hi! like Wander said, there are many other threads discussing this but... in specific to it being an aesthetic here are my thoughts!

over recent years, people have attributed therianthropy to a lot of things (mainly because of the connections of social media, and lockdown making more ppl venture online), both from those in and out of the community! this happens with a lot of communities and identities and is, unfortunately, one of the many side affects of such a connected world. 'fake news' (ill call it this because it is a similarly beleived slightly twisted truth) around a lot of these things isnt new, and stereotyping isnt either. the difference i see though, is the speed at which such stereotypes spread, and how many people they reach. for example, using my own experiences here, because of the presence of social media, the rumours about me being a furry spread much much quicker to a much wider audience because of the connectedness of my local school network and all the other kids at said schools being online, everyone knew what furries were (or what they THOUGHT furries were, basically all the rumours bout zoos and litter boxes and such) because media had told them. they all beleived what they heard, so reactions were quick and drastic. no one thought twice that their definition of furries, or therians, or their stereotypes might be totally false. no one considered i might not be any of those stereotypes. i had no social media, so i had no idea what a furry even was. this, i think, is the typical principle of rumours. wheras in previous years, rumours may have had to be spread from person to person, and limited by the geography of the planet, today they can get anywhere. really really fast. this same principle applies to therianthropy. whereas different 'trends' of therianthropy (like gear for example) may have been limited to one area, creating diverse and different therian cultures that spread naturally, social media blows up one aspect of a community, and makes it widespread on an immediate scale. this is why some certain things are so popular, and others less so. to find the more 'naturally spreading' communities like TG, one has to look deeper nowadays. most people, like those kids at my school, wont look past what they first told. they act and respond to the first thing they receive. this is almost always with our community now gear and quads. so most people stick to being misinformed, as they simply beleive that. i myself was stuck in this for a few weeks. this is how all those expectations and aesthetics form as everyone pushes these ideas onto everyone else. it is much harder for 'naturally spreading' communities to form because they are swamped by media. therianthropy being an aesthetic is nothing new, neither are the stereotypes, we just know about them more. people have always thought what it should and shouldnt be, and will always think that way. unfortunately, misinformation is a side effect of a communities growth. all we can hope for is that others start to realise they need to look deeper than the trends and rumours to find themselves and the true meaning of identities like therianthropy!

i dont mean ant of this to sound condescending, or mean towards anyone! if this upset anyone or i got any of my logic wrong, please let me k! this is just my personal opinion and theory, so take all this with a pinch of salt but i hope it was a good read anyways!

Cya!
Rain

(2024-08-13 16:32)Syr Wrote:  

(2024-08-13 16:30)LavenderWobbleDragon Wrote:  I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

And that's a wonderful thing you ended up here !

I'm just curious how this 'massive' influx of new Therians happened !

Through tiktok and thetian content creators like thorn and pd. Find it through tiktok, research with content creators like them, they learn about tg, end up here. (I'm kind of just retelling a shortened version of my journey but there's probably peoplr with a similar one)

(2024-08-13 16:30)LavenderWobbleDragon Wrote:  I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

I was made aware of the community through tiktok, but I had a feeling there was more to it, so I researched, until I ended up here.

(2024-08-13 15:39)WanderingForests Wrote:  Sadly, this has become such an issue that there are many threads about it. (opinions on quadrobics, therianthropy on tiktok, opinions on tiktok therians, chosen therians on TikTok, faking therians on tiktok, etc)
You can look it up if you want and see what other people have had to say

Sadly, this has become such an issue that there are many threads about it. (opinions on quadrobics, therianthropy on tiktok, opinions on tiktok therians, chosen therians on TikTok, faking therians on tiktok, etc)
You can look it up if you want and see what other people have had to say

I think people should be accepting of people who awakened at all ages although people who awakened at around 8 usually grow out of it.

I just got here, as a pup who knows people who were grooming victims (luckily never been a victim) I agree!

Research to me is probably something different..

I didn't actively research anything at the beginning to figure out what I was.. I knew that I was significantly different from everyone I had ever met and that I wasn't exactly what they were seeing me as..but I didn't know what that was exactly, and I didn't give it much thought until I saw a form that looked just like me in a book and then I knew that somehow that's what I was, and things began to make sense for the first time.

After that I began reading about mythologies from various cultures to try to find explanations for my experiences, and to see if there were historical mentions of people like me. That evolved into focusing on Eastern Mythology and Philosophy which I later took coursework in college for. I also studied Psychology, Physiology, Physics, and various other fields between my work and university studies as I got older. These are useful when it comes to reality-testing and weeding out mundane yet not commonly known aspects of human development and the world around us.

I've tried to avoid researching too much into animal behavior for the reasons others have mentioned..I needed to know that my behavior was genuine and self-originating. Most of us discover ourselves relatively young, and the mind is highly suggestible at that point, so if you search for something hard enough you'll likely find a way to see it in yourself(even adults can do this..). Things that are real will still be there when you don't look for them, and you'll probably be forced to recognize them eventually because they won't go away. They will also likely have a significant impact on your daily life in some way (some good, some bad).

Tldr: You don't need to use the Force, Luke..just your patience.