I thought yes, why can't it be shaped when I stumbled upon your post, although it's possibly more complicated than that. For instance, I knew I was canine for sure and therefore sought after animals under that same hood. While other animals (under that branche) had indeed crossed my mind before then, it wasn't until the wolf was introduced the idea that that should be me was the strongest. And that idea kind of lingered on since then. I'm not saying I changed theriotypes like underpants back at the very start, but switching between types can be meaningful sometimes in order to get to know yourself from all possible angles. (I had four possible theriotypes at the start, for your information!) I think it's okay to do proper research and to try out multiple types to see what gets closest to your skin. See what fits and what slides off of you... like the rain on a duck.
I'm just saying that you're born with a therian identity, but what you are, is likely to get clearer to you through experience and the life wisdom you'll gain through interaction with your world, the people in it and of course by putting your mind to the test. Is this too far-fetched?

Heya, I don't know if the title is a bit misleading or not, so if anyone has any name suggestions just shoot. It's 7 am and I haven't slept yet, lol. Anyways,

I was reading a newly published book this morning, digging into a lot of things, such to say the history of therisnthropy, an explanation to it, and the publishers personal experience... They spoke about how they found their theriotype, the iriomote cat... It got me thinking.

As Therians that are aware of their identity, are we truly born this way, knowing we for sure are our identity at some point, or can it be shaped?

I know for me, it's been a mixed bag as a shapeshifter with some identities thrown in there... For example, I've always known I was a timber Wolf. I've known since I first saw them in my area that I was one of them, even if in the flesh I was not. This experience was innate to me. However, there were other experiences that were not. Ones I had to do research on. Ones I saw and had a "Aha!" Moment. I wonder, if there were animals of very similar characteristics both physically and personality/behaviour wise, and I came across them first, would I have identified as them, instead of what I identify as now?

What if most of us were like that. We know we are something, and we know we have something of certain traits, but how are we so sure that it's one thing over another? Would it be possible for us as Therians to be torn in two over this? Does it come naturally?

By the way, this post isn't meant to be controversial at all. It's meant to provide a question to allow people to think about themselves for a moment. It's also aimed to create feedback, and create a space where we can talk about challenging things with ourselves.

i used to do it a ton but i always got told that it messes up your body so i don't do it as much anymore

I think it's fine, but you shouldn't feel like you need to. I physically can't apart from up stairs.

I am on there and am apart of it but I do the videos for fun and info. I also make sure to inform every person I see that calls themselves a therian what it really is cause the definition has been so messed on there.

(2024-09-02 1:27)Glory Wrote:  

(2024-09-02 0:00)grays Wrote:  I get wanting to be yourself, or wanting to sell your cool masks, but because people on social media are so shallow they can't see past one small association they've made therianthropy seem like something it isn't. And then of course it's literal children hearing about it and thinking "ooh i get to be an animal and its silly".

^^^
This is why I don't get on therian tiktok. Tiktok is great purely for entertainment purposes but it doesn't foster in-depth conversations about things. It's designed to feed content to peoples' brains in short clips at a fast pace to maximize "interaction" (likes) and dopamine hits- this way the company makes more money. The vast majority of people who happen to scroll across therian content in their feed aren't going to engage in in-depth thinking or self-reflection. They're just there for that dopamine hit. So of course they're going to see one person's expression of their therianthropy and not dig deeper into it.
Not everybody deep dives into all the interesting topics they find on the internet.

Also, tiktok is made to cycle the types of videos you haven't scrolled past back into your feed. So if a kid happens across therian content on their feed, the algorithm is likely to keep showing them more. That could possibly lead to young people becoming more misinformed about what therianthropy is.

Exactly. Tiktok is going to be the death of intellectual conversation and in depth thinking, and this hurts niche communities like ours.

(2024-09-02 0:00)grays Wrote:  I get wanting to be yourself, or wanting to sell your cool masks, but because people on social media are so shallow they can't see past one small association they've made therianthropy seem like something it isn't. And then of course it's literal children hearing about it and thinking "ooh i get to be an animal and its silly".

^^^
This is why I don't get on therian tiktok. Tiktok is great purely for entertainment purposes but it doesn't foster in-depth conversations about things. It's designed to feed content to peoples' brains in short clips at a fast pace to maximize "interaction" (likes) and dopamine hits- this way the company makes more money. The vast majority of people who happen to scroll across therian content in their feed aren't going to engage in in-depth thinking or self-reflection. They're just there for that dopamine hit. So of course they're going to see one person's expression of their therianthropy and not dig deeper into it.
Not everybody deep dives into all the interesting topics they find on the internet.

Also, tiktok is made to cycle the types of videos you haven't scrolled past back into your feed. So if a kid happens across therian content on their feed, the algorithm is likely to keep showing them more. That could possibly lead to young people becoming more misinformed about what therianthropy is.

honestly I think the reason there's so many new "therians" is because people have used therianthropy as a way to promote something. I get wanting to be yourself, or wanting to sell your cool masks, but because people on social media are so shallow they can't see past one small association they've made therianthropy seem like something it isn't. And then of course it's literal children hearing about it and thinking "ooh i get to be an animal and its silly".

I personally think that children younger than 12 do not have the emotional capacity to identify as therian. They don't have the complexity, nor the understanding of the world around them to then understand some of the deeper meanings behind the therian identity

My personal opinion is that it's not great how much divide there seems to be in the community. Likely one of the reasons TikTok therians don't like to discuss therianthropy with the rest of us is because there feels to be quite a divide in the community. And while I dislike therianthropy stereotypes just as much as everyone else, it's not beneficial to further the gap between us. It's not "us vs them", it's not "therians vs humans" or at least it shouldn't be. It's ok to say that they're spreading misinformation, but I often see the harm that labelling groups of people as fakers or misinformed does... to any group of people. Because it's not accurate. And I myself have experienced immense pressure to be the "perfect therian" for fear of being seen as a faker if I did so much as act my age or talk about some things (even non-therianthropy related). In reality, we should be encouraging children to be themselves. Get the information right, yes, but how someone expresses and copes with their therianthropy should be up to them.