jade

We've seen some posts around like this for other subsections of the community, so we figured we'd make a 'heartedness one. This isn’t extensive, nor does it cover the entirety of the hearted experience–but it should serve as a general rundown of the community. This post has a PDF version that's going to be archived on our Neocities.

Terminology

Otherhearted:  – Synonyms: “Otherkith”A person with a strong connection to a species, character or other entity, usually defined by identifying "with", but not "as". More on what exactly this means later.

Concepthearted: A person whose otherhearted identity relates to concepts. (Emotionhearted, songhearted, timehearted, etc).

Facthearted: A person whose otherhearted identity relates to real, this-world people, places or individual animals. (Hearttypes including specific oceans, public figures/celebrities, specific animals, etc).

Fictionhearted: A person whose otherhearted identity relates to fictional characters, species or places. (Nightfuryhearted, Mariohearted, etc).

Planthearted: A person whose otherhearted identity relates to plants. (Treehearted, sunflowerhearted, etc).

Theriohearted: – Synonyms: “Animalhearted” A person whose otherhearted identity relates to animals. (Wolfhearted, bearhearted, etc).

Hearttype: – Synonyms: “Kithtype”, debatably “Synpath”The entity that an otherhearted individual identifies with.

–hearted: A suffix used to denote your specific hearttype. For example, a person whose hearttype is wolves would be wolfhearted.

Hearthome: A hearthome is a place–be it real or fictional–that a person has a deep connection with, often to the point of considering it a “home” regardless of if they’ve never been there in their current life/body.

Synpath: A thing someone identifies with and not as, used similarly to "hearttype", though there's nuances separating the two terms depending on who you ask.

Symbols

The otherhearted symbol or diamond heart was proposed by tumblr user aestherians in 2017, chosen by the community using a poll. The design features a ring interlocking with a heart, which converges into a diamond shape in the middle.

What Does It Really Mean?

“Identifying With”

“Identifying with” is a broad category that’s understandably, quite confusing. This explanation aims to make it a little more understandable, but this absolutely doesn’t cover the entirety of what “identifying with” can mean. “It” in the following points refers to a hearttype or potential hearttype, whatever that may be.

You feel like you “should have” been it, but you aren’t.

You feel like you “could have” been it, but you aren’t.

It is a part of you even if it’s not entirely “you”.

You feel like you will be it in a future life.

You believe that in another life, you are/have been it, but right now you’re not.

Your sense of self wouldn’t be the same without it as a part of your life.

It’s your ideal self, or a representation of it.

You feel at home around it or imagining being around it.

It’s the form of your daemon.

You believe it’s a parallel life of yours, but you’re not it right now.

It influences your identity in some way.

It’s a special interest or hyperfixation that feels tied to your sense of self.

You feel like it is a part of the same family as you.

You feel like it is, in a way, kind of almost you, but a little “to the left”--too distinct to be you in a literal sense.

You feel like you belong with it, but you’re not literally one of them.

It is a part of your identity in some way other than you being literally them.

A lot of the above points relate in similar ways to hearthome identities, but reworded to incorporate “it” as a place instead. Additional points for hearthomes include:

Feeling like you should be there.

Feeling like you were there once, and it’s left a mark on your identity.

That place holding a special place within your identity.

Feeling a “pull” toward that place.

FAQ:

How is this different from otherkin/therians?

A therian/otherkin identifies as their kintype, whereas an otherhearted person doesn’t, and will have a different type of connection to them. Think of the difference as “I am [kintype]” vs “[hearttype] is a part of my identity”. However, there’s plenty of nuance, grey areas between them, and these identities can even shift and become each other over time, so this is a general statement not accounting for those nuances.

Both things are still alterhuman, and no identity is “lesser” than the other–hearttypes can have just as much influence over a person’s identity as kintypes can.

Can hearttypes be chosen/voluntary?

Yes! There’s a divide between otherkin and otherlinkers in this way, but this hasn’t ever really been a need for the ‘hearted community to define or draw a line between.

What things can be a hearttype?

Anything! Generally, if you are currently experiencing it, the rule is that it can happen. You’re experiencing it, after all!

Hearttypes can be (but aren’t limited to): 

Animals, mythical creatures, plants, fungi

Oceans, forests, off-planet locations, buildings, fictional locations, other natural formations like rivers and mountains

People, real or fictional

Emotions, colours, aesthetics, sounds, seasons, songs

Objects, robots, machines, artworks

Book series, tv shows, movies, games

Do otherhearted people shift?

Otherhearted people absolutely can experience shifts, as can any other alterhuman and even non-alterhumans. Shifting isn’t a thing exclusive to otherkin/therians.

Is this different from a special interest or hyperfixation?

For some people, yes! We’ve seen many people (including ourselves) who experience these things with a lot of overlap. For others, no–they’re distinct things even if there might be some similarities.

Hearttypes can be the same thing as your special interest/hyperfixation, or they might not be. Sometimes hearttypes form spins/hyperfixes and sometimes it’s the other way around! It’s really up to the individual to decide whether these things are hearttypes or not–there’s no set default for this.

Further Reading:

Alterhuman Archive’s Otherhearted Section: https://www.zotero.org/groups/4956615/altarchive/collections/R9URWR67 A compilation of heartedness related writings from across the community.

Otherhearted-Culture-Is: https://otherhearted-culture-is.tumblr.com/ A culture-is blog for otherhearteds that’s turned into more of a general purpose otherheartedness blog.

Michael, who hears people laughing and is convinced that they're laughing at him, terrifying him to his core, but also agitating him, making him aggressive, filling his head with images of hurting them, forcing them to stop.

Michael, who feels bugs crawling under and over his skin, making his whole body itch until he scratches himself into a bleeding, whimpering mess.

Michael, who sees shadows in the corner of his eye, who hears thumps and footsteps, convinced that somebody or something is there, ready to kill him; and so, terrified as he is, he grabs a knife and searches through his entire apartment multiple times, looking into every nook and cranny to make sure he's alone.

Michael, who is paralysed with fear, hearing noises outside of his room, but unable to get up and look, forced to wait and imagine the worst, convinced that it is the end for him.

Michael, who never feels safe.

Michael, who never feels wanted.

Michael, who never knows if it's just his mind playing tricks on him.

Michael, who suffers from paranoia.

I get paranoid and have unusual perceptual experiences, but not hallucinations. I withdraw from time to time but I'm still sociable. I get restless and sometimes make risky decisions but I always rein myself in. I might sleep for 13 hours and hardly manage the bare minimum for months but I'm still kind of okay. I talk to myself almost all day to keep myself company but only in whispers when no one is listening. I get weird thoughts and think in strange loops and paradoxes for hours straight but I am always aware that it's all nonsense.

Therapists tell me how self-aware I am. Friends consider me the voice of reason. I'm playing a role that doesn't fit my internal reality. And I wish I could just do something crazy to show people I'm not normal.

I'm not being watched.

I'm not a horrible person.

no one is watching me through my phone's camera.

I will not fall for my mom's ragebait.

oh so you want to feel like you’re going insane because you hear tapping? Because you hear breathing? Oh you think that funny?? Try staying up because you’re so fucking paranoid that when you go to sleep you’re going to have a nightmare, do you really want to joke about that?? I’ve panicked that someone was after me, watching me. I’ll think people are after me when they’re not, that someone’s looking at me , that something is there.

making fun of people who paranoia or people who panic a lot is not cool and will never be cool. Call me cliche but imagine being in someone’s shoes who experiences this; every. Single. Day.

Walking through alleyways, taking shortcuts into overgrown empty lots, strolling into a claustrophobic corner store for a small break from the summer heat by the drink fridge. Learning the best bus routes to avoid the tourist crowds, getting to know the subway schedule by heart.

Coyote loves sitting in a quiet shady corner of a busy park and eating a greasy sandwich from the local shop for lunch, and coyote kind of likes the smell of beer and sweat and other bodily fluids that wafts out of busy bars on summer nights. Coyote watches hungrily when the rabbits are out nibbling on people's gardens in the early mornings, and coyote quietly protests every rat not chased when they scurry along the sidewalk at night. Coyote wants ice cream for dinner even when its vegan and teriyaki for dessert even when its been in the fridge for a day (or two) too long, and coyote wishes he had just a little bit less impulse control at the farmers market when the fresh fish are out.

Maybe this is part of why I don't draw as strong a delineation between human and animal as some therians do, nor reject humanity as strongly as some do. The coyote in me is animal and yet delights in humanity, wants to sniff around and make a practical home in the margins beneath blackberry brambles and concrete rather than dream fruitlessly of an idealized life in human-untouched wilderness. The wilderness doesn't have teriyaki.

Of course, I love “the wilderness” too, but I recognize how much the idea of wilderness is a constructed concept that's, paradoxically, deeply wrapped up in human perception. So many “untouched” places have been stewarded by human hands for thousands of years. So many wilderness documentaries of far off lands are a camera behind which sits an extensive film crew and bustling roads and towns full of human life.

•It is not enough to pretend to be an ally, it is not enough to say you are going to make changes then never do them, it is not enough to virtue signal to make yourself feel better about certain issues. Since making my own space for alterhumans of color, I have found that I am far from the only one who has felt in some way uncomfortable in majority white spaces, I am far from the only one who has faced racial discrimination in the alterhuman community, and sadly, I am far from the last to face racial discrimination in this community.