We are currently seeking the originator of the term “fictional other / F/O” for historical preservation purposes.
It appears that the term was coined on Tumblr, in the late spring or more likely early summer of 2017.
The earliest post we have yet found that uses the term is from July 1, 2017.
Looking through the archives of self ship blogs that were active at the time we see that in June of 2017 many people were reblogging “imagine your fave” posts, and in August of 2017 these same blogs were reblogging “imagine your F/O” posts.
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We’ve been researching the origin of the term “fictional other” for several days.
By looking at blogs that were active in the self ship community at the time, we have determined that the term “fictional other / f/o” started being heavily used by the self ship community in the summer of 2017, specifically between June and August. During that time there is a transition in posts from “imagine your fave” to “imagine your F/O”.
After sharing that information, a friend sent us a link to a blog that mentioned the term “fictional other” all the way back in 2015, years before it seems to have gained use in the self ship community.
That link was to one of our own blogs, which was, to say the least, extremely surprising.
Specifically, the link was to our fictionkin advice and discourse blog @fromfiction
Here’s the context.
From the context, some things are clear.
First, this is obviously the first time that Toko (😼🔪) who ran the blog at the time, had ever heard the term “Fictional Other” as he didn’t seem to know what to make of it or how to contextualize it.
Second of all, the asker refers to “fictional other” as a coping mechanism, and within the same breath as “copingkin”, so it very possible that “fictional other” actually started in the alterhuman community.
So that’s fascinating!
If anyone in the alterhuman community back in 2015 era has any more information on this, or remembers or has links to relevant info and who might have coined the term, please let us know!