Furries vs. Therians

[Spatel]

I have to both agree and disagree with Spatel. While I like his perception of the fandom, I'm kind of on the fence about the whole lifestyle thing. Is there even such a thing, as "gay lifestyle" and if there is, how is it different from just being gay?

It is simply being openly gay. That is the "gay lifestyle". An alternative lifestyle is merely a taboo. The key here is that it's not a big deal to the person that has it, it's just a big deal to other people (morons) that have nothing better to do than proselytize about shit they know nothing about.

Say, I have GID, but if you met me on the street or talked to me casually, you wouldn't even know it. It's still a big part of my daily life and affects day-to-day things, but only me, my husband and a few others know to what extent. Can this be called "lifestyle" at all, or is this just... This?

It's not a lifestyle in your case because you're keeping it a secret. If you crossdressed or assumed the identity of another gender, or openly called yourself trans or genderqueer, then it would be a lifestyle for you. I'm in the same position basically. I'm living with my transphobic mother, and until I move out I'm stuck with keeping the GID in the back of my mind.

You are comparing two different vegetables. Not all lifestyle furries are into the fetish aspect, and not all Fetishists are lifestylers.
"Lifestyle" just means that you surround yourself with everything of that subcultire in Social/Youth Subcultures, like Goth for instance.
There will be furries that only date furries, watch cartoons with only anthro animals in it, and join guilds/clans that the majority are furries. Lifestylers feel comfortable around their own due to having the same common ground with others. Same goes for Fetishists within the comminity.

I agree that not all fetishists are lifestylers (or even most), but an alternative lifestyle has to be taboo. Without the sexual aspect how could it be a lifestyle? There's nothing inherently taboo about liking anthro characters. While it is true that going to furry conventions or fursuiting is seen by many outsiders as taboo, it's always because of the association others make with the sexual aspect of the fandom. Furrys know those associations to be false. Furry can be a huge part of someone's life without being a lifestyle, and I think if there are people that consider themselves lifestylers but not fetishists, they are labeling themselves incorrectly on one of those terms.* This isn't a hardline view on my part though. If you have an example you think contradicts this, or you think you have a better definition of a lifestyler, I'm certainly all ears.

*Therians/Otherkin are an exception to this. Taboo beliefs, such as spiritual beliefs, or political beliefs that cause one to act very differently from societal norms (such as being a hippy and living in a commune) can constitute an alternative lifestyle. Being an atheist is an alternative lifestyle in some places. I think I mentioned that in another thread.

 

[ErikutoSan]

This thread has some really nice info here... Kinda helps me understand the stereotype about it that i recently found out about ;-;

 

[Goronian]

It is simply being openly gay. That is the "gay lifestyle". An alternative lifestyle is merely a taboo. The key here is that it's not a big deal to the person that has it, it's just a big deal to other people (morons) that have nothing better to do than proselytize about shit they know nothing about.

It's not a lifestyle in your case because you're keeping it a secret. If you crossdressed or assumed the identity of another gender, or openly called yourself trans or genderqueer, then it would be a lifestyle for you. I'm in the same position basically. I'm living with my transphobic mother, and until I move out I'm stuck with keeping the GID in the back of my mind.

So when our gender roles in day-to-day life are exchanged (like me doing most of the cooking and cleaning, while he brings in more money) it's not a lifestyle, but when my husband wears leather and shades and hangs chains and stuff on his jacket, that's a lifestyle? I'm just trying to understand. We don't have a term close to "lifestyle" here, so it's kind of confusing.

 

[Translord]

This thread has some really nice info here... Kinda helps me understand the stereotype about it that i recently found out about ;-;

Glad this thread helped someone :3

 

[Cocobanana]

Being a non-religious person, I don't agree with anything besides what I see or what others have seen and documented. That being said, I am a human being because that's what I look, feel, smell, taste, sound like. Sometimes it can be upsetting seeing other human beings claiming they aren't that, but it's not my business and I can just avoid those types.

 

[Translord]

Being a non-religious person, I don't agree with anything besides what I see or what others have seen and documented. That being said, I am a human being because that's what I look, feel, smell, taste, sound like. Sometimes it can be upsetting seeing other human beings claiming they aren't that, but it's not my business and I can just avoid those types.

I can't help but thank you for actually telling us your opinion on this in a respectful way. I've seen so many people just flat out say something like "People can't be animals." And "You're insane." So can I just say thanks for being respectful in sharing your opinion and putting it in a way that won't offend people. Not something I see too much.

 

[Armaetus]

Eh, most therians and otherkin are just kooky and/or mentally deranged, thus I avoid them. However, I have a friend or two who is furry/otherkin(I think) and they are cool.

 

[neweinstein]

Being a non-religious person, I don't agree with anything besides what I see or what others have seen and documented. That being said, I am a human being because that's what I look, feel, smell, taste, sound like. Sometimes it can be upsetting seeing other human beings claiming they aren't that, but it's not my business and I can just avoid those types.

I can't help but thank you for actually telling us your opinion on this in a respectful way. I've seen so many people just flat out say something like "People can't be animals." And "You're insane." So can I just say thanks for being respectful in sharing your opinion and putting it in a way that won't offend people. Not something I see too much.

For me its like this: I let everyone believe what they want ... as long as no one tries to convince me to follow their believes (or if their actions hurt anyone) ... may it different political, religious, sexual or other ideas ... they can believe in what ever they want I dont have to understand that .. if it makes them happy its fine as long as they also accept me the way I am.

I just get angry if someone wants to press his opinions/believes onto me ... I can not stand that ...

EIN

 

[BRN]

I love chatting with therians about therianthropy. The quirks and eccentrics of humankind are always great fun to talk with. It makes me feel that the small world of 'social expectation' has its anomalies, its outliers, small little beautiful occurences that make life so undeterministic. \:3/

 

[Furison]

It seems to have been a little confusion between lifestyle and sexuality/fettish. I feel that lifestyle furries surround themselves in the furry subculture and is part of their everyday life but is not about sexual attraction. The sexuality side of it is a sexual attraction is felt by the person/furry over the fandom, but may not surround themselves with the subculture. Having said that there are corss-overs in what I've just said where someone both surrounds themselves in the subculture and feels the sexual attraction.

I love chatting with therians about therianthropy. The quirks and eccentrics of humankind are always great fun to talk with. It makes me feel that the small world of 'social expectation' has its anomalies, its outliers, small little beautiful occurences that make life so undeterministic. \:3/

Thats true, its what makes life more interesting

 

[Frroat]

I have a funny story about otherkin and it involves me!

Long ago... six years ago actually, I became very obsessed with dragons suddenly, it was quite random if I say so myself. Dragons were so cool! I was finding artwork of dragons, reading things about dragons, anything and everything about dragons! Of course, I was a socially awkward teenager at the time, kinda dumb too, so I believed everything I read about them... on the Internet. So, eventually it got to the point where I was respecting dragons literally as deities, and spirits and all sorts of very spiritual things. After reading some stuff on... crystalinks.com I was convinced that I had a spirit guide that was a dragon. Wonderful! I believed that he (I just knew that it was a he) was protecting me, or teaching me something. Later, I discovered that there were entire online forums of people who all shared their love of dragons! One forum in particular, which was like my home away from home, is where I first heard the term 'otherkin' I was seriously amazed when I heard about this... there are people who have the souls of dragons?! (Dragonborn?) Many of them truly believed that, and many of them questioned me if I was too. I wasn't sure... could I really be a dragon? I wondered. I wasted a great deal of my teenage life just questioning myself and figuring it out. I heard so many tales from otherkin online about them having flashbacks of past lives, visions of being a dragon, very vivid dreams, and even physically feeling their dragon-like appendages (wings, tail). Now, I didn't have ANY of those symptoms, other than I was very moved by dragons. At this point I literally became depressed because I felt that I wasn't a dragon, like the others I read from. Horrible. I contacted this user on the forum who claimed to be psychic, (this is the weirdest part) I swear to you, I did not tell him ANYTHING about this, but he told me that he remotely contacted my spirit guide who was a dragon, and it told him about something really stupid I did that morning (I accidentally trashed the family pool) and he told me that my soul was an orange dragon who's "true name" was 'Arakubaru Inaki'. The thing about the pool I didn't tell that guy about! Makes me wonder now... (I doubt he's psychic, he must have had two accounts on the forum and I must have told him what I did on one of them and just used the same info on another, he did get banned after all) ANYWAY... so I believed him and my life was great after that! I was a dragon! I thought, and I knew for sure that I had a dragon as a spirit guide, and I felt so happy. After that I was pretty much all good, and everything went back to normal, I believed that I was a dragon, it was no longer something special that I pleaded to have, and that belief went on for some time... as I got older though, I became more skeptical about that as well as other supernatural things. I stopped believing that dragons existed and I probably did not have the soul of a dragon either.

I think that my life became much better when I believed that I was a dragon/otherkin because I was all socially awkward at the time and the idea of being a dragon made me feel strong and accepted. It was like a comfort thing. Long after I abandoned the whole otherkin thing, I still respected dragons as a concept—I felt like I should do what I could to fit the dragon philosophy, for example, I felt that dragons represented ambition, so I would work on being more ambitious in my goals, when I achieved everything that a dragon meant to me, then I was (conceptually) a dragon. It's a philosophy I went by for a while, I still kind of follow it today only I'm not as obsessive about it all. But boy I still think dragons are cool!

I'm generally accepting of the otherkin/therian beliefs. After all I did hang around online forums for otherkin for years, I know who's really serious and using their beliefs beneficially, and I know the little punks who just want to feel special (like I was).

I never would have found the furry fandom if it wasn't for otherkin either. I used to have a dragon character too.

 

[Trpdwarf]

I have a funny story about otherkin and it involves me!

Long ago... six years ago actually, I became very obsessed with dragons suddenly, it was quite random if I say so myself. Dragons were so cool! I was finding artwork of dragons, reading things about dragons, anything and everything about dragons! Of course, I was a socially awkward teenager at the time, kinda dumb too, so I believed everything I read about them... on the Internet. So, eventually it got to the point where I was respecting dragons literally as deities, and spirits and all sorts of very spiritual things. After reading some stuff on... crystalinks.com I was convinced that I had a spirit guide that was a dragon. Wonderful! I believed that he (I just knew that it was a he) was protecting me, or teaching me something. Later, I discovered that there were entire online forums of people who all shared their love of dragons! One forum in particular, which was like my home away from home, is where I first heard the term 'otherkin' I was seriously amazed when I heard about this... there are people who have the souls of dragons?! (Dragonborn?) Many of them truly believed that, and many of them questioned me if I was too. I wasn't sure... could I really be a dragon? I wondered. I wasted a great deal of my teenage life just questioning myself and figuring it out. I heard so many tales from otherkin online about them having flashbacks of past lives, visions of being a dragon, very vivid dreams, and even physically feeling their dragon-like appendages (wings, tail). Now, I didn't have ANY of those symptoms, other than I was very moved by dragons. At this point I literally became depressed because I felt that I wasn't a dragon, like the others I read from. Horrible. I contacted this user on the forum who claimed to be psychic, (this is the weirdest part) I swear to you, I did not tell him ANYTHING about this, but he told me that he remotely contacted my spirit guide who was a dragon, and it told him about something really stupid I did that morning (I accidentally trashed the family pool) and he told me that my soul was an orange dragon who's "true name" was 'Arakubaru Inaki'. The thing about the pool I didn't tell that guy about! Makes me wonder now... (I doubt he's psychic, he must have had two accounts on the forum and I must have told him what I did on one of them and just used the same info on another, he did get banned after all) ANYWAY... so I believed him and my life was great after that! I was a dragon! I thought, and I knew for sure that I had a dragon as a spirit guide, and I felt so happy. After that I was pretty much all good, and everything went back to normal, I believed that I was a dragon, it was no longer something special that I pleaded to have, and that belief went on for some time... as I got older though, I became more skeptical about that as well as other supernatural things. I stopped believing that dragons existed and I probably did not have the soul of a dragon either.

I think that my life became much better when I believed that I was a dragon/otherkin because I was all socially awkward at the time and the idea of being a dragon made me feel strong and accepted. It was like a comfort thing. Long after I abandoned the whole otherkin thing, I still respected dragons as a concept—I felt like I should do what I could to fit the dragon philosophy, for example, I felt that dragons represented ambition, so I would work on being more ambitious in my goals, when I achieved everything that a dragon meant to me, then I was (conceptually) a dragon. It's a philosophy I went by for a while, I still kind of follow it today only I'm not as obsessive about it all. But boy I still think dragons are cool!

I'm generally accepting of the otherkin/therian beliefs. After all I did hang around online forums for otherkin for years, I know who's really serious and using their beliefs beneficially, and I know the little punks who just want to feel special (like I was).

I never would have found the furry fandom if it wasn't for otherkin either. I used to have a dragon character too.

Ah the conversion process. I've run into people who had run ins with such communities similar to what you speak of. Sometimes people turn out okay. There is also a really dark side to it that people ought to watch out for. There are groups that will latch onto people who have minor unhappiness and increase their unhappiness tenfold by convincing them they are something other than human. They build up comfy little cults victimizing people to make themselves feel better as they become self described graymuzzles with followings. This is not to say all groups are like this but having run into enough individuals who ruin others completely I am wary of Otherkin. Plus a lot of them just don't take it seriously.

 

[Kosdu]

Well, thanks for the thread. Useful.

Seeing as it has come to my attention I might have an animal guide..... guess I'm therian.



Did some crazy stuff around puberty, I guess I took it too far back then. Just a phase.
I know I'm human. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice not to be.

For everyone who thinks that therians are just crazy, are you insinuiating that a good deal of native american tribes were/are crazy?
Just look at all the non-therian religions/belief systems. Crazy stuff, man.
Hell, look at policticians....

 

[JArt.]

I think i might be a life-styler, but hey im ok with that. Thanks for the useful thread.
I may not be a Therian but i do feel a deep semi-spiritual connection to my animal.

 

[Ozriel]

For everyone who thinks that therians are just crazy, are you insinuiating that a good deal of native american tribes were/are crazy?
Just look at all the non-therian religions/belief systems. Crazy stuff, man.
Hell, look at policticians....

The Therian belief system was birthed from crazed werewolf fans...then grew into "white Guilt" with a touch of teenage angst.
Other than that, Therianthropy (today) is seen as a reject thrown off of the fluff truck, along with the 9/11 conspiracy theories. :V

Are all Therians crazy? no.
But there are those that take it too far to the point of making it seem like everyone has taken LSD while cheesing on cat piss.

 

[JArt.]

I like to believe that Romulus was the first furry.

know I'm human. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice not to be.

i'm with ya there.

 

[Ozriel]

ilike to believe that Romuluswas the first furry.

Umm...what?

 

[Kosdu]

I was told a certain sub-culture in egypt, the jackals, were the first furrys.







Eh, being a therian doesn't seem that crazy to me. Just a connection to a totem animal.


(Romulus, raised by wolves. Correct?)

 

[JArt.]

Umm...what?

Romulus (sorry stupid spacebar) was the only survivor of Troy, he is the mythological founder of Rome believed to be raised by wolves.
ok so now i realized how stupid my comment was.

 

[Bipolar Bear]

Therians, in my opinion, are no different from Furries in relation to Fandoms. They both like a particular species, and built a taboo and thriving community out of it.

 

[Ozriel]

Romulus (sorry stupid spacebar) was the only survivor of Troy, he is the mythological founder of Rome believed to be raised by wolves.
ok so now i realized how stupid my comment was.

Not to go off topic but...Romulus and his twin brother were descendants of Trojan Prince Aeneas, not Trojans themselves. :V
There's two versions of the story; One being that a goddess saw the abandoned twins and transformed into a wolf, and nursed them because she saw what they would become. Another being that it was just a regular wolf that came across them and nursed them.

And about the whole Mythology "First furry" crap...what? Srsly...

 

[Aetius]

I like to believe that Romulus was the first furry.

Not sure if troll, or stupid.

 

[JArt.]

Not to go off topic but...Romulus and his twin brother were descendants of Trojan Prince Aeneas, not Trojans themselves. :V
There's two versions of the story; One being that a goddess saw the abandoned twins and transformed into a wolf, and nursed them because she saw what they would become. Another being that it was just a regular wolf that came across them and nursed them.

And about the whole Mythology "First furry" crap...what? Srsly...

i know my mistake, it was just an odd thing that popped into my head.

 

[Ozriel]

i know my mistake, it was just an odd thing that popped into my head.

Actually there are more versions of the founders of Rome story...Some which involved Hercules knocking up their mother...etc. :V

And you should feel bad. :V

 

[Bipolar Bear]

Actually there are more versions of the founders of Rome story...Some which involved Hercules knocking up their mother...etc. :V

And you should feel bad. :V

Actually, I feel more bad for the Mother than Romulus.