Essay Thoughts
9/9/03 21:40![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eredienIf you read this journal, you more likely than not fall into at least one of the eccentric, odd, wonderful groups of people below:
- Mawrtyr-friends.
- Dragony or other Otherkin-type people.
I came to the conclusion long ago (when I enrolled, heh) that Bryn Mawr attracts really weird people. Evidence: I know of two other current students who were on AFD (alt.fan.dragons, a newsgroup for/about dragons. I hang out there). I have a Mawrter friend who saw my wings and was intrigued when I told her of my draconity. Lots of my close friends here--though not Otherkin or furries specifically--act more 'typcially furry' (scritching, whining, growling, howling) than I do.
I've been interested in taking a look at this phenomenon as overlap for a while, in some kind of permanent written format. A series of interviews, informal or not, might be one possibility.
So, are you a Mawrter (alum, current student, prospective student) interested in this kind of thing? Are you Otherkin or any variant therof? Heck, are you both? Neither, but just interested in the topic of conversation?
Would you be willing to talk to other people interested in this overlap and interested in eventually putting those talks or thoughts down in a coherent written form of some sort?
Something this specific might only be of interest to me. But I don't think so.
Leave a message in the comments section.
Now, something a bit more serious and a bit less specific, with implications that are a lot bigger: I've also noticed a ton of overlap between Otherkin culture and gay/lesbian/bi/etc. culture. This holds true both on the individual level (the process of questioning what and who you are, especially, holds tantalizing similarities) and on the group level (ideas of freedom of expression and social constraint, or not). There's also one other generalized area in which I see similarities, and that's in the fact that the glbt movement was once "underground" and now isn't.
The Otherkin movement is still, for the most part, "underground." (Meaning: If you're interested, you can find out where to go, and make contacts, and have a life. Or a second life. But if you don't already know it's there, it won't pop up and bite you in the face. There's no Otherkin eye for the Mundane Guy reruns on NBC.)
Yet.
In Otherkin circles, there's a lot of talk about The Event. You know the type of thing I'm taking about: no one's sure when it will be, or what it will be, though there are various theories.
Otherkin are never unanimous: The reality of The Event is believed in with varying amounts of desperation, viewed with varying amounts of interest, scorned, debated. Ignored outright. There's various theories involving magic, or astral projection, or amounts of sheer will.
But whatever The Event is, if it happens, it's sure to Change Everything. Otherkin will be outed, recognized for what we really are. And the world will be Transformed in some Impressive Way.
Now, I don't really believe in that.
But I do think there's a high, high chance that within my lifetime (I'm guessing within the next 20 years) that Otherkin is going to be the next "fringe" group/culture to emerge from "the underground" to the public eye.
You don't hear many Otherkin contemplating something as mundane as that as The Event. But I think it might be.
There's already stuff out there, if you know where to look:
Dr. Daedalus - Harper's Magazine.
I'm Having my Wings Done - The Guardian.
Elven Like Me, and a letter-to-the-editor response (scroll down). - The Village Voice.
The media are pervasive. And people's appetities for weirdness are never sated (there's people eating maggots on TV and getting married for $20 million).
That combination could either be dangerous (Taping of the Man Show at Confurence, anyone?) or leveraged to be beneficial to everyone. That really would be an Impressive Transformation of the world.
And here's where the second essay idea comes in: I'm interested in talking to glbt people--Otherkin or not--about their experiences with the cultures they live in, about their lives, about how their personal preferences fit into their culture, where they see the parallels between the two communities. I'm interested in talking to straight people--Otherkin or not--about what they think about fringe groups in modern life, and about 'abnormal behavior in public': what does it mean for a gay couple to kiss on the street? What does it mean for Otherkin to wear a tail while browsing through the frozen food section? What transgresses what boundaries where? Are there even boundaries?
I'm interested in having everyone talk to everyone else, debate, think, and draw historical parallels. I'm interested in putting this down somewhere on paper. Maybe even with footnotes and documented sources. Quotes. That kind of stuff.
Because I think that Otherkin are going to be where the glbt movement is now sooner than we think. And it'd be nice if some people had thought about this a little beforehand.
Everyone could learn something here. What a great thing.
Interested? Leave a comment.
- Mawrtyr-friends.
- Dragony or other Otherkin-type people.
I came to the conclusion long ago (when I enrolled, heh) that Bryn Mawr attracts really weird people. Evidence: I know of two other current students who were on AFD (alt.fan.dragons, a newsgroup for/about dragons. I hang out there). I have a Mawrter friend who saw my wings and was intrigued when I told her of my draconity. Lots of my close friends here--though not Otherkin or furries specifically--act more 'typcially furry' (scritching, whining, growling, howling) than I do.
I've been interested in taking a look at this phenomenon as overlap for a while, in some kind of permanent written format. A series of interviews, informal or not, might be one possibility.
So, are you a Mawrter (alum, current student, prospective student) interested in this kind of thing? Are you Otherkin or any variant therof? Heck, are you both? Neither, but just interested in the topic of conversation?
Would you be willing to talk to other people interested in this overlap and interested in eventually putting those talks or thoughts down in a coherent written form of some sort?
Something this specific might only be of interest to me. But I don't think so.
Leave a message in the comments section.
Now, something a bit more serious and a bit less specific, with implications that are a lot bigger: I've also noticed a ton of overlap between Otherkin culture and gay/lesbian/bi/etc. culture. This holds true both on the individual level (the process of questioning what and who you are, especially, holds tantalizing similarities) and on the group level (ideas of freedom of expression and social constraint, or not). There's also one other generalized area in which I see similarities, and that's in the fact that the glbt movement was once "underground" and now isn't.
The Otherkin movement is still, for the most part, "underground." (Meaning: If you're interested, you can find out where to go, and make contacts, and have a life. Or a second life. But if you don't already know it's there, it won't pop up and bite you in the face. There's no Otherkin eye for the Mundane Guy reruns on NBC.)
Yet.
In Otherkin circles, there's a lot of talk about The Event. You know the type of thing I'm taking about: no one's sure when it will be, or what it will be, though there are various theories.
Otherkin are never unanimous: The reality of The Event is believed in with varying amounts of desperation, viewed with varying amounts of interest, scorned, debated. Ignored outright. There's various theories involving magic, or astral projection, or amounts of sheer will.
But whatever The Event is, if it happens, it's sure to Change Everything. Otherkin will be outed, recognized for what we really are. And the world will be Transformed in some Impressive Way.
Now, I don't really believe in that.
But I do think there's a high, high chance that within my lifetime (I'm guessing within the next 20 years) that Otherkin is going to be the next "fringe" group/culture to emerge from "the underground" to the public eye.
You don't hear many Otherkin contemplating something as mundane as that as The Event. But I think it might be.
There's already stuff out there, if you know where to look:
Dr. Daedalus - Harper's Magazine.
I'm Having my Wings Done - The Guardian.
Elven Like Me, and a letter-to-the-editor response (scroll down). - The Village Voice.
The media are pervasive. And people's appetities for weirdness are never sated (there's people eating maggots on TV and getting married for $20 million).
That combination could either be dangerous (Taping of the Man Show at Confurence, anyone?) or leveraged to be beneficial to everyone. That really would be an Impressive Transformation of the world.
And here's where the second essay idea comes in: I'm interested in talking to glbt people--Otherkin or not--about their experiences with the cultures they live in, about their lives, about how their personal preferences fit into their culture, where they see the parallels between the two communities. I'm interested in talking to straight people--Otherkin or not--about what they think about fringe groups in modern life, and about 'abnormal behavior in public': what does it mean for a gay couple to kiss on the street? What does it mean for Otherkin to wear a tail while browsing through the frozen food section? What transgresses what boundaries where? Are there even boundaries?
I'm interested in having everyone talk to everyone else, debate, think, and draw historical parallels. I'm interested in putting this down somewhere on paper. Maybe even with footnotes and documented sources. Quotes. That kind of stuff.
Because I think that Otherkin are going to be where the glbt movement is now sooner than we think. And it'd be nice if some people had thought about this a little beforehand.
Everyone could learn something here. What a great thing.
Interested? Leave a comment.
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Re:
21/2/04 12:07 (UTC)Besides, it'll give me something to do other than post on Bax's forum; I don't want the #1 poster position, didn't go after the #2 slot, but I seem to be stuck there for a lack of pursueing other hobbies.