On television shows like The morning with Moria, driven byr Moria Casán by El Trece, until the cycle presented by Chiche Gelblung on Crónica TV, two curious phenomena born from social networks emerged and established themselves as a topic on the small screen. In the midst of the digital era and virtual contact, a couple of urban tribes went from the viral niche of smartphones to the mass media: the furries and the therians.
“The furry fandom focuses on anthropomorphic animals with human characteristics that are present especially in art, comics, literature and cinema. They embody ‘fursonas’—animal avatars—to interact socially and participate in role-playing games. This is similar to the cosplay phenomenon, where people dress like fictional characters and act like them. The furry phenomenon was already consolidated in the 1980s,” he explained. Anabella Serventipsychologist and member of the Argentine Mental Health Associationconsulted by NEWS.
Regarding the therians, the specialist explained: “Therians are a more complex community. They are normally stigmatized and burdened with prejudices for their behaviors, but in reality therianthropy exists as a mythological concept: it refers to the mythical ability of a human being to partially or completely transform into an animal. They form a community in which they share the fact of psychologically self-identifying as animals. In this case, those who identify as such may have impulses, behaviors such as hunting or digging, or adopt an animal perspective for life.”
In terms of aesthetics and scenery, the differentiation between both urban tribes is notable. In TikTok videos you can see that both communities show themselves in meetings with their own style. Furries usually use clothing that covers their entire body, similar to those used by entertainers at children’s parties, carrying out choreographic actions. On the contrary, the stance of the therians is more instinctive: the animal attitude dominates the so-called “pack” in their encounters and the accessories used usually consist of only a mask of the chosen species and its respective tail.
Will water He is 15 years old and has considered himself a Therian since he was 13. His connection to the community was through TikTok and Reddit. The young high school student participated in television interviews and revealed what the world of the tribe is like in the country. “It is a way of life because it is not something that we choose to be or we choose to stop being, it is something that we feel within us and I feel that it will last for a long time to come, despite whether it becomes a trend or not. I feel that it is something that will always accompany us,” he said in dialogue with NEWS.
“I had a social circle that was quite hostile. They didn’t accept it at all. However, now I changed circles and I hang out with people who do accept me for who I am and how I am,” the teenager highlighted and, regarding the family context, she added: “At first they didn’t seem very happy that I identified with an animal, but they were able to accept it little by little and with their respective time.” From Aguará’s point of view, people who identify as therians receive a lot of hate on social media.
A little-known aspect is what this means regarding identity. “When you are therian, you don’t stop being the person or being you were before,” said the young woman and clarified: “I identify with a dog, a Belgian Malinois, because I feel that that breed defines me a lot in several aspects. It is the breed defined as a tracking dog, I feel that it defines me as a being.” Various videos are uploaded on TikTok of the packs behaving like dogs, foxes or wolves. Barking, howling, jumping and sniffing are the most common actions seen in the recordings.
It is known that throughout the decades adolescent codes have transcended borders, from hippism in the 60s, punk in the late 70s, darks in the 80s and floggers, along with emos, at the beginning of the new century; Psychological identification was accompanied by media circulation.
When asked “is it a trend, a fashion or a way of life?”, Serventi assured: “It can be all of that. For them, the moment they embody it, it is a way of life. It is a trend and a fashion too, since through social networks the viralization of content causes it to rise to that category, but above all it is a question of why these people prefer to navigate an animal and non-human interface.”
In short, the answer to this phenomenon can go beyond the animal characterization, because the birth of subcultures or countercultures is a constant fact in any society.
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