At one point, I considered myself a misanthrope, but not anymore. When I was younger and still learning about everything going on in the world, I definitely adopted a singular sort of hatred towards humans. As I've gotten older I've learned it's more complicated than good and evil, and have come to appreciate the humans in my life and the diversity of humans across the world.

That being said, I see it as a separate thing from my therianthropy. My misanthropy developed as a response to hearing about what was going on in the world and not having the maturity to really digest the information. It was also made worse by the fact that I was going through a difficult time at home and at school, so I didn't have someone to point and go "hey, not all humans are bad!" I see my therianthropy as being something I was born with that was exacerbated by trauma. Maybe being nonhuman made it easier for me to be a misanthrope, but I believe I still would have been one regardless.

That isn't to say that I believe misanthropy is an inherently childish view, just that for me, it was an opinion I formed without a greater understanding. I understand the reasons others here have for disliking humans, and I myself still disagree with a lot of common moral or societal standards that they hold.

I don’t experience dislike of humans in general (of course there are certain people I don’t like very much), but I do wish they’d be a little more accepting of who I am.

I think that this is a very interesting topic and I'm enjoying the variety of perspectives!

I am not a misanthrope because I think that there are so many flavours of human out there. I don't want to downplay anyones misanthropy because I totally understand it, but I think it's easier to be a misanthrope when you're unhappy with the society that you're in and only know of.

I moved from the US to Germany at the age of 23 and I can say that if I had stayed in the US, I probably would have been a bit misanthropic myself. I was very unhappy with the society around me and the humans that I saw felt so unrelateable. However, being in a new society has kind of shown me a new light. Germany isn't perfect by any means, but the humans here I find live a life more similar to how I prefer it. I don't see myself as human still obviously, but I can coexist with them here much easier than if I were in the US.

This obviously doesn't encompass those who have a general disdain towards humans and society as a whole in the big picture of all the humans on Earth. There are certainly things that I find rather silly that humans try to do regardless of where they're from, but I don't think that it necessarily drove me to find my therianthropy. I feel different from them for many reasons that aren't related to morals of humans.

with all that said, I think some of this is partly because of being a domesticated dog. I'm just kind of used to the humans. If anything that's why it took me so long to find my therianthropy because I felt different from them but didn't quite feel a driving hatred or alienation that some have felt that helped them search for their true identity.


Haley

I think for me, my therianthropy is what caused my misanthropy. So the other way around!

I didn't innately hate humans as a young fox, I just knew that I was different to all the other kids around me and couldn't fit in with them. It was only as I got older (about my early teens) and began to learn more about society, watch the news etc, that I felt more distrust and alienation from humanity.

I am not severely misanthropic. I believe that humans are capable of kindness, and I appreciate some of the gentler aspects of humanity like the creation of art, some of their social bonding behaviours, and their desire to help species other than our own (even those we typically eat). Humans are capable of a lot of good, and since I am human in body (and partially in mind), I try to feed into those positive aspects.

However, I still feel a tang of disgust when someone refers to me as a human. Humans have harmed the planet irrepairably, and continuously fight and hate amongst themselves for no necessary reason. Humans are uniquely greedy, sadistic, and unjust in a way that most other animals are not. A fox might chase another fox out of a territory with better food resources to feed themselves & their kits, but they will not enact a war on an entire forest just for the sake of power or personal gratification. They just want to survive.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

For me, this feeling of mistrust and dislike for humanity stems from me being a fox. I think we therians tend to see the world through a different lens to most humans, and as a result it's common for misanthropy to follow. I see how misanthropy could result in identifying as an alterhuman too, but I do think there needs to be an underlying, pre-existing animality for it to manifest that way.

- Fern

As Ouch said, humans are variable. I can't bring myself to hate the entire species because I am fond of many. I also enjoy the quiet, humble parts of existing as a human. Human connection, empathy, art, singing, gardening, etc. Though I completely understand the perspective, humanity has caused a lot of harm.

I understand why individuals who are misanthropes and separate humans from animals may lean towards therianthropy as an identity. It's an explanation for why humanity is so unappealing to them. But I do not believe it directly causes therianthropy, just points some in the right direction if the identity is there, as you said. Not all misanthropes experience therianthropy.

I also have a slightly different perspective than many folks here when it comes to humans and animals. I do not separate humans from animals, but I do see humans as having a spectrum when it comes to connection with the rest of life on Earth. I still use the words "animality" and "animal" to refer to my nonhuman identity because they seem to be the most accurate words in this language to describe my experience.

In my mind, humans and other species on Earth are more similar than many realize. This doesn't mean that humans are the same as a bear, though. They are still different, just like an eagle is different than a cat. I still identify as a wolverine. I just see humans and all inhabitants of Earth differently than the typical Western perspective of "people" versus "the wild."

This might contribute to my lack of misanthropy.

This is a very interesting question! I know lots of therians have had issues with humans so I'd love to see more discussion about it.

As for me, I would say I am the opposite of a misathrope, and I attribute it to my angelhood. I find humans to be cute and I want to help and care for them. Even when they hurt me I cannot hold a grudge against them, much like how you can't hold a grudge if your cat scratches you. They don't know what they are doing.

In terms of my mountain lion half, I'm neutral towards humans. I do my thing and they do theirs.

As a whole I also disagree with misanthropy as a concept because humans are such a varied species. There exist no behaviors that are exclusive to humans and also practiced by every human. If you travel to the other side of the planet, the humans on that side think entirely different from the ones on the other. I cannot hate humanity as a whole, just specific things that some humans do.

I would say that I am a misanthrope. I disagree with the fundamental process that humans use to obtain their moral standards. I think that stems more from me valuing objectivity over feelings though. I don't like many of the actions that intelligent species take. It isn't exactly specific to humans for me. I don't think that it caused my therianthropy and I don't think my therianthropy caused it, although I will admit that seeing myself as separate from humanity makes this an easier viewpoint to hold. I think that if any correlation exists, it's probably that therianthropy causes misanthropy over the other way around. That's just my theory though.

Fellow misanthrope here!

I wouldn’t say that my misanthropy caused my otherkinity, since it was kind of the other way around. When I realized I was nonhuman, it made me look at humans in an entirely different light. I thought about all the ways that humans have hurt me, have hurt anybody who’s even slightly different from them, have destroyed their own planet, have forever altered the future of this Earth for the short time period they’ve been on it, have done such insensitive and straight up sadistic things to others and justified it by pointing out how different they were...and other humans tend to agree with them. It’s disgusting, and it made me go from “am I really nonhuman?” to “I’m so glad that I’m not one of them”

Honestly, comparing animals to humans is like day and night, and I feel that that may be a deciding factor in therianthropy. An animal doesn’t make you feel alien for being the way you are, an animal doesn’t make it their life goal to make your existence a living hell just because you’re different, an animal doesn’t care about your skin color or sexuality or interests or fashion...an animal just cares about living their own life to the fullest. That’s why an animal doesn’t wish to harm you unless it’s own life is on the line.

I’ve always agreed with the lifestyle of animals a lot more than humans in that aspect. I wish it was more accepted to just be happy that you’re alive and breathing air and still able to see the beauty of nature around you...but humans just don’t think that way. They’d rather indulge in pleasures that end up hurting them in the end...slowly forgetting that nature exists and throwing trash on top of it.

I just can’t bring myself to forgive the human race, and I can never, ever say that I’m one of them. They’ve made it very clear to me that I’m not one of them. If they wish to destroy their own lives, then so be it. It’s not my problem.

This is interesting!

I agree there's definitely a correlation between therianthropy and misanthropy, and there could be some kind of causation for it.

My question is: does misanthropy (help) cause therianthropy, or does therianthropy just cause misanthropy? There are two very interesting ways to look at this correlation. On one paw, someone could distance themselves from a human identity and begin looking into other terms BECAUSE they hate humans. On the other paw, someone might hate humans because they don't feel like they are one/have an outsiders perspective on humanity while still very exposed to it.

Indeeeddd.. I'm pretty known for my dislike of humanity, though I've softened on it over the years. Still, this has always been an aspect of how I few things; I have a certain "us vs them" mentality, and I don't mind admitting that. It's historically common for yokai anyway..

As for whether it causes or has an interplay with therianthropy..perhaps. You mix together misanthropy with a few psychological traits and environmental factors and you might get someone with an internal need to contextualize themselves as an animal.

However, I think there being an interplay with therianthropy would be a more universally applicable experience.. Any wolf therian who has come across photos of hunters posing with our bodies strung up for their amusement probably knows what it's like to feel a certain disdain for humanity.

It's the callousness and amusement at suffering aspect of it..and that seems to extend into so many other aspects of human society and their interaction with the natural world. Everything is for the amusement and aggrandizement of someone, and nothing for the whole; not for nature, or the well-being of the group..it's all just about one trying to climb over the others to get to the top of a pile made of their own bodies, in a world littered with ours.

I don't think it would so much be causative of therianthropy, so much as I think it would make one more likely to embrace it more heavily when discovered, which is what happened with me..

As for whether it's the same thing as copinglink: No, not if they believe they're actually an animal; a copinglink doesn't actually believe they're an animal, they just feel a need to contextualize themselves as one to distance from their distress.

(I think it's alright to leave this thread here since it could apply to origination, psychological, or spiritual discussions.)