"Identifying"

Eli's right, it can be rather annoying to constantly backtrack in your speech to educate people who aren't informed about Therianthropy. It's much better to be as specific as possible to avoid confusion at best and the bullying/hatred at worst over some simple misunderstanding.

I suspect you're still going to get people using ambiguous phraseology while thinking they're being specific.

(2021-11-10 18:56)Tornir Wrote:  I suspect you're still going to get people using ambiguous phraseology while thinking they're being specific.

Can't have everything you want in the world. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's true...

I simply state my position clearly. I do not need an identifier. If questioned, I will explain clearly why "I" feel the way I do, and as my signature says, that's on me. If you take it wrong, that's on you. I do not need to be defined or seek others' approval. I am a Crystal Dragon, and like my wolf Kin...we need no approval. (Yeah, having raised wolves I know them quite well.)

One day most all Therians come to this stance simply because they know, and when you know, who cares what others think or feel.

(2021-11-10 18:08)elinox Wrote:  I think the "I identify as" came about vs the simpler "I am" because many non-therians have an easier time understanding and accepting that. Saying "I am" without the obvious caveat of "but not physically" makes people assume you mean literally.

I agree with this, too. It's unfortunate that a lot of people (including myself) feel like it's necessary at times to clarify in specifics what we mean when we express these parts of ourselves, but it's also one of the reasons I have learned to really only open up about myself with people I trust. But, yeah, the "reassurance" that identifying as therian isn't the same as believing we are physically a different animal than we are is a weird thing that feels almost necessary outside of these spaces. I'm still pretty new to all of it, though, so maybe it's something I'll work through as I gain more confidence in myself and these aspects of who I am.

(2021-11-10 11:51)Tornir Wrote:  I think we need to be very careful about policing language. People are going to find information on how to refer to themselves and their experiences on places like Tumblr that may have been shaped by an agenda that isn't immediately obvious to a n00b. What they want to say, and what we think we're hearing, may be two different things, and we won't find that out if we bite people for "uttering a heresy".

I think a general rule that should serve us well, would be to not adopt special terminology that makes us sound like a cult.

When I consider trying to explain to a total stranger the nuance between "identify as" vs "identify with", they are usually confused as to why that distinction is important at all.

If people in the general public cannot understand the words we are using to describe ourselves, then I think this is indicative of the point that we have chosen those words poorly.

LP,
Dusty

(2021-11-09 23:15)DustWolf Wrote:  In principle, therianthropy is supposed to just make sense if it applies to you. Therianthropy is an explanation for things we've always experienced.

If you have to search within yourself to figure it out, you're probably overthinking it.

I am very much agreeing with this statement made. What I sometimes see people in the community doing is saying they sort of "decided" to question a theriotype again, almost as if it's a hobby. Or they decide to meditate to sort of dig for a new identity, like a treasure hunt. Of course, there are those who say their experiences are the result of this constant questioning, but sometimes people even ask me: "Kyra, have you been wanting to question any animal lately?" I do not want anything, and I am not supposed to want to question anything. Questioning is what you decide to do based on experiences only. Therewith of course also come my experiences of people saying they want to "become" a therian and all that jazz.

Furthermore, I agree with the fact that some say "I identify as" to show they know they are not physically an animal and that they do not identify with it either. The first part, in my opinion, doesn't sound all that unhealthy to the community. If we were to throw around that we are animals instead of identifying as one, it only strengthens the assumptions people have about us: that we think we are entirely non-human.
On the "identifying with" part, I am personally not a fan of having such strict terminology and the whole "you either are a therian or not" concept, because therianthropy can be a very fluid experience and varies greatly per person. But I assume we sort of have to say it like this, to prevent people from claiming they are therians while they are not (moreso than now).

It just seems like the best way to say it, and people have adopted this way of saying it to be the clearest we can be. I feel like younger people have a good sense for this type of stuff, so that might be why mostly young therians say this. But in my opinion, it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

(2021-11-10 20:04)DustWolf Wrote:  I think a general rule that should serve us well, would be to not adopt special terminology that makes us sound like a cult.

When I consider trying to explain to a total stranger the nuance between "identify as" vs "identify with", they are usually confused as to why that distinction is important at all.

If people in the general public cannot understand the words we are using to describe ourselves, then I think this is indicative of the point that we have chosen those words poorly.

LP,
Dusty

That's how it was in the beginning. No lexicon of terms; you had to describe your experiences using standard English. That took some thought.
I wonder if that's robbed the community of a more nuanced self-understanding, now that folks can just look at a list, decide "Yeah, that one's close enough.", and state that {word} is what they experience?

(2021-11-10 21:00)Tornir Wrote:  That's how it was in the beginning. No lexicon of terms; you had to describe your experiences using standard English. That took some thought.
I wonder if that's robbed the community of a more nuanced self-understanding, now that folks can just look at a list, decide "Yeah, that one's close enough.", and state that {word} is what they experience?

I think the terms we use today lead to a lot of misunderstanding. There are even examples of people reading whole life stories being described and just somehow amend their perception of it to fit whatever they personally are experiencing. It's not until we talk about what the experiences actually are, that there is understanding.

I think in general we spend too much time criticising other groups and too little time actually talking about our experiences. It of course is not easy, but it should be the focus of what we discuss here. Of course that problem is somewhat off-topic too...

LP,
Dusty