This little ditty is about a topic that apparently sparks a lot of controversy. A topic that seems to circulate tumblr but, from what I’ve seen on the outside, has died down a bit. That’s not to say it still isn’t screeched often (mostly by trolls), but where I frequent, it does finally net less attention now. So let’s talk about oppression in regards to otherkin.

What is oppression?
The distinction between oppression and discrimination is important and it saddens me to see places like tumblr use them interchangeably. When you use the word oppression with the word discrimination, it is inferred that you are talking about the ‘law’ kind of oppression and not the ‘feeling’ kind of oppression. There is a big difference between the two. When you say “we are oppressed” you refer to the ‘law’ kind of oppression as opposed to saying “we feel oppressed” which refers to the ‘feeling’ kind.

Because people learn a lot from word-of-mouth, and word of mouth can be very inaccurate, let’s look at some dictionary definitions:
“a situation in which people are governed in an unfair and cruel way and prevented from having opportunities and freedom”, “a feeling of being very uncomfortable and worried”- Cambridge Dictionary
“unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power”, “something that oppresses especially in being an unjust or excessive exercise of power”, “a sense of being weighed down in body or mind”- Merriam-Webster Dictionary
“the cruel or unfair treatment of a group of people.”, “the act of subjugating by cruelty, force, etc or the state of being subjugated in this way”, “the condition of being afflicted or tormented”, “the condition of having something lying heavily on one’s mind, imagination, etc”, “an oppressing or being oppressed”, “a thing that oppresses”, “a feeling of being weighed down, as with worries or problems; physical or mental distress” – Collins English Dictionary
“the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner”, “an act or instance of oppressing or subjecting to cruel or unjust impositions or restraints”, “the state of being oppressed”, “the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, anxiety, etc.” – dictionary.com

Thus it is easy to see there are two kinds of oppression.
Law; when an authority/power instates laws (which are unjust, unfair, burdensome, cruel and/or are excessive) against a specific group of people which prevents/prohibits them from opportunities and freedoms that other groups have.
Feeling; feeling weighed down/burdened/distressed mentally and/or physically.

To demonstrate the difference between discrimination and oppression; “As an example, consider the Jews interned by the Nazis from the 1930s to the end of the last war. The victims were selected for internment because they were Jewish (which is discrimination) and they were then made to live in appalling accommodations and lost their businesses and valuables (which is, of course, the oppression).” Miranda 2015

Are otherkin oppressed?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: There are no laws to my knowledge that single otherkin out and prohibit us from anything other people are allowed. We are legally allowed all rights and freedoms others are allowed, we have no special laws prohibiting us or demanding we pay more etc. We can get jobs, married, holidays, emigrate, citizenship, education, insurance, therapy, and medical treatment, we can own land and houses, use banks, shop, and vote. We pay bills and are subject to every law, no more and no less, that everyone else is subject to (in reference to a first world country as that is where I live). We are treated as normal humans with the full human benefit attached.

Can otherkin feel oppressed?
Is oppression an emotion? No. Is it a ‘feeling’? Yes, it can be thought of as two types of ‘feelings’. One is a combination of feeling the effects of being oppressed, the other is “a feeling of being weighed down, as with worries or problems; physical or mental distress”. One feeling does not always accompany the other.
Take the legal age to vote, drink or drive for example. Many people (myself included) would agree that teenagers and younger haven’t accumulated enough life experience to make those decisions and actions. However, this is quite literally the oppression of any age below 18 (Australian laws). When I was those ages, I didn’t feel oppressed, I wasn’t even thinking about those things, and now that I can I still don’t care about voting, driving or drinking. I was quite literally oppressed, but I didn’t feel oppressed.
People can falsely attribute discrimination and bullying as oppression when the definition is unknown. Social discrimination is not the government directly oppressing people, social discrimination is up to the whims of the specific community. The student body at a primary school can exclude the known gay people from their games. While this is bullying and discrimination, this is not oppression.
Someone can be clinically depressed or feel like they’re suffocating when in a party environment. They could be described as feeling oppressed. If someone is physically pinned down on the floor, they (as in their body) are oppressed.

So if someone were to not understand the definition, they may think that they feel legally oppressed, when in actual fact, they are not. Which then leads them to claim they are oppressed, when in actual fact, they are not. Someone can, however, feel oppressed even if they are not legally oppressed, just as someone can be legally oppressed yet not feel oppressed.

To sum things up-
While we may be discriminated at times, and we do have the capacity to feel oppressed, otherkin are not oppressed.

For someone else’s essay on otherkin and oppression see here.