Hi all! I wanted to make a post regarding being a therian and how it's a state of being rather than a belief. And yes I was influenced to making this post by the amazing Therian Territory channel on Youtube. For anyone who hasn't seen Therian Territory I highly recommend checking out some of their videos as they are very informative and eye-opening for new therians or even parents of therians that have come to the guide for assistance.
Being a therian is NOT a choice. One does not choose to become a therian and there is a lot of speculation around that specific statement. To outsiders they believe we choose to identify as an animal and willingly choose to engage in animalistic behaviors. This is false. Being a therian in my opinion and that of Therian Territory is involuntary and often involves involuntary animalistic behaviors such as vocalizing, etc.
It's important to understand that one does not choose to be a therian nor do they choose their theriotype. It's almost like your theriotype chooses you. You have no control over what animal or otherkin you will be and for some individuals it can even be an animal they never expected or wanted. Furthermore, there are individuals whose theriotype is that of another gender and they must learn to adapt to having a different gendered theriotype.
There is NOTHING wrong with expressing your therian side either. Many people don't understand that. However I do believe there is an appropriate place and time to express that side. For many of us we choose to express our therian side in private. I wouldn't necessarily recommend growling at someone in the grocery store if they cut in front of you but rather letting those behaviors out in a private setting as sadly the world doesn't entirely understand theriantropy.
Thank you for this. I needed it today.
(2023-06-14 13:04)indoraptor Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you for this. I needed it today.
Glad I could help Indo and I'm so glad you enjoyed the post 
I think part of the mentality of choosing to be a therian can also be traced to younger folks who are trying out different identities and subgroups to find their place in the world. For example, they really like birds and long to fly, and are looking for a community to belong to, so they join an online therian community claiming to be an eagle therian. However, they're not actually an eagle therian.
While that's not really a new development (we had people trying out being a therian years ago in the community too!) it does seem to have gained popularity lately, running parallel with things like the gender community, etc.
Eventually, these people leave these online spaces because they're not really therians. I'm not sure it occurs to them that real therians did not choose this and that claiming to be something they're not can be hurtful to those that are. *shrug*
People want to belong, and that's normal and totally fine, but you should be reasonably sure before joining a group that you're part of it. We need to encourage the answer to "are you a therian?" questions to be "I'm not sure/I don't know" as completely fine. I'd rather you come here and not know, rather than claiming to be something you're not.
(2023-06-16 18:48)elinox Wrote: [ -> ]We need to encourage the answer to "are you a therian?" questions to be "I'm not sure/I don't know" as completely fine. I'd rather you come here and not know, rather than claiming to be something you're not.
I think asking those questions of people who are just looking to belong, is useless. They're not going to introspect and wonder about it: they want to belong, they'll desperately cling to "yes", even if it's not true.
I think the only thing we can realistically hope for is that if they don't need anything from the therian community, they'll move on to other interests. If the person is psychologically healthy, this usually works: If they're not a therian, they don't have anything in common with the rest of us and they'll just move on to more interesting communities.
But if they have unfulfilled needs and the attention they get here accommodates those needs, they might stick around even if they're not therians. In that case, being people on the Internet, we don't really have any leverage to force them to resolve the issues they have in their lives. We can kinda hope they grow out of it (and many do, and so we've helped them through a difficult time in their life, which is not a bad thing).
If they don't grow out of it, we can make them feel unwelcome, but that usually leads to drama (because it's much easier to argue on the Internet than it is to fix your life).
Just a bit of realistic pessimism for you.
LP,
Dusty
(2023-06-16 18:48)elinox Wrote: [ -> ]I think part of the mentality of choosing to be a therian can also be traced to younger folks who are trying out different identities and subgroups to find their place in the world. For example, they really like birds and long to fly, and are looking for a community to belong to, so they join an online therian community claiming to be an eagle therian. However, they're not actually an eagle therian.
While that's not really a new development (we had people trying out being a therian years ago in the community too!) it does seem to have gained popularity lately, running parallel with things like the gender community, etc.
Eventually, these people leave these online spaces because they're not really therians. I'm not sure it occurs to them that real therians did not choose this and that claiming to be something they're not can be hurtful to those that are. *shrug*
People want to belong, and that's normal and totally fine, but you should be reasonably sure before joining a group that you're part of it. We need to encourage the answer to "are you a therian?" questions to be "I'm not sure/I don't know" as completely fine. I'd rather you come here and not know, rather than claiming to be something you're not.
I couldn't agree more with your response. Especially the part of asking the questions of are you a therian? What shifts have you experienced? Because those are all important questions that lead to answers not just among the community but among the individual themselves.
(2023-06-16 18:48)elinox Wrote: [ -> ]I think part of the mentality of choosing to be a therian can also be traced to younger folks who are trying out different identities and subgroups to find their place in the world. For example, they really like birds and long to fly, and are looking for a community to belong to, so they join an online therian community claiming to be an eagle therian. However, they're not actually an eagle therian.
While that's not really a new development (we had people trying out being a therian years ago in the community too!) it does seem to have gained popularity lately, running parallel with things like the gender community, etc.
Eventually, these people leave these online spaces because they're not really therians. I'm not sure it occurs to them that real therians did not choose this and that claiming to be something they're not can be hurtful to those that are. *shrug*
People want to belong, and that's normal and totally fine, but you should be reasonably sure before joining a group that you're part of it. We need to encourage the answer to "are you a therian?" questions to be "I'm not sure/I don't know" as completely fine. I'd rather you come here and not know, rather than claiming to be something you're not.
I remember when i first joined therian forums as a tween being slightly unnerved by people arguing about so many young people in the community "chosing" or "faking" being a therian for a sense of belonging. (Specifically also the "too many wolves" complaints) My experience might also have been due to the circles i was in at the time.
A lot of the time in my very early exploration was spent mostly trying to prove the authenticity of my experience to myself because of the waves of negative attention the community got at the time. (mostly trolls and youtube stuff, but as a young person it does affect you. As an adult you just shrug that off). Being a therian is a state of being, and briefly framing/conceptualising it as a choice to myself was like framing the base of what makes me me as a choice.
About the Eagle example you gave, i tend to have a more patient/empathetic view of young people who just discover they are therians jumping to conclusions. At that age you don't really have the complex sense of self you have as an adult and it can be harder for some to do the same exploration someone who discovers they're a therian in their 20s for example. It might be just a misconception of what a theriotype is though, yeah.
I was thinking that maybe -just maybe- for some people the confusion arises because we do not have the words to really identify what type of being we align to so we are stuck with trying to use known beings -real or otherwise- as a means to identify what one feels even if it is inaccurate to a great degree or that the definition of said 'mythical' being does not dovetail with what conventional myths/stories/overall descriptions dictate.
This is why some, I think, change their therian alignment because what we have to draw from is different from what one identifies with. Don't know if that made any sense.
For example I align with 'demon' but conventional descriptions of demons for the most part are practically synonymous with bad/evil/malicious/malevolent/amoral/etc yet my senses say that these definitions are wrong so what do I do? Change my type to appease those that stick to a narrow (and wrong) definition or do I stay with it and try to explain?
Maybe I am rambling and need a cuppa java. Yes. Java. Nice and hot....(insert cuppa coffee smillies here)
(2023-06-14 13:04)indoraptor Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you for this. I needed it today.
You are very welcome @indoraptor 
(2023-06-14 12:08)StargazerStella Wrote: [ -> ]Hi all! I wanted to make a post regarding being a therian and how it's a state of being rather than a belief. And yes I was influenced to making this post by the amazing Therian Territory channel on Youtube. For anyone who hasn't seen Therian Territory I highly recommend checking out some of their videos as they are very informative and eye-opening for new therians or even parents of therians that have come to the guide for assistance.
Being a therian is NOT a choice. One does not choose to become a therian and there is a lot of speculation around that specific statement. To outsiders they believe we choose to identify as an animal and willingly choose to engage in animalistic behaviors. This is false. Being a therian in my opinion and that of Therian Territory is involuntary and often involves involuntary animalistic behaviors such as vocalizing, etc.
It's important to understand that one does not choose to be a therian nor do they choose their theriotype. It's almost like your theriotype chooses you. You have no control over what animal or otherkin you will be and for some individuals it can even be an animal they never expected or wanted. Furthermore, there are individuals whose theriotype is that of another gender and they must learn to adapt to having a different gendered theriotype.
There is NOTHING wrong with expressing your therian side either. Many people don't understand that. However I do believe there is an appropriate place and time to express that side. For many of us we choose to express our therian side in private. I wouldn't necessarily recommend growling at someone in the grocery store if they cut in front of you but rather letting those behaviors out in a private setting as sadly the world doesn't entirely understand theriantropy.
You are completely right. This is just my thoughts about the matter, but I feel like through reincarination the soul attaches itself to a new vessel. In rare cases something may go wrong and an incompatibility may occur between soul and vessel. In my case, it's the soul of a dog that attached itself to a human vessel. This view just completely overlaps with everything you said, and it was a very reassuring read, so thank you for that.
(2023-06-16 18:48)elinox Wrote: [ -> ]I think part of the mentality of choosing to be a therian can also be traced to younger folks who are trying out different identities and subgroups to find their place in the world. For example, they really like birds and long to fly, and are looking for a community to belong to, so they join an online therian community claiming to be an eagle therian. However, they're not actually an eagle therian.
...
Eventually, these people leave these online spaces because they're not really therians. I'm not sure it occurs to them that real therians did not choose this and that claiming to be something they're not can be hurtful to those that are. *shrug*
The age category that often figures out they're not therian is also the age category that goes through the most difficult stage of life- puberty. Some deep soul searching and finding a place of belonging is central here. When they do not fit in with the 'norm' they make seek alternative places of belonging, and some may end up at Therianthropy. They may love animals and have a deep connection with certain species, but after they figure out what therianthropy is they subconsciously assume they are therian. I feel like here a conumdrum arises. They're not aware that it's a phase and they told themselves they are a therian, they have to figure that out themselves. Because of their conceptions of what it should be misconceptions may get spread at a rapid pace In my opinon there's no winning in this case, because they will pop up through social medias directed at younger people and it'll gain rapid attraction. This will run the show and shape the narrative to the mainstream. "true" therians who didn't choose it but always have been are a minority sadly, and it likely will remain like that for the foreseeable future 