How did you come across therianthropy?
[archive note: post redacted]
HouseofChimeras - 2020-04-16 11:43:27
Our first step toward discovering an actual community for people who identify as nonhuman started on August of 2003 when the documentary, Animal Imitators aired. We had managed to catch a preview about it about and so recorded the whole thing on VHS because the topic seemed oddly relatable to us. The documentary interviewed several people. Some were interested in body modification involving animal traits, some were interested in dressing up as animals, a few who actually identifies as animals (one of whom even directly called himself a "were"), and a few were a mix of two or more. One of those interviewed was Stalking Cat, a man who had had numerous body modifications done to look more like a tiger because he felt he was a cat. Another person's interviewed who we couldn't help but feel similar to was a man named Coyote Osborne.
That started a path toward discovering the the online community.
~ Sky Singer (male, red-tailed hawk)
Vyt - 2020-04-16 11:47:33
I first discovered therian and otherkin communities on tumblr. It wasn't the best space for me personally, and led to some confusion and rejection. But it was still enough that I kept being drawn back, lurking, being unable to let go of the idea. It also lead me to seeing a therian posting about their experiences that seemed very similar to my own, I messaged them directly and they pointed me to therian forums (TG, Werelist) where I found a more comfortable community.
Lopori - 2020-04-28 02:56:25
Back in 2009 I saw an article mocking it with screencaps from Werelist, I didn't really look further into it after that, not until I had suspicions about myself some time later. For the longest time I thought it was a bit mad, even though I was experiencing it myself.
vagabondsun - 2020-04-28 14:17:04
I ended up on a furry forum in like, 2007, and they had a therianthropy thread. Because of how literal and analytical therianthropy can be I didn't quite feel like their experiences matched mine - plus this particular group was very serious and elitist, so that turned me off. But it did at least plant the seed of the idea that it was possible to identify on a more integral level than having a personal mascot (when that was furry was for most people you encountered at the time - back when 'lifestyler' was still a distinction people made :v). I don't remember when or how I found the link from there to otherkinity (or draconity) where I felt much more comfortable and correct, but I think it's interesting that a lot of us did find therianthropy to be our entry point (at least in the 00s and early 10s). I wonder why that is?
The_Flock - 2020-04-28 14:39:16
Therianthropy was also the first thing wei came across, via an accidental stumble into the "I am a Therianthropic Werewolf" group on the now-defunct Experience Project. It was a weiiiird place, full of p-shifting nonsense and "help I think I'm a werewolf." But the group's creator was pretty legit, as far as therians go. And somehow from there I wandered to the Werelist (thank the gods) and found other sites like Thebaide and just went all over the place exploring otherkin and draconity and daemonism and all these other concepts around therianthropy?
Back when wei were more of an "I," wei were definitely only a wolf therian, and cat-hearted. So that was the most prominent identity wei held from age 12 to …18-19? Thats when "I" started to awaken to being more of a "wei." (That's another story tho w;;)
Therian communities and websites and their vibes are still the ones where I feel most at home, honestly. Even if my experiences don't quite fit the narrative anymore.
Nim - 2020-05-28 12:07:15
It must've been around 2014-2015 when I stumbled on a video on youtube by a corvid therian on therianthropy and their own experience. I have no memory of how I rabbit-holed into it as I never actively sought out anything related to therianthropy as my own animality was something I kept deep down inside hidden. A light bulb of recognition went up in my head but it was a couple of years before I started to accept myself and be okay with my animality and loving myself including all my differences.\ So I learned more about therianthropy, otherkin and alterhumanity years later when I was in a group with autistic people and they mentioned otherkin/therians, I joined the community and finally learned more about it and myself.