As the term animal-hearted has been spreading as of late, we decided to write about the history of were and how the term came about.
The term “animal-hearted” described a person who identifies with a certain animal or have a very strong connection with a certain animal. When used to describe…
As a clarification, the term “animal-hearted” was already known to the therian community and in use (albeit marginally) before 2009-2010. As an example, Swiftpaw mentions it on her website, and almost all of her writings date back to 1997-2003.
One example here: http://web.archive.org/web/20040324003900/http://www.otherwonders.com/swiftpaws/therian/old/myterms.html
The term was used for people who felt animalish but not to the degree of therianthropes/weres.
Also regarding the debate regarding “as VS with” and whether one is a therian if they do not feel they actually are the animal, Swift had also written this: http://web.archive.org/web/20041226015456/http://www.otherwonders.com/swiftpaws/therian/old/whatawereis.html
(My main criticism about the links is that back then Swiftpaw saw therianthropy exclusively as a soul/spiritual thing, but from later exchanges we had in the following years, I feel that was not exactly the case anymore. So take that aspect of the writings with a grain of salt, it’s kinda outdated.)
The Hisotry of the Term Animal-Hearted
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