They wear animal masks, move on all fours and publish tutorials on networks to perfect the gallop or feline jump. Therians are not a new phenomenon, but social media has catapulted them into the digital conversation. Who are they, where do they come from, what differentiates them from the fashion of the furriesDo they have the right to their own veterinarian?
What is a therian? Perhaps the easiest way to understand it is by going to the community’s own definition: “species dysphoria”, a discomfort analogous (in structure, although certainly not in clinical recognition) to gender dysphoria. A therian does not wear a disguise: the term (which abbreviates therianthropefrom Greek therion -wild beast- and anthropos -human-) designates people who identify themselves psychologically or spiritually as a non-human animal.
The Therian Society He assures that it is not a cosplay or costume, but rather a lifelong identity. The animal with which each therian identifies is called theriotypeand canids and felines are the most common, although videos of reptiles and extinct species have already been seen. There is a whole vocabulary around the phenomenon: shifts or changes of state are the moments in which the person experiences instincts, thought patterns or sensations typical of their animal nature. and the phantom shift It is the perception of non-existent limbs or appendages (tail, ears, claws) that have a clear correlation with the well-proven phenomenon of phantom limbs.
Therians: Origins. In the infinite Usenet groups (the first forums) of the nineties is where the topic began to be talked about. The forum alt.horror.werewolvesoriginally created for fans of fictional werewolves, led to debates about what it meant. be a werewolf, not just consume fiction on the subject. Soon the therians were separated from otherkin, a term that grouped those who identified themselves as non-human beings (elves, dragons, vampires). Therians limit their identification to animals that exist or have existed and Its symbol is Theta-Delta (ΘΔ): Theta represents the first letter of therian and delta symbolizes change or transformation.
Does it have a scientific basis? Let’s just leave it at that academic psychology has not recognized species dysphoria. But there are attempts at recognition: a Lake Forest College thesis He spoke of it as a transversal theme between therians who manifested themselves in very different ways. In ScienceDirect was distinguished between therianthropy clinical (delusional disorder in which the person believes they are transformed into an animal, and which is historically linked to psychosis) and therianthropy as a non-clinical identity, which is not included as a disorder in the DSM-5. One thing is clear, and also investigated: Therian identity acts as a protective factor for those with higher levels of autism or schizotypy, suggesting that the community plays a real psychological support role for certain profiles.
TikTok, engine of subcultures. This seemingly specific group has found a meeting point and expansion on TikTok, which has the prepared algorithm to connect statistical neighborhoods of people grouped by common behavior and interests. The result is a unprecedented acceleration of the visibility of subcultures previously confined to forums and Discord servers. For example, in the case of the therians, they are interested in quadrobicsa discipline that makes it possible to move, trot, jump and gallop on all fours (and about which there was already videos on YouTube in 2015) : its practitioners publish tutorials that the algorithm triggers because it is visually striking content that generates polarized reactions.
Furry precedent. To understand therians, you have to go back at least four decades, to a fandom that went through a very similar cycle: it emerged on the margins, was distorted by the mainstream media, and ended up being the subject of academic research. The furry fandom took shape at a science fiction convention in 1980, when a drawing from Steve Gallacci’s ‘Albedo Anthropomorphics’ comic sparked a discussion about anthropomorphic characters in speculative fiction. In 1986 the first “furry party” took place and in 1989 they had specific conventions.
Although both communities overlap in many aspects (approximately 15% of furries They also identify as therians), a furry relates to anthropomorphic animals, building a fursona that works as a character or avatar; a therian, on the other hand, identifies with a real, non-anthropomorphic animal. However, the media stigma that the furry fandom suffered in the late ’90s is comparable to the scrutiny that the therian community faces today. The furries were identified (mainly due to an unfortunate episode of CSI 2003) with sexual deviants, but the community ended up denying itdemonstrating that the main attraction for fandom was belonging to a community, not any fetish component.
llegacy to Spain. There have been no defining moments of the arrival of the therians to Spain, beyond descriptions in the media, simultaneously with what has happened in Mexico or Argentina, of hangouts in parks such as the Retiro in Madrid or the Ciutadella in Barcelona, or groups practicing quadrobics in public places. Many of these media go into topics such as liquid identity in digital times and also in the aggressiveness that they awaken in their detractors, who begin to organize far-right attackspossibly because of the parallels with gender dysphoria.
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