Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Prelude?)
TW: mentions of SA
It kinda sucks that wolves are still utilized as stand-ins for predators and villains even now. Like, it’s a stain that never washes away. I was always empowered by wolves as a kid, so the trope of “A wolf in sheep’s clothing” always felt wrong to me.
Wolf imagery to allude to someone who takes advantage of others or violence is like, a very poetic thing but it just contributes to the subconscious stigma against wolves as violent, evil demons filled with bloodlust, hiding in plain sight and waiting to strike. It’s some of the same reasons why wolves were nearly persecuted to extinction in the U.S. in the past and why they still face legislative and physical violence.
The threat to wolves in the U.S. never ceased but did lessen. Even still, there are attempts to put them in harm’s way once more despite the fact that the population is still volatile enough to become threatened.
None of this sat right with me growing up and I was hyper-aware of it, but now, after awakening, I find myself aligning with all wolves (theriform, fictional, artistic, etc.), and becoming alert when even the word is said. It feels like I’m being spoken about because that is who/what I am.
When humans liken wolves to evil, it hurts a little as a wolf to see it. Especially recently, I saw a beautifully done animatic about SA and the perpetrator was drawn as a wolf. As someone who was SAd in the past, it just made me sad to see. There is a kinship there among survivors, but what I am and the theriform animals I consider my ‘peoples’ are still being demonized to this day.
Maybe this is just me creating something to be upset about or finding a harm to put myself in the way of, I’m not sure. It does just feel wrong, though, to equate an animal with evil. Historically, bad reputations have been given to many undeserving theriform creatures– like foxes, sharks, spiders, snakes, goats, orcas, hyenas, rats, pigs, donkeys, pigeons, black cats, crows/ravens, opossums, raccoons (& other ‘vermin’ animals), vultures, coyotes, alligators/crocodiles, weasels, piranhas, skunks, bats, small dogs (think people angering small dogs on purpose), cats in general (perpetuating them as lazy, self-centered, violent, and destructive), bees, wasps, hornets, flies (as much as they annoy me), owls (they can be seen as harbingers of death), Komodo dragons, leopard seals (as I’ve read), dolphins (YES the internet did irreparable damage to their image, they are just animals, not evil), monkeys (same thing), tigers, and MANY MORE!
This is just another case of metaphor gone so far that we intrinsically tie the human-imposed identities of these theriform creatures to them to the point where we can’t see anything but the media their likeness takes part in for our pleasure. That, and, applying human morals to theriform animals, which will never be fair.
Maybe I’ll make a longer post one day diving into the history of wolves being used as motifs and metaphors for evil and aggression, but for now, I’ll leave it at this.
