Never heard of this. Sounds like complete nonsense, just a load of people who have a pathological urge to feel like they're special, different and this is the only way they can deny their basic mediocrity.
Still, I don't appreciate punching down. Transracial stuff and otherkin are not the same thing. Please stop equating the two. I know a lot of trans people in my life who would be very upset to read that their friends are being accused of working against them. Hell, many otherkin are transgender, so that makes no sense.I can tell you it does, and there's plenty of people in this thread echoing the same thing. It might be worth reevaluating your preconception that there is no link between someone identifying as another race or someone identifying as another species. Both are extremely harmful to the fight for gender identity as they are co-opted by others as weapons against gender identity.
Additionally, I'm not staff anymore.
I remember the documentary about the girl in Norway who said she was a cat.
I fucking lost it at the the bit where she was with a reporter in a train station or something and started hissing at a dog walking past.
Lmao, I was sorta asking for this TBH.
I'm not a fan of religion but I can't blame folks for believing in an element that possibly permeates their entire life since birth.
Interesting read, thanks for sharing. I'm glad you do feel better now atleast! (And like all millenials includes me too!) But you betrayed Wargreymon for Charizard? Good choice!As far as my story goes... I started hearing voices in my head and believing there really was a spirit inside me in my teens, around 10th grade I think? The spirit was a green bara wolf (which alone should tell you how fucked up I was) and he told me all those nice things about how there was a dragon spirit inside me and how I would transform into one if I just gave in, or how I was about to transform into Wargreymon and shit, and stood naked in the middle of the room waiting expectedantly.
Obviously nothing happened because I was just suffering from a mental illness. What exactedly, I don't know. But it probably stems from being both physically and verbally abused nearly every day of my life until my late teens. I heard that sort of thing has a tendancy to fuck people up and cause their brains to look for an escape, even if it obviously batshit insane stuff.
Now I am over it and just suffer from normal chronic depression like a lot of my fellow millenials, hooraaaaaay. (Thank goodness for prozac)
Lmao, I was sorta asking for this TBH.
But nah, it was a green and black Western dragon I thought was inside me. I should upload the pic later haha.
And I'm sure some "transracial" people are transgender too. That doesn't mean it's a legitimate thing or that it doesn't ultimately hurt transgender acceptance.Still, I don't appreciate punching down. Transracial stuff and otherkin are not the same thing. Please stop equating the two. I know a lot of trans people in my life who would be very upset to read that their friends are being accused of working against them. Hell, many otherkin are transgender, so that makes no sense.
Technically it was. Animal spirits were common in ancient shamanism so one could say the concept predates modern religion although the traditions are clearly not as old.
I'm not sure why we're giving people who punch down at trans folks by equating them with otherkin any credence in the first place.I can tell you it does, and there's plenty of people in this thread echoing the same thing. It might be worth reevaluating your preconception that there is no link between someone identifying as another race or someone identifying as another species. Both are extremely harmful to the fight for gender identity as they are co-opted by others as weapons against gender identity.
Additionally, I'm not staff anymore.
That's not otherkin. Possibly pagan or Wiccan.
And I'm sure some "transracial" people are transgender too. That doesn't mean it's a legitimate thing or that it doesn't ultimately hurt transgender acceptance.
It doesn't matter if you think it's "punching down" or not. A person believing they are a different race or species on the inside is not the same as gender identity, and transphobic people absolutely compare the latter to the former, lumping trans people in with them.
And I'm sure some "transracial" people are transgender too. That doesn't mean it's a legitimate thing or that it doesn't ultimately hurt transgender acceptance.
It doesn't matter if you think it's "punching down" or not. A person believing they are a different race or species on the inside is not the same as gender identity, and transphobic people absolutely compare the latter to the former, lumping trans people in with them.
For some of them, yeah.
If you can't see why people that say they're really magic fox dragons or Sephiroth shouldn't be given the same legitimacy as LGBT people then honestly I can't help you.It may incidentally hurt transgender acceptance but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a right to exist and be acknowledged. That is the exact same excuse some gay and lesbian people use to exclude transgender people. The irony is thick.
I don't think the existence (I use that word loosely) of otherkin make the bigots any more emboldened, or their arguments more effective. No bigot honestly cares about Raven Amberwing's alleged dual existance as fey/human or Rachel Dolezal's... issues. And the people who listen to the bigots don't really care, either. They just... fundamentally do not view transgender identities as valid. I don't subscribe to the idea of "its giving them ammunition to attack us" because they don't need ammunition. In the absence of anything convenient, they just make their own arguments that are just as effective because the substance of the argument doesn't matter.I can tell you it does, and there's plenty of people in this thread echoing the same thing. It might be worth reevaluating your preconception that there is no link between someone identifying as another race or someone identifying as another species. Both are extremely harmful to the fight for gender identity as they are co-opted by others as weapons against gender identity.
Additionally, I'm not staff anymore.
Of course the actual bigots don't need reasons to be bigots, but a lot of people are still very ignorant about gender dysphoria and trans issues in general, and without being properly educated or doing their own research, they could come to misguided conclusions about trans people and buy into transphobic rhetoric because of things like otherkin that muddies the waters. Nicole is absolutely correct here. It's difficult enough to educate people on trans issues as it is, we don't need to make it worse for them.I don't think the existence (I use that word loosely) of otherkin make the bigots any more emboldened, or their arguments more effective. No bigot honestly cares about Raven Amberwing's alleged dual existance as fey/human or Rachel Dolezal's... issues. And the people who listen to the bigots don't really care, either. They just... fundamentally do not view transgender identities as valid. I don't subscribe to the idea of "its giving them ammunition to attack us" because they don't need ammunition. In the absence of anything convenient, they just make their own arguments that are just as effective because the substance of the argument doesn't matter.
I know plenty of people who are ignorant on trans issues, who can't tell apart gender identity from sexual preference. They don't know a thing about otherkin. Heck, apparently people on this forum don't know about otherkin - and if you post on a gaming forum you're already more online than 90% of the population. An argument equating trans folk to otherkin is as nonsensical as people who used to claim marrying goats was a natural progression for same sex marriage. It only "works" because the guy being convinced has already bought into the core premise - trans identities are invalid. If I got a wizard to erase other kin from the internet's collective memory things wouldn't get any easier for trans people.Of course the actual bigots don't need reasons to be bigots, but a lot of people are still very ignorant about gender dysphoria and trans issues in general, and without being properly educated or doing their own research, they could come to misguided conclusions about trans people and buy into transphobic rhetoric because of things like otherkin that muddies the waters. Nicole is absolutely correct here. It's difficult enough to educate people on trans issues as it is, we don't need to make it worse for them.
Moreover, it's just never a good idea to feed into delusions in general.
Of course the actual bigots don't need reasons to be bigots, but a lot of people are still very ignorant about gender dysphoria and trans issues in general, and without being properly educated or doing their own research, they could come to misguided conclusions about trans people and buy into transphobic rhetoric because of things like otherkin that muddies the waters. Nicole is absolutely correct here. It's difficult enough to educate people on trans issues as it is, we don't need to make it worse for them.
Moreover, it's just never a good idea to feed into delusions in general.
Well I suppose it is harder to explain than I thought it would be, as I've never really talked to others about this before. In fact I've rewritten this response a few times.
It started when I was really young. I'm talkin...like 5 or 6. Before then, I was a super strange kid. Didn't like being around people, wasn't very receptive to many things most people are receptive to, did very strange things that I would get scolded before because "big kids don't do that" etc. But I became immensely close and familiarized with animals at a young age. Growing up where I did, it was basically a village, and I found comfort in animals and behaviors of animals far more than I ever found comfort in humans. I began to assume those behaviors as my own, as they felt more..I suppose right to me. My communication was heavily centered around "animal" noises. (ie: chitters, mews, etc) Things that certain animals would enjoy or dislike were identical to my own preferences. Etc. And I suppose identifying as a feline specifically was probably influenced by the fact that, up until late teen years, I never had less than 7-8 cats at a time, and I found comfort and understanding in them. I would sleep in the areas they slept in, I'd sort of talk to them and eventually got to a point where I had a super solid understanding of their body language and behaviors, parroted that, and it grew into something quickly that felt more normal than what I was "raised" to do/believe etc. And too this day, animals react to me/interact with me in ways that they wouldn't commonly interact with people. (inb4 delusional; my partner has had evidence of this as time has progressed, and the few people close to me have as well). And more um...private things I suppose, align heavily with felines. I've never really connected too well with...anyone in life. It never feels right, and I've struggled heavily to feel normal in my own body. I still speak dominantly in feline like noises, I still do very animal-like things, and even my body has adapted to little things here and there that I deal with.
I've seen a psychiatrist and therapist, and they believe it has a part of me experiencing trauma at the hands of people for practically all of my life. At the end of the day, my identity feels right because it's what I've known to feel the most natural, and I probably resonated with cats in particular due to my continued subjection to them through life. It certainly effects things like relationships and normal people things, but I also don't feel too much issue with that. The people most important in my life have accepted it, so that's what matters. My bf has even gotten so comfortable with it that he treats me as what I identify as.
I have NO IDEA if any of that was helpful, like I said; the only people who really have ever heard about this in depth are my past psychiatrists and my partner of 3 years. Outside of them, I have a cousin who I've only touched on it with, and that's it. I hope it was helpful at least. Sorry for the long read.