"Therians" Just Went Global - And It's A Disaster
Did you just learn about therianthropy from the media? Have you known that these weird "therians" existed for some time already?
No you didn't and no you don't.
Think therians are all kids that should be put in mental hospitals or ridiculed in front of thousands of people at fake therian meetups? First off, that's now how you solve anything. But you don't know what's really going on, either - and that's by design.
Do you think these "therian" kids are just getting a bad rap and shouldn't be singled out like this? You might be onto something, but the problem before you is not what it appears to be. It never is.
Hi, I'm Bau. I'm a composer and multimedia artist. I've studied psychology and philosophy throughout my life. I'm a cult survivor. I've seen this kind of thing countless times. I also happen to be a therian, and the latest headlines and rumors make it seem like therians everywhere are suddenly targets for harassment and violence. Listen.
Very few people's lives will be impacted by the existence of "therians," but a lot more will be impacted by the new labor laws in Argentina that curb workers' rights. The media there is using the existence of "therians" to draw attention away from the change. And now Spain, Mexico, and China (and possibly Japan - at least) have joined in on the onslaught now that it's clear "therians" are an easy target. It's shockingly widespread but it's no surprise to me. This is what the media gets paid to do. They lead y'all around with a carrot on a stick while their other hand is in your pocket, raking in millions.
If you're an actual therian seeing all of this go down, there is nothing you can do but educate yourself and others, and choose to hide or advocate for yourself. I would hesitate to get involved. Do not talk to the media and do not fear. It is extremely unlikely that any of us will lose our rights. This will die down fast...though the problem that keeps causing these events to occur is much harder to fix.
A Defining Problem
Whether or not this is your first time learning about therianthropy, it's important to understand that the "therians" the international media has been covering are typically 12-15 year-old quadrobics enthusiasts creating and wearing animal masks, running around making animal noises, then posting videos of themselves doing this on TikTok & YouTube. Just because they've co-opted the label of "therian" does not necessarily make them therian. Many of them are appropriating the term, and I can't entirely blame them - the discourse on therianthropy has always been a mess. People want to be inclusive, so the definition has seemingly blurred into whatever you want it to mean. This is rather disingenuous, but it stems from the fact that most people don't have a solid conception of their conscious processes to begin with. They should. You should.
Your consciousness is a stack. Your stack usually flows in one direction the closer you get to the beginning, though it can go both ways. At the very beginning of that stack is your subconscious and raw awareness, as well as any behaviors that are instinctual. Things like how you feel you should behave or what you find to be morally correct based on what you know society finds acceptable might be closer to the end of that stack (Freud would call this your superego). Your identity is very close to your raw awareness (Your "I am..." statements - your ego), as well as any interpretations of your experiences. These are not your awareness itself, though with enough time, they can fade beneath your awareness and into your subconscious. This is by no means complete, but to settle your likely confusion, this is how I envision the stack:
Subconscious > Raw awareness/experience/behavior > Memories and interpretation of experiences > Ego ("I am...") > Knowledge of society and the current socioeconomic landscape > Interpretations of experiences, morality, and acceptable behaviors through the lens of society > Decisions on how to behave publicly...etc.
The core of therianthropy should cut through that stack and exist somewhere in the realm of a person's subconscious and raw awareness, but the current definition puts it solely near one's ego. We don't have a word for what that core is. I think this is a problem. Please allow me to explain.
When a therian says that they are a therian, it means that they interpret their raw experiences as "These are the traits of a non-human animal." When they conceive of themselves (their "I am..."), they see that animal. They speak through it. They don't see or feel a human there. The animal IS them, even if it is not reflected physically, even if they later curb potentially disruptive behaviors for the sake of living comfortably within society (which most do). It is the core of who they are and what they expect to see in the mirror. Their perception of life and their place in it, as well as how they choose to express their identity through their actions and creations, revolves around this central concept. Beneath that are all the raw experiences that lead to this identity, and from that root, therianthropy propagates throughout the entire stack.
Some therians believe that these experiences relate to some sort of past life or have some kind of spiritual connotation. All of that should still fall under the umbrella of therianthropy, though they are merely interpretations of experiences, not the experiences themselves. A past life memory could be nothing more than a dream, for example. Even if it's just a dream, it's still something they experienced. If they believe it's something more, that's up to them.
Belief will always remain secondary to the raw. You do not need belief to exhibit animalistic characteristics - we are all animals who share much of our DNA with millions of species on this planet. Some people might not even notice that they exhibit what some of us would consider to be non-human traits. Under the generally accepted definition of therianthropy, such a person would not be therian even if they are experiencing much of what therians do. To say that a therianthrope is "someone who identifies in whole or in part as a non-human animal for spiritual or psychological reasons" is to say that therianthropy is an identity formed around the interpretation of one's qualia. Your interpretation is at your full discretion. As for the raw experience of being other...it has been discussed, but I don't see it mentioned often. There's no "official" term for it. Some have suggested "were," but that once again encompasses an entire individual instead of the sole experience.
I believe that therianthropy needs an addendum - an additional term for the non-human animal experience intrinsic to all therians - the source of the thing we call therianthropy. Dreams, instinctual behaviors, phantom sensations, shifts, and etc. would all fall into it. Some would call it qualia, though that is more of a general term for one's conscious experience that may not be appropriate here.
Why does any of this matter?
Forms of self-expression such as quadrobics, mask-making, and trying to fit in come in far later in the stack than whatever gives rise to therianthropy. My music, for example - the wolf I feel I am influences it, but the act of making music based on my therianthropy is not therianthropy. I do it to express myself and give a voice to the voiceless.
A lot of these kids are doing what they do in an environment that encourages them to chase clout. I wouldn't even be surprised if most of these kids no longer identify as therian within the next 5-10 years. I've even heard some say, "Therians don't actually think they're non-human animals, they're not that extreme," as if they speak for all of us. And in such cases, you are looking at people who identify as "therians," not non-human animals. There's a massive difference - one is an experience and the other is a social construct that comes with all sorts of social games.
It's possible that they have that core experience, but many of us are skeptical. It seems as if they're just roleplaying or discovering a new way to express themselves and trying to share that with their friends. They're trying to fit in, to find and create meaning. They're looking for their tribe (which is a very human thing to do - something we ALL do), and they're doing so largely unashamed and unaware. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that. It may look weird, but they're kids. Let them be kids. But I think they should take on a different name or do some soul searching before the media does any more damage to a community they barely even belong to. Education - with kindness, is key. Perhaps as new short-form content they can easily digest.
The therian community is incredibly diverse and there are plenty of therians who hate to see these kids "pretending" on TikTok and becoming the face of the community for it. You will almost always see the therian community ass-first if you don't go digging or make friends with one. It's not pretty. Most of us know that the media will single out the easy targets and then sow discord. You see "therians" making animal noises and acting "weird" in the media, but most actual therians prefer privacy and many practice some form of meditation, contemplating the nature of things while leading functional (and occasionally exceptional) lives.
There are some who require therapy, but no more or less than the general population. There are many who are insanely creative and even more who are so well-adjusted that you would never know they were therian unless they told you. We are shapeshifters - we blend in. There's even an entire section of the community that never goes online - according to some of the older folks I know, it might even be larger than the online community. I know therians in their 20's and therians in their 70's. Some sound like blathering idiots, some are hippie types who see the world through rose-colored glasses (or the opposite), and some are the most intelligent and grounded people I've ever met. I find more of the latter in the therian community than I do in any other. I know neuroscientists, biologists, professors, composers, artists, engineers, programmers, conservationists, and so many more who just so happen to feel more animal than human. And if they don't want you to know about it, you never will. We're tired of this shit...though I think the public might think differently of therians if the exceptional ones were championed. Not that it matters much - we have the same inalienable rights as any human in our respective countries.
In a few more years, this quadrobics phase will disappear and everyone will think that therians finally "grew up" or forget they even existed...until the next fad takes over and the cycle repeats with the latest teenagers. Real therians have rarely, if ever, been in the public eye to begin with, and most of them would prefer to keep it that way. Point is, there are real people here making an honest living who are still affected by this kind of media manipulation. Something needs to shift and none of us have the authority to do anything about it. Maybe ask a researcher or something, idk.
