Therianthropy

Therianthropy is a generic term for any transformation of a human into another animal form, either as a part of mythology or as a spiritual concept. The word is derived from Greek therion, meaning "wild animal", and anthrōpos, meaning "man".

Scholarly use of the term

In folklore, mythology and anthropology, therianthropy can be used to describe a character that shares some traits of humans and some of non-human animals. The most commonly known form is lycanthropy, from the Greek word lycos ("wolf"), the technical term for man-wolf transformations. Although the precise definition of lycanthropy specifically refers only to werewolves, the term is often used to refer to shape changing to any non-human animal form. For further information on this concept, see the article on Lycanthropy.

When people believe they change into an animal form (theriomorphosis), or possess supernatural non-human animal traits, the term clinical lycanthropy is often used. This classification is a form of mental illness, though many anthropologists would point out that the belief has extensive religious precedent in shamanic cultures. Likewise, people who call themselves shapechangers as a form of social identification are generally not considered ill by mental health professionals unless their beliefs interfere with the normal functioning of their lives. This can be a difficult issue, as the line between what some uninfoprmed Western mind passes off as an alternative belief and what is considered a mental illness is indistinct.

Modern subcultural use of the term

Beliefs and origins

In recent times, a subculture has developed that has adopted the word therianthropy to describe a sense of intense spiritual or psychological identification with a non-human animal. Members of this subculture typically refer to themselves as therianthropes or therians. The word weres was also common at one point, in reference to shapeshifting creatures of legend such as werewolves, weretigers and the like, but is less common these days. One reason for the waning use of the term "were" might be the growing awareness of the fact that it simply means "man", and not "part human, part --", as it is too often assumed to mean by writers of fiction.

The Usenet group alt.horror.werewolves was founded in 1992, and in its earliest days the members discussed fictional shapeshifters. Some posters began to publicly claim that they considered themselves to be partially non-human animal. A number of these people were only joking, but enough people were serious about it that it became a trend. Others who professed the same beliefs soon joined the group. The earliest therians called themselves lycanthropes, but as that word more accurately describes wolf-people, therianthropes was chosen as a more inclusive term.

Those within this subculture who identify with a spiritual understanding of this phenomenon may believe that they have the spirit or soul, in whole or in part, of a non-human animal, and their beliefs often overlap to some extent with aspects of shamanism or totemism. Some also draw inspiration from stories of shapeshifting in Celtic, Norse and Native American myths, among others. The term spiritual therianthropy is often used to differentiate this definition of therianthropy from others.

Those who prefer a psychological explanation may simply describe it as having a non-human animal side to their personality or nature, with some believing that it may be due to some sort of unusual neurophysiology, as is thought to be the case with syndromes like attention deficit disorder and autism. Others believe that their genes are partially non-human, but this explanation is unproven, scientifically implausible, and not favored by many. Most of those who support the explanation of atypical neuropsychology, however, do not appear to regard it as innately dysfunctional.

In either case, the identification with the non-human animal may be partial, as in those who regard themselves as having both human and non-human attributes, or complete, as in those who regard themselves as essentially non-human animals in human bodies. The terms species dysphoria and transspeciesism have occasionally been used to refer to the latter phenomenon, in parallel with the concepts of gender dysphoria and transsexuality.

Most therians identify with a single type of non-human animal, but there are some who identify with more than one — sometimes related animals, as in several different species of feline or canine, for example, but sometimes completely dissimilar animals. Those who identify with all members of one family — for instance, someone who claims to have characteristics of all felines — is called a cladotherianthrope. The species of non-human animal with which a particular therian identifies is sometimes referred to as that person's theriotype or phenotype. The term phenotype was originally more common but has fallen into disuse because it also refers to physical appearance.

The majority of therianthropes identify as feline or canine, often big cats and wolves, but there are also reptiles, avians, other mammals, and insects. Some skeptics argue that, because of the preponderance of large carnivores, most therians are only faking and are purposefully choosing impressive animals for ego-based purposes. There are also some individuals who identify with mythical species (e.g. dragons, elves, gryphons, centaurs and so forth), but those who fit more in the otherkin community than the therian community.

Therianthropes may describe their nature manifesting in terms of their cognitive processes, their outlook on life, their inner reactions and instincts, their senses, or through their physical body, though claims of actual physical variations from the norm tend to be regarded with skepticism both within and outside the subculture. The human and non-human aspects of the self may co-operate or conflict, leading to happiness or unhappy dysfunction, and may take much self-discovery to begin to understand or accept. Because this is a personal self-perception, the ways in which a person describes his or her self-identification as a therianthrope vary considerably.

A controversial aspect of therianthropy is the subject of shifting (a shortened word for shapeshifting), which generally refers to any manner by which a therianthrope's nature may become evidenced internally (to themselves) or externally to others. Few people within the subculture doubt that shifts of mental and emotional perception may occur, some therianthropes also claim to experience a physical change to their appearance, a subject known as physical shifting ( or P-shifting). Many in the therianthrope subculture doubt physical changes actually occur. The overwhelming majority of those outside of the culture deny that any real shifting, mental or physical, occurs.

Subculture

Therianthropy as a subculture does not have any central dogma or tenets, nor any recognized authority. However, those who have been around for a long time are generally listened to, though less out of any perceived spiritual authority than simple acknowledgement of experience. The word "greymuzzle" is often used tongue-in-cheek to describe these people.

While there is no offline social organization, there exist online communities of therians with many diverse outlooks on the concept, including Christians, Pagans, and atheists. As could be expected, disagreements are frequent, and the many online forums and chatrooms of the community each have their own "atmosphere", ranging from total acceptance to scornful cynicism. There have been intermittent "real-world" gatherings, referred to as howls, but their purpose is primarily social.

Therianthropy vs. clinical lycanthropy

Spiritual therianthropy is not automatically the same as clinical lycanthropy, a mental illness in which an individual believes he or she belongs to or can change to another species. While some therianthropes believe they can take on the mindset of their "other side" in what is referred to as a mental shift, they believe that they retain control during these transformations and are no greater danger to themselves or others. The term contherianthropes is sometimes used for those who do not claim to mentally shift but believe they have human and non-human sides which are mixed up into a single unchanging whole.

Therianthropy vs. furry fandom

Therianthropy should not be confused with the furry fandom, though some intermixing of the groups does occur. As a general rule, to an extent, therianthropes are more focused on the sense of an animal within, an animal side to their nature, or spiritual concepts; by contrast, furries are more commonly focused on furry art and/or role-playing related to anthropomorphic non-humans. There is some overlap with those who identify themselves with each group or view the other positively, as well as those in each group who view the other negatively. For instance, some furries view therianthropy as "taking it too far," while therianthropes may assert that furries are frivolous and don't pay attention to the true nature of animals.

Related articles

• Clinical lycanthropy
• Furry fandom
• Lycanthropy
• Werewolf

See also

• furry lifestylers
• otherkin
• were

External links

• The Werelist
• The WereLibrary

References

• OED (1933) Vol XI p 288
• Encyclopaedia Britanica (1886) Vol XX pp367 (C.P.Teile)