(2021-04-30 5:12)HoneycombPup Wrote: [ -> ]I don't think this makes sense. Even you will admit therianthropy isn't a choice, so why would you need to pass some test to "become" a therian? Some labels aren't something that you have to pass a test for. Im bisexual, there was never some "symbolic test" to prove it, and I think most people would think that would be silly, because I just am. Being therian isn't an occupation either, so relating that to native American practices doesn't make sense to me.
And what if your experiences as a therian don't fit the general norm, as Bear X has experienced? Do they not pass the test?
Even if the two of us do not agree with the need for a test when it comes for labels, it is self-evident that people feel the need for such a test to exist. Just look at the history of the therian community, all the gatekeeping and tribalism that keeps coming back no matter how hard we try to get rid of it.
It keeps coming back because it's a part of human nature. It's the same human nature that native Americans have found a way to address, though in their case as you say, their social identity is based around what we consider to be occupations.
I don't know if this is a problem the LGBT community has solved either. Even if you disregard the point that people within it still look towards the medical community to provide that symbolic test, just look at how people from the LGBT community regard us therians. They say we're not for real, but they are. They are looking for the symbolic test that gives their identity legitimacy.
Obviously creating a test for genuine therianthropy is tricky (especially considering we don't even really know what therianthropy is), but what I'm saying is that if we wanted to, we could probably do better than the guessing and gut feeling judgements that people do right now.
@BearX was after all telling us about how he had been put through an unjust test, so clearly this human desire to create a symbolic test for his therianthropy existed.
(2021-04-30 20:35)TherianofFour Wrote: [ -> ]Having a way to help the young ones cement their true selves I can see being valuable. As a Cherokee descendant, we guide our youth into themselves. For Native Americans, children received one name at or soon after birth then receives another one later to fit their temperament, personality, or through some rite of passage. Their names reflected them, and essentially labeled who they were. Later their names may be changed or altered according to changes in their experiences or personality.
Stuff like this is what I love about the native American cultures. It's all so efficient and fit for purpose. Their names are literately their labels.
Of course from our perspective as outsiders, we do not understand their symbols and sometimes a poor translation will appear to add an esoteric quality. Like how songs sometimes sound better if sung in a foreign language you do not understand.
Technically there is a translation for my real name, even though most people are probably not familiar with this. My birth name would translate to Spring Merchant (I think? My brothers are Blue Sky Merchant and Sunshine Merchant). It sounds almost like a poorly translated native American name no?
In our European cultures, our given names are arbitrary or demonstrate lineage, which means nothing in the modern world, though I imagine things might have been different in the middle ages when the practice was introduced. Lineage probably equated profession, but today I challenge you to find a Smith who's profession actually involves smithing.
LP,
Dusty