People ask me, is it possible to be kin outside of your race? Is it possible to be kin with someone who has a disability you don’t have?

Listen, being kin isn’t about what you’re like now, in this life, in this body. 

It isn’t about oh, here’s a list of things I have in common with this character/species. 

It isn’t about a character who looks like you, or acts like you, or comes from the same background as you, or has had the same experiences as you.

To say you can’t be kin with someone who is physically different than you, or who has a different background than you do entirely misses the point of what kin is.

A big part of being kin is having feelings, behaviors, and experiences that don’t make any sense in your life as it is now.

If someone in a show is exactly like you, of course you will feel a connection. That’s not what kin is. That’s what human empathy is.

Being kin is feeling that your body is not meant for you.

Being kin is waking up night after night with nightmares of a world you’ve never seen.

Being kin is having cravings that you can’t satisfy or even explain.

Being kin is memories and sensations you shouldn’t have.

Being kin is having the soul, literally or metaphorically, of another species or person.

Being kin is like being a ghost with a body.

Don’t tell me I can’t be kin with someone because I couldn’t understand their experience. Saying that only proves that you don’t understand what kin experience.