Virtual Animal Organs: Otherkin Bodies and Social Orders in the Virtual World of Online Forums

Abstract

This thesis is an investigation into the otherkin, individuals who identify as non-human as an embodied ontology. The online forum was the point of entry, its rigid hierarchies and basic structure laying bare the moments of transgression and boundary-making. Through content analysis of text posts on otherkin forums, this thesis theorizes on the mechanisms for social reproduction, embodiment, intimacy, and taboo in this unique subculture. Undergirding this analysis is a critical awareness of the limitations of virtual anthropology and an emphasis on post-structuralist thought. Though otherkin bodies resist normative enclosure, the forum social structure is an active site of identity formation and organization. This thesis intervenes in the dissonance between these two elements.