responding to wxlfbites here and not tagging bc frankly I donβt want to argue and just wanted to make a point.
No oneβs complaining about quadrobics and masks on their own. Weβre complaining about the current issue that TikTok Therians are representing therianthropy as something that itβs not. In other words, trying to change the definition of the term to mean what is convenient for them.
no actually, I donβt care how outsiders view the therian/otherkin community. I do not exist to appeal to others and neither should anyone else, especially literal children who are just having fun.
Or the complete disregard for the effort a lot of people put into the community to spread good information, tips, resources, etc. that literally connects the community in such ways that created online conventions, that promoted each others art, etc. over prioritizing TT views on a quads video that is just a personal expression, not representative of theΒ entire community.
if youβre upset thereβs a lack of something in the community, then supply it yourself. encourage people. I donβt understand why youβre pinning the blame on other people choosing to express themselves in a different way than you? youβre allowed to complain about lack of variety, but deciding that other people need to be more serious about their identity is really not up to you.
I care about an entire term and community being turned into a roleplay game for warrior cat kids because no one wants to be the bad guy and educate people who never seem to listen anyway. Thats how itβs always been with this community. Always having to fucking run around like a chicken with our heads cut off trying to clean up other peoples messes when they come in here and fuck shit up for REAL therians.
β¦have these therians admitted that they arenβt real therians/are roleplaying, or are you assuming that based on their behavior or aspects of their identity (ie changing kintypes too often)? if the latter, I donβt want to hear it. Iβve dealt with far too much therian elitism to put up with that toxic mindset.
We donβt accept the zoophiles trying to fucking make outsiders think weβre all zooβs. But god forbid we call out anyone (not just kids) who make outsiders think weβre all just playing pretend in our backyard.
one is genuinely harmful to us and one is respectability politics. outsiders think weβre all insane no matter how much we try to act like normal respectable adults. the idea that all therians are animal abusers is much more likely to get us discriminated against or even killed than people thinking weβre kinda silly.
Fuck me cause Iβm not someone who wants someone who saw a TikTok therians finding out Im a therian and either laughing in my fucking face or talking to me likeΒ Im a fucking baby playing doggy dress up with my toys. Fuck me and my actual identity that deserves respect, not mockery.
Iβm sorry youβre upset about this, genuinely. but I can promise you that right wingers will hate you whether you push out the weirder ones in the community or not. I donβt think putting other people down to make yourself look better is the correct option here.
No one cares about the weird shit you do as a therian. Just donβt advertise it as being the reason you are a therian. Donβt advertise it as the requirements to be a therian. Donβt advertise it as the definition of what it means to be a therian. Because youβre right in one respect: weβre all different. Weβre not all mask wearing quadrobists. So stop making everyone think thatβs what being a therian means.
I think I would need a lot of context here because I genuinely donβt understand where you get this idea that there are young therians who wholeheartedly believe any of this.
sorry for being a little harsh but as a victim of therian elitism and gatekeeping, I find it important to combat these things when I see them. this is the reason I donβt call myself a therian anymore (I prefer calling myself otherkin). I grew up in the gatekeeping days and it was HELL for me, as someone who has identity issues due to multiple mental disorders andΒ βtoo manyβ kintypes. I was forced to participate in theΒ βseriousβ aspects of therianthropy or not be taken seriously at all by my own peers. I wouldnβt be accepted as a therian if I didnβt write a 10 paragraph essay about why I think Iβm a therian and I was only allowed to be *this* amount of weird. you had to hate being a therian to be taken seriously. you couldnβt have fun with your identity or you were automatically labelled fluff/a roleplayer/wishkin/tumblrkin. if your kintype was too common you were called out for faking. if your kintype was too weird you were called out for faking. even today I still struggle to accept myself and accept the fact that I have multiple kintypes, some of which are very common, some of which areΒ βcoolβ and powerful. I love having fun with my identity. I love the fact that I can communicate with my partner in yips and yaps, and that I can alleviate dysphoria by wearing a collar and a tail. my identity affects my gender identity, it affects every aspect of myself as a person. I am simply not human and I love that. I love making little kin foods and silly little crafts and funny memes. I love that I can finally relax and not feel the need to prove myself to others anymore. and I just want everyone to experience that.
if you want informational posts, great. but not all of us do, and a communityβs lack of specific posts probably means that those posts are not as needed or wanted as you may hope. maybe the community as a whole is healing from the gatekeeping era and doesnβt always need a lot of serious discussion going on.
also⦠there have always been therian kids making cringey content. I remember back in 2010-2015 looking up therian videos on youtube and 99% of it was minors explaining their kintypes and past lives or talking about how they got bullied in school or making a music video for their wolf pack or whatever. it was entirely unserious. kids will be kids, I guess tiktok is pretty popular but tiktok is predominantly children anyway so why do you expect adult therian discussion on there?
youβre fully allowed to not vibe with the community and leave it and choose another label but it is not up to you to decide that the community isΒ βnot serious enoughβ orΒ βfull of roleplayersβ (itβs not) and that is my criticism. that you saw young people having fun with being nonhuman instead of having a serious discussion and have personally decided thatβs bad and wrong.