Therianthropy

Therianthropy refers to those who experience being and/or identify as an animal on an integral and personal level. One who experiences therianthropy is called a therianthrope, or therian for short. There are many ways to be a therian; some consider their therianthropy to be caused through reincarnation, multiverse theory, and/or souls, while others attribute it to scientific or psychological reasons such as imprinting, predisposition, being neurodivergent, or any of a number of other causes.

Therianthropy is inclusive of those who identify as any kind of animal, whether it be earthen (such as a deer, bear, wolf, etc.) or mythological in some form (dragons, jackalopes, etc.) While some narrow the definition of therianthropy to earthen animals exclusively, this is an ahistorical definition of the experience. Furthermore, while the term therian often describes those who are also otherkin, the terms are not interchangeable; some may identify as one and not the other. For many, the experiences between therianthropy and otherkin are synonymous, however some others have attributed therianthropy to being closer to an experience, while otherkin is closer to an identity. Ultimately, the line between these terms are left to each individual who uses them.

Terminology
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History
The history section of this wiki page comes from A Timeline of the Therianthrope Community by House of Chimeras. It is a detailed timeline of the therian community going by each year and provides an abundance of sources. While this history section aims to provide a summarized amount of information so you may understand the basics, we urge you to read their document in full if you have any interest in the therianthrope community.

While there is plenty to suggest that the community existed prior, the modern iteration of the community began in 1992 on the discussion group alt.horror.werewolves (AHWW). While this community initially began just to talk about werewolves within media, it quickly began to branch out into other discussions, namely about werewolves in general, alongside shapeshifting. This culminated in various posts throughout the same year of people claiming to be werewolves, with examples being "FULL MOON," "Becoming a real lycanthrope," and ''“Werewolves.. How Many?”''

In November 1993, on AHWW, the first known usage of phenotype is documented. Before the concept of a theriotype, the term phenotype was used. It wouldn't be until a year later where one of the first known usages of therianthropy was suggested as a "more general term for lycanthropy." In that same year, a user named Swiftpaw created a post called, “Tracing the Origins of the Term Therianthropy,” which showed that the term had only been used around ten times that year. However, by next year, the same user notes that the number jumped up to 34. The word would only grow larger throughout the coming years.

Around this same time, Swiftpaw notes that the term therian was beginning to be used as shorthand for the full word therianthropy.

By 2000, the term therianthrope was used over 2,400 times. Furthermore, dedicated sites, such as Die Lichtung, Shifter.org,Therianthropy.org, Pathwayz.org, and WereNation were created, inclusive of those that considered themselves weres, as well as those who identified as therianthropes or otherkin.

During the 2000's, the therian community saw significant growth, with language such as species dysphoria, shift, cladotherian, and others being created around this time period. Before long, the community began to grow on Livejournal alongside otherkin, and the community would stay active for many years forward.

WIP, this is also a big one

Flags and Symbols
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