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May. 2nd, 2019 03:22 pm
My experiences with kin
As those of you who followed me here all the way from tumblr know, before winter a year ago I did not consider myself a part of the otherkin community in any way. However, I was supportive of the kin folk and din't understand the amount of social pressure they're exposed to. Then I started experiencing kin feelings towards Kylo Ren. Now, over a year later, I'm adding one more character to my forming kin list - Count Lucio from the Arcana - and I want to touch the problem of attitudes to kin issues once again.
Everyone who is claiming to be otherkin online becomes a target of harassment. The messages they get include quite rude and ableist comments about mental health, accusations of ruining the image of LGBT, ruining fandoms, etc. If you ever took a look at accounts of actual kin people, you'd know that this harassment is unprovoked. Anti kin people often try to pose as well-meaning, claiming that try try to steer "naive teens" away from giving in to delusions. But even if kin people were delusional in the clinical sense (they are not, none of them believe they are some animal or character *for real*, with all the social statuses and body parts), this is not how you deal with delusions. If anti kin people really wanted to help, they'd study medical articles related to delusions and spread information about available therapists and types of medication.
There is no separate diagnosis called "otherkin". Species dysphoria and clinical lycanthropy are a different topic. But being kin can go hand in hand with widely recognized mental illnesses. In this case it either functions as a coping mechanism, or presents an unusual way of perceiving the reality (in people with low empathy, like myself), or is a combination of both. I started getting more kin attachments as my general connections with the humankind grow and strengthen. I've been training myself to find ways around my lack of empathy and start relating to people, and this is a side effect of me growing more aware of others' personalities. I regard being kin as a sign of some positive and healthy changes. And according to what I heard from those of my kin friends who are in therapy, such view is supported by many doctors.
So, my opinion is that people who try to shut down kin self expression a) don't really mean to help anyone or anything b) work against actual therapy and recovery.
Everyone who is claiming to be otherkin online becomes a target of harassment. The messages they get include quite rude and ableist comments about mental health, accusations of ruining the image of LGBT, ruining fandoms, etc. If you ever took a look at accounts of actual kin people, you'd know that this harassment is unprovoked. Anti kin people often try to pose as well-meaning, claiming that try try to steer "naive teens" away from giving in to delusions. But even if kin people were delusional in the clinical sense (they are not, none of them believe they are some animal or character *for real*, with all the social statuses and body parts), this is not how you deal with delusions. If anti kin people really wanted to help, they'd study medical articles related to delusions and spread information about available therapists and types of medication.
There is no separate diagnosis called "otherkin". Species dysphoria and clinical lycanthropy are a different topic. But being kin can go hand in hand with widely recognized mental illnesses. In this case it either functions as a coping mechanism, or presents an unusual way of perceiving the reality (in people with low empathy, like myself), or is a combination of both. I started getting more kin attachments as my general connections with the humankind grow and strengthen. I've been training myself to find ways around my lack of empathy and start relating to people, and this is a side effect of me growing more aware of others' personalities. I regard being kin as a sign of some positive and healthy changes. And according to what I heard from those of my kin friends who are in therapy, such view is supported by many doctors.
So, my opinion is that people who try to shut down kin self expression a) don't really mean to help anyone or anything b) work against actual therapy and recovery.
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