For people who don’t like Google!



1. Otherkin are not a “Tumblr thing”.

The word “otherkin” started in the mid-1990s. Before that, the Silver Elves were writing about being elven in their “Magical Elven Love Letters”, a zine that was first released in 1979. This is before Arpanet was the internet available to people outside of military, meaning that otherkin in the modern sense, existed before the internet. Of course people in many cultures always identified this way, but, did not use the word, “otherkin”.



2. Otherkin are a diverse group of beings: not always white, not always teenagers.

Many otherkin, including the author of this document, are POC, queer, trans*, neurodivergent, and/or disabled. The author is an Asian-American queer autistic person, and knows a lot about what it is like to lack privileges. Otherkin also vary in age, from young people to people over 50. I’m not sure how old the Silver Elves are, but Zardoa Silverstar has grey hair in photos, awakening (understanding his nature as otherkin) in 1975, and still writes books. So, he has known he is otherkin for over 35 years.



3. Otherkin are not always “cool animals”.

Some people identify as earwigs, sea slugs, sheep, cows, ducks, hares, jerboas, rats, and koalas. (Just examples collected from my recent survey and articles I have seen.) Also, many otherkin have a feeling of being nonhuman but are not sure about their species… it’s impossible for them to “identify as a cool animal” because they don’t identify as any species.



4. Otherkin do not believe they have the physical body of the species they identify with. (Except, a few beings do believe that fae or elves physically existed in the past and they have physical fae/elf ancestors.)

So, please give up the “if you’re a cat, how do you type?” jokes.



5. Otherkin is not always a spiritual belief.

Some people believe that it is a psychological thing. Otherkin are not asking you to believe anything about the soul, etc. They are just asking you to believe and respect that they experience this and it is important to them to identify this way.



6. Otherkin do not need to see their therapists, doctors, etc. about being otherkin.

Some otherkin have seen their therapists. All the information in the community suggests that the therapists did not think it was a negative thing and should not be “cured”.



7. Otherkin don’t always know “why” they are this way or “how” it is possible to identify as nonhuman.

We don’t have all the answers, and that is okay. We are just trying to explore how we feel.



8. Otherkin don’t want “special treatment”.

We just want to be able to speak and be listened to like any other being, and not be mocked, get anons wishing us death or telling us to commit suicide, etc. We want to be able to be open about what we feel without being bullied.



9. Otherkin are a large group of beings and do not have any particular thing in common, except that in some way, they identify as non-human.

Some otherkin are racist, sexist, cissexist, etc. Some are not. Some otherkin are unhappy in a human body and have species dysphoria. Some are not. Some otherkin like to eat food that is similar to the diet their species would eat in their natural environment. Some don’t. And, most of the otherkin who exist, you never will meet, because they don’t talk about it online.



10. Otherkin are not a joke or a troll.

Again: the oldest modern group of people who identify as elves, first identifies that way in 1975 and they have written books. Otherkin are mentioned in other books after that, including “A Field Guide To Otherkin” by Lupa and “Your Next Door Neighbor Is A Dragon” by Zack Parsons.

—



Thank you for reading! Instead of arguing with trolls, you can just post this link. Reblog when people on the otherkin tag seem like they don’t understand the basic facts. Maybe, in the end we will erase ignorance.