I don't think it needs to be cured, and psychologists I've talked to agree. But a lot of other things that we today can agree on don't need to be cured, some have earlier tried to "fix". Such as homosexuality, for instance. And it didn't work, so we can confidently say that "conversion therapy" doesn't work. With therianthropy, it's pretty much just a guess.

And I think people should strive to not seek so much external validation, to be honest. I understand that it's a human need, but a big step of growing up is to try and balance that desperation for validation with knowing yourself and being confident despite "haters". It can be a struggle, of course. But owning your "abnormality", if possible, is imo healthier than trying to get validation from internet strangers all the time. Social media has really fed our brains with validation from strangers, almost like a drug. I struggle with it too. But then I go out into nature and try to focus on the stuff that actually matters.

Well said. I also think that as an "outgroup", if we ask for respect and understanding, we should show similar respect and understanding to other outgroups. IMO, anyone who isn't harming someone should get the same basic respect. For instance, I see therians on this subreddit feel insulted when someone calls them a furry, or are glad to throw odd sexual preferences under the bus. But if we consider them as allies in "being an outgroup" instead of threats, I think the "insult" would lose its power over us.

Sure, I don't mean to excuse harassment or tell people to be ashamed. But I think that finding that internal peace should come from yourself, not from strangers on the internet. For instance, when people ask "is it okay to <do thing>" I always ask back "what's your sense of morality and ethics? What does that say about <doing thing>?" Or "why would that no be okay, why are you asking?".
For instance, something like wearing real fur or lying about being a therian. I understand that young people trying to work out their own ethics, because they're still developing. But I think it's better to try and encourage that personal thought and confidence in your own abilities by Socratic questions, or at least show why something is or isn't okay, instead of just empty parroting of "yeah, that's super valid!/Ew, you're a horrible pos for doing that".

Oof, yep, I've had that kind of friend too. Who seemed accepting but who also later said "isn't this just OCD or something?"

I knew that it definitely wasn't that, but it still hurt in the moment, to feel misunderstood.

And you mention that the people who worryingly post and seek validation, that they probably aren't sure whether they are therians. I agree. And I also think that a big step in maturation is to be able to live with a certain degree of uncertainty. There is no test for therianthropy. It's just a word for the experience of having an animal species identity. It's invisible and internal. There's no diagnosis in any manual, no blood tests, nothing external that can prove it. In a way, it's similar to sexual orientation. I see a lot of posts over on r/bisexual with people who go "am I bi?" and then list their behaviour. But orientation is definied as attraction. So they are usually met with "well, are you attracted to several genders? If so, welcome to the club. How many you've kissed, whether you've had sex or not, how you dress etc, isn't relevant."
Similarly, I see a lot of people ask "am I therian?" and then list behaviours and quirks. And sure, a lot of therians have that kind of behaviour. But it's possible to be an animalistic person with weird behaviour, but still identify as 100% human. So that's why we have to again and again remind these young people that it's about looking inward.

Ah, this is an interesting perspective. I'm a biologist, so I tend to think of normal = within certain wiggle room from the average. Statistics. Stuff like that. But I'm aware that in sociology and similar, normal can also be used as "follows the norms". Therianthropy is definitive outside the norms of modern society, and I think that's fine. Maybe in the past we would have been shamans and berserkers, but even they weren't considered normal. But their odd spiritual and social status gave them a certain power.

Agreed. Harassment isn't okay, I'm in no way defending those who pull tails or bully people. But at the same, you have to keep in mind, that some people are arseholes.

And I wonder: those who bark at therians or whatever. Maybe I'm missing some context. But if a young therian barks or howls in public, why do they take as in insult if non-therians answer in the same way? Maybe it's just people who think it's a game and want to play along. It's really context-dependent, and you shouldn't assume that all weird responses are outright mockery.

When I was younger, and I did howl in public, I often wished someone would respond... I sometimes got dogs to answer back. That was fun. But I have also experienced teasing and bullying, like when my ex gossiped about me in our school and suddenly people I didn't know started to yell mean things after me.

Being different is hard. Maybe some of those young therians who are shocked that some people won't accept their therianthropy lack experience with being outside of the norm in other ways. Especially in a way that even progressive adults struggle to understand. Like, being autistic or gay makes you different, but in many places there will be people on your side. Therianthropy is so unusual that most have never even heard of it, and it makes finding "allies" very difficult.

I think the rules against posting about IRL meetups on this subreddit is because there are so many minors, and the admins don't want kids to get into trouble. They probably feel like it would be too much responsibility to try and gauge whether any Howls posted about were legit and safe - or not.

There are therian forums and social media groups that don't have a rule against that. Some of them demand additional verification from the user, to try and make sure they aren't scammers. I've hosted two Howls in the past, when I was 20-ish. One that was just a day's outing, one that was a sleepover in a cabin. It taught me that just because someone else is also therian (even if they have the same theriotype) doesn't mean we'll necessarily get along. We can still have different personalities and values. I arranged a smaller meetup at a pub some years later, but not many turned up. It was me, my husband, a polymorph-something I'm already friends with and then... just a dude who wasn't alterhuman at all, but wanted to photograph us or something? Awkward. So I didn't bother to create any more meetups after that.

I've met therians one-on-one outside of meetups/howls too. When I was a teen, I had a LDR with a bear therian from a neighbouring country. We got to know each other through a lucid dreaming forum. And I met my husband through university, didn't even know he was a therian the first years when we just studied together - it was only when we started dating that it was brought up.