Spanish
Mexico.- The first public event in Mexico City of those known as 'therians', people who identify and act as animals, garnered great interest this Friday but ended in a resounding failure as only the organizers attended, and no member of this nascent collective.
Although the call on social media was at 2:00 PM local time (8:00 PM GMT) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), dozens of media outlets and hundreds of onlookers attended the meeting point, but at no time was there any trace of a 'therian' seen, to the disappointment of the organizers and attendees.
In recent weeks in Mexico, the term 'therian', people who identify or have a psychological or spiritual connection with a non-human animal, has reached the internet and social media with photographs and videos of people wearing masks and animal costumes and even replicating their movements.
With this first public event in the Mexican capital, it was intended to create a space of "free coexistence" for people identified as 'therians', explained to EFE Levi Gallardo, one of the organizers of the meeting.
We recommend reading: Young people who identify and act like animals: the 'therian' phenomenon arrives in Spain
Negative social perception towards 'therians'
However, he regretted the final result, which he justified because the participating people are "being inhibited by the people who are there, by the virality that the event had"."Having this virality, what most of them did was approach us and say: 'hey, the truth is I am a 'therian', I don't come in costume, I want to do the activities, but there are a lot of people'," said Gallardo, who does not identify with this group but supports it "totally".
His intention was to "humanize those who do not want to be humanized," he stated, lamenting that most of society perceives 'therians' as "someone alien and ugly," despite the fact that in his opinion it is something "very common" for people to identify with something that "is not human." Among the curious people who approached the call, a feeling of disappointment prevailed, as in the case of Dante, a Philosophy student at UNAM, who told EFE that he found it "quite interesting" to see a 'therian'. Despite the result, the young man underlined that it is "totally valid" if anyone feels identified as an animal, so he defended that they should "respect them" regardless of whether it is an "idea different from the common one". Right in the opposite position, Diego, a former Chemistry student, called this group "horrifying" and declared himself "very much against" 'therians', and expressed his wish that people "not take it seriously". The 'therian' movement emerged in the 90s of the 20th century, but now reaches its peak popularity thanks to networks like TikTok, Instagram or YouTube, where these people, mostly teenagers, share videos with their experiences of animal identity.
