Republicans introduce a 7th anti-furry bill and work to undermine student freedoms on a wider scale

Feb. 18th, 2024 11:59 am
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Content warnings: Rated G. An urban legend that describes an unsanitary situation. Sexism against transgender people, including attempts to prevent them from participating in sports and using facilities like everyone else, and attempts to stop them from transitioning.


Summary: In 2023, Republicans began to propose laws (bills) in the US that would be against people who identify as animals. They base these on an urban legend that says schools provide litter boxes for students who identify as animals. Republicans made up that legend in parody of transgender students asking to use school restrooms (Scribner and Sol, 2024). The newest of these bills is Missouri House Bill 2678 (MO HB 2678). It’s the third such bill in 2024, bringing the historic total of these bills up to seven. This bill was written as part of a Republican effort to undermine public schools (which can’t ban transgender students from using the right restrooms, and students have First Amendment rights) in favor of religious charter schools (where students aren’t protected in those ways). The following blog post is a seven minute read.


What the Missouri bill says


Missouri House Bill 3678 (MO HB 2678) has the title “Prohibits students from engaging in ‘furry’ behavior while at school.” You can read this bill and see the latest actions on its official site, the Missouri House of Representatives, or on a third-party legislation tracking site, LegiScan. This bill was introduced this week, on February 13th, and read a second time on the 14th. It would add a law into the Revised Statutes of Missouri (RSMo). It would go in the part of the state laws about education, in Chapter 167, titled “Pupils and Special Services.” It would say:


“A student who purports to be an imaginary animal or animal species or who engages in anthropomorphic behavior consistent with the common designation of a ‘furry’ while at school shall not be allowed to participate in school curriculum or activities. The parent or guardian of a student in violation of this section shall remove the student from the school for the remainder of the school day.”


The same as the other bills like it, this bill is based on an urban legend, not on anything that was done in real life by students, furries, and/or people who identify as animals (McKinney, 2022a). This bill's wording looks like it was based on a bill from another state, Oklahoma House Bill 3084 (OK HB 3084), or its predecessor last year, Oklahoma Senate Bill 943 (OK SB 943). It shares their inaccuracies: though there are real people who identify as animals, surveys show that most furries don’t, and the dictionary definition of the word “anthropomorphic” means resembling a human, not resembling an animal (Scribner and Sol, 2024).


Who wrote the bill, and what is its context with that author’s other motivations?


The Missouri bill’s only sponsor (writer) is Cheri Toalson Reisch (she/her). She is a Missouri Republican who has supported anti-transgender bills in the past. One of those is MO SB 39, which would ban transgender students from participating in their gender’s sports division (both in private and public schools, up to and including in colleges and universities). Another one is MO SB 49. It would bar minors from accessing gender transition related surgeries or medications, removes adult coverage of hormone replacement therapy and any gender-affirming or transitioning surgeries from the Missouri Medicaid program, and denies prisoners and inmates access to any surgeries related to gender transitioning. She described both these bills as a “great move in the right direction,” and has been vocally critical that they were not harsher (Central MO Info, 2023).


Reisch is familiar with the urban legend started by conservatives of students using litter boxes in school bathrooms. She has posted about it on Facebook, telling her constituents that it is actively happening in Missouri and accusing the Columbia school district of taking part in it, stating “This is happening in Columbia Public Schools also. Yes, the janitor has to clean the litter box” (McKinney, 2022a). That's never happened. Schools say they have not been providing litter boxes to students in this way, and even deny that they have had any students identifying or behaving as animals, according to reliable fact checking resources (Reuters, 2022; Palma, Snopes, 2023).


Reisch has a history of being especially critical of the Columbia school district, which is one of the largest and most successful school districts in the state (McKinney, 2022b). She’s used this urban legend to attack the district’s legitimacy. This may be because Reisch prioritizes independently-run charter schools over standard public schools. Earlier this year, she sponsored MO HB 1941, which would allow for charter schools to operate within the Columbia school district without the district’s sponsorship.


Why are Republicans criticizing public schools and favoring charter schools?


In the US, the normal types of schools for children up to about age 18 are called public schools. Families don’t have to pay for their children to attend them. They represent the ideal that everyone growing up in the country should have equal access to school, regardless of income, class, race, religion, or ability. Because public schools are government establishments, the US Constitution protects the students’ rights there. The First Amendment of the Constitution protects the freedom of speech and religion of everyone, and that’s for students in public schools, too. In the landmark 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, students sued because they had gotten suspended for wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court decided that it would be as tyrannical to prevent students from expressing political opinions within public schools as it would be in any other government establishments. The Court said students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” In 1948, McCollum v. Board of Education had decided that public schools can’t give religious instruction during the school day. In 1962, Engel v. Vitale decided they can’t make students pray (Pew Research Center, 2019). Public school dress codes often aren’t as fair as they should be, but for the most part, their students can wear what they want and what their parents allow.


In contrast, what are known as charter schools in the US are privately owned, so they’re allowed to have requirements or education goals which would be considered a violation of the First Amendment. Some of them have religious affiliations and may be owned or operated by religious organizations. This can affect the way the school is run. For example, Oklahoma charter St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School has planned Catholic religious instruction classes, and the school’s active and intentional participation in what it refers to as “the evangelizing mission of the Church” (Fitzpatrick, 2023). Charter school dress codes can be much more strict. They are often segregated by gender stereotypes, forcing girls to wear skirts and boys trousers, no exceptions. This has been challenged in some places against specific schools, such as in North Carolina earlier this year in a lawsuit against the Charter Day School Inc (Chung, 2023). These challenges are the outlier and not the norm, however; gender-segregated dress codes are still a very common practice for charter schools overall. Charter schools also require applications and choose students based on random lottery systems. However, studies find that charter schools are more likely to ignore parents inquiring about the enrollment process if the student has a disability or other special needs (Darville, 2018). Unlike public schools, they don’t welcome everyone.


The freedom of expression in public schools is important for transgender students. In 2020, the case ​​G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board decided in favor of transgender-friendly restroom policies in high schools. This precedent helps protect transgender students’ rights in public schools, but doesn’t apply to charter schools. During the course of the case, the Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund told the Court why to decide against transgender rights. In an effort to invalidate transgender people, the Fund compared transgender people to otherkin. The Fund used the word “otherkin,” and described them at length, mostly accurately but derisively (Brief Amicus Curiae, 2017, G.G. v. Gloucester Cty Sch Bd). This case was part of what inspired the Republicans to later make up the litter box urban legend. We don’t know if that particular brief inspired the legend too.


Republicans may be promoting charter schools because this would give them greater control over impressing their views about gender, religion, and politics on young generations. They may be undermining public schools because the separation of church and state limits their power to do so there. The urban legend and these bills are part of that.


Background about all of the furry bills and the urban legend that inspired them


To learn about this year’s first two anti-furry bills, read our post about them from last week (Scribner and Sol, 2024). That post also summarizes the four anti-furry bills last year, and the litter box urban legend. For further information about those aspects, you can watch our lecture about last year’s bills and what you do about bad bills (Chimeras, Scribner, and Shepard, 2023), and watch Chimeras’s lecture about the litter box urban legend (Chimeras, 2022).


What happens next with Reisch’s anti-furry bill?


The bill is at 25% progression toward becoming a law. The House heard the bill twice, but it hasn’t been voted on. At the time that we write this blog post, they haven’t scheduled the bill’s next hearing.


About the writers of this blog post


We are Orion Scribner (they/them) and N. Noel Sol (she/they), a couple of dragons. We never write articles with the assistance of procedural generation or so-called artificial intelligence (AI), and that type of content isn’t allowed on Otherkin News.


References


“Brief Amicus Curiae of Public Advocate of the United States, U.S. Justice Foundation, and Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund in Support of Petitioner.” Gloucester County School Bd. v. G. G. ex rel. Grimm, No. 16-273, 2017 WL 192454 (Jan. 10, 2017). http://files.eqcf.org/cases/16-273-amicus-brief-public-advocate-et-al/


Central MO Info (May 19, 2023). “Representative Toalson Reisch Disappointed in Senate’s Version of Trans Bills.” Central MO Info. https://www.centralmoinfo.com/representative-toalson-reisch-disappointed-in-senates-version-of-trans-bills/


Chung, Andrew (June 26, 2024). “US Supreme Court turns away case on charter school's mandatory skirts for girls.” Reuters.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-turns-away-case-charter-schools-mandatory-skirts-girls-2023-06-26/


Darville, Sarah (Dec. 21, 2018). “Want a charter school application? If your child has a disability, your questions more likely to be ignored, study finds.” Chalkbeat.

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2018/12/21/21106398/want-a-charter-school-application-if-your-child-has-a-disability-your-questions-more-likely-to-be-ig/


Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962). https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/370/421.html


Fitzpatrick, Cara (Sept. 9, 2023). “The Charter-School Movement’s New Divide.” The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/charter-schools-religion-public-secular/675293/


G.G. v. Gloucester County School Board. 972 F.3d 586 (4th Cir. 2020). https://casetext.com/case/grimm-v-gloucester-cnty-sch-bd-8


House of Chimeras (Aug. 12, 2022). "Litter Boxes in School Bathrooms: Dissecting the Alt-Right’s Current Moral Panic." OtherCon. https://youtu.be/WVjXOmN2IlU


House of Chimeras, Orion Scribner, and Page Shepard (2023). “Litter Box Hoax 2: Legislature Boogaloo.” OtherCon 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXy_ctC4Jc&t=1425s


Legiscan. MO HB 2678. https://legiscan.com/MO/bill/HB2678/2024


Legiscan. MO HB 1941. https://legiscan.com/MO/bill/HB1941/2024


Mccollum v. Board Of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948). https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/333/203.html


McKinney, Rodger (Aug. 25, 2022). “State Rep. Cheri Reisch criticized for 'unwarranted' claim that CPS students use litterboxes.” Columbia Daily Tribune. https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/elections/local/2022/08/25/state-rep-cheri-reisch-criticized-for-unwarranted-claim-that-cps-columbia-students-use-litterboxes/7895082001/


McKinney, Rodger (Feb. 6, 2022). “State Rep. Cheri Reisch states 'Columbia sucks' when referring to public schools in education hearing” Columbia Daily Tribune. https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/education/2022/02/06/cheri-reisch-states-columbia-sucks-when-referring-to-cps-in-education-hearing-mo-leg-basye/6662719001/


Missouri House of Representatives. MO HB 2678. https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2678&year=2024&code=R


Missouri Senate. MO SB 49. https://www.senate.mo.gov/23info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=44407


Missouri Senate. MO SB 39. https://senate.mo.gov/23info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=44496

Palma, Bethania. (January 30, 2023). “How Furries Got Swept Up in Anti-Trans 'Litter Box' Rumors.” Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/ Archived on March 30, 2023.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230330232007/https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/


Pew Research Center (Oct. 3, 2019). “Religion in the Public Schools.”

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/03/religion-in-the-public-schools-2019-update/

Reuters Fact Check (October 18, 2022). “Fact Check-No evidence of schools accommodating ‘furries’ with litter boxes.” https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT Archived February 13, 2023.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230213110524/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT


Scribner, Orion, and N. Noel Sol (Feb. 9, 2024). “Will Oklahoma Call Animal Control on Students?” Otherkin News. https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/92680.html


Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). https://openjurist.org/393/us/503
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Will Oklahoma Call Animal Control on Students?

Feb. 9th, 2024 05:37 pm
frameacloud: A green dragon reading a book. (Default)
[personal profile] frameacloud
Content warnings: Rated G. Sexism against transgender people. Adults who cause danger or distress for children by outing them as transgender or showing them animal bloodsports.


Summary: In 2023, Republicans in the US began to propose laws (bills) that would be against furries or people who identify as animals. They continue to do so in 2024. The first two such bills of this year are Oklahoma House Bill 3084 (OK HB 3084) and Mississippi House Bill 176 (MS HB 176). Read on for information about these bills from this and last year, the urban legend that inspired them, what may happen next, and what you can do. This five page article (plus references) is a twelve minute read.


Humphrey’s anti-furry bill in Oklahoma


Republican Representative Justin Humphrey (he/him) specializes in writing bills that are intentionally bizarre so they will attract attention, and then cleaning them up later so that they will pass into law. On December 6, he wrote OK HB 3084, as its only sponsor. He prefiled it on January 17. It was introduced for its first reading on February 5. Here is the bill on Oklahoma’s official site, and on the third-party site Legiscan. It proposes a new law, which would read in full: 


“Students who purport to be an imaginary animal or animal species, or who engage in anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries at school shall not be allowed to participate in school curriculum or activities. The parent or guardian of a student in violation of this section shall pick the student up from the school, or animal control services shall be contacted to remove the student.”


In Humphrey’s interview with Rolling Stone about this, he specifically said that he wrote the furry bill in response to having heard about students using litter boxes in school. The Stone pointed out that that’s an urban legend that never happened at all, but he thinks it’s happened sometimes, if not widespread. He said that “furry” is the common name for a “mental illness” and “sexual habit,” and that there’s an “actual psychological term” for it, which he didn’t say because he found it “very, very difficult to pronounce” (Ehrlich, 2024). 


He probably was referring to “anthropomorphic behavior,” which he wrote in his bill text. That isn’t a psychological term or a mental illness, it’s about cartoon characters. The furry fandom uses “anthropomorphic animals” as a synonym for furries, fictional talking animal characters. “Anthropomorphic” often gets misused to mean “animal-like,” but its literal meaning is “human-like.” Humphrey’s wording would suffice to expel all students from a school: kids who act like animals and kids who act like humans. He likely based his bill on last year’s dead Oklahoma Senate Bill 943, which he didn’t write, but which also used the word.


Humphrey’s bill is the first that says to call animal control on furries. Would they refuse to pick up a student, or could this really cause students to be arrested and detained? Animal control is dictated by the local government (Bradshaw and Vankavage). Sometimes it may be outsourced to contractors who wouldn’t respond to this bizarre request, but in many cases it’s managed by local law enforcement. For example, one Oklahoman city ordinance says that all its animal control officers who are not already part of law enforcement “possess all authority of a police officer of the city for enforcing these animal regulations” (Vinita city code 2005 5-3-19). Humphrey explained that this part is a joke that he doesn’t intend to stick to, though, saying, 


“if you want to treat these people as actual animals, you call animal control. I’ll be happy to rewrite the language [to replace ‘animal control’ with mental health professionals]. But right now, I put that in there to make the point. A sarcastic point” (Erhlich, 2024). 


(Bracketed text in original.) Introducing a bill with an absurd part and then deleting or altering it to let it pass is a tactic that we see in one of last year’s bills, and it’s a favorite tactic of Humphrey’s.


The day after Humphrey filed his furry bill, he called it his “crazy” bill, saying, “I’ve laughed and said, well, we ought to neuter them and vaccinate them and send them to the pound." KOCO News reported, “Humphrey said although it may not become law, he wants to bring attention to what he called a problem” (Jones, 2024). Perhaps, like the urban legend that inspired it, the bill’s purpose is to attract attention by being intentionally absurd. It makes up a guy to get mad at: it describes an invented situation that has never happened, then recommends penalties for that imaginary situation, and those penalties themselves are something that may not be realistically carried out, or which would have absurdly high-stakes consequences. Humphrey’s furry bill doesn’t mention transgender people, but he wrote it in reference to an urban legend that parodies transgender people. Humphrey has also made many public remarks against transgender people, and he has supported anti-transgender bills (Murphy, 2021).


Other Representatives believe he may have intended for the absurdity of his furry bill to distract attention from more serious bills. On the same day that he prefiled this, he also filed a racially discriminatory bill about Oklahomans of Hispanic descent, House Bill 3133 (Jones, 2024).


Part of Humphrey’s amusement here is that he has a beef with animal control. In addition to his hostilities toward LGBTQ people, one of his long-term goals is to reduce the legal penalties for cockfighting from felony to misdemeanor. Throughout the US, this blood sport is illegal, and it is a federal crime to bring a child under age sixteen to any animal fighting events (Humane Society). Humphrey approves of allowing children there, saying, “You’re dang skippy I’ll take my kid to a chicken fighting before I’m gonna take them to see a drag queen” (Leigh, 2023).


This year’s anti-transgender and anti-furry bill in Mississippi


Introduced on January 17, MS HB 176 would require schools to out transgender students to parents, and to allow faculty to not accommodate any student who 


“identif[ies] at school as a gender or pronoun that does not align with the child's sex on their birth certificate, other official records, sex assigned at birth, or identifying as an animal species, extraterrestrial being or inanimate object.” 


As the nonprofit journalism site Mississippi Free Press noted, “There are no known incidents of Mississippi schoolchildren identifying as aliens or inanimate objects, but the idea of children identifying as animals may stem from an unsubstantiated urban myth about litter boxes that spread among Republican officials in recent years” (Harrison, 2024). Here is the bill on Mississippi’s official site, and on the third-party site Legiscan. The bill’s seven authors are all Republican Representatives: Charles “Chuck” Blackwell (main author), William Arnold, Randy Boyd, Larry Byrd, Dan Eubanks, Jimmy Fondren, and Donnie Scoggin. In the same month, Blackwell also sponsored the bill MS HB 303 (about digital currencies) and co-sponsored the bill MS HR 17 (for deporting undocumented immigrants back to Mexico) (TrackBill). 


An overview of last year’s anti-furry bills


Important background for what’s happening is that last year in the US, sexists introduced more than five hundred bills to limit the rights of transgender people (Reed, 2023). Four of those were also against furries or people who identify as animals. They were mainly against the rights of transgender students, and also opposed “a student's perception of being any animal species other than human” (North Dakota House Bill 1522) or “anthropomorphic behavior commonly referred to as furries” (Oklahoma Senate Bill 943). 


The text of the third, Indiana Statehouse Bill 380, only talked about dress codes and “disruptive behavior.” Later, this was amended to say “distractive behavior.” However, its writer said that it was to prevent “imitating or were behaving like a furry” (Herron, 2023). The bill’s unspoken real aim was to prevent transgender students from dressing as their gender. 


The fourth was a proposed amendment to Montana Senate Bill 544. It would have changed this internet censorship bill to also censor “acts of transgenderism,” which it defines as “a person being in the mental state of believing the person is transgender or transspecies” (Scribner, Shepard, and Sol, 2023). The word “transgenderism” is a dogwhistle used by people who oppose transgender rights. “Transspecies” is not typically thought of as a subset of it.


By the end of 2023, what came of those four bills? The line about animals was later deleted from the North Dakota bill, though it was still anti-transgender (Scribner, March 14, 2023). It passed on May 18, becoming law that will oppose the rights of transgender students. Last year’s Oklahoma bill died in committee. The Indiana bill passed on May 4, and will prohibit “distractive behavior” in schools. The Montana bill passed on May 19, and it’s still a clumsy plan for internet censorship, but the final text did not use the amendment that talked about transgender or transspecies (Legiscan). So far, no laws have passed with texts that mention anything along the lines of furries or identifying as nonhuman.


What are anti-furry bills really about?


These bills happened because of an urban legend. In parody of transgender students, Republicans made up a story that schools have litter boxes for students who identify as cats. Fact-checking site Snopes has been debunking this legend (Palma), as has Reuters Fact Check. This panel by a historian gives very detailed information about the legend’s development (Chimeras, 2022). Republicans imply through this legend that letting transgender students use the restroom that matches their gender identity would be as ridiculous as giving litter boxes to students who identify as animals.


What are the facts about people who identify as animals, if any exist? Surveys of the furry fandom show that most people who call themselves furries do not identify as animals (Plante et al, 2016, pp. 113-114). However, there are real people who sincerely identify as animals or nonhuman beings. Many call themselves therianthropes or otherkin (Scribner, 2023, “Simple introduction”). Sexists use the word “transspecies” to parody transgender people. However, a few transgender people call a nonhuman aspect of themselves transspecies (Chimeras, 2021). None of them did the things in schools that the urban legend says, so the legend isn’t true, and the legend wasn’t created in response to them. The threatening intent of the legend and bills is toward transgender people, but could cause trouble for furries and people who identify as animals.


Are there people who think of their gender identity as something nonhuman, and is that based on or part of the concept of being transgender? Transgender people who don’t feel they are a woman or man only or all the time have a nonbinary gender. Some people feel so different from a woman or man that they say their gender is something other than human. Since 2014, some call themselves xenogender, meaning “alien gender.” This can be a metaphor for something difficult to put into words, and they do not necessarily think of themselves as literally nonhuman, though some do. Surveys show that most nonbinary people define their gender in relation to being a woman or man; only 1.7% of nonbinary people call themselves xenogender or a variation on that word, and no other xenogender identity comes close to common (Gender Census, 2023). However, identifying as nonhuman is not inherently a form of being transgender, and was not developed based on the concept of being transgender.


What happens next for Humphrey’s anti-furry bill?


On February 5 and 6, it had its first and second readings, and it was referred to the House Rules Committee to read it next. That Committee has seven Republicans and two Democrats (State of Oklahoma). We’ll see if they let it die the same as last year’s Oklahoma bill, or if they vote for it to progress toward passing in some form. Remember the aforementioned interview where Humphrey said he doesn’t expect it to pass. Its purpose is to make “a sarcastic point” and attract attention away from other bills.


What happens next for the Mississippi bill? 


The day it was introduced, MS HB 176 was referred to the Mississippi House Education Committee and still waits for them to vote on it. Given that the Committee has a majority of Republicans (according to its government site and legislation tracking site, BillTracker.com), and the bill’s similarity to the North Dakota bill that passed last year with the portion about non-humans deleted, they’re likely to pass this bill in some form. The director of the Mississippi branch of the Human Rights Campaign, Rob Hill (he/him), said, 


“We’ve not seen this kind of bill in Mississippi before, and we hope that our leaders will resist another effort to stigmatize and isolate transgender and nonbinary youth and their peers [...] This is a very dangerous bill. It’s dangerous for the lives of youth … and it further perpetuates Mississippi’s image of being a place of discrimination” (Harrison, 2024).


What can you do?


Page Shepard (they/he), House of Chimeras (they/them), and I presented a panel about the bills last August. In the recording of our panel, skip to the timestamp 23:44 to hear what ordinary people can do about bad bills. In the written script of our lecture, see Slides 21 through 25.


About the author of this article


I’m Orion Scribner (they/them), and I’ve been writing and researching as an alterhuman community historian for more than ten years. I’m a moderator on Otherkin News, a volunteer-run blog about current events relevant to the alterhuman communities. My partner N. Noel Sol (she/her) did some editing in this document, especially in regard to animal control. Thanks for proofreading by my partner system the House of Chimeras (they/them), and my colleague Xylanth (it/its). I never write articles with the assistance of procedural generation or so-called artificial intelligence (AI), and that type of content isn’t allowed on Otherkin News.




References


BillTrack50. "Mississippi House Education Committee." https://www.billtrack50.com/committee/4245#billReferral 


Bradshaw, A. and L. Vankavage. “The Role of Local Government in Animal Control.” Humane Animal Control.  https://resources.bestfriends.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/Chapter%202_Role%20of%20Local%20Government%20in%20Animal%20Control.pdf?bG9ehcLSrIR08a1N_X1wbpYDzgy8_orb 


Vinita city code 2005 5-3-19: ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER; IMPOUNDMENT OF ANIMALS; REDEMPTION; SALE; EUTHANASIA. American Legal Publishing.

https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/vinitaok/latest/vinita_ok/0-0-0-2467


Ehrlich, Brenna (January 17, 2024). “Students Dressed as Furries Could be Collected by Animal Control if New Oklahoma Bill Passes.” Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/furries-school-bill-animal-control-1234948434/ 


Jones, Alyse (January 18, 2024). "How many newly filed bills will become law in Oklahoma?". KOCO-TV. https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-new-filed-bills/46431213 


House of Chimeras (Aug. 12, 2022). "Litter Boxes in School Bathrooms: Dissecting the Alt-Right’s Current Moral Panic." https://houseofchimeras.neocities.org/Lectures


House of Chimeras (Aug. 14, 2021). "The Use and Misuse of The Term Transspecies." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miSyXSesyzw 


House of Chimeras, O. Scribner, and P. Shepard (2023). “Litter Box Hoax 2: Legislature Boogaloo.” OtherCon 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXy_ctC4Jc&t=1425s 


Harrison, Heather (January 19, 2024). “Teachers Required to Out Trans Students to Families Under Proposed Mississippi Bill.” Mississippi Free Press. https://www.mississippifreepress.org/39193/teachers-required-to-out-trans-students-to-families-under-proposed-mississippi-bill 


Herron, Arika (Jan. 26, 2023). "Indiana lawmaker targets furries in schools. Schools say there's no problem." IndyStar. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/26/indiana-statehouse-bill-targets-furries-schools-say-no-problem/69840839007/ Archived Jan. 26, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230126101035/https://eu.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/26/indiana-statehouse-bill-targets-furries-schools-say-no-problem/69840839007/


Humane Society Legislative Fund (February 4, 2014). “Farm Bill Strengthens Animal Fighting Law, Maintains State Farm Animal Protection Laws.” The Humane Society of the United States. https://web.archive.org/web/20141025151239/http://www.humanesociety.org/news/news_briefs/2014/02/farm_bill_passed_020414.html 


Legiscan, IN SB 380. https://legiscan.com/IN/bill/SB0380/2023 


Legiscan, MT SB 544. https://legiscan.com/MT/bill/SB544/2023


Legiscan, MS HB 176. https://legiscan.com/MS/bill/HB176/2024 


Legiscan, ND HB 1522. https://legiscan.com/ND/bill/HB1522/2023 


Legiscan, OK HB 3084. https://legiscan.com/OK/bill/HB3084/2024 


Legiscan, OK SB 943. https://legiscan.com/OK/bill/SB943/2023


Leigh, Sunny (April 15, 2023). "Bill to reduce penalties for animal fighting shut down in Oklahoma Senate". KTUL. https://ktul.com/news/local/bill-to-reduce-penalties-for-animal-fighting-shut-down-in-oklahoma-senate-cockfighting-chicken-fighting-dogfighting-humphrey-kunzweiler-humane-society-animal-wellness-gamefowl-lawmakers Content warning for animal cruelty. This article goes into some detail about the more criminal and violent extremes of animal fighting.


Mississippi Legislation. House of Representatives Committee Listing. https://www.legislature.ms.gov/committees/house-committees/ 


Murphy, Sean (15 April 2021). "GOP Oklahoma lawmaker criticized for transgender comments". AP. https://apnews.com/article/legislature-oklahoma-bills-oklahoma-city-5db54da2949c3398d3fc7c53714bdc36 


Palma, Bethania. (January 30, 2023). “How Furries Got Swept Up in Anti-Trans 'Litter Box' Rumors.” Snopes. https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/ Archived on March 30, 2023.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230330232007/https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/01/30/how-furries-got-swept-up-in-anti-trans-litter-box-rumors/


Plante, C., S. Reysen, S. Roberts, and K. Gerbasi (2016). FurScience! A summary of five years of research from the International Anthropomorphic Research Project. FurScience: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. ISBN: 978-0-9976288-0-7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304540208_FurScience_A_summary_of_five_years_of_research_from_the_International_Anthropomorphic_Research_Project The relevant section of the book is also on the project’s official web page here: https://furscience.com/research-findings/therians/7-2-animal-identification/ 



Reed, Erin (December 30, 2023). “Erin's 2024 Anti-Trans Legislative Risk Map.” Erin in the Morning. https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/erins-2024-anti-trans-legislative


Reuters Fact Check (October 18, 2022). “Fact Check-No evidence of schools accommodating ‘furries’ with litter boxes.” https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT Archived February 13, 2023.

https://web.archive.org/web/20230213110524/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-furries-rogan-litterbox-idUSL1N31J1KT


Scribner, O. (March 14, 2023). “A formerly anti-alterhuman but still anti-transgender bill will be heard Wednesday.” https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/88744.html 


Scribner, O. (April 13, 2023). “A Simple Introduction to Otherkin and Therianthropes: Version

2.4.7.” The Works of Orion Scribner. https://web.archive.org/web/20230603220035/http://frameacloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/simpleintro.pdf 


Scribner, O. (February 22, 2023). “In US, three anti-transgender bills also oppose alterhumans; similar recent Supreme Court cases.” Otherkin News. https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/86709.html 


Scribner, O., P. Shepard, and N. N. Sol (April 24, 2023). “Proposed amendment to Montana net censorship bill would ban transgender and transspecies people.” Otherkin News. https://otherkinnews.dreamwidth.org/89561.html 


State of Oklahoma House of Representatives. Oklahoma House Rules Committee. https://www.okhouse.gov/committees/house/rules 


TrackBill. “Mississippi Rep. Charles Blackwell (R).” https://trackbill.com/legislator/mississippi-representative-charles-blackwell/981-27365/ 


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The effects of psilocybin on phantom limbs: an upcoming large study, and what otherkin have noticed

Sep. 15th, 2023 12:30 am
frameacloud: A green dragon reading a book. (Default)
[personal profile] frameacloud
Content warnings: This article talks about the use of psychoactive substances only as used in either medical treatment under the guidance of physicians, or in spiritual visionary experiences as entheogens. This article also talks about injuries and chronic pain, but it doesn't describe these in graphic detail. Be forewarned that some of the academic sources cited do go into graphic detail, if you choose to go read those next.

Summary: In California, a large study is looking for participants. Researchers want to see if psilocybin helps treat the participants' phantom limb pain. The study isn't about therians or otherkin. Many therians and otherkin experience phantom limbs, and some of them have made observations about how psilocybin and other psychoactive substances influence their phantom limbs. This article is an eight minute read, plus a bibliography.


( To continue reading this article, click here. )
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Alterhumanity and Autism Follow-Up Survey

Aug. 17th, 2023 03:36 pm
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, smirking towards the camera. (demon)
[personal profile] bedes
After my previous survey polling the autistic alterhuman community for my panel, I've now created a second survey regarding the experiences of autistic members of the alterhuman community. Many questions are based off of suggestions from attendees of 2023’s Othercon!

This survey is entirely anonymous, and has a short time demand, with 10 questions in total. It will run until December 15th, includes self-diagnosed autistics, and asks for one answer per body!

Sharing this around alterhuman and/or autistic circles is appreciated!

>>> TAKE THE SURVEY HERE! <<<
  • Current Mood: curious
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Alterhuman Community POC Percentage Survey

Aug. 11th, 2023 01:48 am
dreamdragon: A orange furred dragon with white feathered wings and sungold horns, soft yellow mane and deep red belly, looking towards the righ side. In a gentle, abstract cloudy background filled with pink, purple, white and yellow. (Default)
[personal profile] dreamdragon
Ever curious about the POC demographic within the otherkin/therian/alterhuman/non-human identity community?

Dinocanid (creator of Othercon) has opened a survey that will last till this year December.
Even if you're not POC, a good percentage needs a good sample, and that means as much folks as possible!
Take the survey here!
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Therian Community Survey seeks participants

Apr. 10th, 2023 02:32 am
who_is_page: A grey canine with a wolf skull for a face and two grey horns is wearing a green button-up with bones. (Page Business)
[personal profile] who_is_page
A cartoon of three mythological creatures holding up a giant clipboard. The stack of papers on the board have the symbol for therianthropy, which is made of the Greek letters theta and delta interlaced. The papers say, “Therian survey! Let’s hear from your voice!” The canine psychopomp named Page Shepard explains, “It’s separate from our otherkin survey!” The chimera, named House of Chimeras, holds up a pencil with their snake tail, and says, “For our book on alterhumans!” The dragon named Orion Scribner drew this illustration.

We are writing a book about alterhumans, and you can be part of it! We want to hear from therianthropes in particular for this part: the Therian Community Survey, which asks about your theriotypes, experiences, and how you personally define therianthropy. It’s about ten minutes long, open to anyone physically at least eighteen years old who identifies with the label “therianthrope.” One response per physical body, please.Take the survey here!

This survey will close on April 7, 2024. The data collected from this survey will be used for research purposes. Any identifying information that participants submit will be made anonymous or removed. Please join our mailing list  to get notifications of updates, more surveys, and other events related to our book in progress about alterhumans!
 

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Otherkin Community Survey seeks participants

Mar. 18th, 2023 04:53 am
who_is_page: A white dragon with red eyes. (Noel)
[personal profile] who_is_page
A billboard with "New otherkin survey" in graffiti. A green anthropomorphic dragon, a white quadrupedal dragon, and a quadrupedal chimera can be seen around the billboard. The three of them are covered in paint.

House of Chimeras, Orion Scribner, and the Sol System are writing a book about alterhumans, and you can be part of it! For this part of the book project, we want to hear from otherkin in particular. In the Otherkin Community Survey, we're gathering data about otherkin experiences and understandings of themselves and their community. If you participate, the survey asks about your kintypes, how you personally define the word otherkin, and about your experiences. It's about ten minutes long. This survey is open to anyone who is physically at least 18 and who identifies with the label "otherkin" or other synonyms with that word. One response per physical body, please. Take the survey here!

This survey will close March 31st, 2024. The data collected from this survey will be used for research purposes. Any identifying information that participants submit will be made anonymous or removed entirely. If you're interested in this project, please join our mailing list to get notifications of updates, additional surveys, and other events!

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Inky Paws zine publishes it first issue and calls for submissions for its second

Feb. 28th, 2023 06:39 pm
who_is_page: (Page)
[personal profile] who_is_page
"Inky Paws: Submissions wanted!" reads text around a dog laying on its paws, with inky paws and inked pawprints all over.

Inky Paws is a collaborative nonhuman anthology zine for original fiction writings by nonhumans and alterhumans about nonhumanity, alterhumanity, and similar, related themes. The first issue is out and can be downloaded for FREE here: Issue #1 contains 16 different stories, poems, songs, and comics by various alterhuman authors, with genres ranging from fantasy, to sci-fi, to horror. A content warning list supplied from authors regarding their pieces is included towards the beginning for readers. It is 89 pages long and was inspired by Tsu Swanblood’s The Forest Voice zine.
 
We are currently doing a call for submissions for issue #2. This zine is primarily literature focused, but is also open to more illustrative methods of story-telling such as comics. The zine’s focus is on fictional pieces that are centered around nonhumanity, alterhumanity, therianthropy, and similar (see Submission Guidelines section below the cut for more details). Here’s the Inky Paws Info Document on Google Docs; it has all the information written here and below, but may be easier for people to keep track of.
 
( Read more... )

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The Alterhuman Archive, a new directory of alterhuman resources

Feb. 27th, 2023 12:02 pm
who_is_page: (Page Old)
[personal profile] who_is_page
The Alterhuman Archive is an ever-expanding collection of nonhuman and alterhuman-related information, writings, and creations, meant to function as a community resource and memory bank. It currently contains over 550 essays, articles, blog posts, and more written by or about alterhumans.

Historical preservation of works made by and for alterhumans and nonhumans is a major goal of this archive. Whether that's through hosting resources, linking to them, or helping to advertise collaborative alterhuman events currently going on in the greater community, the Alt-Archive is here to be another place to collect resources in one singular, accessible location open to everyone.

The resources on the Alterhuman Archive are currently organized through Zotero, a free and open-source reference management software with various features meant to aid in organizing research materials of various kinds.This library is sorted with a variety of tags and contains summaries to every single piece of writing within it. You can sort by date, author, website, species, label, and more. Links on the main website will lead you to the relevant Zotero library section.

If you have submissions for the Alt-Archive, please consider emailing them to us at the email listed on the website's Contact page. Please include a title, your name or pen name, a brief description of the content, the attached submission or an accessible link, and any other relevant information.


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Otherkin Wiki, an independent online encyclopedia about otherkin and alterhumans, opens its doors

Feb. 23rd, 2023 08:40 pm
vagabondsun: a coat of arms featuring a wyvern in a falcon's hood and jesses, with a sun overhead (Default)
[personal profile] vagabondsun
a little bit of backstory on this: in july-ish of last year, my dear cohost gained adminship over the fandom wiki of the same name. he worked hard at it, but a combination of rising investment in the longevity of the project and rising awareness of fandom's generally scummy business model lead us to the conclusion that eventually, we'd have to get off the platform. that time is now! ...okay, well, it was like a week ago. but you get the point.

Otherkin Wiki is an encyclopedia on the culture, history and experiences of otherkin and related alterhuman groups. It aims to be a highly visible, accessible and inclusive resource that represents the full truth and diversity of our communities. It's a little different than other wikis on the same topic in that it's a bit more Wikipedia-ish in its standards for notability and sourcing, but please don't let that put you off - we're actively working to make the barrier to entry and understanding as low as possible for users and editors alike.

Speaking of which, more contributors are needed! We're already gathering a good amount of steam, but in order to get the fullest picture of otherkinity and alterhumanity, we need a large and diverse community of editors and supporters. You can find basic information on how to help on-wiki already - there's a lot more to do than just directly writing articles, and even correcting a single spelling mistake is a meaningful improvement. You can also join the discord server to get guidance on all the stuff we haven't written documentation for yet (which is a lot, it's still early days). Even if you're not interested in directly contributing, you're welcome to join just to ask questions, make suggestions, or hang out.

Most importantly, you can help by simply spreading the word, and particularly by choosing to link to our articles when you're informing and educating other people. Really, our goal bridging the gap between us and the younger generations and non-otherkin/alterhumans, and ameliorating the years of mis- and disinformation that have arisen from not being visible in ways that we're in control of.

So to that end, please consider joining us, and help us build a resource that serves the whole community!

Visit Otherkin Wiki | Join the Discord server

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In US, three anti-transgender bills also oppose alterhumans; similar recent Supreme Court cases

Feb. 22nd, 2023 12:38 pm
frameacloud: A green dragon reading a book. (Default)
[personal profile] frameacloud
Content warnings: About opposition to transgender rights in US politics. Rated PG-13, safe for work.

Accessibility notes: If some words in this article are unfamiliar to you, you may find them in the glossary at the end of the article. The references section after that has unmasked web addresses, which make it printer friendly, but also make it annoying to listen to through a screen reader.

Disclaimer: For historical purposes, this article collects some recent events that have been in the news about bills and court cases. All of this is publicly available information. I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For legal advice, you must consult with your lawyer.

Summary: In the US, groups have attempted to oppose the legal rights of transgender people by comparing them to furries, otherkin, or trans-species people. Of the many bills introduced in January opposing transgender rights, three bills also opposed furries or people who identify as animals: ND HB 1522, OK SB 943, and IN SH 380. The background leading up to this includes three Supreme Court cases from around 2019: G.G. v. Gloucester County School Bd., G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Doe v. Boyertown Area School Dist. In these, amici curiae tried to discredit transgender people by comparing them to otherkin or trans-species people. This is a continuation of at least a decade of sexists making this comparison, with or without the knowledge that any alterhuman groups exist, as a straw-man fallacy.


( This article is about nine pages long, so I'm putting it behind a cut tag. Click here to read the whole thing! )
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Otherkin News Digest: March, April, May, June

Jul. 7th, 2016 01:45 pm
frameacloud: A green dragon reading a book. (A stylized green dragon person reading a)
[personal profile] frameacloud
Some highlights of what I posted to the Otherkin News Twitter (@otherkinnews) during the last few months.

About otherkin

Vice magazine ran an article about otherkin.

Journal of Language Works published an article on nounself pronouns. Cites the Nonbinary.org wiki and mentions otherkin.

Published in March, the book Youth Cultures in America briefly mentions otherkin.

A review of Danielle Kirby's book Fantasy and Belief, which writes about otherkin.

Due to the anti-transgender bathroom bills in the US during these months, newspapers ran anti-transgender opinion articles. As usual, some tried to undermine transgender people by comparing them to "trans-species." Some writers knew about otherkin, others didn’t. Cissexist hate speech isn’t worth featuring here.

Transhumanism

Cyborg artist Neil Harbisson said at a transhumanist event, "I consider myself a transspecies because I’m adding senses and organs that other species have."

Art and glamourbombs

You know the intro scene in FernGully, with the cave wall covered in handprints from humans and tiny fairies? It's based on some actual cave art, which does feature handprints just like that. The tinier prints weren't human hands. Not fairies, either, though.

The Merrylin Cryptid Museum featured preserved remains of dragons, fairies, and other beings, all created by artist Alex CF. Since it's a hoax-like exhibit, Snopes explained it.

Snopes also had to address a viral photo of baby dragons being reintroduced to Wales, which originated as a Photoshop contest winner.
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RIP Sanguinarius [1970-2015]

Aug. 6th, 2015 05:24 am
[identity profile] jarandhel.livejournal.com

For those who haven't already heard, Sanguinarius of Sanguinarius.org passed away on the morning of Monday, August 3, 2015.  She had been fighting a long battle with various health problems including a recent stroke.  She was a highly respected member of the vampire community and will be greatly missed.

Her family has set up a GoFundMe account for donations in her memory and to help maintain the work she has done for the community: http://www.gofundme.com/ns36x8

Also, per her wishes, her site has been digitally preserved. A copy may be obtained in one of two ways:
Download as ISO via Bittorrent.
Download as ISO or RAR via HTTP.

More info here: http://merticus.com/vampirenews/2015/08/05/rip-sanguinarius-1970-2015-vampire-community-pioneer/

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Early launch of Darkfang Archive directory of otherkin and therian resources

Feb. 27th, 2015 07:47 am
frameacloud: A green dragon reading a book. (A green dragon person reading a book.)
[personal profile] frameacloud
Content warnings: none.

2015-02-11: Mikh'to and kiilas launched an early version of the Darkfang Archive, a directory of all kinds of resources for otherkin, therianthropes, and vampires. The new web-site has room to grow. From Mikh'to's description of the site, as given on the Elfinkind Digest mailing list, and quoted with permission:

"This is a curated database of otherkin, therianthropy and real vampirism sites, media and social spaces. It's partly inspired by otherkin.net and other older resource sites, and is trying to make an up-to-date online resource (it is not a wiki) that gives people a way to look into these things without problematic influences or needless dogma. It separates content by 'category', so each 'kintype'/'theriotype'/'phenotype', subgroup, experiential slant, mythos, etc. that is covered has its own page, so it doesn't lump everyone in into some big 'otherkin' umbrella. It is designed for both desktop and mobile browsers.

"It's currently in a 'preview' version - it's intended for feedback, so it's unfinished and possibly buggy. Data submissions are welcome and greatly appreciated. We are also interested in mirroring old/defunct sites and media in the future with permission."

Personally, I've browsed the site a little, and it looks like one of the most useful resources for the otherkin community that I've seen in some time. I hope some of our readers will offer feedback and help make the Darkfang Archive excellent.
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Stage performance about otherkin, Glick's play Kin Folk

Feb. 9th, 2015 07:43 am
frameacloud: A green dragon reading a book. (A green dragon person reading a book.)
[personal profile] frameacloud
Content warnings: None.

On 2015-02-11, the Den Theater in Chicago, Illinois will have a stage performance about otherkin, Glick's Kin Folk. As far as I know, this is the first stage performance about otherkin, by that name. Description from The New Colony Side Stage:

"Staged Reading of Kin Folk
"February 11, 2015, 7:29PM
"Written by William Glick
"Directed by Evan Linder

"After being recently orphaned, Lucy must reimagine her life. She decides to come out of the closet and reveal her true identity to her family: a dragon named Kreeka. After the announcement, Lucy is more alone than she has ever been, and she must ultimately choose between her family and a new community known as Otherkin. On her journey, she meets a young man claiming to be an elf, a giant gnome named Blubberwort, and a werewolf from Montana who shows her what it means to lead a life driven by a belief in the fantastic.

"Featuring Kate Carson-Groner, Chris Fowler, Sarah Gitenstein, Andrew Hobgood, Steve Love, Liz Sharpe and Stephanie Shum."

Hopefully some otherkin in the Chicago area can see this performance and tell how they feel it represented them. In the comments, please give links to any forum threads, blog posts, or reviews of this event.
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Otherkinsight Closure

Oct. 20th, 2014 05:31 pm
[identity profile] jarandhel.livejournal.com
On October 20, 2014, Salix (formerly Sandstone, formerly Kodama) announced that Otherkinsight would be closing on the week of November 2nd, 2014.[1] In a post announcing the reasons for the closure, Salix stated: "Members have been extremely disrespectful to other members and consistently breaking rules. Moderators are having difficulty maintaining the peace, as am I." and "I am left with the difficult choice of either banning quite a few members or shutting down the site completely. Considering my other priorities, with a heavy heart, I choose to close down the site."[2]
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Otherkin in Academia

Oct. 10th, 2014 12:09 pm
[identity profile] jarandhel.livejournal.com

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've recently become aware of a spate of academic articles about otherkin.  I managed to get my hands on the first of them, "Othering among Otherkin: The discursive negotiation of the face-threat of exclusionary othering in a demarginalizing internet community" by Melanie Getzler.  I've skimmed it and it looks really great, but unfotunately I haven't had time yet to sit down and read it in depth.  It's much longer than other articles on the subject, as it is a Master's thesis - 82 pages.  One thing I will note is that it does not suffer from the same weakness that so many academic articles on otherkin and therians have in the past - that of being based on self-selected survey responses or interviews with a fairly small sampling of the community.  Ms. Getzler employed a different methodology to try to get a truly representative sampling and while I'd still like to see a broader study done I must say hers is the best attempt to date of which I am currently aware.

For those interested, I've saved a copy of the thesis here.

Apparently Ms. Getzler also wrote an undergraduate thesis on our community entitled "Here There Be Dragons: The Effect of Online Communities of 'Otherkin' on Philosophical Construction of Self-Identity".  I'm still looking for a copy of that, it is not available from ProQuest.

Another recent academic work is "Some People Aren’t People on the Inside: Online Connectivity and Otherkin Subjectivities" by Margaret Shane.  I don't have a copy of that one yet either, but I do know where it can be purchased.  I'm just leery of spending $30 on a 15 page paper.

Last but not least there's another article by Venetia Robertson focusing on the therian community: "The Beast Within: Anthrozoomorphic Identity and Alternative Spirituality in the Online Therianthropy Movement".  This paper may be downloaded for free from academia.edu, and I have backed it up here.

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What's a Therian?

Oct. 7th, 2014 11:25 am
[identity profile] jarandhel.livejournal.com
On September 30, 2014, the program Hack by Australian national radio broadcaster Triple J aired an episode entitled "What's a Therian?"  In it, two Australian dragon therians were interviewed - if I am hearing them correctly, their names are Mosskinchar and Renthae.

The original story was at http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/stories/s4097695.htm but for some reason is no longer showing up properly on my browser.  An archived copy is available here: http://archive.today/AdAuR  The written text of the article is in addition to the audio, not a transcript of it.  The audio may currently be found here: https://soundcloud.com/triple-j-hack/whats-a-therian
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The Law of the Jungle

Oct. 3rd, 2014 09:22 am
[identity profile] jarandhel.livejournal.com

In 2012, Venetia Laura Delano Robertson of the University of Sydney, Department of Studies in Religion wrote a paper for Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies entitled "The Law of the Jungle: Self and Community in the Online Therianthropy Movement".  I've seen brief mentions of this article in a few places, but I've only recently gotten hold of a copy myself.  For those interested, a copy is now available here.  The work explores the idea that there are implicit initiations and rites of passage, and a hierarchy inherent to the therian community.  And it does make a good case for that.  Much of its content could also be extrapolated to the otherkin and vampire communities, in my opinion.

This is one of several recent academic works on the subject of otherkin which I have learned of, which brings me to one final thing: does anyone have access to ProQuest articles through their university library or another organization of which they are part?  There's one academic work in particular I'm looking to get, but as I'm not a member of any subscribing organization it would run me $38 for the pdf and I'd rather avoid that if possible.

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Otherkin on Turtleseed

Oct. 1st, 2014 05:34 pm
[identity profile] jarandhel.livejournal.com

There seems to be a significant migration of otherkin to a new service: TurtleSeed.  I had never heard of this service before today, but from what I've been able to determine it is a service similar to Twitter which allows people to make microblog posts of 140 characters or less. TurtleSeed is unique, however, in that it is built from the ground up with an eye towards privacy, eliminating trolls, encouraging positivity, and even the ability to designate certain words as triggers in one's user settings. By default, turtleseed posts expire after 3 days, for privacy reasons, though one has the ability to change that setting on an individual level.

There are already a wide variety of otherkin "clans" on TurtleSeed.  These are roughly equivalent to facebook groups or livejournal communities, organizing around a particular discussion topic.  Some of these are public, while others require approval to join.  Some are permanent, while others have a set duration they will be in existence.  And some even allow all posts to them to be made anonymously.  One of these clans, /otherkinchat, already boasts ~328 members despite just having been created on August 20, 2014.  And it's more active than most otherkin groups I've seen, on any medium.

The otherkin clans of which I am currently aware are:

The communities there do seem to have been influenced, IMO, more by tumblr otherkin culture than the culture of the wider community, but the activity level definitely makes it something to keep an eye on.

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otherkinnews: A centaur reading a newspaper. (Default)
Otherkin News

About

Otherkin News is a collaborative, volunteer-run blog for sharing news for otherkin, therianthropes, fictionfolk, plural systems, and all sorts of alterhumans. You can join and post here about current events in our communities and newspaper articles that are about us. The person moderating this is [personal profile] frameacloud. Everyone is welcome to subscribe and explore our tags.

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