Kin, ID, and selfhood (Old version)

This is the old version of Kin, ID, and selfhood. I'm keeping this up only for posterity's sake as I feel the writing does not describe the topic accurately, and I want to be a bit more impartial. I'd recommend giving the new one a read, even if you've read this version.

This is part of a series of posts about the concept of kin and its history. For a more comprehensive explanation of what kin is, check here. A glossary is also included at the bottom for convenience, as not all terms are immediately explained. This was posted 11 Mar, 2022.

It was last updated on 13 Oct, 2022.

What changed: Unlisted/Link-only, link to rewritten post

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The Tumblr era of fictionkin spawned a lot of misunderstandings in the community, and you may be familiar with its successor, new-age kinning. It's a little confusing to know how we went from 'I am/am kin with this character, I was them in a past life' to 'I kin this character because I like him', but it's actually a less jarring and sudden change than it seems.

One of the ways to see how the term 'kin lost its meaning is through language. Y'know, the place where things begin changing in the first place.

To do this, we have to go over a couple terms: Kintype, ID, and selfhood.

A kintype, in fictionkin terms, is a character you identify as. You are or were this character in a past life.

An ID is a character you identify as. You are or were this character in a past life.

A selfhood is a character you identify as. You are or were this character in a past life.

You see that? It's amazing how language works.

You may be confused at my sarcasm. These words all meant the same thing, but they were used by Tumblr users in a hierarchical order. Because of that, this is their true meaning:

Because of the people who weren't quite sure how to explain 'kin, kintype eventually was watered down simply to 'I relate a lot to this character' in newer circles. The people in older circles were seen as old fashioned and, if you'll excuse my Tumblr, exclusionist gatekeepers, for wanting to keep the definition of 'kin intact.

With the definition of 'kin being watered down enough to the point it was a popular enough belief that you could choose your kintypes*, the atmosphere around kin on Tumblr changed quite a bit. While more orthodox 'kin were considered gatekeepers, the proto-new-age group did the gatekeeping themselves. Arguments such as 'you can't kin outside your race' began propping up out of basically nowhere - you can read more on that here.

After the drama with yanderebitchclub (linked above), people no longer wanted to associate with this reactionary and toxic version of the kin community they had created. This is what started people deciding to just 'kin for fun' instead, which eventually snowballed into the community on Twitter you may be familiar with today.

Where do our beloved terms stand now?

It should be noted that the more orthodox or 'traditional' fickin community does still exist - however, there may be trouble finding it on spaces like Tumblr and Twitter because they've been buried under the sea of teenagers screaming about delusional attachments (or even just older kin drama that doesn't concern them). Considering when fictionkin really started, many of the members are likely much older now and don't concern themselves with conventional social media. However, some prolific users remain.

Yanderebitchclub: the kin drama that changed Tumblr (for more on the kin/race drama)

A decent amount of this is from personal experience and observation. Feel free to take any of it with a grain of salt.