I personally only identify with one kintype as well. I am grizzly bearhearted but I wouldn’t say that I identify as one, I just identify with them! I’ll always be a Honeymala at heart.

I am a bit curious of polytherians, I wonder how you can identify as multiple species at once. I do see traits of myself in other animals like brown bats and binturongs and hares, but I wouldn’t say they’re part of my identity. Not trying to invalidate polytherians, I’m just intrigued

Well, I have only one theriotype! Also one of my friends has only one, and I also watch videos of therians with one theriotype. But I really can't say if there are more therians or polytherians ahah.

As I browse the forums, I notice lots of people have multiple theriotypes. It got me thinking, am I in the minority being that I only have a single theriotype? What do you think, is it more common to have just one or multiple theriotypes?

I think to some extent, it is an aesthetic at the moment. I recently got together with an old friend, whom I have known since elementary school (we're both in our 30's now), and she really surprised me when she said her kid was in to therian stuff. I was like "whoa, you know what therians are!?" I didn't mention anything about being one, or my experiences in the community, but instead asked what animal her daughter was. I was initially thinking and expecting the community to be more like how it was when I first found it. She replied that her daughter was just really into wearing tails and making masks. So maybe her daughter is a therian, maybe she isn't, it doesn't really matter. However, it's mainstream enough now that my friend is aware of the community.

thanks for this! I'm thinking of starting a therian journal, and all of this makes a lot of sense.

the amount of misinformation on tiktok is honestly putting actually newly awakened therian to shame. I don't think quads or gear are very linked to it, and I honestly think that its less of a problem than some people act like it is, but its still really upsetting.

I used to be obsessed with a youtuber by the name of Wolf Girl. She claims to have spells that allow Shapeshifting. I was utterly dissapointed when I found out, none of them even work.

i actually made a post that i feel delves into a lot of the underlying here a while back not to push my own thread it is just a lot to type over again

I agree with Pi 100%, and also agree with Zip’s latest comment. It isn’t bad to be therian, it isn’t bad to not be therian. It isn’t bad or good or anything to be a therian who spend most of their time inside, or outside, city or forest. Besides the health consequences of being inside for prolonged periods of time, of course. But I mean morally.

Therians come in all ages and abilities, psychological and spiritual, and every therian’s life is different. There is no one “right way” to live as a therian, the right way is what’s best for you, with your body and abilities and situation, and what brings you the most joy and connection. Helping the earth is something we should all do also, but again, that’s going to look different for everyone and that’s ok.

Hopefully this made sense.

I do agree that gatekeeping gets us nowhere. Therianthropy is already such a difficult thing to experience that therian pups need support, and the therian community should always strive to be a welcoming place to all involved. Even those exploring their identities, if they decide in a couple years that therianthropy isn't how they want to express themselves, or that they don't actually align with therian values and identities, that's okay! Hopefully they'll come away more educated and more intelligent about this community. If we "lose" a therian, hopefully we'll gain an ally.

One thing I don't like to see, on the other end of the therian spectrum, is therians who endlessly "belittle" non-therians. I understand disapproving of people who create trouble or perpetuate stereotypes or bully therians, but it gets to a point where I see therians belittling those who may be open to learning! Even if a kid isn't a therian, keeping them as an ally and educating them on therianthropy is one of the best things we can do for the community. Gatekeeping and saying "oh, the normies just don't get it and they never will" makes people defensive; being defensive will make them aggressive, and then you've just created a whole new source of hatred for therians rather than having a logical discussion on the internet about what you experience and how they can relate. Everyone has felt out of place or misunderstood at some point, even those who are not therians. Appeal to that! Educate instead of shaming! we can show them that even if you leave a community, you can keep friends and maintain healthy social interactions.