transethnic Autistic Pangender Asexual Demiromantic Otherkin
| periodical = BetaBeat
| month = July
| day = 5
| url = http://betabeat.com/2012/07/prince-koyangi-tumblr-troll-otherkin-transethnic-eric-draven-07052012/
| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120709000909/http://betabeat.com/2012/07/prince-koyangi-tumblr-troll-otherkin-transethnic-eric-draven-07052012/
| archivedate = July 9, 2012
}}</ref>
<ref name="adler">{{book
| last = Adler
| first = Margot
| year = 1997 [1979]
| title = Drawing Down the Moon, revised and expanded edition
| place = New York
| publisher = Penguin
}} p. 522.</ref>
<ref name="laycock2012">{{article-journal
| last = Laycock
| first = Joseph
| year = 2012
| title = We Are Spirits of Another Sort: Ontological Rebellion and Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin Community
| periodical = Nova Religio
| volume = 15
| pages = 65-90
}}</ref>
<ref name="kirby2013">{{book
| last = Kirby
| first = Danielle
| year = 2013
| title = Fantasy and Belief: Alternative Religion, Popular Narratives, and Digital Cultures
| place = Sheffield
| publisher = Equinox
}}</ref>
<ref name="kirby2006">{{article-book
| last = Kirby
| first = Danielle
| year = 2006
| title = Alternative Worlds: Metaphysical Questing and Virtual Community amongst the Otherkin
| book = Through a Glass Darkly: Reflections on the Sacred
| pages = 275-87
| place = Sydney
| publisher = Sydney University Press
}} Edited by Frances Di Lauro.</ref>
<ref name="robertson2013">{{article-journal
| last = Robertson
| first = Venetia
| year = 2013
| title = The Beast Within: Anthrozoomorphic Identity and Alternative Spirituality in the Online Therianthropy Movement
| periodical = Nova Religio
| volume = 16
| pages = 7-30
}}</ref>
<ref name="robertson2014">{{article-journal
| last = Robertson
| first = Venetia
| year = 2014
| title = The Law of the Jungle: Self and Community in the Online Therianthropy Movement
| periodical = The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies
| volume = 14
| pages = 256-80
}}</ref>
<ref name="getzler">{{book
| last = Getzler
| first = Melanie
| year = 2013
| title = Othering Among Otherkin: The Discursive Negotiation of the Face-Threat of Exclusionary Othering in a Demarginalizing Internet Community
| publisher = Indiana University
}} PhD thesis.</ref>
<ref name="blom">{{article-journal
| last = Blom
| first = Jan
| middle = Dirk
| year = 2014
| title = When Doctors Cry Wolf: A Systematic Review of the Literature on Clinical Lycanthropy
| periodical = History of Psychiatry
| volume = 25
| pages = 87-102
}}</ref>
</references>

== External links ==

* [https://www.otherkin.net Otherkin.net: You're Not Alone]
* [https://dreamhart.org/2012/01/a-revised-otherkin-faq/ A Revised Otherkin FAQ] by [[Jarandhel Dreamsinger]]
* [https://www.mythsong.net/ Mythsong] by [[Arethinn|Arethinn na'eleth aTinderel]]
* [http://frameacloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Scribner_DirectoryOfWritings_0-6b.pdf A Directory of Otherkin Writings and Other Works, Organized by Topic] by [[Orion Scribner]]
* [https://wrldrels.org/2016/10/08/otherkin/ World Religions and Spirituality Project: Otherkin] by [[Venetia Robertson]]
* [https://wildpathlibrary.org Wildpath Library]
* [https://houseofchimeras.neocities.org/Nonfiction-Articles The Chimera's Library]
* [https://alterhumanarchive.neocities.org The Alterhuman Archive]
* [http://archive.darkfang.org Darkfang Archive]
* [https://www.zotero.org/groups/4956615/altarchive/ AltArchive]

[[Category:Jargon]]
[[Category:Current Jargon]]
[[Category:Otherkin Community]]
[[Category:Otherkin Jargon]]