#p-shifter culture is

[pshiftcultureis]

Pshifter culture is having doubts about shifting, only to encounter someone who shifts the same way you do/end up shifting yourself and seeing the proof

Like 🤦‍♂️ of course it's real, how could I have been so dumb

.

[porcelain-gal]

if you're a shifter of color who shifts bcuz they want to be able to experience fandom without feeling left out or ostracized, i love you. if you're a shifter of color who shifts to live in a world where they are seen and heard by society, i love you. if you're a shifter of color who shifts to date and make friends without the chance of experiencing racism, i love you. if you're a shifter of color who shifts to be more in touch with their culture, i love you. if you're a shifter of color, i love you. /p

[moodbroads]

gettin used to tumblr so i may mess up- mini intro (feel free to ask questions!): hihi! u can call me nine/sketch/mikko/milo/whatever u wanna call me (yes even mcquackthedumbestofseven)

i go any/all pronouns!

ive been an elk (wapiti) therian for about 6ish years i think? idk i dont remember when i awakened i wasnt as online as much as i am now- i have been questioning some sort of other kintype though

i love vulture culture and have a few bones i found myself!

im into wings of fire, watership down, helluva boss/hazbin Hotel, warriors (duh lmao), worldbuilding in general tbh, speculative biology, nostalgic things, red dead and harry potter! (i prob have more but rn im running at 2 hours of sleep)

i are the pro in bad grammar B)

games i like rn (changes alot-): clangen, wolfquest, spore, red dead 2, planet zoo and hogwarts legacy lolol

roblox games i like rn XD: lake territory reborn, skyven, canine odyssey, a lions pride, wild horse islands, prehistoria, catalog avatar creator and creatures of sonaria!

small fun facts:

i wanna film animals/photograph them one day!

im on the autism spectrum and hypersexual but i dont like to mention it often due to my mental stuff being well- my mental stuff

i get way too many ideas in my head xdd

im very much queer and wanting to try everything in the book cuz like WOMEN YESSS but also MEN YESSS but also PEOPLE NOOOO soooo-

THERES A BIRD JUST CALLED BRANT..THATS IT..WHY BRANT?!?

i have 2 dogs! :)

dni: basically nobody cuz like..you can just lie or scroll on..its the internet do ya boogers not know what your on rn-

(AAAAA SORRY BIG TEXT WALL COMIN IN I JUST ACTUALLY WANTED TO GET A DNI IN) actual dni if people care: fictionkin-explained in a post factkin-explained in a post terfs or any kind of that shit (im lookin at you homophobes, cuz most are terfs too) jk rowling supporters (just the person and what they did, not the community/harry potter itself) anti-alterhuman, pro 'p-shifters' or 'p-shifters' art critiquers (WITHOUT PERMISSON) sexualizers of basically anything, no i dont wanna 'hear you out' that is a dog on 2 legs with an obvious dog dong hanging out-get help pro-PETA (vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians and animal cruelty people that are ACTUALLY HELPING are totally fine- love yall <3) pedos pedos and more pedos im gen z, i basically grew up on the internet, i know your intentions so no, fuck you who are you even tryna trick- not even 2 year olds can read your creepy ass pm cuz its all like 'hEy 11M wAnNa ShArE NUdS' like who even says 'numbergender' anymore other then omegle users (rip omegle but also horray cuz that site was horrid)

[1000aurapoints]

✨💜Intro💜✨

Welcome one and all!!! My name is Aura (any pronouns), and my partner is a riolu named Fable! We’re currently trying to survive my freshman year in highschool together so I’ll be posting random school related stuff or just whatever else I want to spit on the screen

⭐️Here is some stuff about both of us;

⭐️Me: I am panromantic and probably asexual! And as I’ve stated before I am a freshman, and Arceus highschool is scary😭

I caught Fable as my first pokémon (and partner) last August, we’ve been friends for over a year now already! Time flies bro

I enjoy writing and drawing and reading in my spare time, but I also like to train Fable to get her better at battling! We’re considering challenging a few gyms in the future

Also, have you noticed something Fable and I have in common?

You know how riolu evolves into the aura pokémon, lucario…

AND MY NAME’S AURA???? IS THAT NOT SO SUPER COOL

we were DESTINED to be partners bro I literally found my twin flame/p as a pokémon and I’m all for it

⭐️Fable:

she is very odd looking! In a good way. I’ve noticed she seems a little tall for a riolu, and her eyes are blue instead of the typical red. Could just be a genetic mutation, or maybe she’s a hybrid of some kind? Either way, her appearance is the only thing that’s unusual, so I’m not worried

i found her last summer while on a hike in an area where pokémon hunters sometimes set up traps (I hate those fuckers) and ended up finding Fable caught in an ursaring trap. I was able to help her out and we skedaddled to a pokémon center and next thing you know we’re partners :p shit makes me feel like the main character lmao

one thing we like to do together is watch movies, especially animated stuff, sometimes horror (to an extent) or anything that’s just stupid. I enjoy making fun of the dumb stuff and she likes the colorful moving pictures and musical parts (same tbh)

Sometimes we train with my sister and her misdreavus, and whenever we get the chance, we’ll battle my cousin and his froakie. It’s super fun

That’s all i feel like sharing! You’ll learn more throughout my dumb posts

⭐️here’s my boundaries btw:

This is a safe space for: anyone of any race, culture and religion, queer/trans people, reality shifters, agre/petre, sfw (emphasis on SFW) tickle community, furries, and anyone who is chill

DNI: racists, mysoginists, zionists, homophobes, proshippers of any kind, pedos/zoos, nsfw/p0rn accounts, people under 13, trainers who think of pokémon as tools instead of living beings, basic dni stuff

⭐️I have a couple tags too to make it easier to search specific posts

Sigma thoughts- random things/rants/opinions

Fable- Anything to do with my partner!

Gooner labyrinth- anything related to school

Reblog- reblogged stuff

Ask- answering an ask

Anon- answering an anonymous ask

Balltastic art- art reblog

OOC- out of character stuff 😔

so yeah that’s it! Have a stellar rest of your day/night 💜✨

(OOC: please play along! If you want to interact with real live me and not pokemon trainer me, please ask to dm because I don’t want to break the magic!)

[harloqui]

I have an argument... (P-shifting vs. Delusions)

Okay, so you know how people often try to claim shifters are delusional, mentally ill or must be suffering from something, right? We all know that's wrong (and other shifters and I have addressed it before), but I think I have a more coherent argument against shifting being considered a delusion specifically, as that seems harder to confront.

(Note: You can be a shifter and also be mentally ill, delusional, etc. however the two are not inherently associated with one another.)

Here are the diagnostic criteria for Delusional Disorder, as listed in the DSM-5. I'm aware other countries may use the ICD-11, here's a link to the criteria for delusional disorder as listed there.

Diagnostic criteria for delusions are broad, since delusions can take many forms and impact people in a variety of ways. However, in order to qualify as delusional you need to have one or more delusions lasting a duration of one month or longer.

Generally delusions are suspected when a belief conflicts with someone's (sub)culture or deeply held beliefs. If a belief is found within someone's culture or subculture it doesn't typically qualify as a delusion, because it is then understandable and may serve other functions. Physical therianthropy (the act of physically shapeshifting into another animal) has existed as a belief in all sorts of cultures, and the Western shifter community is one form of this. So that reduces the possibility that shifters are all delusional - if we were this belief would not have persisted for so long throughout the ages.

Delusions can be neutral or rarely positive, but generally they tend to impact people (or occasionally others) negatively, hence why they're listed in the DSM. Unlike religious, spiritual or supernatural beliefs they are not adopted and practiced; you cannot decide to become delusional or learn how to be delusional like how some people claim to have learned shifting. If a delusion is positive and doesn't appear to be affecting one negatively in other ways, psychiatrists may leave it alone, treating it similarly to other religious beliefs.

The ICD-11 says this about the boundary with normality:

A continuum of delusional beliefs, attenuated delusional beliefs, overvalued ideas, and unusual or eccentric beliefs has been observed in the general population. Such beliefs may be more common among people under conditions of adversity. People with Delusional Disorder may display greater psychological distress, greater preoccupation, and higher degree of conviction compared to people in the general population with beliefs that are similar in nature to beliefs that could be characterized as delusional.

So generally, unless you're distressed, highly preoccupied (to the point of it affecting your life negatively) and unreasonably closed off to other possible explanations, your beliefs are not indicative of an illness. Many people have some kind of odd, unusual, or borderline delusional beliefs, but they don't usually become a cause for concern until they affect someone's life negatively.

A delusional syndrome that people often try to link to shifting is clinical lycanthropy. However, in both clinical and modern cases I've seen it is typically a distressing and dysfunctional syndrome to live with. Clinical lycanthropes don't generally enjoy shifting or being an animal the same way shifters do, and often experience other symptoms that signal a psychiatric or physical disorder, such as inability to control shifting and other negative supernatural phenomena, distress or inability to function, or disorganized thoughts.

I hope this reassures anybody who was worried that shifting might be delusional for them due to the stigma surrounding it. Other people may freak out about physical shifting because it's not the norm, but it isn't an inherently delusional or pathological condition or belief. If it isn't causing issues in your day-to-day life and you're not distressed by it, you're fine. (And if you are distressed/having issues, you should seek help. You deserve to feel comfortable in your body!)

[who-is-page]

Can I ask, what is beastpunk? - Alex

To copy-paste from the original Tumblr post on it here:

Beastpunk is subculture/term for anyone who identifies as partially or entirely as a nonhuman creature in an integral or intrinsic way, regardless of the origin or perceived nature of their identity, and who:

Embraces and celebrates their nonhumanity and animality, and (if applicable) the overlap and entanglement between one’s human and nonhuman identity

Embraces abnormal instincts and behaviors related to their own and others’ nonhumanity, so long as no active harm is done to another non-consenting individual or any real life animal

Interacts with their nonhumanity and displays it in socially unconventional or undesirable ways, and accepts and celebrates others doing so as well

Revels in the history of animal-people and beast-folk in all ways known: from the alterhuman community, from mythology, and from cultural or spiritual backgrounds relevant to the person in question

Throws respectability politics into the dumpster, lights it on fire, and dances around the burning corpse of the god “Cringe” in the moonlight

Is, unabashedly and genuinely, animal

This term is meant to be a reclamation of animalistic nonhuman identity, especially regarding individuals who may experience their nonhumanity in eccentric, “feral,” or otherwise socially unacceptable or even stigmatized ways. Beastpunk is also open to endels, clinical lycanthropes, and others who experience nonhumanity in ways related to their mental health and physical bodies, although it is not open to self-identified p-shifters and p-shifter packs. Anyone who’s ever been told that their animality is “too much,” or that they’re taking their identity as a nonhuman creature “too seriously,” or who has lost previous words/groups they’ve used to define themself due to terminological drift, KFF appropriation and re-defining, or others gatekeeping their identity’s authenticity is welcome to take up this term. Fictherians and fictional nonhuman creatures are also included in beastpunk, which is meant to be explicitly pro-fictionkin and fiction-based identities; theriomythics, folcintera, and mythkin are also included in beastpunk. Any and all nonhuman creatures, regardless of source or origin, are included.

🚫 This term is not meant for KFF and other forms of anti-otherkin, anti-fictionkin, and similar. This term is not meant for self-identified “zootherians,” “zoosexuals,” “zetas,” and similar. 🚫

---

If you have any more questions on it, feel free to ask! :V I just didn't want to retype and resummarize the Beastpunk stuff because I'm sick and don't have many spoons right now.

[siphonyx]

"P-shifters are following psychotic people to make them into clinical lycanthropes to control them in cults" is on par with conservatives saying that kids are identifying as cats and peeing in litterboxes because of woke culture

Pardon my skepticism, but that's a 4D move that I don't think even abusive p-shifters have thought up, and also, isn't clinical lycanthropy an uncontrollable expression of psychosis? Especially clinical lycanthropy, even judging from some posts here the condition is not controllable by other people, if someone was purposefully trying to make a cult of clinical lycanthropes, that would fall apart fast I would think?

But also, most p-shifters don't claim to have psychosis or suffer with clinical lycanthropy, and hang around other supernaturals instead. If you, as a psychosis blogger with a form of clinical lycanthropy, are attracting p-shifters left right and center, might it be the case that some of those p-shifters want education, maybe so they can figure out what's wrong with them (if something is wrong with them) or that (shocker) they're clinical lycanthropes who identify with the p-shifter label.

Additionally, all the active p-shifters I can see have either a) put warnings on their blog for delusional and psychotic individuals b) block individuals who may be at risk for these issues, or c) keep to their own circles. Call me stupid if there's a secret little cabal of evil p-shifters that are trying to make clinical lycanthropes for some nefarious purposes, but I really don't think that's what's going on here?

[mountain-lion-gremlin]

sigh.

missing physical shifting :/

feeling empty from feeling like I can only relate to therians when I'm not a therian.

God do I wish I could rip the skin off my bones and find fur beneath... It's been so long since I've attempted to physically shift.

Went through a period of disbelief from both reading constant hate on physical shifting and along with the fact that I felt like I would never actually get what others have because I wasn't good enough.

I think I identify with more of a physical aliurothrope then just "nonhuman" it feels too broad for me. (I think I spelt that wrong, I need to actually make sure i get that spelt right.

Along with that, physical shifters, just the term itself "p-shifter" has such a horrible wrap and stereotype attached to it I don't want anything to do with it anymore. I'm not really looking to be treated like garbage online tbh :/

I feel like my progress has plateaued since... early 2023? I would love to investigate, but I'm too busy stressing over school ✨️✨️

I will no longer be using the "therian" tag in my posts. Nor will I use alterhuman. Might still use nonhuman tho. I probably will continue to use the physical shifting labels tho, until I spend some time confirming my true feelings about everything.

Not a therian... the culture doesn't feel personal to Mr, it never has. I've always related more with nonhuman and lycanthrope but c a t

-mrrp.

[melaniem54]

Review: A Sucker for Christmas: A Winter Holiday MM Tentacle Romance by J P Sayle

Rating: 3.5🌈 J P Sayle’s A Sucker for Christmas is a fun, sweet addition to the Winter Holiday Tentacle collection. A best friends to lovers story with an added twist of one of them being an octopus shifter, there’s not a lot a universe building or exploration of the octopus shifter culture here. It’s a soulmate relationship, where the shifter recognizes his mate early on in life, in this case,…

[pshiftcultureis]

Pshifter culture is being scared you're crazy despite knowing you're not due to your real experiences but others doubt you do much

.

[bearwithmeshifting]

I’ve always been fascinated by the topic of p-shifting, but really unsure of reliable resources. I’m not exactly in the therian or otherkin scene, do you have any resources I can look into?

Yeah P-shifting tends to be a very dubious concept, especially when you’re used to one set of terms and attempting to see if another group is describing something similar with different terms. I’d personally suggest that you avoid finding truth as part of the enjoyment with the topic of shapeshifting, assuming you aren’t a shifter. The various claimed experiences of shapeshifting are interesting enough on their own, and maybe its best to consider it folklore. When it comes to recorded resources on physical shifting, I only know of one that is probably truthful, and its about the social structure of Selkies around Orkney (I think, I may be misremembering the region). The document was written to be seen in private among a few, and I may add it to this post should its author deem it alright. (Edit: check reblogs, its there.)

Here are a few hints at what to consider untrue when investigating the veracity of shapeshifting claims, if only because I know that what I said probably won’t discourage you from attempting to find truth anyways.

Who wrote the source? Witnesses may be mistaken, authorities may be motivated, and self reported claims are uncommon.

Is the shapeshifting process described? Is something is explained in a way without a way to materially verify it? (For example, claiming that shapeshifters are ACTUALLY just people who dream themselves into a new form at night, or that a secret new hormone that’s undetectable to all medicine is responsible.) If so, its likely to be misinformed to some degree, and may be false.

Is the ability to shapeshift contagious? If so, it’s highly likely that the source was written with conceptions of shapeshifting after the werewolf monster became popular in pop culture. A common pattern in older sources was that shapeshifters just were shapeshifters, perhaps by curse/blessing or birth, but without spread.

Does a person claim to have made themself into a shapeshifter? The processes that would make this possible are ahead of science by possible centuries, and the magical ability to do so is dubious. Doubly so if the source was written to inspire others the “become shapeshifters” by their guide, and triply so if the price of the source is in the triple digits.

This one is obvious, but if there are generally any notable features that were only brought up in fiction prior to its sourcing, its likely untrue.

Should you find yourself changing into a beast, the secret cheat code is to find sources that detail things similar to what you experience, and read about other topics written by the same individual. Should they say something that goes against all reason, then you can discard them on the truthfulness. Otherwise, info of maybe truth is helpful backside knowledge to reference when investigating similar subjects.

This is a nonexhaustive rough guide to tell if a shapeshifting source isn’t based in reality. This isn’t to say that those sources are less valuable when physical shapeshifting is out of the picture. Werewolves who couldn’t shapeshift were sometimes “just” murderers, their humanity being taken away by systems of power to help make their executions more moral. People who would dream of being wolves in the night to help fight back demons are a wonderful story of harmless metamorphosis and devotion to one’s community. When the truth of shapeshifting is less of a concern, it can make the enjoyment of the concept easier.

If you wish to find resources on what it means to be a physical shifter, most of the people who claim to be physical shifters tend to vary on specifics. The only uniting factor is that we’re people who claim to physically shift. If you aren’t a physical shifter yourself it’s difficult to discern who can shapeshift or not, especially only online. I’ve written some about my experiences, but you should really check out all the blogs who have posted in the physical shifting tag to contrast and compare. Offsite I can’t easily recommend anything else.

[species-dysphoria-culture-is]

species dysphoria culture is getting uncomfortable calling yourself human bodied but not wanting to get lumped in with p shifters :/

i think the community is coming up with terms for that! physically nonhuman =/= p-shifter, and there's also AHAB (assigned human at birth) and i believe the other one is Perceived As Human Bodied but i'm not 100% sure so correct me if i'm wrong.

either way, you're fabulous and can use whatever terms you want to describe yourself! <3

[who-is-page]

BEASTPUNK: Being Unabashedly Animal

A subculture/term for anyone who identifies as partially or entirely as a nonhuman creature in an integral or intrinsic way, regardless of the origin or perceived nature of their identity, and who:

Embraces and celebrates their nonhumanity and animality, and (if applicable) the overlap and entanglement between one's human and nonhuman identity

Embraces abnormal instincts and behaviors related to their own and others' nonhumanity, so long as no active harm is done to another non-consenting individual or any real life animal

Interacts with their nonhumanity and displays it in socially unconventional or undesirable ways, and accepts and celebrates others doing so as well

Revels in the history of animal-people and beast-folk in all ways known: from the alterhuman community, from mythology, and from cultural or spiritual backgrounds relevant to the person in question

Throws respectability politics into the dumpster, lights it on fire, and dances around the burning corpse of the god "Cringe" in the moonlight

Is, unabashedly and genuinely, animal

This term is meant to be a reclamation of animalistic nonhuman identity, especially regarding individuals who may experience their nonhumanity in eccentric, "feral," or otherwise socially unacceptable or even stigmatized ways. Beastpunk is also open to endels, clinical lycanthropes, and others who experience nonhumanity in ways related to their mental health and physical bodies, although it is not open to self-identified p-shifters and p-shifter packs. Anyone who's ever been told that their animality is "too much," or that they're taking their identity as a nonhuman creature "too seriously," or who has lost previous words/groups they've used to define themself due to terminological drift, KFF appropriation and re-defining, or others gatekeeping their identity's authenticity is welcome to take up this term. Fictherians and fictional nonhuman creatures are also included in beastpunk, which is meant to be explicitly pro-fictionkin and fiction-based identities; theriomythics, folcintera, and mythkin are also included in beastpunk. Any and all nonhuman creatures, regardless of source or origin, are included.

This term is inspired by Anomalymon's original coining of kinpunk.

🚫 This term is not meant for KFF and other forms of anti-otherkin, anti-fictionkin, and similar. This term is not meant for self-identified "zootherians," "zoosexuals," "zetas," and similar. 🚫

Edit (09/28/22): Because someone asked me to clarify this: KFFers as mentioned in the above are meant to refer to individuals who redefine otherkin and related terms to just mean liking something a lot, rather than identifying as anything. They have roots in Tumblr anti-otherkin communities of the mid-2010's and in meme/fandom culture both, resulting in typically ableist and ahistorical language aimed towards otherkin: claims that otherkin are "taking it too seriously," or "just crazy," that otherkin and therians identities are "just a Tumblr thing," and that 'kins' should be based around fandom ideas of characters and morals.

Arguably, KFF are also largely responsible for the fictionkin community crash of the late 2010's due to their interactions in fictionkin community spaces, muddling of language within, and their insistences on bringing fandom wank in as a gatekeeping cudgel to ostracize others (the most common of such being the idea of what fictotypes are "moral and allowed" versus on what were "problematic and made you an evil person," which inspired no less than three separate OtherCon lectures from 2020-2022.)

[siphonyx]

Otherkin stop conflating p-shifters with abusers and liars challenge

Can a p-shifter be abusive and a liar? Yes, they can. Is it true of everyone who calls themselves a p-shifter? No

All I've been seeing for the past couple of weeks has been people implying all p-shifters are either clinical lycanthropes or culty abusers, which is far from the truth. You don't need to be a clinical lycanthrope to have experiences of p-shifting (especially if you actually like your experiences and function well with them) but you also don't need to be an abuser to identify as one. Remember, sometimes people with cultural beliefs surrounding shapeshifting and roleplaying kids identify themselves as p-shifters too, it's not a good look to insist many POC and children online are inherently trying to manipulate others or delusional for believing in werewolves.

And quit it with the double standards. Everyone is willing to look past contradictions and absolute nonsense in the community to hate on p-shifters, which feels incredibly backhanded to say the least.

When someone claims they were born otherkin it's applauded and celebrated, but when a p-shifter claims they're genetically a shifter it's "eugenics" and "white supremacy". When shifters don't want to publicly talk about the intricacies of their shifting experiences and only want to find others like them it's considered a red flag, but when otherkin are afraid of publicly sharing their intimate experiences because of ~trolls~ and try to publicly seek out other kin like them it's understood.

Otherkin will (rightfully) shout down shifters trying to recruit and peer pressure others into being shifters, but nobody bats an eye when otherkin try to recruit and peer pressure others into identifying as otherkin. Otherkin sometimes try to act on their kin urges, sometimes even in concerning ways (eating grass, for one) but despite that everyone assumes a p-shifter will automatically do something dangerous even with no indication that they're thinking of doing anything wrong. When zoophile therians claim to need support and acceptance and that their attractions aren't inherently abusive much of the community nods its head, but when non-abusive p-shifters simply exist near the community everyone throws a fit.

Quit misleading everyone and stop insisting that p-shifting = abuser. It's not always the case, and even when it is it's not because they're a p-shifter, but because they're a genuinely shitty person. Stop giving abusers a free pass.

[nonhuman-culture-is]

Nonhuman culture is being scared to state you don't consider yourself "physically human" because you don't want to get mistaken for a p-shifter

[liongoatsnake]

I found therianthropy back in 2009 and i was wondering if my experience was the common one back then or if it was a outlier. I found community through a bunch of individual "packs", often on webs/freewebs. I was around 13 at the time and my English wasn't the best so i mainly lurked, but at least one of the sites (i think it was called Dreamweavers?) turned kinda culty after a while. Something something and the founder said she was being hunted by "werewolf hunters", there was some beef with local vampires (?), and of course, p shifting. I didn't think anything of it back then but now I've realized that it was maaaybe not the common experience and just wanted to check to see how the community worked back then. Wild times haha

Your experience certainly seems like it was the most common one for people who stumbled across the webs/freewebs packs of the late 2000s/early 2010. There were dozens and dozens of mini-forums on those types of free to use website creators. At least some of the more infamous once became infamous for the things you listed: having group structures where a leader's word was taken as Truth, belief in physical shifting being possible (or even having secret knowledge of how to it), belief in the conspiracy theories of "werewolf/therian hunters" or "AWTOK," and so on. Such online packs also skewed very young it seemed and so a lot of people therians discovering the therian community seemed to end up finding their way onto any number of pack websites. I'm sure there were some that were nice, didn't spread misinformation, etc but the ones that seem to be the best remembered were the ones like you came across.

---

Some background on some of the trends:

About the Therian Hunters and AWTOK:

A fake organization / conspiracy theory called "Therian Hunters" is a conspiracy theory that held there were people who actively hunted down therians. Sometimes they were claimed to be a non-governmental organization and sometimes were claimed to be merely rogue individuals. Therian hunters were often claimed to view therians like dangerous game animals that they sought to hunt down and shoot. The conspiracy theory also sometimes made claims referencing physical shifters. Trolls and anti-kin claiming to be “hunters” occasionally has occurred and there have been any number of "fake" websites meant to be information websites for "therian hunters."

A fake organization / conspiracy theory called "AWTOK" (standing for "Always Watching The Other Kind/Otherkin Kind” ) holds that organization that is part of "the government" (no specific country government is ever named) keeps surveillance ("watches") on known otherkin, occasionally kidnap otherkin, and so on. Threats of AWTOK has been used by anti-kin and trolls against otherkin and similar to the therian hunters, fake websites have been made trying to spread this idea such an organization actually exists.

The 2007-2010-ish time frame seems to have been when the belief in these conspiracy theories peeked(?)

The vampires vs werewolves stuff:

The 2000s were a huge time for the fandom of vampires and werewolves in pop culture and it was especially popular in pop culture to butt these two monsters against each other. It far was the first time done in pop culture but the gimmick certainly had a strong resurgence in the 2000s. The Underworld movie franchise had been notable movies during the decade, The Twilight books and movies were popular, and so on. This seems to have influenced how people finding the actual vampire and therian communities assumed things were done. So yeah there was this weird fake tension between the therian and vampire community in the 2000s.

(Heck, the television series CSI even had an episode air in 2010 that focused on a murder that involved two rival "clans" - one claiming to be vampires and one claiming to werewolves. The authors almost certainly pulled inspiration from both LARPers and lifestylers but I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled some amount of inspiration from the actual vampire and therian community too given the characters actually believed they were vampires and werewolves.)

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At least all of that is how we perceived and came across everything during that time.

- Cavern-Risen (she/her/hers, wolf/werewolf/garou), Earth Listener (she/her/hers, aelurodon)