Graymuzzle vs New Fur (or Fin or Antennae or Claw...)

  The Overview: 

• Generational Shift: I’ve watched the community move from older members hiding their identity (I say this comparing-ly) to a younger, TikTok-influenced generation proudly wearing masks and tails in public.

• Evolution of Gear: While I, as a person who’s been a little while, used gear to manage dysphoria, I see modern, younger members focusing more on cosplay and quadrobics.

• Muddied Definition: I feel that these visible, modern trends have created misinformation, often confusing the deep, personal, or spiritual identity of therianthropy with mere roleplay.

• Identity Confusion: I often see a misunderstanding between being a therian (identifying as an animal) and being other-hearted (feeling a deep connection to an animal).

• Past vs. Present: Reflecting on the past, I’ve gone from having limited information and feeling misunderstood to navigating a highly visible, online-dominated landscape.

• Community History: we explore the shift from a safe space for people who have a specific internal identity that is distinct from a hobby and research to a more visual representation often in the form of to dress up/roleplay, and connecting.

Terms

• Graymuzzle: For the purpose of this post this is anyone who is older than the 2010s waves of theriantropy. This is a debated term that is outdated, with views ranging from a word to describe older generations (can be used outside of the non human community. Exp, furry) to an alpha status. I personally prefer it not to be used to imply anything other than age.

Hello! Time for some history…

Day 102. Another shift. Why did I luck out just to be crazy? No one takes this seriously. Why exactly do the word "Werian" make me feel... so normal? I still don't understand….

*Whimsy music... Fairy lights* We're therians, of course we're bullied! We're therians! Of course I feel closer when I wear my tail! We're therians, of course we love nature!

(Ok, ok yes that last one made me laugh… *constant itching from sunlight*)

Years ago, forums and blogs were the go to for trying to figure out why everything never made much sense. Why do I want "Sparky's Tail"? Why do dragons make me feel more understood. I must be crazy to be a cat!

Fast forward years later all those questions are filled with pride; kids everywhere walking with tails strapped to their pants masks donned. There was a point in time where the very thought of wearing a tail outside was like going out in a bunny suit on a plane flight. Humiliating.

And yet, today it's a matter of expression for many young therian. But why? Where did it go from hiding the feeling of being part (or something fully) animal, to boasting it in every part of your waking (internet) life?

I'm waiting.

…

You didn't think I was going to tell you did you?!

Alright, let's see what I got.

If you were to ask veterans over the age of 40, you'd hear quite varying views, ranging from the 'extreme' (humans should leave us, and animals the **** alone) to the more gentler side (animals, including myself, should try and live happily/tolerate in the bodies we're in).

Many vets see theiranthropy as a fluid thing, a deep personal journey. It's something that lives in the background, or is something so deeply apart of them that they couldn't separate it without losing everything. Some find it to be a natural result of neurodivergent imprinting, while others it's the result of trauma or gender nature.

Interestingly, many took up the term because it was the closest thing that made sense to them, rather it being the perfect term. In fact, it's not uncommon for other Gray muzzles to not even use the term!

The New Wave

Over the last decade or so, a new wave of theiran has risen in popularity. Somewhere along the way, quadrobatics and cosplay became a core part of their expression, but instead of serving a practical purpose like they once did, they’ve become more of a visual marker. They mostly dominate on platforms such as Youtube or TikTok.

Unfortunately, this way of being became synonymous with therian, and muddied the meaning. With very little information quickly available (at the time many well known places had been dying off and hardly anyone spoke in cut and dry words. You had to read for a bit to get the gist, in which no 10 year old wants to do.) content consisted of things that looked good on video. A video on how to make a mask is far more fun than what is the meaning of my life as a blog.

Kids now see a place where their love for animals can shine, along with crafting. Cosplay presents several challenges, including its about as expensive as a small house payment and the perception that it involves dressing up as a cartoon character rather than an an actual dog, for instance. Had there been a community where you dress up as animals in a LARPing way, without the stigma of playing pretend but a real hobby, then maybe things would have been different. For Gen Z/Alpha, it’s now a call for community to wear a mask. People stop on what they can easily see, not what they have to read.

Now before you blame New Fur for bringing in dress up, it wasn't them who made the first step. For some time, gray muzzles had occasionally worn tails or false fangs to combat dysphoria. The weight of a tail made it feel like you had one. The puppy band ears looked nice in the mirror. Some wore a collar or two...

These individuals were often one of the more interviewed people (and not always the best representation) in the community. Naia Okami. Stalking Cat (good soul). Black Alien (though more known in the otherkin community). If a content creator kid or kid looked up therian before the massive influx of 30 second vids, they almost 100% found people like that, along with with lots of furries!

It would not surprise me if they thought ‘oh! a therian is someone who thinks they are an animal! (True, but again missing, but aware they are and live in a human world. No biting!) so they dress up like one,’ (sometimes, but that won't click for a surface surfer).

This wave isn't the first time we've had troubles with misinformation and trolls:

Tumblr Wars!

*Thunder march!!!*

Yes, this is around the time dragons and wolves (ironically, as werewolves/wolf kinda started this, along side the ‘uprise’ of Elf Digest) really started to get "kicked out" of the therian spaces, causing it to be viewed as mortal/animal bound, creating a deeper line between otherkin and therian.  Often due to people taking "cool" animals to get in and fool around. But thats a topic for another day.

Another thing that drove an even bigger rift was the identity misunderstanding. Otherhearted had been out for a while and the main glaring difference was one word:

Like vs As.

The Wobbly Wording:

To be otherhearted, you feel a deep connection WITH or feel like you are in some way related to an animal.

To be therian, you identify AS a non human animal (later added in some form; in part, all, some, most...) either spiritually (soul of animal) or mentally (imprinting/neurological, trauma, processing etc). You normally acknowledge you are fully human (something of a disclaimer now in days to keep others from saying either a. So we can hunt you or b. ‘You're into lycanthropy? But I thought they were crazy…’).

I do think quite a few young 'therians' are actually just otherhearted. I see numerous young therians who take the time to ask some of the longer members, just to find at the end of the day that they are otherhearted cosplayers.

To be honest, it's actually fairly simple to mix up the terms, or feel as though otherhearted is to 'soft' of a label to define you.

Otherhearted really does sound like cosplay, and for a good number of people that's fine. But for others, its kind of embarrassing or just not deep enough. A lot of times, its the latter, so they take up the therian title, and it still doesn't fit well. It leads to uniformed explanations, and in the end, its not good on either side. Thankfully they either grow out of it, or settle in it.

There was also a bit of in fighting too, and more newer-ish terms came in such as holothere and trans-species. These are far more complex so I might do another separate post.

But I’d like to say this, signing off: 

• It’s not entirely New Fur’s fault.

• Graymuzzles contributed unintentionally (and unknowingly… really go look at the older grilling/grinding spaces).

• The internet shaped it.