being otherkin can help you cope but it’s not a coping mechanism (in fact, it’s sometimes very hard to deal with). coping mechanisms are things a person adopts to help them cope, be they good or bad; as otherkin is something you can’t choose to become, it’s not a coping mechanism.
Coping mechanisms are defined by being choosen but the symptoms are not–please be more considerate in inferring my truma induced kinnities were choosen like I choose to be abused or something. I choose to seek love from cats and dissociate by inducing dream states–that caused my cat kintype and glitch kintype respectively. Side effects of our coping strategies are not something someone hands us on a pamphlet when we ///need/// to cope in order to assure we make completely informed decisions.
Some copingkin consider their coping mechanisms and symptoms to be a package deal and thus call their kinnity a coping mechanism or part of one, and that is why we get offended when we get labeled as copinglinkers. People like me who believe their kinnity wasn’t something they were born with but something that developed often get thrown under the bus by the community.
Choosing to identify to cope – copinglinker.
Coming to identifying because of coping – //not// copinglinker.
Please take a lil more care in talking about this issue–I know it personally offends me and I have read many accounts of people feeling attacked by this rhetoric–feeling like you are holding them accountable for being informed beyond their capacity.
I don’t think you understand what being otherkin is?? It’s not something you can choose and you really can’t become kin. That’s literally the definition and I’m sorry if I hurt you in any way but words DO have definitions and our community holds little use for someone who identifies as something because of trauma / mental illness.
You can’t become otherkin through any means - your kintype is who you ARE at your core. It’s just the label of otherkin that gives meaning to it. You can’t become kin any more than I, an agender person, could become agender. It’s simply what I am, it’s what I’ve always been. It’s me. Simple as that.
I’m sorry if people are upset by otherkin telling them what kin actually means, but that’s hardly our fault - it’s the fault of people who spread this misinformation in the first place.
No. The deffintion of otherkin //is a non choosen nonhuman identity felt on a nonphysical level//–everything else you are just adding in for kicks. I looked this up quite extensively when I found the community. The ‘born with’ or ‘can’t develope’ is literally something spiritual kin who don’t know about the psychological minority of the community stick in. It doesn’t get refference as an absolute requirement for otherkin nearly anywhere out side of personal posts.
Find me a reputable source saying what you said ‘it can’t develope’ before you literally gatekeep a huge part of the community that doesn’t have spiritually founded otherkin beliefs–there are even athiest otherkin you know?? You surely have heard it’s a spiritual //or a psychological// belief?? Have you ever heard of blank slate theory?? Maybe //you// shouldn’t spread misinformation.
Psychological does not equal mental illness related, when it comes to otherkin.
Whilst your otherkin identity CAN develop psychologically, my point stands that it’s not a coping mechanism because it’s not something you consciously choose. It simply is your identity. It may help you cope, but it’s not a coping mechanism in the way art therapy or self harm is. It’s something already present that can assist you.
By “become” I mean you can’t be depressed and suddenly start identifying as a wolf just to help you cope. Even if it started unconsciously, the fact is that it’s still PURELY for coping. Actual otherkin have a plethora of other signs such as shifts.
Even your quote says it’s //‘generally believed’//. Which means that is the prevailing theory but literally leaves room for other accepted theories. I don’t fucken think your theory is wrong–you can believe I was a reincarnated cat and had a forced awakening–I have met kin who do believe that.
But literally you //do not have to believe kinnity can’t develope//. A lot of kin do believe it can be trauma induced. When I mention mine is offsite I always get responders from people who feel the same.
You maybe should look up what nuance is if you think ‘generally’ means ‘always’
I re read your post and gave it more thought, and then edited my own response. Please read that instead, it’s on my blog just below this post.
