The topic of "tik-tok therians" gets brought up on TG a lot, and while I understand the hostility, I don't really think it is surprising that children are drawn to the idea of therianthropy. For kids, especially those who are neurodivergent or don't "fit in" for any reason, animals can bring a great comfort. A lot of kids who don't fit in are constantly looking for communities to join, so making therianthropy a trend or aesthetic makes it more accessible to them. They are also looking for reasons as to why they don't fit in or get along with other people their age, and to put it simply, not being human is a really good explanation for why someone doesn't understand humans or get along with humans. Aesthetics in general have been on the rise, and therianthropy is not the only identity that has been watered down because of it. Many subcultures have been turned into aesthetics on tik-tok and those communities also suffer because of it. Aesthetics and the trends that go along with them lead to easily digestible social media posts and consumerism, which is what algorithms love.
I guess my main point is, therianthropy is being portrayed as an aesthetic or trend online because that is simply how social media works, and that kids, especially neurodivergent kids, are bound to be drawn to therianthropy specifically.

I'm biased because I dislike tiktok and its userbase. However i'm convinced that 99.9% of people who come from tiktok claiming to be therian/otherkin, specifically children, are going through some kind of fitting in phase.

(2024-08-14 11:19)D_Lizard Wrote:  Yea thats true.
But because of the current generation having like 4-5x more accessibility to the internet than those before.

Which makes it a lot more/bigger than before.

(Feel free to correct me if anything i say is incorrectly said)

The concept of Eternal September might be of interest to you.

(2014-10-23 22:51)DustWolf Wrote:  Hello,

We would like to warn all of the underage visitors of our website to be careful not to trust any adults who are filrtatious or hinting at being sexual with you or meeting you in person.

We monitor this website to keep you safe, however because we cannot control what happens on other websites, but really care about your wellbeing, we ask you to understand this and keep safe everywhere.

This isn't simply another "because we said so". We know that it seems appealing, or even wonderful to gain all that attention of an adult. We also know you feel it is right to protect those who appeal to your sympathies. However keep in mind, that people who do this while being flirtatious or sexual with you, do not have your best interest in mind. They plan to use you, say all those things to make you feel sorry for them to gain your sympathies or shower you with attention if they sense that's what's required, just to manipulate you, to get what they want you to do for them -- and then discard you.

In short, they don't really love you. We do. Please be smart, say no and report them.

LP,
Dusty

(2024-08-14 8:15)Siris Wrote:  not a new phenomena just a new platform. said it many times it was tumblr-kin and wolfaboos from twilight before, tiktok-kin are just the newest breed.

Yea thats true.
But because of the current generation having like 4-5x more accessibility to the internet than those before.

Which makes it a lot more/bigger than before.

(Feel free to correct me if anything i say is incorrectly said)

not a new phenomena just a new platform. said it many times it was tumblr-kin and wolfaboos from twilight before, tiktok-kin are just the newest breed.

(2024-08-13 21:31)D_Lizard 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.

I found it through YouTube shorts.
I wasn't really intrested untill i found one about being a therian is not a choice.

That made me intrested and i went to le good o'l google aaaaaand somehow, somewhere ended up here xD.


Honestly people should do research about something before they say im that or this tho.

Tbh I found it through tiktok comps on youtube and not exactly tiktok itself.

(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 found it through YouTube shorts.
I wasn't really intrested untill i found one about being a therian is not a choice.

That made me intrested and i went to le good o'l google aaaaaand somehow, somewhere ended up here xD.


Honestly people should do research about something before they say im that or this tho.

Well, my reawakening was partially precipitated by the reactionary elements of the far right mentioning 'litter boxes' and generally condemning therians as an identity they sought to antagonize. So I suppose a side effect of current trend. Being told by some assholes that I was doing this for funsies, when my existence was continual anxiety and stress of thinking I was broken somehow and pretending to be human 24/7, was a real kick in the snout.

Ultimately I think there are a lot of kids who are trying on the identity to see if it fits their experience. This is normal and a lot of them aren't actually Therian. The downside is there are a lot of aspects to the actual identity that are misrepresented routinely.

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