just blobbin' around

I’d like to make a couple things clear before I begin. First off, I’m transgender, and my fiancee is a transwoman. Secondly, most fictionkin (according to informal polls and anecdotal evidence) are transgender/on the trans-spectrum. Thirdly, this post is aimed at educating those outside of the kin community, and those new to it, not those who already understand the distinction.

With that in mind:

fictionkin/otherkin is not about gender.

a kintype is not a gender

otherkin as a whole are not ‘trans-species’

Similarities between being kin and being transgender

*both experience a mismatch in their physical body versus their mental/spiritual perception of themselves

*both experience anguish due to internal conflicts between body and mind/soul

Differences between being kin and being transgender

*kin may experience memories and flashbacks to their other lives, transpeople do not

*trans people experience systematic oppression, kin do not

*transpeople are forced pre-transition to constantly dress, speak and act in a way incongruent with their identity, kin are not

*transpeople are stigmatized by places of employment, and entire governments, kin are not.

*transpeople are forced to jump through medical and legal hoops to have their identities recognized, kin are not

Transpeople are expected to present as their chosen gender all the time, kin are not.

*gender is a fundamental societal marker that is visible to people at all times, kintype is not.

A kintype does not affect someone’s pronouns or gender identity as a whole.

Kin are not claiming to be oppressed the way transpeople are

Kin do not invade trans spaces on kin terms.

Yes, it is a tired argument. Plus, if we pick “lame animals” suddenly we’re faking it, or said animal isn’t “uncool” enough. Just because you see a lot of dragonkin, ficitonkin, wolfkin, etc. doesn’t mean you won’t find less popular kintypes if you keep looking.

And, well, I mean, blobfish are actually kind of interesting.

1) They’re slightly less dense than water, have no bones (and thus no teeth) and nearly no muscles.

2) They actually look like normal fish when they’re in their natural habitat of 2,000-3,900 ft (or 600-1,200 meters if you prefer).

They probably look something like this at their proper pressure - we haven’t actually been able to photograph one of them yet, but this is a picture of a close cousin speculated to look nearly identical to blobfish.

3) Humans don’t eat these things, but due to fishing they’re actually  endangered. They die upon being brought out of their natural environment, so when sea floor trawling nets pull them up in addition to their intended catches, the blobfish are generally tossed back into the ocean