What the fuck are Theriens?

[Yappucino]

My youngest DD (10) has taken a liking to jumping like an animal in the garden, drawing foxes, and wants me to buy her a mask and tail for her 11th birthday. She claims she's a "Therien" and feels like an animal. Apparently a few kids her age have gotten into it.

I wish I hadn’t clicked on this thread. Now I’m worried my 8yo daughter, who often enjoys pretending to be a puppy or a horse, might grow up to be part of, or be exposed to, some of the madness on this thread.

I think it’s a tragedy that instead of giving (mostly young) people the support they need to live as who they are (often autistic, gay, mentally unwell or a combination of the above), as society we are instead offering them more and more ways to escape reality by identifying as something different. It doesn’t solve the issue, it just creates a diversion for a few years. And I say this as someone who has watched as a close family member has identified as a cat, an owl, an elf and eventually the opposite sex, before now, years later, slowly coming to the realisation that they are probably “just” an autistic gay woman who has experienced a difficult childhood. I can’t help but wonder how much pain and stress could have been avoided if they’d been given the support they needed in the first place, rather than being indulged when they said they were an elf or an owl.

@Wysteria123 Can I ask if you drive? These shifts where you become your animal and unresponsive to others make it sound like that it could be dangerous? What if one happens while you’re driving?

Your daughter is just playing, @HettyCletter and it's very healthy. As long as she is playing in the garden, getting out and about, playing with friends, it's ok. I'm sure that you control any internet access, which is where the problem would lie.

A Cross Fox is one of these, I expect.

(Fairly common pub sign in North Wales and its borders, from the arms of the Wynnstay family.)

Have you read any of the thread? This is far from healthy.

Welcome to the summer holidays 🤣

Indeed.

I have read the thread. You obviously haven't read my post.

No. Just pretending to be an animal is healthy, normal fantasy play that children engage in all the time. They know perfectly well they are not actually cats.

actually thinking you are an animal and getting sucked into internet subcultures is the problem.

There is a big and important difference.

Could a therian identity be a species you haven't heard of? So you would have to research, and eventually discover you are the moth species Orthosia populeti (and definitely not any of the other 50+ moth species in the genus Orthosia)?

We used to love playing Space 1999 and The Space Sentinels because there were characters that could change into animals.

We didn’t think we were animals. Even as little kids.

Nobody should be indulging or encouraging delusions.

Exactly this. That's my point 💯.

Wysteria123 asks the reason for all the hate. I haven’t felt or read any hate as yet, just utter shock and disbelief and a bit of making fun of her irrational fantasy.

The OP is worried about her child. And Wysteria responded with an account of her fantastical belief as if it were fact and trying to pull OP in to that nonsense, pleading with her to accept the fantasy and discard the reality so that her child felt safe and accepted. It could be suggested that Wysteria is ill and wants others to be equally as ill so that she feels better, - more normal.

She openly admits she didn’t choose to be an animal as if her belief gives her problems and is tiresome to her. She strongly suggests that believing she is really an animal isn’t something she chose to do…it’s a burden to have to keep acting it out …a bit like OCD maybe.

Our children are precious and they need protecting from people with belief systems like hers. Children very much need to know the difference between fantasy and reality in their play. They need to know fact from fiction in order to orient themselves in this increasingly worrying world.

OP, I hope that the Wysteria123 post has helped make you more aware of the dangers lurking and even more determined to keep your vulnerable DC grounded and healthy and on a path towards mental stability….well away from dangerous outside and internet influence such as hers.

Wasn't kids saying they were animals supposed to be some kind of right-wing lying culture war transphobia insert any chatterati buzz words you like? According to the sort of self-id left-wing rentagob shock jocks on radio shows and crappy daytime phone-in TV anyway. How much more wrong can they be!

Sometimes parenting has to be very firm. There is no such thing as a therian, it's fine to be strict about it and tell your child they're not allowed to do something.

If this happens, I'd accept trans wolf/therian identities as fairly genuine😉. But I note many therians choose mythological and a melange of animal spirits as a get out. Goth is a very innocent subculture compared to these new ones. Goth was mostly fashion and music choices rather than a completely new identity that supplanted the original one.

Yeah I was thinking this, Absolutely no shocker that wisteria is autistic and part of the lgbt community.

Did she ponce/pounce around the garden on all fours and refuse to answer to "Mum" ?

For kids, imaginative play and curiosity about one's feelings and place in the world is healthy and normal. But funnelled into terminally online culture, it risks becoming a queasy mishmash of bullshit reinforcement, enabling and indulgence. Internet enabled brainfarts, is what I'm going to call Therianthropy.

The majority of those who are involved in it post tweenage years are vulnerable - often socially isolated. For this reason, any adults hanging around 'therian' groups should be very closely looked at.

A few older males on here, offering pearls of wisdom to young people, are illustrative of the problem:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Therian/

😱Good grief Arabella!

No it isn't.

You're not a fox

You're a very normal human being, physically and mentally, although it appears you could do with a prescription of some sorts.

I hope you get help soon. Surprised none of your friends or family have intervened.

Op as you can see you clearly are right to be concerned.

It's inevitable, though, isn't it?

I mean, any group of young, impressionable, confused, and vulnerable children is created, who is going to flock to it in the blink of an eye?

Indeed, which is why I think it is far from healthy that the OPs daughter is saying she thinks she is a Therian.

Really? I bet there's no research done,so it's down to personal experience and evidence of our eyes. And based on that,I'm not sure your statement will convince many

@Wisteria123 you do realise that dragons aren't real, don't you?

Edot: sorry, @wysteria123

My golden retriever believes he is human and is certain he was King Henry VIII in a past life (on account of his fondness for meat and shagging).