Initial Thoughts On Telling Parent About Therianthropy
2023/12/12
Looking back on yesterday, the move to tell my parent that I am a therian could have had gone badly and I should have said nothing, but it had a not bad outcome unexpectedly. I thought it would have went badly based on the other two times which I have tried to say I’m a therian, plus the time which I asked for a tail with some pushback. I had the feeling of which if I made it clear I was a therian, that I could be made fun of everyday or kicked out, which made it silly to tell her. However, I decided too anyway.
Back a few months ago when I asked for a tail, I was quickly assigned the furry label (which I’m not) but accepted the label as (I thought) it would be more comprehensible to her than being a therian was. (Just want to make a quick note though that you don’t have to have a tail to be a therian.) However, this quickly led to the conversation being cut off for the day until tomorrow. Originally, she thought that a furry was a “crazy” person who identifies as an animal, but I clarified to her that a furry is someone with an interest in anthropomorphic characters and tried to clear up any misconceptions she had about therianthropy. However, I still felt disappointed that she would think someone who identifies as an animal is “crazy.”
As time has gone on though, it has become more important to not care about what others think. It is easy to say to others to not care about what others think but is more difficult to apply it in practice, especially when it is your own family. Eventually, I was able to find the acceptance within myself without needing to rely on the acceptance of others who are misinformed. However, I still felt a little unsafe if my parents somehow found out and was not as understanding in the past. This led to me taking a gamble by telling her I’m a therian without retracting the statement this time as I don’t appreciate keeping secrets.
It was very anticlimactic when I told her yesterday. This time she did not fight, but she just told me she still loved me. This leads to a certain conundrum which I can’t resolve. If someone had the same experiences of me as my parent calling the tail weird, calling those who identify as an animal crazy, and more, I would have not told anyone else to continue to tell their parents. However, not thinking rationally in this instance led to the best outcome for which I am grateful for.
(This does not mean though you should tell your own parents your therian if they are really hateful, everyone’s situation is different.)