By Daniel Williams
Twenty years ago if a person wanted to keep in touch with an old friend or do business over long distance, they had two resources to draw on: letter (slow, but cheap) or telephone (expensive for individuals but efficient for a business). If a person wanted to keep in touch with a friend in another country, they were out of luck unless they had the patience for international mail or the money to blow on expensive trunk calls. Making a new intentional (or even interstate) friend was out of the question, unless they wanted to take part in a cumbersome and impersonal "pen pal" service. Business did not even have this outlet... a small time operator could not hope to attract distant business until they could afford the massive printing and postage required for "junk mail".
Now it is entirely possible for me to make a friend in Egypt in one day, and communicate with him freely, while at the same time the Egyptian friend can saturate America with advertisements for his clothing store with very little investment. This, of course, is possible only through a powerful new resource called the Internet (and its close cousin the World Wide Web), presetting us for the first time with a communication medium that makes distance irrelevant for meaningful communication.
Aside from the personal and economic enrichment the
Internet offers, a side affect has been to assist in unifying scattered groups of people, who for one reason or another could never communicate with each other before. This has given rise to the phenomenon of online communities, creating virtual spaces of interaction (i.e. message boards, Usenet groups, chat rooms). This area has been the topic of surprisingly little research, considering the growing importance that these forums have in the lives of individuals, and the emergence of a concept that could be called "cyberculture".
One example of a cyberculture is the
Otherkin, a group of people who have developed similar beliefs regarding their natures, specifically that while they have the body of humans, their inner nature is something else. Many of the individuals who identify themselves as Otherkin have had no outlet to express these beliefs with people who have similar views until the development of the Internet. Fairly quickly message boards and online communities on these message boards began to form. Now it is rather easy to find Otherkin boards, some of which have over 500 active members each month. The following are the results of a two-month survey of Otherkin in general and the intra-action and interaction with the four identified groups within the overall Otherkin community. It is not strictly intended to be an ethnography, though aspects of Otherkin belief and life will be brought up.
The primary research was carried out through two surveys. However, the formulation of the questions on the first survey, and some questions on the second, came from questions raised while reading materials found on the World Wide Web and publicly assessable message boards. The search and examination of material was the first work done in the research as well as continuing to read new web sites as they became available. The following web sites content has been read thoroughly (and a brief summary given):
Recently discontinued by the administrators, this web site hosted the "Awakened" e-magazine (1 issue). A source of articles, mostly dragon related, as well as several hyperlinks to other web sites. Unfortunately, I failed to preserve any articles or the glossary before the dissolution.
A source of many Otherkin related media and hyperlinks, with a bias toward vampires, including a glossary. Hosts an active forum where a survey was distributed.
Active forum exclusively for dragons or dragon-related topics. Possibly has the largest active membership of any dragon forum on the web (and the largest period of Otherkin that I am aware of). Has some poetry and art, as well as a number of hyperlinks. A survey was distributed here.
Designed for connection therianthropes as well as a solid amount of were-related information and news. Hosts an active message board where a survey was distributed.
Excellent source of articles on Otherkin, vampires, therinathropes/weres, and some on angelics. Also has several other articles on various topics, and a small number of hyperlinks.
Collection of miscellaneous articles and other writings regarding Otherkin, including some news items not written by Otherkin. Also has a number of hyperlinks.
Similar to the Werelist, but mostly a message board with slightly different emphasis on topics, and items of a more personal nature for the administrator.
Web site pertaining almost exclusively to elves, with a number of articles, with a few links and no message board.
Active forum catering to all Otherkin, with no articles or links. A survey has been distributed here.
New web site/e-magazine dedicated to therianthropes, with a number of articles and a small but active forum.
Active forum catering to all Otherkin, with an emphasis on the philosophical aspects of Otherkin. No articles or links. A survey has been distributed here.
Site dedicate to elves, with many articles, songs. several hpyerlinks, and various odd and ends.
The second part of the research, and the primary source of information, were two surveys distributed sequentially (see Appendix 1). Survey 1 was designed to explore the overall aspects of being Otherkin, to investigate several topics I had come across during the reading I had done up until the time of its writing and try to firmly establish, in general, what being Otherkin meant. The original intention was to establish contacts through e-mail, but after a slow start I began distributing the survey on every major forum I came across, especially trying to find a forum for each major group of Otherkin I have identified so far and get a survey there. Many respondents felt like sharing their answers to these questions with other members of the community. This had me somewhat concerned, because people will often write one thing if privately shared, and another if they know it will be displayed publicly. However, the quality and detail of the answers often surpassed what I hoped for, so I do not complain. Also, there was nothing I could have done to prevent the respondents from posting their answers.
Survey 2 was directly e-mailed only to respondents of the first survey to ensure that participants would be familiar with the goals and intentions of the project stated in Survey 2. This survey investigated the relationships between Otherkin communities
?, different kinds of kin, the variety and value of topics discussed with other Otherkin. Survey 2 also asked about several other topics that I was curious about that I became aware of after Survey 1 was written. Survey 2 was split up into the four different groups of Otherkin only to investigate what kind of intra-community interaction took place. The questions on each one were practically identical in content.
Also during this time I became involved in several of the communities that were mentioned above. My intention at the beginning was to remain relatively neutral and just distribute surveys. However, I received invitations from these communities to introduce myself and participate in their discussions. Since most discussions involved being Otherkin, something that I was not, I did not feel that is was appropriate to involve myself in the vast majority of these discussions. My comments were usually limited to issues regarding the study, either answering questions or encouraging individuals to go into more detail with their answers, as well as introducing myself. There were two exceptions to this, however, one on the
Werelist and causing such a heated dispute that I feared in would influence the survey answers. Fortunately I received therianthrope responses from other sources, and in comparison the does not appear to be significant difference other than what could be expected of individuals.
One final note on acquiring data: There is a very common, and in my own observations justified, belief in every Otherkin community I have visited that there are a number of individuals that, for whatever reason, intentionally pose as Otherkin. The reasons for this will be discussed later. For now, I need to mention that I was aware of this belief, and I did practice a certain amount of filtering when cataloguing surveys. However, the surveys I did reject had such brief responses that I could not use them comparatively with the majority of the other survey responses. Sometimes these filtered responses would state effectively that the responded did not feel any different from anyone else in America, and I tended to assume these people were "
rpers",
role-players. I stand behind my choice of filtering, however, if nothing else than because the sum total of these questionable responses resulted in null data.
As of this writing I have received, cataloged, and compared 31 response for Survey 1 and 14 response for Survey 2. I received a good number of responses from dragons and therianthropes, which is likely because I posted surveys are sites which had the most traffic of
dragons and
therianthropes. I found only one
vampire board, and could not mange to find any
elven/fae boards, so all of the data is biased toward the aforementioned larger group.
For the purposes of this report an exposition on the responses for every question is not practical, and will not be presented. Instead, question 2,3, and 9 of Survey 1 and questions 5 and 7 of Survey 2 will be discussed in terms of establishing universal Otherkin identify and correlations within groups. Question 10 of Survey 2 will be treated separately as an addendum to the main body.
Survey 1:
Question 2: 100% of respondents indicated that they felt that the soul being something other than human was a defining, different characteristic, or assumed so in their answer. 68% reported feelings of profound estrangement from society at large, and or/inability to freely express their beliefs. 26% reported feeling a deep connection with the natural world, either in general or through their Kin ("How many of people's views are colored by the idea of being the only sentient species on the planet?"- Coyote Osborne)
Question 3: 52% therianthrope, 26% Dragon, 13% Elf/Fae, 3% vampire (one respondent), 6% Other (does not fall in above groups) or Unsure
100% felt physical sensations that indicated something other than human (phantom limbs, odd emotions/physical sensations during certain occurrences connected with Kin). 87% reported past memories through dreaming and/or very intense symbolic dreams which indicated their Kin. 42% reported the assistance of mediation. 19% indicated a period of rationalization (studying zoology texts, figuring out what could feel this way, ect). 13% indicated that they had always felt different and connected to something other than human, while the rest reported going through an "Awakening" period.
Question 9: 54% think of themselves as spiritual, which I am describing as not orienting to a specific religion, though they may take aspects other one or more religions into their own formulated viewpoints. Several individuals described these views as "pagan
?", but not specifically Wiccan. 19% call themselves Christian, though all admit that being Otherkin has caused problems. 10% call themselves Wiccan. 3% (one individual) responded as Muslim, 3% humanist, and 3% atheist.
Survey 2:
Question 5:
Dragon: All respondents said they couldn't define exactly what a dragon was: they felt like a dragon, and they remember being a dragon. "I mean, a human is a human, that's what they are, dragons are the same."- Sharadin
Elves: One described elves as those with pointy ears and not fae, while the other just though of elves as Otherkin who claims a "bloodline". No correlation.
Vampire: Only one response- "One who feeds off the energy of others; would become sick without it; and generally posses more physic and physical abilities than most."- Naelyan
Therianthropes: Universally, all respondents thought of therianthropes as those who believe to have a close connection to an animal, or their soul was indeed one of an animal
Interestingly, all groups gave very similar definitions to what "Otherkin" means, with the phrase "something other than human" constantly reappearing. The one exception thought of Otherkin as those with anthropomorphic kin (elves, fae, vampires, ect.), and all animals, including the mythical variety (dragons,
satyrs,
phoenix, ect.) as therianthropes.
Question 7: 64% of responders reported feeling that cross-Kin interaction was critical or very important for them. 45% Interact constantly, 9% interacted frequently. The two elven respondents reported interaction with other Kin to be inevitable because finding other elves was difficult. Two respondents response did not wish to answer this question using a scale because one thought it was impossible to tell who really was Otherkin online, and the other person thought that all interactions online, Otherkin and otherwise, were important.
Aside from the surveys, readings on the Web provide methods for understanding the Otherkin. On several web sites I visited glossaries were found, with a strong similarity between definitions of various words, none of which could be found in a modern Webster's dictionary. Reading message boards I saw that these words where being used with an understanding by others what these words meant, even if sometimes the exact definition got confused (as often happens in any culture). I used words such as "Otherkin", "Awakening", and "Hunters
?" in the surveys, and no one ever asked for clarification on a term (though there were disagreements on how I used the word "Otherkin", as well as "human"). This indicates a degree of shared, culture-specific language, especially with the types of vampire, dragon naming conventions, and of course the complex language of the elves, not entirely cribbed from Professor Tolkien.
Another phenomenon I observed on web boards and in some articles was the extreme importance of dreams in establishing personal identity. Similar to the Native American practices of "dream quests"
dreams were an important topic of conversation on message boards and written about in essay and poetry. Dreams are often considered the conduit that the Kin is known through, and sometimes (especially with the elves) a method of interaction with other
Kin. Individuals will often share their dreams with the community and ask for interpretations. These conversations can result in a great deal of bonding for the community, and are another way that individuals feel they can share themselves with their online friends. (Admin note: See
Dream Shift)
Making sense of the volumes of data I have received over the last two months has definitely the most difficult aspect of this study. I was faced with a dilemma when preparing this report: either talk at great length about the myriad of ideas and conclusion I have formulated, but I can't statically back up due to a (relatively) small number of responses, or discuss the little bit which has had such strong correlation that even 31 responses shows a trend. I have chosen the path of the data. This has forced me to shrink the scope of the report: instead of this being a full, if speculative, ethnography of the Otherkin, this is a preliminary survey, just showing who the Otherkin are and the most basic social connections, useful as a tool to guide future research.
The first item that deserves immediate attention is the perfect correlation of the definition of "Otherkin". In is a sort of half-spoken consensus in every community I visited that to find a definition that everyone could agree on was fruitless, but just that has been done. While some may say that "something other than human" is too broad, this is a dramatic leap from every culture I am aware of...indeed, one of the focal points of many cultures is defining themselves as essentially human (sometimes to the exclusion of every other being in the planet, such as the Yanomamo (Chagnon 1992). This in itself makes the Otherkin a unique culture.
The second thread that goes though Otherkin communities is a common vocabulary, discussed before. Common words that are found nowhere else, or not with the same meanings, are standards to look for when describing culture. Values and ideas are expressed through language, and the Otherkin bring many new ideas to the table. Words like "Awakening", "therianthrope", "sanguine
?", "Elenari", "fae" and "Otherkin" itself all have specific meanings; some are even specific to certain groups within the Otherkin. But when most of these sorts of words do not need explaining to those who have been with the Otherkin for an extended period of time, and they often help explain these terms to the new people who arrive daily.
The third connection, as also mentioned earlier, is the profound impact of dreams in Otherkin discussions. Regardless of what Kin one might be, or what forum one might hang around in, dreams and the interpretations of dreams are respected everywhere. The elves in particular have describe a very elaborate world of politics and history revealed almost exclusively through dream. Dreams can reveal solutions to problems, resolutions to philosophical difficulties, past lives, the nature of the world around, and a plethora of other insights. Otherkin are not unique in this respect, but the heavy importance dreams place in the cosmology of individuals, and are considered on the whole, is certainly a unifying element of the Otherkin culture.
The fourth strong common characterizes Otherkin as a whole are, sad and unsurprisingly, the intense feeling of
alienation from off-line friends, family, and the world in general. No widely accepted organized religion (or any that I am aware of) commonly includes non-humans in human bodies as functioning members of society. When mentioning Otherkin around campus and with acquaintances, I hear responses ranging from "bizarre" to "Satanic", which is not a very broad range. The majority of people are more willing to dismiss Otherkin as mentally ill than having valid beliefs about themselves, which is unfortunate for all involved. This practically universally disregard for what many Otherkin feel is a vital a defining characteristic of themselves creates intensely strong pressure to seek each other out, and if nothing else confirm that they really are not crazy and many other people believe this way, too. This shared pain can be appreciated by every Otherkin, regardless of personal background or the culture they grew up in.
However, Otherkin really be classified as a single group. There are very specific set of communities that interactions are based within, and individuals seldom spend much time slide from one to another. Based primarily on reading message boards, but also in regards to some questions asked with the two surveys, I think Otherkin communities interact around four groups. These groups are named after the Kin that most frequent these areas, but the separations do not necessarily mean that there is a philosophical separation as well. Some groups are lumped into others, while many of the less common Kin are left out entirely. However, the dominant Kin or category of Kin often either run these web sites and message boards, and/or constitute the majority of the traffic. The categories (which have been used before in this report) are the following:
Therianthrope: A group comparable in roughly estimated size with dragons, therianthropes are those who believe that they have a strong connection to or spirit
?ually are some kind of animal. The Kin types are most often mammals, wolves and feline being especially noticeable, but not exclusively. In my observations in message boards I have noticed that therianthropes tend to be more distanced to other Otherkin. Some therianthropes think this is because therians are "real" Kin, compared to the more "
mythic" Kin. Most, however, are just as comfortable with other Kin as the other groups. I have not noticed a significant number of individuals declaring themselves therianthrope on other forums. However, survey 2 data suggests that they are indeed "out there". Either therianthropes in general feel that they need not disclose their Kin on non-therian boards, or I have simply overlooked their contributions. I am inclined toward the later explanation.
Dragons: Claiming Draconic.com, the largest Otherkin forum I have seen, I roughly estimate the dragon population to be on par with therianthropes. However, I have found dragons to be fare more visible, interaction in many different forums beside their own. Typing in "Otherkin" on the Google search engine will immediately got me 11 web sites made for or oriented towards dragons, while I needed to go 17 places before find a major reference to therianthropes or weres. While not the best statistical model, it reflects my experience with the frequency of dragon web sites. However, the first Otherkin site I visited was run by a dragon and dragon-oriented, so this may very well be a bias that will resolve itself with more research.
Elf/Fae: While Elfish site were fairly easy to find, I failed to track down a message board frequented by elves and fae, so my primary method of distributing surveys did not result in many elf or fae responses. However, they are certainly a significant presence on the Web, and often have portions of forums set aside for specifically them. The forum Shadows of Annwyn has a number of active elven members. Most of what I know about elves and fae are essentially hearsay. While extremely prolific writers in general (going be their web sites), most often the topic is poetry or dream-memories of "Home" (wherever Home might be). Of fae I know next to nothing, except they are often referred to. I imagine that if I spend more time specifically looking for elven and fae web sites I shall find them, but was held back by lack of time. I have included elves and fae together because, although philosophically very different, are often referred to together and the little I have seen of fae has been on elven web sites.
Vampires: I include this category reluctantly. While only finding one web site and forum devoted to vampires, they are mentioned often on web sites not affiliated with vampires, and I have heard many references to a variety of different vampire sites. From what I can surmise from some message board topics, the content of vampire sites of often leads to censorship by the servers, making them short-lived. I do not believe this is true, however, and I will continue to try to find vampire sites. While vampires are connected with the Otherkin community, share words such as "Awakening", and are sometimes referred to as Otherkin, philosophically they are very different, and seldom appear on web boards. But they are referred to so often on other sites that I get the impression that I am missing quite a bit, and so include them as more avenue to explore than anything else.
Also there is a sort of pseudo-category called Other-those Kin which not fall under any of the above categories, and thus do not associate with any of the major groups, but are still acknowledged to exists and sometimes referred to on boards, if not actually seen. Examples of these Kin either seen on message boards, responded to surveys, or referred to are shadows, phoenixes, griffins, and angelics. There is occasionally literature regarding some of these Kin on occasion, but nothing compared to what is written on the scale of the above four, including vampires.
The Otherkin, when seriously look in to, cannot really be considered a fringe culture. They are an international phenomena, and the breadth of variety, size, and thoughtfulness of the Otherkin in general and those who I have encountered remove any doubt in my mind that these people are suffering from some sort of
clinical mental illness. I think their basic beliefs of the nature of their soul is just as valid as any other religion, which is to say in from a empirical point of view, none. There is no evidence way or the other about the makeup or even existence of a soul, so any statement that Otherkin are delusion for believing themselves to be reincarnations of dragons, elves, wolves, or anything else cannot be supported. Such a statement would come not from reason, but from a massive cultural bias that we all (including be, a life-long atheist) or subjected to.
This report has not really addressed the culture of the Otherkin, only a rough sketch of interaction and shared beliefs. Indeed, whether a the word "culture" can be meaningful applied to a virtual community is still an important question that has not been attempted to resolved here.
The Otherkin can be a fascinating glimpse in to areas that cultural studies still have trouble understanding- the universal place of the soul in cultural values and belief systems, and the kind of cultural interactions that are possible and made possible by the Internet and World Wide Web. I intended to continue my research of Otherkin culture until I feel satisfied that I have covered the breadth and scope of these people. Perhaps some else will taken an interest, and figure out what it all means.
Addendum
Anons Story
Appendix
Daniel Williams Surveys
Works Cited
Chagnon, Napoleon A. Yanomamo: The Fierce People. Thomson Learning Inc. 1997.