With an incredible 3.7 billion views and approximately 1 million posts, the hashtag Therians on TikTok has gone viral. In the Terian world, people can post glimpses into their lives as animals, complete with tails, ears, and the ability to walk upright on all fours.
In contrast to furries, who internalize their animal persona, therians experience animal traits on a deeper level. Some teens have shared how to “come out” to their parents, while others have documented their emotional journeys at home and school, expressing their joy at finally being themselves again.
A small number of Therians go so far as to say that they occasionally have “shift” inclinations to act more primal, posting films of themselves lying on their bellies or meditating in nature.
People have begun organizing meet-ups all around the United Kingdom to connect with others who share similar interests and promote their location on TikTok. Some TikTok users take on the persona of a wolf or cat, whichever animal they identify most closely with, as a form of self-expression.
There is a subset called Otherkins. These are Therians who consider themselves to be either fully or partially human. One or more of them may use the word “transspecies” to describe how they feel about their connection to the natural world.
The most strict principal in Britain, Katharine Birbalsingh, issued a warning in June of last year about students dressing as cats in class, saying that adults’ control over students is long gone due to the increasing number of students allowed to dress as animals at school. Some kids claim to be furries, polytherians, paleotherians, or animals that no longer exist.
Some educators have failed to challenge students who claim to be dinosaurs, cats, or horses. At other schools, a student insisted on being recognized as the moon, another as a horse, and still another as a dinosaur.
One teacher slammed a 13-year-old girl for being “despicable” because she told a classmate who identified as a cat that she wasn’t a cat.
Not only do the inmates run the asylum, but many attendants could be patients there.
