Growth of "Awakenings" of Therians recently because of TikTok / Instagram

Hello, dear TG users !

I've come today to share my opinion about a subject that really interests me.

Over the weeks, I have seen that the number of Therians have literally boomed up on various social media such as TikTok or Instagram.

It's making me feel like Therianthropy is a trend or just something "aesthetic". Is anyone else having this feeling ?

Constructive criticism and feedback about what I expressed is more than welcome !

Sadly, this has become such an issue that there are many threads about it. (opinions on quadrobics, therianthropy on tiktok, opinions on tiktok therians, chosen therians on TikTok, faking therians on tiktok, etc)
You can look it up if you want and see what other people have had to say

(2024-08-13 15:39)WanderingForests Wrote:  Sadly, this has become such an issue that there are many threads about it. (opinions on quadrobics, therianthropy on tiktok, opinions on tiktok therians, chosen therians on TikTok, faking therians on tiktok, etc)
You can look it up if you want and see what other people have had to say

Thank you for this input, I will look it up !

I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

(2024-08-13 16:30)LavenderWobbleDragon Wrote:  I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

And that's a wonderful thing you ended up here !

I'm just curious how this 'massive' influx of new Therians happened !

(2024-08-13 16:32)Syr Wrote:  

(2024-08-13 16:30)LavenderWobbleDragon Wrote:  I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

And that's a wonderful thing you ended up here !

I'm just curious how this 'massive' influx of new Therians happened !

Through tiktok and thetian content creators like thorn and pd. Find it through tiktok, research with content creators like them, they learn about tg, end up here. (I'm kind of just retelling a shortened version of my journey but there's probably peoplr with a similar one)

hi! like Wander said, there are many other threads discussing this but... in specific to it being an aesthetic here are my thoughts!

over recent years, people have attributed therianthropy to a lot of things (mainly because of the connections of social media, and lockdown making more ppl venture online), both from those in and out of the community! this happens with a lot of communities and identities and is, unfortunately, one of the many side affects of such a connected world. 'fake news' (ill call it this because it is a similarly beleived slightly twisted truth) around a lot of these things isnt new, and stereotyping isnt either. the difference i see though, is the speed at which such stereotypes spread, and how many people they reach. for example, using my own experiences here, because of the presence of social media, the rumours about me being a furry spread much much quicker to a much wider audience because of the connectedness of my local school network and all the other kids at said schools being online, everyone knew what furries were (or what they THOUGHT furries were, basically all the rumours bout zoos and litter boxes and such) because media had told them. they all beleived what they heard, so reactions were quick and drastic. no one thought twice that their definition of furries, or therians, or their stereotypes might be totally false. no one considered i might not be any of those stereotypes. i had no social media, so i had no idea what a furry even was. this, i think, is the typical principle of rumours. wheras in previous years, rumours may have had to be spread from person to person, and limited by the geography of the planet, today they can get anywhere. really really fast. this same principle applies to therianthropy. whereas different 'trends' of therianthropy (like gear for example) may have been limited to one area, creating diverse and different therian cultures that spread naturally, social media blows up one aspect of a community, and makes it widespread on an immediate scale. this is why some certain things are so popular, and others less so. to find the more 'naturally spreading' communities like TG, one has to look deeper nowadays. most people, like those kids at my school, wont look past what they first told. they act and respond to the first thing they receive. this is almost always with our community now gear and quads. so most people stick to being misinformed, as they simply beleive that. i myself was stuck in this for a few weeks. this is how all those expectations and aesthetics form as everyone pushes these ideas onto everyone else. it is much harder for 'naturally spreading' communities to form because they are swamped by media. therianthropy being an aesthetic is nothing new, neither are the stereotypes, we just know about them more. people have always thought what it should and shouldnt be, and will always think that way. unfortunately, misinformation is a side effect of a communities growth. all we can hope for is that others start to realise they need to look deeper than the trends and rumours to find themselves and the true meaning of identities like therianthropy!

i dont mean ant of this to sound condescending, or mean towards anyone! if this upset anyone or i got any of my logic wrong, please let me k! this is just my personal opinion and theory, so take all this with a pinch of salt but i hope it was a good read anyways!

Cya!
Rain

Well, my reawakening was partially precipitated by the reactionary elements of the far right mentioning 'litter boxes' and generally condemning therians as an identity they sought to antagonize. So I suppose a side effect of current trend. Being told by some assholes that I was doing this for funsies, when my existence was continual anxiety and stress of thinking I was broken somehow and pretending to be human 24/7, was a real kick in the snout.

Ultimately I think there are a lot of kids who are trying on the identity to see if it fits their experience. This is normal and a lot of them aren't actually Therian. The downside is there are a lot of aspects to the actual identity that are misrepresented routinely.

(2024-08-13 16:30)LavenderWobbleDragon Wrote:  I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

I found it through YouTube shorts.
I wasn't really intrested untill i found one about being a therian is not a choice.

That made me intrested and i went to le good o'l google aaaaaand somehow, somewhere ended up here xD.


Honestly people should do research about something before they say im that or this tho.

(2024-08-13 21:31)D_Lizard Wrote:  

(2024-08-13 16:30)LavenderWobbleDragon Wrote:  I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

I found it through YouTube shorts.
I wasn't really intrested untill i found one about being a therian is not a choice.

That made me intrested and i went to le good o'l google aaaaaand somehow, somewhere ended up here xD.


Honestly people should do research about something before they say im that or this tho.

Tbh I found it through tiktok comps on youtube and not exactly tiktok itself.