Can one stop being otherkin?

[arethinn]

There's been some Discourse™ lately on Tumblr about whether it is possible to stop being otherkin in any circumstances. All parties seem to basically agree that if you can easily "turn it off" then you weren't actually otherkin (or some specific thing wasn't actually a kintype) in the first place, but do not agree on whether it is possible to stop or change as a result of a long process of personal transformation ("ego alteration", one participant dubbed it). Your thoughts?

Comments

[citrakayah]

People change enormously over time. They can develop depression, or cease having it. They can develop entirely new habits and lose deeply ingrained ones, even addictions. They can completely change personality and beliefs. And self-identity changes over time--and I don't think that it's all revelations as to an immutable state. I know personally that I was more attracted to men when I was younger, and that's pretty ingrained and non-voluntary.

So--why not? An identity is, typically, due to something. This thing can cease, but that doesn't mean that the original feelings were false.

[azaphaer]

I feel very strongly on this that one either is Otherkin or is not. That is not to say that people can not either choose to accept this about themselves, choose to deny it, or refuse to take up a label.

I do not believe people change over time in inherent things like core identity. Viewpoints change, ideas about oneself become more clear, etc. We all may not always know ourselves, and go in and out of figuring this out, but that does not imply we change, but rather become aware of who we are: an awakening.

When we compare to things like gender/sexuality. I was brought up being told that I was straight, it was the default. I was told that I was the gender of my birth sex. For a while I believed it. Shedding off that false self, I was able to be the true self I always was and will be. There's nothing wrong with being confused, or wrong about an identity we thought we were. We all grow and learn these things about ourselves.

I do not think anyone can become otherkin, or stop being Otherkin when it comes to the meaning and not the word, just as I don't believe anyone can become Trans. Its something we are born with.