I agree with Tsu that therianthropy described as "having strong animalistic urges" is problematic, and personally I find that it is most because "animality" is something present in human beings as well - flight or fight responses and other instincts cannot be used to justify one's therianthropy. With the defitnition you proposed, any person who experience these common traits on a certain intensity level will then believe they are a therian, whereas it does not make them one. They are a therian because they feel they are an animal in a way or another, that's all. I think it's very important that animality is presented as an identity - not as something you choose, but as something that is "you" and that you express.
There is nothing contradictory in a skeptic view of therianthropy and the existence of identities. However presenting therianthropy as a "condition" might be misleading because it hasn't been studied medically or otherwise. It's not even that there is no consensus, it's just barely known if at all. At most you can define it as a "constant state of being" in its most basic sense.
Another point regarding "Why so many therians essays": you might say it's a social norm, but not as a norm that people emulate like a trend. In fact, social reward would not be an explanation for isolated individuals who still write essays (because they don't get that reward, being withdrawn from others), and there is no punishment to enforce the writing of essays either; I've never seen anyone criticizing people on forums because so and so didn't write essays (in fact most of people don't write).
I feel that it is more of an internet widespread practice. Like other subcultures, we do like to keep records of our own history, tracks of what has happened or has been said. Moreover, there is a specific motivation to develop resources for self-help (hence the large number of FAQ and other guides). This is because we have specific needs that are unmet in the outside world (like, finding peers). And lastly, there may be a minority of individuals who want to establish themselves as important voices in the community (gain of social status). From what I've seen for the past decade, I think these are the main reasons for the establishment of personal websites in the therian community.
The rest of the FAQ is good. If you're okay with that, when you're done with it I'd be interested in translating it to French for the French section of my website (and any other place you'd like it to be submitted to).
no subject
There is nothing contradictory in a skeptic view of therianthropy and the existence of identities. However presenting therianthropy as a "condition" might be misleading because it hasn't been studied medically or otherwise. It's not even that there is no consensus, it's just barely known if at all. At most you can define it as a "constant state of being" in its most basic sense.
Another point regarding "Why so many therians essays": you might say it's a social norm, but not as a norm that people emulate like a trend. In fact, social reward would not be an explanation for isolated individuals who still write essays (because they don't get that reward, being withdrawn from others), and there is no punishment to enforce the writing of essays either; I've never seen anyone criticizing people on forums because so and so didn't write essays (in fact most of people don't write).
I feel that it is more of an internet widespread practice. Like other subcultures, we do like to keep records of our own history, tracks of what has happened or has been said. Moreover, there is a specific motivation to develop resources for self-help (hence the large number of FAQ and other guides). This is because we have specific needs that are unmet in the outside world (like, finding peers). And lastly, there may be a minority of individuals who want to establish themselves as important voices in the community (gain of social status). From what I've seen for the past decade, I think these are the main reasons for the establishment of personal websites in the therian community.
The rest of the FAQ is good. If you're okay with that, when you're done with it I'd be interested in translating it to French for the French section of my website (and any other place you'd like it to be submitted to).