|
RE: New Therian Study (Results!) |
Posted by: Baumarius - 2024-03-17 23:22
|
(2024-03-17 20:59)DustWolf Wrote: I'm glad to see things moving forward in this department.
By the way, it might be a good idea to check if we are allowed to post these quotes to places such as TG. Sometimes paid articles have limitations in this regard.
LP,
Dusty
That is a fair point. I redacted the larger bits. According to the APA, no permission is required if the excerpt totals under 400 words.
|
|
RE: New Therian Study (Results!) |
Posted by: DustWolf - 2024-03-17 20:59
|
I'm glad to see things moving forward in this department.
By the way, it might be a good idea to check if we are allowed to post these quotes to places such as TG. Sometimes paid articles have limitations in this regard.
LP,
Dusty
|
|
New Therian Study (Results!) |
Posted by: Baumarius - 2024-03-17 19:46
|
The result of FurScience's interviews and focus groups with therians at Anthrocon since 2016 is finally out. Tens, possibly hundreds of therians were interviewed one-on-one in close to hour-long sessions, their responses recorded, transcribed, and later analyzed anonymously. The study was published in The Humanistic Psychologist and is 20 pages long, detailing the experiences of therians and otherkin, along with associated analyses and a suggested re-terming of what we call "mental shifts," at least in the context of psychology. The abstract & impact statement reads:
"How do we use the world around us to become oriented, when what we perceive situates our experience as otherness? This article explores the intersubjective and embodied experiences of therians and otherkin: those who identify as beings other than solely human, such as an animal or a mythological creature. Through an application of phenomenologist Sara Ahmed’s concepts of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation, along with psychoanalytic theories of the mirror stage from Lacan and Winnicott, this article develops an understanding of therianthropy and otherkinship that accounts for the contextual and contested nature of the lived body. The article argues for a stance of cultural humility when engaging with forms of embodiment and subjectivity that challenge ontological boundary-setting between what lies within and beyond the domain of the human.
With increased intolerance and violence against other and toward anything deemed different within our societies, our calling as psychologists is to attempt to transform the world into one that is livable for all. By providing in-depth descriptions about the lived experience of therians and otherkin, we hope to foster understanding. By bracketing the natural attitude toward therianthropy and otherkinship, we also hope to destigmatize and depathologize their experiences while providing suggestions about affirmative clinical practice."
While most therians will already be familiar with the what this study will reveal, I'd consider this the closest thing to a "therapist's guide" to therianthropy/otherkin that currently exists. It's accessible for $20 through the APA website linked above. For those who would not like to pay for it, I will summarize below:
- The study analyzes the experiences of many therians and otherkin and seeks to "destigmatize and depathologize" our experiences. They provide well-structured examples of what we experience, as well as its psychosocial connotations starting from early childhood and into adult life.
- They define a therian as "an individual who believes that they are not human—or at least not completely human. Instead, they identify as a species of non-human animal that either currently exists or has existed and is now extinct," and an otherkin as a person identifying "as a nonhuman being that is typically considered mythical or fantasy-based (e.g., fairy, elf, unicorn)."
- They apply Sara Ahmed's work on the ideas of orientation, disorientation, and reorientation to alterhumanity. They dive into our preference for natural environments over manmade ones, our disconnect from other humans and our own bodies, species dysphoria (which they describe but do not explicitly name), and reorientation by means of our own personal image, shifting, seeking out community, and "ontological doubling" - "living [a] human life with its human demands, alongside a pervasive feeling of being out of place."
- They suggest the "re-terming" of what we call "mental shifts" and "phantom shifts" and the like as embodied shifts instead (specifically in reference to a previous paper), seeing as they involve more than just a shift in consciousness and can include physical sensations (such as phantom limbs) and can occur in response to the environment, by one's own volition, or spontaneously. While some may be against outside individuals coining terms for us, these are professional psychologists and this likely has more to do with their own understanding of us than anything.
The conclusion to the paper encourages professionals (therapists and such) to understand us through a lens of cultural humility and provides some hope in that "(perhaps ironically) humanistic psychotherapy..." can provide therians and otherkin some sense of wellbeing.
Overall, this is really good for us. If you are in therapy, do consider forwarding this study to your therapist.
|
|
RE: An update to my explanation for my Therianthropy |
Posted by: StormyPica - 2024-03-17 19:27
|
This resonates a lot with me actually. Not my personality though, mostly my psyche and spirit, although I will have mental shifts if I get super happy, which can change my personality somewhat. Although I don't fully relate, just to that bit!
|
|
An update to my explanation for my Therianthropy |
Posted by: BlackCat0118 - 2024-03-17 18:49
|
I think I've posted here before but after some time of exploring my Therianthropy I've got a more indepth explanation of my experience.
My Therianthropy is due to me being/interpreting my personality and psyche as being very feline like. I Identify as a cat because of the way I interpret my sense of self. The way I narrowed down my Theriotype (Bombay cat) is by researching which cat most represents me and my personality.
|
|
RE: Pups and schools blocking therian guide |
Posted by: Kenai - 2024-03-17 15:59
|
(2024-03-15 16:40)Ashfur Wrote: (2024-03-15 14:48)little wolf Wrote: Okay, I'd like to give teachers and schools the benefit of the doubt. Most aren't providing the computers for devious means like spying on students. A lot of students probably don't have/can't afford their own laptops so the school has to provide them if they are expecting digital work to be done. Even my college has school-owned laptops (which they don't monitor online activity), and at this point in life, most students do have their own computers, but not all, and of course, college relies heavily on online platforms and work, a lot of which are on programs that either cost money to load onto a personal computer, or the program only works on very specific systems.
With technology in schools, of course teachers have to monitor your online activity because so many students take advantage of them. The teachers are trying to help keep students on task and help them learn and get adequate grades. That's what most of them are there for. Something else to think about: being on other sites and doing other things in class is disrespectful to the teachers, and most teachers don't get enough credit. They do a lot for students and deserve the respect of your attention and effort.
Very very true Little, teachers never get enough credit for what they do. The only thing I'll ever be mad with is Lightspeed for blocking Chicken Smoothie despite the fact that it is a family friendly website whose forums are moderated to death. Most of it doesn't even involve the forums it just happens to all be built on phpBB-
Oops, sorry for the rambling I'll stop now XP.
The keyword in this is forum, the school shouldn't allow you to talk to strangers on the internet. They're responsible for your safety and a lot of kids your age don't take your own safety seriously.
|
|
|