Green paws and their understanding of therianthropy

Hi everyone!
I am Volchara

Therianthropy used to be a designation of the fact that a person feels like a beast
And now therianthropy has turned into...spiritual
And any attacks of brutality are considered not normal
Some even say that therianthropy is not a forest, not green clothes
But "spiritual"
And this is very common in our Russian therian community
Like...some of these spirital have forgotten what it really is!
If they are animals, but they sit on their asses at home and write on the Internet what very spiritual animals they are - then they are not animals at all
An animal is such only when it finds any way to feel free and truly not human, and does this to be happy
If a "therian" just complains about his life, says that he would like to be a dog, then this is just a desire to run away from problems
Yes
Therianthropy is definitely not green clothes and the goblincore style, it is not a quad, not quad gear
It's all about traveling, finding your place in nature, perhaps helping your animal relatives)
Of course, you can wear goblincore clothes, love this style
You can freely wear quad bike equipment to feel more animalistic and so that others know what kind of animal you feel like
Yes, every theri can do all this! Of course
But this does not imply therianthropy
But it can brighten it up)
I would like all newbies to know about this
Because...sometimes you want to weed out those who really don't understand what it is and how terribly bad it is sometimes and how harmful it can be
Personally, I've been going wild lately and am going a little crazy because of this
It's both exciting and bad

More about spiritual ones
I don't mind, okay
But sometimes spiritual animals cross the line! And they call some psychological theri sick, which really offends me and some of my friends

But many newbie "therians" hide behind the fact that they are spiritual and therefore do not justify their experience in any way
Which looks strange
I hope everything will be weeded out soon

I hope many will agree with me

(2025-03-15 18:40)Volchara Wrote:  Because...sometimes you want to weed out those who really don't understand what it is and how terribly bad it is sometimes and how harmful it can be

That's not going to happen. Many people only pay attention to what rings true to them and then make their own interpretations of labels, and "take" them for themselves. There is unfortunately nothing we can do about that, especially when a niche community gains more recognition in the mainstream.

What we can do is stay true to ourselves and keep our own communities strong. But without gatekeeping too much and telling other people what they can be or not. Parts of your post were rather inconsiderate, do you really know how the people behind those posts actually live and feel? Maybe their experience seems shallow or contradictory to you, but that doesn't have to be true on their end.

We are not completely animals, obviously. As therians we still have our human sides, and I think that human side is largely where the spiritual aspect you speak of comes from, though there's no reason to completely discount that there might be spiritualism in some form in the animal world. Humans and animals are not as different as most people think, afterall, and it drives me crazy when people assume we are and that humans know everything, even about creatures we can't communicate with. Many therians, also, when speaking of their therian experience as spiritual are probably referring to why they are therians; displaced soul, past life, etc. But I think as humans with an animal side, it can be quite natural for spirituality to meld with animality. In addition, every therian experiences the "ratio" or balance between their human and animal side differently. Some might be really deep in their animality and don't thrive unless they are out in nature, others cannot for multiple reasons live a life skewed more towards a wilder, animal life either because they experience more of their human side or some other logistical, personal reason.

That said, there shouldn't be belittling among different views and lifestyles. Psychological therians are no less legitimate than spiritual therians and just because one person doesn't have the same views and experiences doesn't mean they can claim others are sick. As you said, it's incredibly harmful and presumptuous making assumptions about a life that no one other than the individual experiencing it has no actual knowledge of. Especially when there is a very clear distinction between a "sick" individual and genuine therianthropy in my opinion, and that's the belief that one can physically shift. That's lycanthropy a recognized clinical condition with very specific symptoms. Psychological therianthropy is just a different lens of therian experience, not better or worse.

I do also agree with your point that one thing like wearing gear does not signify therianthropy, as we've been discussing in other threads. It's so much more complex. Therianthropy as you said is a path, one that only the individual experiencing it can make decisions on about where it'll take them.

I like this topic, I agree with you and sadly don’t have much to add. Although I would like to say that I had a lot of troubles with Russian therian community too. I can’t imagine myself fitting into a group of people who think that therianthropy is only about, I don’t know, putting your theriotype as your pfp and placing theta-delta in your nickname. And of course constantly complaining how hard it is to be a human - I mean, they destroy the nature and things like that! I wonder what’s stopping people like these just go outside and start small, for example - cleaning the place around their house. Of course there are exceptions, but it’s even harder to fit within them.

Sorry my reply turned into a complain too lol. I just wanted to say that I strongly agree with you and I wish you to be strong, in the end people that you described either will leave the community as they realise they aren’t therians or this label isn’t for them, or just grow up. The best thing to do is be patient and to not gatekeep.

I don't think that therianthropy is about nature inherently. Feeling like an animal doesn't have to mean that you want to be in nature. I don't generally enjoy being outside, but I am still a fox. I behave like one from the indoors. I don't need to have a connection to nature to know that. Obviously a wild fox would be outside. I get that, but I am also human. I find my way to feel free through other methods. I agree that a therian is not someone who simply has an animal spirit, but you can feel animalistic traits without a connection to nature.

i understand your point of view on therianthropy and I also think that if you are to call yourself a therian it shouldnt be only about finding ur animal, complain about how unfair life is only later on to claim ypu are actually not a therian at all.
It should be an adventure about discovering yourself, definitely not a short-term hyperfixation.

This post might seem hard but I definitely agree with you in every way. I love finding ways of connecting with my theriotypes, dont look at the negatives but find the positives. Take it slow. I dont even have any therian gear because it was never a requirement. I am concerned about people who do quadrobics only because they see other people do it as well despite them not feeling well while doing it.

Again this post is not supposed to be hateful in any way, I just like people be creative with their theriotype ways since I think you should not focus on what the commumity does and focus on yourself.

I talked a bit off topic but I hope it still helps people realize that its your journey and that there are no rules you have to follow

I do see where you’re coming from with some of these comments. I would say that I feel more integrated to nature than most. I love looking at beautiful things outside, I’ve always felt freedom and joy out in nature, I often call Mother Nature my “mom” in a way, I actually plan to have animal feeders all across my yard in the future, because I would love to help animals feel safe somewhere and survive for a little longer. I love referring to my home as my “den”, I like stepping outside at 3 am to appreciate the cold calmness of the night without people around...the point is: I love nature, I’ve always loved being close to it, and my behaviors aren’t exactly what you would find in a human. They’re quite nonhuman, if you will

However, I do have to embrace the fact that 30% of my life is still quite civilized. Having to take a car in order to go somewhere far away, having to post my art on social media, having to talk to humans when my internet’s out or plumbing isn’t working...ughhhhh. I don’t like the fact that I need to do these more human things in order to get by in society, but there’s nothing I can really do about it. I just get it over with so I can get to more exciting things! Just because I do these things doesn’t mean that I enjoy it, I actually can’t stand most social media, but I’ve gotta post stuff in order to gain an audience.

Basically, just because I have human chores integrated in my life doesn’t make me less nonhuman and otherkin...sometimes I just kinda HAVE to do it. It sucks, I don’t like doing them, they’re often very confusing (to my nonhuman brain at least), but it’s whatever. I know it’s easier said than done, I know from experience, but you can learn just what makes someone feel alterhuman just by asking! It’s fun to learn others’ experiences, to see what connections they really have with nonhuman animals and creatures.

Trust me, I understand that you’ve probably had bad experiences with “fake” alterhumans, but you can put your anger aside and build bonds with others if you’d like to. Don’t be like me, see others for more than what they’re like on the outside

Part of the reason I hated/resisted the therian community for so many years was because largely what I'd heard was rumors of the children TikTok therians. I knew I was an animal, but I couldn't stand the idea of associating myself with this group of people who (from what I had been told at the time) ate cat food and turned being an animal into a fun hobby.

I also feel like therianthropy is used as an attention-seeker's tactic sometimes because it's so off the beaten trail. Sometimes I feel like younger therians/greenpaws over-exaggerate - or make up - their therianthropy to get the attention they want. It's like these people race to join as many obscure communities as possible to try to seem "unique" or (god, I hate this word) "quirky". It's a delicate balance because on the one hand, I hate to tell someone that they can't explore their identity or that they're not welcome in certain places. But when it's very obvious that they're not even questioning being a therian, that they are in no sense of the word a therian and are simply someone who likes nature-themed clothing and hiking and running around on all fours, it makes me want to pick them up and throw them against a wall when they continue to protest. It feels similar to me as people who clearly and continuously fake mental illness online.

I don't even mind the kids who never go into nature - I agree with the user "UniqueUsernameTADA" (...?) to some degree, though not entirely. Some people don't have access to nature, or can't go, or don't want to, and that doesn't make them less of a therian. And yelling at them, or beating them down, isn't going to get them to understand what they're doing. I mean, hell, even explaining calmly that from their behavior and understanding of therianthropy, they are not a true therian doesn't get them to listen.

I just hate seeing my identity turned into someone's hobby. I hate seeing the community, which other therians and weres struggled to express and to reconcile with society for decades, turned into a laughing matter because twelve year olds can't control themselves long enough in their endless search for adult attention to consider the people they might be hurting. Please, for the love of Christ, someone give these kids some self-awareness. Please.

(2025-03-16 13:44)zip-bomb-dog Wrote:  Part of the reason I hated/resisted the therian community for so many years was because largely what I'd heard was rumors of the children TikTok therians. I knew I was an animal, but I couldn't stand the idea of associating myself with this group of people who (from what I had been told at the time) ate cat food and turned being an animal into a fun hobby.

I also feel like therianthropy is used as an attention-seeker's tactic sometimes because it's so off the beaten trail. Sometimes I feel like younger therians/greenpaws over-exaggerate - or make up - their therianthropy to get the attention they want. It's like these people race to join as many obscure communities as possible to try to seem "unique" or (god, I hate this word) "quirky". It's a delicate balance because on the one hand, I hate to tell someone that they can't explore their identity or that they're not welcome in certain places. But when it's very obvious that they're not even questioning being a therian, that they are in no sense of the word a therian and are simply someone who likes nature-themed clothing and hiking and running around on all fours, it makes me want to pick them up and throw them against a wall when they continue to protest. It feels similar to me as people who clearly and continuously fake mental illness online.

I don't even mind the kids who never go into nature - I agree with the user "UniqueUsernameTADA" (...?) to some degree, though not entirely. Some people don't have access to nature, or can't go, or don't want to, and that doesn't make them less of a therian. And yelling at them, or beating them down, isn't going to get them to understand what they're doing. I mean, hell, even explaining calmly that from their behavior and understanding of therianthropy, they are not a true therian doesn't get them to listen.

I just hate seeing my identity turned into someone's hobby. I hate seeing the community, which other therians and weres struggled to express and to reconcile with society for decades, turned into a laughing matter because twelve year olds can't control themselves long enough in their endless search for adult attention to consider the people they might be hurting. Please, for the love of Christ, someone give these kids some self-awareness. Please.

I subscribe to every word you say, and I am disgusted by the current generation of new Therians, especially their explanations of therianthropy!
when I hear "Therian mask", I immediately feel negative emotions towards the one who said this bullshit
Therian mask, Therian gear... no!
That's not what it's called at all!
These are just attributes and they have nothing to do with Therians!
These kids don't understand the seriousness of the theme…

Excuse my ignorance, but what are 'green paws'? Is that a new TikTok term I've missed out on? Can someone fill me in on this? Again sorry if this is something I should know by now.