What is or isn't therianthropy

Hello,

Over the years we've noticed a repeating cycle of people coming up with rules of exclusion over who is or is not a therian.

You may have heard things like "identifying as vs with", or "your theriotype is you, it is not a separate entity". The problem with these rules is that while they make sense for many therians, there are exceptions. Who are we to tell people who may very well be therians, that they are not therians, because of some rules we arbitrarily made up?


I understand that it is important, especially to younger therians, to define who the in-group of therianthropy is. Who is with us and who is against us.

Usually what happens is that genuine therians group up and create a set of rules. Then people who want to be therians join up and make subtle changes to these rules to make themselves fit in. Eventually the rules begin to exclude actual therians. Then the rules are torn down and the cycle begins again.


The truth is, we don't know what therianthropy is. We don't really know if any rules govern the experience. And finally, the label is not important. The therian community does not exist to set up boundaries and exclude people. We are here to help people who might be therians. We are here to compare our experiences.

LycanTheory Wrote:Are there going to be imposters claiming they're therians? Yup and we've made being a therian appealing to those people, not just us but the entire community, collectively. It is impossible to determine who might be the real deal and who's not without actually getting to know someone in great detail. The ethics of excluding individuals or groups over reasons arbitrary whilst arguing against exclusion for other individuals or groups is hypocrisy. There is nothing we can do to prevent imposters, the only thing anyone can do is outlast them.

If someone mistakenly believes they are a therian, it is not our job to police them. It is their loss for investing time and energy into something that is not true about themselves.

The story of those usually goes a little like this (Click to View)

(2019-06-22 10:51)Kazehaya Wrote:  When I joined this forum 4 years ago, I was 16yo. I'm 20 now, and I admit that I was a gullible teenager. For example, I believed that I could make the philosophers stone by distilling salt water, then rub it on lead to turn it to gold. I realize now that if it were that simple, it would have been discovered already, etc. It's generally accepted and common knowledge that that's simply impossible, yet my young and imaginative mind was capable of genuinely believing that. At that time in the same place(IRC) someone told me about making gold, someone mentioned Therianthropy. As I recall, he told me something that went like this, "I never believed in Therians until my coworker I knew for a long time came out as one and he felt so relieved, and he acted so much happier and like his true self that I came to truly believe it. I was convinced after seeing the change in him". After hearing that, I joined this forum.

Reflecting back, I realize how much of an impression that made on me and my beliefs. What he had to tell me sounded genuine and believable, and so I took it to heart. I wanted to have what he had, something that made me happy and feel at peace which was something I was not feeling at that time in my life.

I would imagine that I was part tiger, and I would talk to him in my head. I would feel his wild energy if you will, flowing through my body. I would grow teeth and feel as if I were part tiger. Doing this felt invigorating, literally invigorating, almost like a nice buzz of energy. It just felt good to me and it made me happy and feel like I had purpose. I find it very interesting actually that even as I write this now with a completely different belief system, and not thinking or feeling these things for years, I can still instantly reproduce those identical feelings and that "energy" just like before. I forgot about this feeling and it's intensity and mental effect. To be completely honest, it's caught me off guard in this moment. It's bringing back my old mindset and memories about this in a profound way. I can't begin to describe how much peace these feelings used to bring me; it feels no different now then it did then. Feels like a drug. I digressed a bit here but it's my honest feelings and thoughts.

As time passed and I grew older, I slowly fell away from this idea because I was finding other things in life that made me happy and fulfilled me.

I am not saying that everyone who wants to be can be a therian or any such nonsense. Therianthropy is an experience shared by very few people, who usually live far apart. True therians will always be the minority, and therefore those who seek popularity will always cater to a group which is mostly not therians.

However it is not our job to police who is or is not a therian, or draw lines to exclude people from the group. Everyone can determine in their heart whether or not they genuinely share the therian experience. Only they can determine whether or not they are a therian.

Those who are not are ultimately going to find more interesting things in their lives and they will move on. Some perhaps will not, until they overcome life issues they have been avoiding. What we can do is offer support, not exclusion.


So if you are not sure if you are a therian or not, and are looking for some easy to follow rules... Don't. There are no rules and those who claim to know them are lying. Instead just come talk to us, compare your experiences with our own and you should be able to figure it out yourself.

LP,
Dusty

I read through this post and it really is something- I do agree with them on their points and although this post was made a lil while ago I believe it's something that should be said a bit more just because the true relevance it has to therianthropy as a collective (I am unsure if that's how I should put it, as I am typing while tired lol)

I personally came to this forum a lot more unsure but still wished to get to the source on what being a therian was. I wanted to look for main points from all perspectives- as I've read through them I've definitely had that feeling of "this is it, I'm not alone" but I also didn't wish to post a whole lot (I also didn't get on a whole bunch because this is a new territory to me, I have never really used forums before therian guide)

This definitely makes me feel slightly less stressed- because the whole rules thing doesn't make sense for a community like this, except the rules on what you can and can't do on the forum lmao those make sense.

So if you are new, I suggest reading this :3

I've identified as a therian for I think 4 years now, maybe 5, and it's honestly a fear of mine that my immature tween self read too much Warrior Cats and made up this whole thing, and I just never realized they were wrong.. I mean I'm 99% sure I don't catalyze my own shifts etc but it's there in the back of my mind all too often on quiet nights

No one can tell someone is a therian, but respecting analogy, neither can they claim that the same person is not, even if what is said doesn't sound quite like it. Mutual respect and communication should be thought highly of in that regard.

Honesty and open-mindedness when sharing one's experiences and reading about other's experiences are the most important thing. Mutual respect and communication, as Lupus said.