What is Therianthropy? - The People Who Identify as Animals

 

With the influx of the #therian tag on social media comes a secondary wave of people asking what in the world a Therian actually is.

 

The biggest issue with the Therian term is that very few people actually agree on the definition. With plenty of exceptions, the general consensus is that a Therian is someone who:

-Identifies as an animal, and

-Does so involuntarily

 

...Nice. So what does that mean??

 

For me (someone who has adopted the label), it means that I believe I have non-physical animal traits. Internally my mind functions a little less human than your average fella. I enjoy partaking in atypical hobbies like running on all fours, gnawing at steak grizzle, or rolling in grass.

Kind of different, right?

Therianthropy, as with all kinds of alter humans, is experienced vastly different by each individual. Some report strictly non-physical symptoms, some only physical, and some a strange mixture of both. 

 

 

Some of the signs / experiences that are commonly reported from Therians include:

-Shifts (a change in state or behavior from human to animal, typically non-physically)

-Animalistic instincts - ex. feeling the desire to herd things, howl, or stalk

-Difficulty engaging well socially with people and instead finding comfort in animal companionship

-Body Dysphoria when viewing themselves. May picture a form other than a human when imaging themselves

 

*The journey to realizing you aren’t entirely human is kind of a weird one, and it’s definitely not straightforward. If you are experiencing any symptoms that are affecting your daily life, please reach out to a trusted mental health professional. I am not a mental health professional. 

 

Shifts are a commonly reported experience from Therians. While they have been categorized into many different ways, the idea is that a shift is a moment in time where your brain, body, and/or spirit are more in-tune with an animal's than a human's.

This might look light having a heightened sense of smell, feeling more sensitive to sounds, feeling the sensation of having a different body or body parts, or having the urge to make animal noises like barking. 

*If you are experiencing shifts that endanger you or those around you, or are limiting your ability to lead a healthy and happy life, please urgently seek care from a professional.

 

Animalistic instincts may appear in a shift, as described above, or on their own. Some Therians baseline behave in ways adjacent to animals. They might have certain stim actions that resemble an animal's, or consciously find comfort in and prefer to act like an animal.

Many Therians partake in a sport known commonly as quadrobics. Quadrobics is a high intensity sport involving 4-legged animal-like movements. It can feel very affirming and freeing to move in this manner, almost like you're writing with your dominant hand after a long period of writing with the wrong one.

 

Difficulty engaging well socially is where it starts for many Therians. When there seems to be a rift between you and your fellow humans, it starts to feel like you might not be very similar at all. Then, when you land on the fact that you not only struggle to communicate with other humans, but that you ALSO communicate much better and prefer to communicate with animals, pieces start to click together.

You don't have to believe Therianthropy is real, or even support it, in order to be respectful of other's beliefs. Being respectful towards individuals with different views as yours is helpful across the board, leading to less cross-community aggression and increasing the likelihood that they will listen to your views, too.

 

Body Dysphoria is painfully common among Therians. Feeling uncomfortable with the body you've been assigned, and envious of the ones around you is frustrating and lonely. Sometimes Therians are very in tune with who they feel like they "should" be and can imagine clearly their true body in their mind, while others are a bit more loosely defined and may not know much outside of just feeling wrong. 

 

 

"Is it a phase? If I wasn't a Therian in childhood, could I be one now? If I identified as a Therian before but no longer do, was I faking it all along?"

While there is much discourse on the subject, I'm a firm believer that Therianthropy can, in fact, be a phase. A label that some identify with for only a period of time, while others may keep it with them their whole life. This greatly depends on how you specifically define therianthropy, since some believe it's something that sits idle in you your whole life. 

If someone goes through a period in their life where they are experiencing animalistic tendencies and thoughts, and a few years later no longer experiences them, they might not keep the label of Therian anymore. This does not invalidate their previous experiences and instead just means that they were only a Therian for a certain time frame in their life. It may come and go multiple times, and in the end it's up to that individual to decide how they'd like to label and express that.

 

 

The definition of Therianthropy can be vague, but it doesn't weaken the term. The fluid state of the term allows a broad range of people to come together with similar experiences, all while keeping their unique ones valid.

If you are taste testing the Therian label yourself right now, take your time and treat yourself with compassion, and remember through your research,

Sometimes titles aren't the most important part.