[English] The "YES" list
[Sorry for my bad english, i’m french, i try my best to be understandable]
Because there is not only a unique way to live your therianthropy nor really a "101 guide of theperfect little therianthrope".
Here is a list of "yes" that proves your legitimacy in your animality despite your differences with other animal-people that you may come across on the net.
"Ask 10 people to describe and explain therianthropy to you ... and you will have 11 answers!"
- Yes, all beliefs are legitimate. You can perceive your animality as linked to esotericism, you can believe in reincarnation, in past lives (to have been a human like animal in the past) or the feeling of coming from another plane of the universe. In the same way, you can perceive your identity as psychological, neurological, linked to a neuroatypia, a mental illness, post-traumatic stress and so on. You are free in the way you view your inner creature. However, you cannot force anyone to believe you and verbal abuse is not the solution. Let yourself go to who you are without imposing your beliefs, you cannot force a person to believe in the astral or seek to influence it. You can debate and exchange but not harass a person who does not have the same point of view as you. Always be respectful and try to understand the person in front of you, even if you may be pissed off at times. Therianthropy is above all an identity and a feeling, no one can know better than you who you are.
- Yes, we have the right to be an animal ... And to have nothing to do with it! You can have a whole bunch of passions and hobbies that seem more representative of who you are. Animal identity does not have to be the only pillar of your existence (but you have the full right to make it a specific interest). Your life can be punctuated by your animality. For others, it is just basic information - about themselves - like wearing glasses or enjoying playing chess. There is no more valid way to live your therianthropy than the other.
- Yes, you can act like an animal if it feels good (or even use toys for animals), if it brings you closer to your theriotype, reduces your anxiety, calms your dysphoria and allows you to find yourself in self-stimulating. Shifting is not necessarily involuntary. Shifter can be a way of "stimulating" as a person with autism or with ADHD would do to reassure themselves and reclaim their body and their environment. This does not make you a "linker" or a "fake" but helps you to appreciate and support your daily life ... something that can be complicated for an animal person (sensory sensitivity, feeling of shift, feeling of suffering related to your kind, nostalgia for your "house" and so on). Be careful, "imitating an animal" does not necessarily make you a therian. Anyone can bite, scratch or squeak. However, in a therian person, it is important to find tips to better understand his everyday life (this does not excuse anyone to behave badly in public or to be violent, I say it often but it is important to repeat it). Finally, have shift is absolutely not an obligation to be therian. There is as much a way of experiencing one's animality as being an animal person.
- Yes, it can be nice to wear "gears", that is to say accessories related to your animal. You may or may not like to wear dog collars (a nod to his situation as a "domesticated" animal in a human world), false teeth, tails and more. It is ABSOLUTELY not an obligation to be a "real". It is also a question of comfort and well-being. If putting on your false ears is good for you, do it! The main thing is to better live our animal condition. However, not everyone is necessarily open-minded. Wearing gears can provoke derogatory comments, remarks and looks from passers-by. Similarly, it is possible to be intimidated and humiliated by one's comrades or even to receive complaints from teachers. I am not saying that their attitude is justifiable (on the contrary) but we live in a western society with very ingrained standards and we cannot be unanimous. In this case, I advise you to put your accessories in your pockets or bags (to keep them not far from you and "feel" their reassuring presence wherever you are) or even carry a key ring. Never be too far from "the animal" without displaying it. After, this is only my advice!
- Yes, in the same way, you have the perfect right not to like these so-called "gears" and not to wear them. You are free in your mind and in your body. Nobody has the right to insult you because you do not feel the need to wear a false tail on your pants.
- Yes, phantom limbs can be a real, engaging feeling. Yes, viewing is just as legitimate. Some people rarely - never see - feel phantom limbs. It does not matter ! This does not invalidate you in the community! However, "imagining" can be a comforting solution. You can visualize your tail, your muzzle, your wings, your scales. As with shifts, the main thing is well-being. No one is in your place except yourself. Make your life beautiful and don't worry about trivial things. If you like to feel your fangs sticking out of your mouth, phantom limbs or not, you remain just as legitimate in your feelings and needs.
- Yes, dysphoria exists in alter-human people and no, it is not the reappropriation of suffering of transgender individuals. Dysphoria is a word that can mean many things: a “hatred” towards his body (weight, face…) which is very gripping, suffering vis-à-vis his body which is not one of its kind (being the best known case among transgender and non-binary people) but also the feeling that his body is simply not the right one. It is legitimate for a therianthrope person to feel bad about themselves. Feel that his environment is not the right one. The suffering is just as real, it is there, as strong and recurring. Please note, I am not saying at all that this suffering is similar to that of transgender and non-binary people. I'm not saying there should be an "alter-human" PRIDE (something that has nothing to do with dysphoria per se ... see my other articles). I'm just saying that this pain exists in many circumstances and no one can know better than someone else whether or not they really suffer. There are many tips to reclaim your body. Guides "care guide", for example, where I invite you to take a look. Pain is not a unique way to be experienced. We are all humans and therefore all unique. Don't feel you have to always justify your pain.
- Yes, you have the right to be LGBT + and to be therian at the same time. Yes, you have the right not to be LGBT + and to be therian anyway. Gender identity or sexual orientation is completely independent of your animality. There are no reconciliations to make, these are two separate things! You cannot take ownership of the struggles that transgender or homosexual people experience, such as the need for political recognition or rights to survive in this LGBTphobic society.
In short, yes, you have the right to dream, to imagine, to feel, to be a creature in private, to want to disguise yourself, to be indifferent ... in short, to let yourself exist!
Hoping that this list of "yes" reassured you.
Do not hesitate if you have questions or ideas of things to add.
Hoping that this could help young therians (or even all therians for short!) In lack of confidence vis-à-vis their feelings and their person. Thanks.
