(2023-06-07 15:05)indoraptor Wrote:  For me, I openly attribute isolation from, lack of socialization with, and trauma caused by humans from an early age to me identifying as & seeking community with other nonhumans.

My therianthropy itself, I feel, is more psychological than spiritual, yes — but I also feel that it is innate. I can’t tell you why I feel, think, and do some of the things that I do; whether I was predisposed from birth to be this way, or if I would have been different had I been a happier child — but I’m inclined to think that, whatever it is, it was Always inside of me, inside of my brain, my heart, what many would call my ‘soul.’

I relate to so much of this, specifically with how it feels innate, and that it's something that's always been a part of you or your 'soul' as you put it (I don't have a better term). Also with how your discovery of your therianthropy was the result of your upbringing and not that you became one.

I felt very isolated through my childhood, very few friends my age. A lot of that is my own fault, I never learned how to be a true friend to people early on and I was kind of narcissistic and indifferent to classmates growing up. It wasn't til high school that I learned what a true friend was like and I became even more disconnected from people around me after that. I'm lucky not to have experienced real trauma or abuse, but I always felt like I was less than human. I never felt a strong need to "fit in" and weird personalities were mostly accepted where I grew up but I was still singled out as the creepiest in school, I was made to feel like there was something extra wrong with me.

Since I was real little I always had some kind of strong canine connection. I feel it closer to my core than anything else, like a deep gut feeling. To let out wolf like movements and behaviors would just feel comfortable and please me in a way nothing else could, just felt right with my bones in a way I guess.

As I got older I started experiencing shifts but I didn't take myself seriously, I was already so weird why would I want to push that further? So I tried to bottle up and suppress what I believe what was my therianthropy for years, but it never left me, the urges to express the canine in me kept coming back stronger. Now I'm just trying to find people I can share these things with. I have some good friends nowadays but they don't relate to what I'm experiencing. But it feels great to read threads like this and everyones replies. Anyone else think there's a strong correlation between struggling to connect with people early on and discovering you're therian?

In my entire life that I lived so far I have never once felt entirely human. I have so many memories of feeling very cat-like when I was younger and canine like. I am so very many memories and so many feelings that I've had. I just always felt animal to some degree.

Even when I was younger I didn't even identify as human like that. I mean I knew I was one I felt like one but I couldn't help but also feeling like a cat. I would go so far to tell other people that I was a cat and that I was also a wolf. I remember telling people that I have a great sense of smell (I do not) an absolutely amazing hear (I'm actually hard at hearing and had to have hearing aids that one time) and I would tell people that I'm actually part wolf and I was not entirely human.

It just felt right to me. My entire life I felt animal to some degree, whether it's small or huge. I just never felt 100% human. I've always felt animal like to some degree.

Of course it could have been my imagination but I've also felt like other animals but not like how I feel with cats and red wolves. It was different and way stronger with felines and canines.

And my theory on why I'm this way is that I'm just am. I don't really want to worry about my origins and stuff I just believe that I am this way. there's no specific reason why I am this way, I just am.

That makes me believe that I am a therian :3

For a short time, I considered myself a misanthropist. I truly felt a negative energy for humans — some dark conglomeration of hurt, anger, resentment and jealousy. I believe growing up neurodivergent definitely played a part in shaping this belief. After being hurt by humans for so long and for such baseless reasons, you begin to feel a distinct hatred for them.

But I realised that I probably felt like this simply because I didn't understand humans. With all their strange normative behaviours and how cruel they could be, I looked at them, and I looked at myself, and I missed the similarities. But I still had family, and friends, and people — humans — that cared. We're not all bad.

A few years later, having learnt how to interact more efficiently with them, I finally began to relate to my species more. Nowadays, I crave social interactions, I crave the following of social rules, and I find myself doing very distinctly human things in order to survive. I still feel a disconnect from them, for sure — I may blend in better, but I still do not identify with them. But as I've come to appreciate the good things we do for each other, the extra lengths some humans go to to extend kindness, warmth and empathy toward one another, that old feeling of hatred begins to melt. I'm very thankful for this.

In summary, I don't think you have to necessarily understand humans to love them. But you have to feel misunderstood by humans to hate them. I think by determining for ourselves where that line between hatred and a simple feeling of 'otherness' is drawn, we can pick apart which feelings may be misanthropic, and which might simply just be an effect of being misunderstood / outcasted. I've never believed in generalising large groups of anything — just like all leopards have different spots, all humans have different personalities and intentions. Some may seriously suck and do some crappy things, but that's not all of them. I have to recognise the good in the people that truly exemplify it.

This is my two cents, I'm curious to hear what others have to say. And thank you for making this thread, I think it's a very important question and I appreciate how much depth it has.

XX,
KK.

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.