Miniar
A furry is not a theriantrope.
A furry is a person who is attracted to anthropomorphic representations of animals on a personal, emotional or even sexual level. I myself find anthropomorphic representations of animals absolutely fascinating.
A furry can be used to represent people who have inclinations towards beastiality but do not wish to act on "actual" beastiality as well as to represent a person who thinks werewolves are beautiful.
A theriantrope is a human being who identifies a part of themselves, no a non-physical level, through psychology, reincarnation, incarnation, (or to a rare few, genetics), to be partialy non-human (specifically a terran (that is "from earth") animal). And that identification and belief is a significant part of their personal mythology and sense of identity.
A furry is a person who is attracted to anthropomorphic representations of animals on a personal, emotional or even sexual level. I myself find anthropomorphic representations of animals absolutely fascinating.
A furry can be used to represent people who have inclinations towards beastiality but do not wish to act on "actual" beastiality as well as to represent a person who thinks werewolves are beautiful.
A theriantrope is a human being who identifies a part of themselves, no a non-physical level, through psychology, reincarnation, incarnation, (or to a rare few, genetics), to be partialy non-human (specifically a terran (that is "from earth") animal). And that identification and belief is a significant part of their personal mythology and sense of identity.
I was a wolf in my last life. as was my husband. and since neither of us can return to a wolf shape, (plus we kinda like the whole "hand" deal humans have) I started to see more and more "furries". being furry would allow us to have hands yet we could still (to a point) look like how we still feel at heart.