In light of the recent emergence on social media of so-called therians, it seems worth reflecting not only on this identity phenomenon – which has appeared in different countries as a response to a loss of meaning amid the climate and civilizational crisis – but also on the instrumental use the far right is making of this topic to ridicule and delegitimize rights.
Therianthropy – the deep, subjective, or spiritual identification of certain people with non-human animals (wolves, foxes, dogs, cats, among others) – is not a mere eccentric whim, a passing fad, or the result of an individual pathology. Rather, it is a symptom of a global crisis of uncertainty, amplified by hyper-digitalization, in a context where traditional identities have lost force in the face of a world that is increasingly individualistic, accelerated, and saturated with stimuli.
At the same time, however, the visibility of therian people has become a perfect target for today’s far right. This political sector instrumentalizes it to mock non-binary gender identities, trans people, and struggles for the rights of non-human animals and nature. In doing so, it reinforces a reactionary agenda grounded in patriarchal, anthropocentric, and speciesist biologism – one that seeks only to naturalize inequalities and exclusions.
Reducing the debate on therianthropy to a matter of “new youth tribes,” or to the role of its viral spread on social media – as a large part of the media does – helps depoliticize the discussion and obscures the strategic use the far right is making of this phenomenon. For them, it is part of their fanatical rhetoric against so-called “globalism,” “cultural Marxism,” “progressivism,” and “gender ideology.”
It is no coincidence, therefore, that figures such as Agustín Laje, Axel Kaiser, or Emmanuel Danann ridicule therians and seize on the issue to compare them with non-binary or trans gender identities. Lines like “if you can self-identify as a cat, why not as a washing machine?” are used systematically to delegitimize LGBTQ+ struggles, portraying any identity exploration as absurd or “woke.” This fallacy aims to erode advances in gender rights and sexual diversity by caricaturing diversity as a threat to an alleged “natural order.”
Along the same lines, they deploy this rhetoric in their “culture war” to attack gender identity laws, warning that “soon marrying animals will be allowed” if this supposed “madness” is not stopped. Likewise, they link therians to animal-rights and environmental activism in order to discredit it, presenting those who defend non-human rights as “extremists” or “anthropophobes” who prioritize animals and forests over people.
In this way, by mocking those who identify with animals, they end up justifying extractivist policies (deforestation, intensive livestock farming, and so on) and, in the process, discredit feminist, environmentalist, and animal-rights movements as “ridiculous” and “extreme” – even though what these movements seek is precisely a more sustainable, empathetic, and egalitarian world.
Therianthropy is not merely a youthful whim, but an identity response to a world in profound crisis
In a world where the climate and civilizational crisis demands that we urgently rethink our relationship with the non-human, this ridicule distracts from the real problem: predatory capitalism, which exploits humans, animals, and ecosystems alike. Thus, therians are ultimately used by the far right as a tool to reinforce its hate-driven rhetoric and its anti-rights agenda.
In short: therianthropy is not merely a youthful whim, but an identity response to a world in profound crisis. It is true that social media amplifies and inflates it, but the far right instrumentalizes it to attack dissident identities and hard-won rights. It is also used to obscure regressive measures – such as the labor reform proposed by Milei’s government and approved by Argentine senators and deputies – which further precarize workers.
