Common Misconceptions

"Therians believe they turn into animals"

They do not. Therians know that their bodies are human and will remain so. The shifts they describe are changes of mindset and of felt body sense. Physical transformation is a feature of werewolf legend, and the community has been firm for decades that it does not happen.

"Therians think they are literally, physically animals"

A therian will say "I am a wolf" and mean it. They will also tell you, without any sense of contradiction, that they have a human body, human parents and a human passport. The statement is about identity, not anatomy. People make statements of this kind about themselves all the time, and are generally understood.

"Therians are the same as furries"

The furry fandom is a creative community built around animal characters: drawing them, writing them, and sometimes dressing as them. It is a hobby, and a person takes it up and can put it down. Therianthropy is an identity that is not chosen. Some people belong to both, in the way that some people are both left-handed and keen gardeners, but neither explains the other.

"Therianthropy is a mental illness"

Therianthropy is not classed as a mental disorder. Therians hold their identity with full insight into physical reality, which is precisely what distinguishes it from a delusion. The rare psychiatric syndrome in which a person believes their body is transforming is called clinical lycanthropy, and it is a separate matter that arises within other serious conditions.

Therians, like everyone else, can experience anxiety, low mood and other difficulties, and should seek proper help when they do. Being a therian is neither the cause of such difficulties nor a protection from them. See wellbeing and care.

"It is a new trend among young people"

The word has been used as an identity since the mid-1990s, and the first gathering of therians was held in 1994. Many of those early members are now in their fifties and sixties and are therians still. What is new is visibility: short videos have carried the word to a far larger and younger audience in recent years. A subject becoming widely known is not the same as a subject being invented.

"Being a therian means wearing a mask and running on all fours"

Masks, tails and the athletic practice called quadrobics are the most visible things associated with therians today, because they are the things that can be filmed. Some therians enjoy them very much. Many others, perhaps most, do none of them. And plenty of people who enjoy quadrobics or mask-making are not therians at all. These are activities and crafts. Therianthropy is what a person is when the mask is back on its shelf.

"People choose to be therians"

Therians consistently describe their identity as something they found, not something they picked. Many spent years resisting it. A chosen link to an animal does exist, and has its own honest name, copinglink; but it is distinguished from therianthropy for exactly this reason.

"A theriotype is a spirit animal"

A guide, guardian or totem animal is, in the traditions that hold such beliefs, a being one has a relationship with. Those traditions belong to particular peoples and deserve to be treated with care. A theriotype is not a companion or a helper. It is the self. The two ideas are different in kind.

"Therians act like animals in public"

Most therians are indistinguishable from anyone else in daily life. They go to work, sit in classes and stand in line. The identity is inward. A therian is responsible for their conduct in exactly the way every other person is, and "my animal side made me" is not an excuse the community accepts.

"All therians are wolves"

Wolves are the most common theriotype but far from the only one. Therians identify as cats, foxes, deer, horses, birds, reptiles, sea creatures and insects. See the page on theriotypes.

"Therians think they are better than humans"

Being a therian confers no special powers, senses or wisdom, and thoughtful therians are the first to say so. It is a description of a person, of no more and no less worth than any other.

If you meet a therian

You do not need to share someone's understanding of themselves in order to be courteous about it. Ordinary good manners are all that is asked: listen, do not mock, do not demand proof, and do not share what you have been told in confidence. If the person is your child or your friend, the essay For Parents and Friends was written with you in mind.