I definitely agree with everything you just said, but I don’t think I’ve met anyone, ever, outright admitting to just choosing their kintypes, and I know a lot of copingkin.
I am getting tired of people saying that their experience in the community doesn’t match mine, as if it somehow erases my experience.
I didn’t say every single person ever. If you haven’t met anyone that’s like that, that’s great!
But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. I have seen it. My friends have seen it. I have definitely met multiple people outright saying they chose their kin to cope. And you can’t do that and be otherkin.
I’m not trying to take the coping mechanism away from someone. Just saying that the definition of “otherkin” pretty much has included the fact that identifying as such isn’t a choice, for as long as I’ve heard it. (Which this part’s not addressed to you, but others who might see this, since you’ve already said you agree).
Of a person outright says ‘I’m otherkin as a coping mechanism’ then yeah, that’s choosing your nonhuman identity, consciously.
Knowing the source of feelings doesn’t equal control over them. It’s like if someone has halucinations, they might say they know they halucinate because they are mentally ill, but that doesn’t mean they purposfully imagine the experience.
There is a difference between psychological kin who developed the identity FIRST and INVOLUNTARILY and “”“kin”“” who specifically, consciously, CHOOSE the identity (most likely after seeing it on Tumblr) as a way to cope with a mental illness (or more likely, based on what I’ve seen from people on this site who use that reasoning, as an excuse for letting their symptoms go out of control and to avoid criticism from people they have hurt or offended)
People need to stop conflating identity arising from coping with something with an identity being used as a coping mechanism. The two are not the same.
I have awesome friends, you guys.
