‘Hi there; woof woof; I’m a dog’—have you ever met anyone whose introduced himself as that? Or maybe met a lawyer who thinks she’s actually a mermaid and spends most of her free time dressed as one lounging in the water? Shocking and funny as it may sound, such personality and identity choices may be exceptions to are not impossible to find. In some such ‘communities’, people are increasingly identifying themselves as various animals, insects and even inanimate objects such as pillow, table lamps and balls.
There’s a new sort of ‘coming out’ that’s happening in different parts of the world. Once a term dreaded by parents who were told of their kids’ preference for the same sex, children, teenagers and adults are now ‘coming out’ as animals trapped in human form. Cursory research told me that these people are called therians—those who feel they are other animals trapped in a human body, a realisation that dawns on them at a young age. The definition of therian may be simple but the actual concept is hard to understand. Most, however, don’t start walking on fours or retreat into forests. They study, take up professions, marry, have children and live-in social set-ups like the rest. But their inner voice tells them that they belong elsewhere.
This surprising phenomenon led to the office of two social psychologists based in Mumbai. One dismissed it as a passing trend among teenagers without much credence while the other accepted it was for real. But there’s no study or research on this phenomenon in India as yet, they said. It’s fashionable for kids to say I am a ball or I am a cat. That’s it! With google at hand, it’s possible to find anything. An online article that I dug out details what social psychologist Kathy Gerbasi says on her study on therians. There are therian platforms that urge members not to have untrue or illogical ideas of a certain animal which can be called out as a bluff. The person must feel the animal in every bone, she said.
A young man in some part of the world feels like a bear in every bone of his body. He feels the strength and the personality of a bear. Then there are others who feel like cats and dogs. In 2023, more than 1000 people gathered in Berlin and howled like dogs; because they identified themselves as four-legged canines. I recently chanced upon a social media reel where a woman jumped over tables and beds because she thought she was a cat and even painted stripes on her face and stuck whiskers on her upper lip. A professional lawyer, walked through busy city streets dressed in plastic and metal because she thinks she’s a robot. The topic was so intriguing that I couldn’t stop reading about it. A media report spoke about schools in the UK allowing students to identify as anything besides boys and girls. A government survey was also initiated after a teacher called her students’ attitude “despicable” because they didn’t accept a classmate’s contention that she was a cat. This new identification goes beyond animals, fish and birds. Inanimate objects can also catch people’s fancy enough for them to identify themselves as lampshades, robots, balls or even the moon.
Furries, or people who identify as animals, have their very own fandom. They have ‘fursonas’ akin to a persona and have friends from the anthropomorphic kingdom. India is probably a long way from accepting this kind of ‘coming out’. Until now, parents only loving called their kids by names that sound like cute puppies, cats, birds, the moon or the sun.
It isn’t only a ‘western concept’ as one would think. Affluent schools report seeing such identity choices among students, which are ignored or dismissed. An advocate in Ahmedabad recently had a teenager approach her for legal help on changing her identity and gender on official documents and to demand that such choices be considered legal.
Even as it sounds ludicrous to many, the question is eventually about identity. Identity isn’t a simple concept. There are several external factors like society, family, loved ones, ethnicity, race, culture, location, opportunities, media, interests, appearance, self-expression and life experiences that form and shape our identity. The freedom of choice allows people to feel, act and say as they please without infringing on the safety and freedom of others. May be the day won’t be too far when we meet Mr Ball or Ms Cat in cafes or offices.
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