Okay, so, I just want to say that I personally don’t like the term “coming out” to describe someone telling another person that they are otherkin. I don’t know what would be better other than “telling” but I don’t like it because it contributes more to the concept of otherkin being oppressed for being otherkin. Just my own feelings there. (You aren’t being rude, anon and I am not trying to criticize you. I just wanted to make that statement and the ask gave me a good place to do so.) Now, onto the subject of telling people… People don’t usually tell folks. Mainly because most of the older therians and otherkin viewed it as a private belief. I don’t know about how common it is today for people to be more open about it. I personally have told some people because I felt safe doing so and I wanted to tell them about running the kin-assistance blog because I was personally surprised and excited I was running a help blog because of my mental stuff. However, I didn’t tell them out of a need to tell them about my beliefs. It just would have been kinda hard to explain why I was running an otherkin blog otherwise. If you really want to tell people, you can, but understand that the idea of being otherkin or identifying as a nonhuman thing can be really confusing, and possibly alarming, to some folks. If you really want to tell people, just mention the concept of otherkin to them first. Be sure to explain what it means. Then see how they react to the idea. If they react negatively, I would recommend not telling them anything further. As you can see, some people belief it is a mental illness and no matter what one says, they will insist otherwise This could be dangerous if your family thinks you’re mentally ill and decide they need to do something about it. (This is kind of a worst-case scenario but still, it is a possibility.) If you see that people react okay to the idea, you can wait a few days and mention it again. if things are still neutral or positive, I’d say feel free to tell them. Be sure to explain as fully as possible why you feel the way you do and what you mean. Be ready for lots of confused questions. It really is a strange belief to have in a lot of ways, so try and be patient. Overall, I don’t think you need to tell people unless you feel the need to have someone who will do things like pet you or play with you. I regard it as something personal but I completely understand ad respect that some folks would really like to be more open about it in order to make their lives easier in certain ways. Just be cautious because otherwise you may end up simply being ridiculed for being one of those “cr*zy otherkin l**nies”. -Mod Badger