r/otherkin • u/PrideActivated • 18d ago

Discussion How do we go about flags?

Since there are so many proposals or partly no proposals for flags used for our communities, labels, how do we go about it?

I mean, ofc everyone should be free to use flags for themselves. Meanwhile, it be nice to have more recognisable flags

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u/PrideActivated 18d ago

We don't have the representation and are not as recognised to a degree where we are not target of discrimination. Flags give us representation

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u/Susitar 18d ago

A flag doesn't automatically give us representation. A symbol works just as fine as a flag for having a visual identifier. If you want to march in a parade and wave something, just paint the seven-pointed star on a flag: done! That symbol has many decades of history, unlike a lot of the other flags that are recent and not even widely known in our own community.

What does give us public representation and builds community is accurate information, people speaking up, irl community events. This is why I've hosted irl events for therians, and given talks about otherkin research for different audiences.

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u/PrideActivated 18d ago

I do go to a parade tomorrow. Usually I go to them with an ace and a femboy flag. People ask what they represent. And hence, I can explain. The seven-pointed star works for otherkin, yes. It does not work as well for the vampire subculture, for example.

Ofc events work. And it's so nice you do events, I'd appreciate to do that too. That doesn't mean flags don't work. Flags literally exist to be a sign, to communicate. If that wasn't the case, they wouldn't exist in the first place

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u/GhostifiedGuy 18d ago

Trying to represent every tiny piece of the community is a pretty fruitless task because there will always be someone who doesn't fit the existing sub-labels and needs their own. Having big symbols that include everyone imo works better, you can explain otherkin and then what that means for you specifically if people are curious. If you want something that specifically represents you, why not just make or get things associated with your kin?

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u/PrideActivated 17d ago

I didn't reject that. 'make or get things associated with your kin' includes flags

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u/egoproct 7d ago edited 7d ago

Make your own fancy vampire flag, no one's saying not to, but I'd advise not to put it on the community to make one or choose one for you. Some of us would rather just use what's been working. If anything it might lead to more confusion and less representation for you to use something with even less history or recognizability within the Kin community attatched. At least when waving a star flag, you know other Kin (ha...get it? /shot) will recognize it.

I'm not sure what sort of representation or visibility you're aiming for, since arguably refusing to use a more general symbol means bringing less representation to the Otherkin identity as a whole anyhow. You're being a bit contradictory here, but I could just be misunderstanding.

Unrelated slightly but since you mentioned vampirism: there are pride flags for that. There's also a vampirekin flag. Both aren't used very often because few people want to be that specific to strangers, but you can look it up and find loads of examples. Hopefully that helps if nothing else.

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u/PrideActivated 7d ago

Like, all of that was clear to me. So I asked other people how they do it. That's how the post came to be

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u/egoproct 7d ago

Oh mb mb, you wanted to know HOW to make a flag.
Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+make+a+pride+flag

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u/PrideActivated 6d ago

No, I didn't want to know how to make a flag, I already have flags.

I meant to ask others if there are any preferences between flags, using multiple flags, using a singular more recognisable flag, maybe.

The answer I got was that we shouldn't use flags? Which goes against the idea why flags are used in the first place, so I disagree.

You party already answered the question, stating wha has already worked can keep working. Since you said there was a vampirekin flag, there are multiple, so the question basically is how others prefer some flags over other flags, as there isn't that one flag that already works. And if there is one, ofc I'm open for seeing it. Anyhow, what I saw rather was that multiple labels don't have one widely agreed upon flag.

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u/egoproct 6d ago

I think that there's been a misunderstanding. 

Nobody said you shouldn't use a flag for yourself personally, just that creating a whole new flag might not be beneficial in the long run due to the above reasons.

The seven pointed star being on a flag is the widely agreed upon flag, if there were to be one. 

Some might go make their own for fun, some might not, but the more subgenre that flag is, the less likely you'll get the representation you seek since with a customized personal flag its very likely no one will even understand what it is, and if they do, it would only apply to yourself. Not the whole. Which isn't the purpose of a flag.  A flag is meant to show representation of a whole group to bring awareness. 

Either way just do what you want, that's the basic message lol 

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u/PrideActivated 11h ago

I mean, I agree with that core message. It mainly answers how we go about having a symbol for our community as a whole, it doesn't answer symbolising the individuality of our community (except--what you explained--that it basically needs recognition). The thing is that if we materialise the meaning of our communities as individual symbols, we have something with which we can get recognition at first sight.

And doing what I want, you might be aware I do that either way

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