Where people think that otherkin are appropriating transgenderism
What happens when one non-material “identity” competes with another non-material “identity”? Do they stare at each other in blank confusion? Do they start competing to see who can make the most accusations of ___phobia?
Vice asked some otherkin in 2016:
But something that is common within the otherkin community are struggles with mental health. “A lot of otherkin who don’t struggle with mental illness are older and usually have well established identities by this point. They’re aware of who they are and don’t necessarily have to talk about it online anymore.”
Ooh. What would that be like? Having an identity and not talking about it online anymore? That just sounds weird, man.
This is true for 17-year-old Miranda, who is a member of Riviera’s Facebook group and identifies as a dog. “I’m constantly thinking about [my identity]. Most animals share common features, making it harder for me to see who I really am,” she says. “As I learn and experience more, I am hoping I will find clarity to my true self.”
The debate between transgenderism and otherkin is one area Miranda would like to see evolve. “It seems that many people of the transgender community think that otherkin is a mock version of transgenderism and are very hateful of it,” she says. “This is not the case for us of course, as many of us are in the LGBT+ community.”
Oh no – they’re otherkinphobic?
Riviera, who is both otherkin and transgender, says the “raging debate where people think that otherkin are appropriating transgenderism is something that I find a little bit frustrating being trans myself.
“When much of the world is actively hostile, if not outright murderous toward you, it stops mattering if someone is suicide baiting you for being trans or for being otherkin—the result is the same.”
But who is appropriating whom? That’s the key question. Let’s ask this male lesbian over here what he thinks.
From the linked article:
Ok, I get that Otherkins don’t have sex with non-human animals, but…. if Non-otherkin Human A has sex with Otherkin B, is A engaging in bestiality?
Putting on my evo-psyche hat for a moment (great value, 9.99 from T.K. MAXX) I would have to conclude that Otherkin are interpretating genetic memories of an earlier stage in our evolution, millions of years ago, from some place along the evolutionary line that would lead to humans. Those who believe they are furry animals have a genetic memory that stems from after the evolution of mammals; those who identify as amphibians or fish have even older genetic memories. Unfortunately, those who identify as beasts of legend, such as dragons, are merely deluded and mere fantasists as our genetic memories can only come from real animals.
Transgender-identifying people, on the other hand, have genetic memories of much further back, when the only life on Earth was single-celled, self-reproducing, and therefore were at the same time both sexes and none.
My conclusions are as follows.
Firstly, transgender is the older genetic memory, but takes no precedence over- and is not appropriated by Otherkin as Otherkin are inspired by the same, albeit later-formed set of memories.
Secondly, on removing my evo-psyche hat, I can say definitively that all of the above is a load of bollocks made up as I went along, just like the bulk of trans- and Otherkin ideology.
Wait, AoS, are you suggesting I’m not really an otter?
Sounds more like a FUCKING MIRACLE.
Who in their wildest dreams, or worst nightmares, would have ever thought that this would become a thing, an attempted thing, or at least a thing that wasn’t universally recognized as a symptom of some sort of mental illness?
If forced to choose, I would say, on the face of it, that otherkin are a bit more “off” than those whoe are trans, as at least trans people are staying within the same species… I couldn’t have predicted myself writing a sentence like this. Ever. (How volumes of Borges’ Library of Babel would it appear in, I wonder? ) Some of this stuff makes Rachel Dolezal’s pretensions seem almost normal.
At the same time, trans ideology has grabbed hold of a surprising amount of political power, and already inflicted much more harm than otherkin are ever likely to, so while the latter are nuttier, the former are more of a danger.
I identify as a cat! AT LAST I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!!!
I identify as someone who likes eating lamb. That’s as good as being a lamb, right?
Also,
Do animals, especially dogs and other pack/herd animals, have a really strong sense of self and individuality, or are they so deeply immersed in the group and their surrounds that self is at best a secondary consideration?
Yes. “You are what you eat.” Perfectly logical.
Then I’m not an otter? I’ve never eaten otter. I think…I have an epiphany coming…I must be…BROCCOLI!
Broccoli has a long and distinguished history in theater, most notably in producing all the early James Bond movies.
Yes, and this morning I’m multigrain oat bran flakes.
I did say “perfectly logical,” but it’s complicated, because in this way of looking at things, otters are actually fish (or crayfish, frogs, etc.), depending on the day’s menu. In order to become your target identity, you’d have to eat whatever’s eating it. So maybe you’re looking at wolf, coyote, eagle? Then we’re running afoul of wildlife conservation legislation. Phobia! Oppression! Discrimination!!! Nobody ever said that being consistant in one’s identitarian politics would be easy, butith this scheme we’ve got the genderfluid crowd beat for both complication and incomprehensibility. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. And though the “gender=pizza ” people weren’t far off, we mustn’t tell them that; the secret formulae, magic incantations and sacred mantras (and the recipes: Secret Sauce! Eleven herbs and spices!!) must be kept close by the Few, the Special, the Initiated. Only WE have the super-special wokeness-insight and the Stunning Bravery in our hearts required to really do this right.
Tonight, I might very well be gnocchi.
You do realize you’ve all just ruined your chances of getting a high-powered job at the World Bank.
Dammit! I’ve just finished filling in the bloody job application, too.
not Bruce, re. ‘In order to become your target identity, you’d have to eat whatever’s eating it.’ Well I want to identify as human, but I don’t want to eat cannibals and I’ve no recipes for tasty meals based on MRSA. I’m doomed.
Darn it. I think they need trans-otters (or is it trans-broccoli? Now I’m just confused. I must be species-fluid) at the World Bank.
You sound stoatally confused; I suggest you keep it short and identify as trans-ottoli.
Me: “Let’s see what’s going on at B&W while I try and wake up”
*reads thread*
…
…
“I’m sure they’ll be fine”
Thanks for the giggle, I needed it!
The quoted piece in Screechy Monkey’s comment #1 contains a classic example of why grammar matters:
Unless, of course, the author of that piece really does equally abhor bestiality, zoophillia, and wider society.
AoS, sometimes I think I might prefer bestiality and zoophilia over wider society. Wider society brought us Donald Trump, Brexit, and is doing it’s best to impose theocracy wherever there are people yearning to breathe free (and has succeeded in some of those places). I’ve decided I don’t much like wider society.