(2023-09-05 16:24)grays Wrote:  

(2023-09-05 16:15)Sleepii-lambkin Wrote:  I’m new to the therianthropy community, but I’ve personally been VERY annoyed by the erasure of psychological therians. I’ll mention that I don’t have a past life and suddenly several 11 year olds are calling me a faker! D:

((Tho tbh the masks look fun I convinced my mom to order me a mask.))

Honestly..
I tried to explain the concept of a copinglink to a tiktok therian and they called it fake therianthropy... meanwhile they're 11, wearing gear, past life therian...
yknow, stereotypical tiktok therian stuff.
It's actually insane..

(2023-09-05 16:15)Sleepii-lambkin Wrote:  I’m new to the therianthropy community, but I’ve personally been VERY annoyed by the erasure of psychological therians. I’ll mention that I don’t have a past life and suddenly several 11 year olds are calling me a faker! D:

((Tho tbh the masks look fun I convinced my mom to order me a mask.))

It's fairly pointless to discuss with those people. From my limited time looking into it, it seems like they're thinking fairly dogmatic about what therianthropy should entail (past life, quadrobics, idolizing certain tiktokers etc etc) and they're very defensive of their vision (try to argue that quads are very unimportant). Either way, they'll just cling to their one "true" vision and defend it like a religious fanatic would. The age category doesn't help at all with their case

It was always with certain groups of spiritual therians that they become dogmatic and quick to dismiss experiences of others who don't fit their dogmatic views sadly, and it will always remain that way I'm afraid.

In the end it's valuable to have in the back of your mind that therianthropy in the broadest sense is just having the feeling there's a non human part to you and that it's valuable to embrace the differences in the community as all sane experiences and feelings are valid. Whether it's spiritual or psychological in essence it shouldn't matter. Copinglink is a very valid explanation for therianthropy and I am sure for many therians it is a plausible cause.

@grays They’re just kids being annoying kids I guess. (I can’t blame them, I’m technically a kid too)

(2023-09-05 16:15)Sleepii-lambkin Wrote:  I’m new to the therianthropy community, but I’ve personally been VERY annoyed by the erasure of psychological therians. I’ll mention that I don’t have a past life and suddenly several 11 year olds are calling me a faker! D:

((Tho tbh the masks look fun I convinced my mom to order me a mask.))

Honestly..
I tried to explain the concept of a copinglink to a tiktok therian and they called it fake therianthropy... meanwhile they're 11, wearing gear, past life therian...
yknow, stereotypical tiktok therian stuff.
It's actually insane..

I’m new to the therianthropy community, but I’ve personally been VERY annoyed by the erasure of psychological therians. I’ll mention that I don’t have a past life and suddenly several 11 year olds are calling me a faker! D:

((Tho tbh the masks look fun I convinced my mom to order me a mask.))

(2023-09-05 7:20)Siris Wrote:  NOw that you mention it I remember hearing about Therian Temple back in the oughts, never anything good and honestly glad I managed to stay clear of that mess, course I was probably older than their target demiographic by then. Truth is there has always been missinformation and children throwing things around with a barely surface level understanding. I believe I said it earlier but before it was the tumblerkin, now it's tiktok-kin. In some ways grilling came about as a response to such things in an attempt to control our own definition. I think there will always be some sort of group, site, etc. like that where nonsense and childish ideas run rampant and there really is nothing we can do about it in the end but weather it and wait till enough people take us all seriously.

I feel like the primary issue is in this regard is that therianthropy ties in very well with younger people being primarily attracted to it by public means (tiktok for instance). These people are often vulnerable and easy to manipulate. They're willing to absorb a lot of nonsense in order to find their identity and a sense of belonging.

Add to that this also forms the public front of therianthropy and there aren't many public figures that are sensible and have a wide reach and you'll get that there's a lot of misinformation about what therianthropy actually entails that's easier to access than good information.

And I'm afraid that isn't going to change because the group of older Therians that are mature, convincing and dedicated enough to have a compelling narrative with a sizable reach to compete with the masses of tiktokkins is very small.

This is just my opinion though, but I think Therians won't be taken serious by a very vast majority of people, apart from the furry fandom unless a strong and compelling narrative is formed, which I don't see happening as it goes against the subjectivity of therianthropy

(2023-09-02 23:59)Daizon Wrote:  

(2023-08-30 16:23)grays Wrote:  But yeah I don't like how we've romanticized and put standards on therianthropy. That's really weird.

I must admit I don't use TikTok (I'm really becoming a boomer smh) so I must admit regarding TikTok I'm out of the loop. But the term Therianthropy has been altered and bent by younger people trying to figure out their identity and their place in life and/or insane or even malicious people. In 2006 the Therian Temple became a thing, which is nothing but a stain upon Therianthropy as a whole as it was nothing but a cult. More- smaller cult-like sites were a thing between 2005 and 2015, mostly run by teenagers. It's definitely interesting to dive into that part of history of Therianthropy even though it's quite fucked.

Therianthropy as a whole has probably been tainted by people trying to put standards on it and people romanticizing it since or shortly after the inception of Therianthropy.

NOw that you mention it I remember hearing about Therian Temple back in the oughts, never anything good and honestly glad I managed to stay clear of that mess, course I was probably older than their target demiographic by then. Truth is there has always been missinformation and children throwing things around with a barely surface level understanding. I believe I said it earlier but before it was the tumblerkin, now it's tiktok-kin. In some ways grilling came about as a response to such things in an attempt to control our own definition. I think there will always be some sort of group, site, etc. like that where nonsense and childish ideas run rampant and there really is nothing we can do about it in the end but weather it and wait till enough people take us all seriously.

(2023-08-30 16:23)grays Wrote:  But yeah I don't like how we've romanticized and put standards on therianthropy. That's really weird.

I must admit I don't use TikTok (I'm really becoming a boomer smh) so I must admit regarding TikTok I'm out of the loop. But the term Therianthropy has been altered and bent by younger people trying to figure out their identity and their place in life and/or insane or even malicious people. In 2006 the Therian Temple became a thing, which is nothing but a stain upon Therianthropy as a whole as it was nothing but a cult. More- smaller cult-like sites were a thing between 2005 and 2015, mostly run by teenagers. It's definitely interesting to dive into that part of history of Therianthropy even though it's quite fucked.

Therianthropy as a whole has probably been tainted by people trying to put standards on it and people romanticizing it since or shortly after the inception of Therianthropy.

I think this is an interesting theory. I have definitely experienced some trauma from my parents and siblings when I was younger, and I think my possible cat theriotype partly came from the fact that since I was emotionally and physically neglected when I was a little kid, my cat took care of me. She passed a year and a half ago but I'll always think of her as my one true mother. I have noticed a lot of therians do have trauma, so this could definitely it and I wouldn't be surprised if therianthropy was some sort of neurodivergent experience.

(2023-08-30 13:10)BearX Wrote:  

(2023-08-26 18:00)WanderingForests Wrote:  That sounds like something that would make being a therian even more difficult to experience. Is it hard?

I wrote a rather lengthy essay on the topic for TG awhile back... An Essay on Dissociative Therianthropy

Thanks!! I'll definitely read it.

I don't remember any trauma or anything. My parents didn't hit me that much and the insults came after my brother left and I'd already believed I was a therian. I think. I don't really remember much more then a few years ago. As for autism I think that more therians are atusitic is because they tend to follow social rules less so autistic people are also more likely to be trans or gay. I think I may be autistic but I'm not diagnosed so I don't really have much to speak on and I'm really sorry if I've said anything wrong or rude.