seawolfed

2̶6| ᴀʟᴛᴇʀʜᴜᴍᴀɴ | ᴄᴏᴀꜱᴛᴀʟ ᴡᴏʟꜰ | ᴀᴜꜱ ꜱᴇᴀ ʟɪᴏɴ ᴢᴏᴏᴋᴇᴇᴘᴇʀ + ᴡɪʟᴅʟɪғᴇ ʀᴇʜᴀʙɪʟɪᴛᴀᴛᴏʀ

[seawolfed]

"Wildform"

A depiction of what it feels to be in-between shapes, and where I like to imagine myself in this awkward form.

Most days I feel like a weird amalgamation of body parts that don't fit into the body I have. An ever changing mass of limbs, shifting and distorting, trying to shape itself into something it physically cannot. I overcompensate for my movements, lowering my posture as if ready to drop on all fours, I duck my head an extra depth to fit my ears below an obstacle, adjust the way I sit to make space for my tail or walk on my toes to acclimate to the feeling of paws.

Some days my phantom sensations are so strong that I feel it in my entire body. It is so physically distressing to viewing a body does not match the sensation or move in the way that it should. It can be emotionally difficult to move my body and sometimes | feel stuck, unable to move at all. It is an uncomfortable disconnection between mind and body.

Lately l've found drawing the physical sensations of my phantom shifts to be quite therapeutic and healing - especially in those moments I feel stuck. I feel as though this is a big jump in my digital art capability too, I'm very proud of this one! 🐾

[romeovanity]

Slumber

[theplant-system]

I'm not a therian but pls reblog or something if youre an adult therian. I need to find more nonhuman blogs, a lot of people on here who identify as animals are children.

[gone-fish-mode]

i will always be a fan of people describing themselves however they want, do not take this as me shitting on any label in any way.

i do think that it is very telling how i see a lot of folks saying that they have "outgrown" the therian label and taken up holothere instead, saying that it feels more real and legitimate.

something about it wigs me out. and i think that it has to do with perceived seriousness and a bid for legitimacy. linguistic shift is normal and expected, it's not like this is really avoidable. but the difference between holothere and therian is not the same as therianthropy vs. therianism.

therianthropy vs. therianism is really just people using the wrong term. it's not intentional. it's what happens when "therianthrope" has been shortened so much that the original tenses and forms of the word are just forgotten. it's an arguably pretty normal linguistical shift. im a little annoyed by it, mind you. "therianthrope" and "therianthropy" are some kickass words that I think should be used more. but i can't really be shocked or even upset that it's happened.

holothere is different. while the coining of the word + the way many use it can be very genuine, there is undoubtedly a growing population that uses it because of its perceived to be more serious than therian. it's adopted as a way to been seen as a more legitimate identity. and i can't really be mad at that, either. to say that therian has lost some of its.... idk.... power? due to it being picked up by certain demographics is not wrong. like there is nothing in the reasoning or the desire that is bad or wrong with any of this.

but it does make me a bit squemish, I think? Because it introduces therianthropy as something lesser within the community. You have an internal conflict with legitimacy, here. And it's based off the label you use. In the past, the community has negotiated legitimacy through grilling. And I am not calling for a return to grilling, I don't think it was a great thing, but... it is something I'm noticing.

How we are changing the way we assert our identity's seriousness is now based off of the initial words we use, as opposed to the understanding of that word.

I could talk more about this. as I said before, this is not an attempt to convince anyone to stop using holothere. I know it has a lot of differences to it and it's deeper to most people. I'm not going to sit here and try to combat this very natural shift in behavior. This is just something I've noticed in the way people talk about the term. It's 7:51 am, I have a final exam at 8:00. So I will be going now. But I would love to hear if anyone has more thoughts on this. I will probably come back around and amend some of what I've said here, I've only been thinking about this topic specifically for like. 15 mins. Give me a day and I'll figure out how to say this a better way.

[wolfalder]

This design is owned by me (do not copy, repost, trace, or replicate in any way). It’s extremely personal and special to me (this post is super late… I got this over a year ago). I was debating on whether or not I was going to share but it’s so stunning and I know my fellow therians would enjoy it.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

[seawolfed]

[wanderingcritter]

Honestly the single best way ive dealt with species dysphoria hasn't been gear or quadrobics or vocals. Its been to stop thinking of myself as "an animal trapped in a human body", and instead just thinking of myself as an animal, right here right now. My body may not look or feel exactly how id like it to, but I am still an animal and this is still my body, despite what anyone else thinks

[baumarius]

Zoesthesia & Therianthropy

There is currently no word for "the experiences that give rise to therianthropy." The therian community has a million different terms for pieces of it - mental shifts, phantom shifts, sensory shifts, etc. I propose a new term. Hear me out:

Zoesthesia ("zo-esthesia", from the Greek "zōion" [life/animal] and "aisthesis" [perception]): "The subjective inner non-human animal experiences that give rise to therianthropy." Therianthropy is an identity. Zoesthesia is the root of that identity, and can include all forms of shifts therians have previously described. Zoesthesia can be experienced from a young age and can occur before one's identity forms, before one knows the words for what they're experiencing. It is the "happening" behind the curtain - instinct. Consider:

It's neutral, even if it sounds like it implies a neurological bias.

It doesn't replace "therianthropy" as a term.

It sounds similar to synesthesia - the crossing of the senses in the brain, which is not seen as a disorder.

It's a spectrum, just like synesthesia - everyone's experiences are different.

Using "zoesthete" instead of "therian" is possible, though it does not imply any sort of identity, nor does it imply that one interprets these experiences as belonging to any specific non-human animal. This is primarily to describe "therianthropy underneath the hood."

It is not exclusive. We could use it to account for spiritual experiences as well - past life memories, "auras," the whole nine yards. If you think about it, all of those things also occur in your brain. Literally everything does. Your brain is hallucinating its own version of reality right now, and everything "spiritual" that you believe is just based on something your brain experienced. And everything that appears to be "external" is a recreation of it by your neurons.

What's The Point?

I suggest this because of the latest happenings globally within the therian community. A lot of young people in China, for example, think that "therian" is a fandom they can join. Younger folks globally should know that becoming more aware of the happenings in their consciousness is the point - not joining a fandom or getting likes on TikTok.

I believe that the way we do that is by turning the focus beyond identity, toward the inner experiences that lead to that identity. Time and time again, I've heard non-therians say "You can't identify as an animal, that's just not possible." There are significantly more convincing ways to talk about the experiences we have. Zoesthesia has my vote.

A more general, similarly neutral version of this that would apply to all alterhumans would be "allosthesia," from the Greek "allos" (other) and "aisthesis."

What are your thoughts?

I'd use it!

Nah.

Voting ended onMar 26

[baumarius]

For those who are averse to using new terminology such as this: Using current terminology, it could be said that a "therian" is someone who identifies as a non-human animal, and "therianthropy" is the subjective inner animal experience and the mechanisms that might cause one to shift or remain shifted. Many online resources do not describe therianthropy this way. On Wikipedia, therianthropy is defined as "the enduring experience of identifying as a nonhuman animal." You have to read through 9 paragraphs before reading anything about the actual experience. On Therian Guide, therianthropy isn't even defined - "therianthrope" is. At least there, the experience is in focus, rather than the identity. Meanwhile, Therian Territory defines therianthropy as "the involuntary experience of animalistic behavior/instincts/urges/traits" - which is the best I've seen so far. But they have a YouTube channel, not a website. Whether something new is adopted or we continue to use old terms, it would be sensible if each of these sites could come to some consensus on what it actually is. From the outside looking in, it appears as if nobody knows what they're talking about. To the trained eye, it smells like BS. But let's say the people who manage each of these platforms are actually able to do that and it was made crystal clear that there is an actual distinct term for the experience and a different term for the identity - and the experience is the primary focus moving forward. The term "therian" is still suffering from disinformation campaigns that are resulting in thousands of people taking to the streets to catch a glimpse of these "freaks" in countries all around the world. This may be temporary, but it is fresh in people's minds and may live there for a long time. So many therians are afraid to share themselves, even with their own friends - again. No one knows about zoesthesia, and if it can be prioritized by researchers first and foremost, I believe it could drive a renaissance for the global community. This term could be used in scientific circles - something that researchers can use to refer to and study our experiences. Provided that researchers take this up, I think it could have a very positive impact. If it does catch on, maybe the focus on inner experiences over identity will result in a positive shift in the kinds of conversations people are having about therianthropy throughout the world. Such a change would be a long-haul, though. Research takes a lot of time, money, and an incentive to even perform that research. Until that happens, the next best thing would be to create an international organization with the intent to define, translate, and localize terms such as zoesthesia and therianthropy. Without either of these things, you can expect more of the same.

[thetadelta]

This topic is actually what I was trying to get at with my alterdysphoria/euphoria post! The community is lacking in broad terms to refer to alterhuman experiences that aren't constrained by a specific identity label, which leads to a lot of confusion and division, particularly in people new to the community.

Not only is therianthropy a purposely vague word (it's just "the experience of identifying as an animal"), but things like shifts, dysphoria/euphoria, and noemata are also experienced by non-therians (e.g. otherhearts or people who only use transspecies, draconic, etc). Having a catch-all term for internal animalistic experiences that includes everyone who has them would be great, both for intra-community discussion and research purposes.

I also agree with your comment on this post that having a broader version that includes non-animalistic experiences is needed, for which I'd suggest "alterthesia", defined as "the internal experiences that constitute an alterhuman identity" (and one could conceivably create other subcategories, like fictothesia for fictionfolk).

[baumarius]

I've suggested allosthesia ("all-o's-thesia") in the original post because:

1. Both roots come from the same language.

2. It is similar to other scientific terms such as allostasis, which is similar to homeostasis but refers to adaptation to changing conditions.

3. I structured both terms in a way that avoids referring to any specific existing community, and by definition do not need to. Therefore, zoesthesia would mean "the subjective experience of non-human animal traits, instincts, and urges that may lead to a non-human animal identity" and allosthesia "the subjective experience of traits, instincts, urges, and etc. that may lead to an identity based on a species, concept, or form of consciousness different to one's species."

But - the first root word of zoesthesia is "zoe," meaning animal or life. Literally "life perception," it could simply refer to the way your consciousness feels (your qualia), and therefore encompass all forms of alterhumans. Allosthesia achieves the same purpose in a different way. I'm not sure which one I like more.

[thetadelta]

Wanting a lack of reference to an existing community makes sense, though I'd also argue that "alter" is just another root and the issue is more with the definition I suggested. Like with the "alterdysphoria" terms I mentioned I don't like that it mixes root languages but English does that a lot anyway, and with broad community terms anything new that doesn't have a somewhat self-explanatory meaning tends to not catch on because nobody can remember it ^^;

As I said in the comments "allo" as a root has a lot of associations with the queer community so that's an option that would lead to confusion. The "zoo" root, on the other hand, makes it an implied therian-centric word even if it can technically refer to life in general, so I'm disinclined to suggest it to anyone who doesn't have an animalistic identity because those people already struggle with a lack of terminology that was created specifically to include them (see my alterdysphoria post)(and also! not everyone has living things as their identity). Broadening the meaning of zoethesia also brings us back to square one with not having a term more specific to the experience of therianthropy. "Ontothesia" is probably a better option for a broad term that doesn't reference alterhumanity.

If anyone following me (or otherwise reading this) has a non-animalistic identity I'd love to hear your thoughts!

[seawolfed]

For the creatures who don’t know, I have a Therian/Alterhuman playlist I’m continuously adding to with the help of community members!

Alterhuman music does not have a genre or necessarily even lyrics! If you have any suggestions for songs that represent your nonhuman experience please drop them below! 🐾

[acesvega-deactivated20240116]

something i've noticed. people seem to think the most nature-y nature is forests. so forests are always prioritized for conservation, and planting trees is synonymous with ecological activism. my state was largely prairies and wetlands before colonization. those ecosystems are important too. trees aren't the end-all be-all of environmentalism. plant native grasses. protect your wetlands.

[withswords]

deserts also!!! it sucks so bad that people think of desert as 'wasteland' just because it's not suited for western european style ag development, they're beautiful and delicate and valuable ecosystems and, i think it's good to point out that humans have been living willingly in them for thousands of years

[h0ly-cr0w-deactivated20260520]

from last night I believe this is the quote origin btw

[lylethelion]

He would’ve LOVED tumblr

(For context: Movie Wolf, he has clinical zoanthropy and believes he’s a wolf)

[lycanspaws]

My experiences are intriguingly quite similar to his and I do very much enjoy Tumblr.

My only concern would be that he does have many impulses and, occasionally, unsafe urges, that even in some of the deeper parts of nonhuman community, there is still those who vilipend those parts of clinical zoanthropy.

I personally self-label with clinical lycanthropy because I understand it's the only notable way humans label those with my identity that experience bad symptoms. Furthermore, I do have a humanoid form where these behaviors (raw meat consumption, night wandering, biting, etc.) are unsafe, or would become unsafe in a nonhuman form shifted back to a humanoid form.

I can acknowledge these bad symptoms that result from my lycanthropic condition and regain a bit of respect, but someone like Jacob may struggle to find grace when expressing anything too personal.

Not that deep of a topic but I think it's quite interesting to think about, and to put the general view of zoanthropy into light. Wolf does a beautiful job at showing the raw, unsanitized sides of it while giving us a living being on screen to empathize and sympathize with, and combining that with comparisons to how the digital world looks like for us folks could help change perspectives for the better.

[korppipoika]

Ei ihan/Not quite

You know when you are surrounded by creatures very much like you but still... Still not quite fitting, nor quite feeling like everyone else?

[mischievousdog]

Mindscape

[artofmaquenda]

Feral Hearts

Two odd beings find tenderness, or a quiet kind of love that doesn’t need naming. What they find together may be love, or safety, or simply the relief of being seen. The world around them mirrors this truth: bones feed roots, insects thrive, and so-called unwanted beings persist. Nature does not reject them, and neither do they reject each other. There is no mistake here, only belonging. Everything exists exactly as it should. Prints: https://artofmaquenda.etsy.com/listing/4427468901/feral-hearts-print-wolves-nature

[ursidae-arctoidea]

Im curious. Do any of yall have jobs that feel appropriate for your theriotypes or that you enjoy because you are your theriotype?

I work at a gas station which feels very bear to me and I love it.

[delta-kong]

Yes, to a degree!

Being a park ranger, I get to be outside and hike frequently, and there's a lot of boulders and rocky outcroppings to fulfill my urge to climb. Also, being a seasonal ranger means a lot of communal living - like, I live in an 8-person dorm right now and have a lot of shared living spaces. It really feels like I'm in a troop or pride sometimes, in both a good and a bad way lol

The big drawbacks for me is that the landscape of my current park does not feel like "home" (I'm in the middle of a huge desert rn). I miss greenery!

[wanderingcritter]

My job has absolutely nothing to do with any of my theriotypes, I just find it really entertaining that there's a werewolf employed at an escape room business. Sounds like the premise for an awful sitcom lmao

[seawolfed]

I’ve had a few jobs related to my Therianthropy or animals in general.

🐺 I used to be a zookeeper which means I got to work closely with my theriotyoes like dingoes, African wild dogs and hyenas.

🌲I have worked in environmental conservation, so field work includes lots of outdoor hikes and projects that protect the landscape. Digging out invasive plant species itches that scratch for digging a den. Being outdoors in wild areas makes me feel so at home. I come home smelling like the forest, it’s incredible.

🐕 And lastly working as a dog walker I get to spend my week with packs of dogs. Interacting and playing with dogs regularly feels very validating. I don’t have to mask my canine behaviours and taking them on hikes feels like I’m wild with my family :)

As you can tell, I need jobs that allow me to be outside at all times! I feel absolutely feral stuck indoors even if it pays the bills 🐾

[wxlfbites]

September 29, 2020

Novelty...

When we are young and just stumbling upon the terms that describe us, there are all these pent-up feelings that start bursting at the seams, screaming "yes, that's me!", "hi, I'm here!" so loudly we barely hear anything else around us. These feelings we never had the words for before suddenly have a name and we can finally focus our attention on trying to explain them rather than just bottling them up. Where once we felt isolated, we find other people in the world who feel the same, we find our community. The intensity in this liberation is astounding. Every single shift we had ever pushed down within ourselves comes rushing to the surface in an attempt to make sense of it all and we feel this immense weight lifted when we talk about them because for once we have a place that accepts that they are real and okay to have.

But many of us older alterhumans know far too well that the novelty of our experiences and identities does unfortunately wear off when we reach a certain point in our adulthood. While this point is not linear or at any exact age, something that happens to a lot of us is that we catch up with all of those backlogged experiences, we realize that these things are simply just.. normal.. for us, more so uneventful in the grand scheme of things, that there isn't much to talk about anymore. Time and time again, we see older alterhumans become less active in online spaces throughout the years. Our two sentence posts spaced only hours apart become a full article with days, weeks, even months between them. Whether because we have begun to hide our nonhuman selves away in the depths of our adulthood, or we simply hold ourselves to a higher standard than before, those five second shifts don't seem as impactful or interesting enough to mention much at this point.

It could be because we have adult responsibilities, so we don't have as much time as our younger peers to focus on our nonhumanity, or because we grow more into our humanity as we age... I like to think the former but I also can't help but wonder....

[skyhounds]

A combination of the two. Adult responsibilities keep us occupied most of the hours in a day in order for us to afford basic necessities, meanwhile this all consuming work can bleed into our inner lives and fog up our identities. We become the work we are. However, like animals, we adapt to our surroundings, and I don’t think stepping back to focus on the human part of living makes us any less of who we are….And it feels like such a large gap of silence between older alterhumans because the online community, currently, is all about novelty.

Growing into humanity shouldn’t be all that concerning. The mind changes and grows over the years, for some it could very well happen. With age comes new responsibilities that naturally rewire the brain. Who knows?

[thetadelta]

Definitely a bit of both! The way people tend to "grow into" living in a human world is not necessarily an abandonment or fading, it's that you've had the time to comfortably settle into your identity and learn more about who you are as a person outside your alterhumanity– identity isn't subtractive, it's cumulative. So yes, I'm still just as feline as I was 20 years ago when I learned about therianthropy, but I'm also a lot of other things now because I've used those decades to do lots of other stuff I've added to the big conglomeration of ideas and emotions and hobbies that make up "me"! The core of me is still alterhuman, but as you said it's just sort of. There. I'm used to it, it's mundane, it doesn't prompt me to write big thinkpieces about being nonhuman in a human world because I've had time to think about all that stuff and I don't need to any more. And yeah life responsibilities can get in the way of me engaging with my alterhumity, but every time I come back to it it's still there. It's still me.

The biggest reason newly-awakened alterhumans post so much online is because they're excited. They've finally found the words for who they are and people who feel the same way, why wouldn't they spend so much time writing and talking about it? But after a while the excitement of it wears off, or they have a big life stressor to deal with, and their alterhumanity settles comfortably into the background of their life– not gone, just not worth talking about much because it's normal and expected (until, as you said, they have an idea for an essay or an article!).

This isn't unique to alterhumans, either, the same thing happens with queer people! When I was in high school and college everyone I knew was loud and proud about their gender and sexuality, but now that I'm in my 30's and all my friends are years or decades into knowing who they are stuff like being trans is just. Mundane. It's just part of existing, and sure it affects how we move through the world but none of us are going online to talk about what it feels like to be trans because we've done all of that already and we're comfortable with who we are. We have more important stuff going on, like hobbies and relationships and jobs, but we're still trans the whole time.

Settling into your identity this way is by no means a bad thing, it's just part of aging and it feels great, actually. Being in your teens and 20's and having to figure out who you are is honestly really stressful. I'm ready to rest and just quietly enjoy being me.