The Therian Affair Anatomy of a manufactured moral crisis. FEBRUARY 2026 POSTDIGITALIST RESEARCH Executive summary In January and February 2026, a peculiar media phenomenon swept across the United States and Latin America: widespread alarm about 'therians' — young people who identify psychologically with non-human animals. The panic arrived with remarkable timing. On January 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice released over three million pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's trafficking network, naming more than 305 high-profile individuals and mentioning former President Donald Trump over 38,000 times. This report maps the anatomy of that manufactured crisis. Through analysis of legislative timelines, media amplification patterns, academic research on diversionary tactics, and transnational conservative network infrastructure, we document how an authentic, three-decade-old online subculture of teenagers was transformed into political weaponry, a folk devil for the digital age. Central thesis The therian panic is not a spontaneous expression of parental concern. Instead, we’re witnessing a self-reinforcing amplification system that serves the structural interest of diverting conservative media audiences from accountability journalism on Epstein, while simultaneously advancing anti-trans legislative agendas and destabilizing progressive governments across Latin America. Key findings ● Therians are a real, harmless subculture originating in the 1990s. No documented harm has been attributed to therian identity. The Mt. Nebo Middle School incident (April 2024), amplified by Libs of TikTok and Megyn Kelly, was rated False by PolitiFact. No incidents occurred; the school received bomb threats after media amplification. ● The litter box hoax pipeline is documented and traceable: from Lisa Hansen's December 2021 Facebook post in Midland, Michigan, through Libs of TikTok and Fox News, to 20+ Republican politicians including J.D. Vance and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Zero schools have ever provided litter boxes for students who identify as cats. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.2 ● Statistically significant diversionary correlation exists between Epstein coverage and Trump social media behavior. An academic paper (arxiv 2511.11532v1) documents Trump's Truth Social posting patterns specifically redirecting base attention within 2–3 days of Fox News Epstein coverage spikes. ● The Latin American deployment follows pre-existing 'gender ideology' infrastructure. In Argentina, the panic exploded the same week as the Milei government's controversial labor reform vote (February 12, 2026). Key amplifiers include Agustín Laje of Fundación Faro, the ideological arm of Milei's political movement. ● Real harm flows in the opposite direction from the narrative. Therian youth and LGBTQ+ communities experience bullying, school harassment, and institutional marginalization. Schools associated with false therian claims received bomb threats. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.3 1. What are Therians? 1.a. Origins and demographics Therianthropy as a conceptual framework has roots stretching back to shamanic traditions across human cultures. As a modern online identity community, it emerged in the early 1990s through Usenet groups and early internet forums — well before TikTok, before YouTube, before our current mainstream social media landscape consolidated. A therian is a person who identifies, psychologically or spiritually, as a non-human animal in some integral way. The experience is described as a psychological or spiritual identity, not a literal belief that one is physically an animal. Common therian identities include wolves, foxes, birds, and big cats. The community has no official membership, no organizational structure, no leadership, and no political agenda. Furries at a convention. Source: BBC Therians are often conflated with “furries”, but there’s a key difference between these communities. Furry fandom is a hobbyist community built around anthropomorphic animal characters in media — art, costumes, conventions, and fan fiction. Fandom is a lifestyle interest. Therianthropy is an identity. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.4 A 2022 survey by the Therian Guide community (the largest online therian forum) found the median age of members to be 19, with most identifying their theriotype between ages 12 and 16. 1.b. Clinical and academic standing Therianthropy does not appear in the DSM-5 or ICD-11 as a disorder. Peer-reviewed research on the community characterizes it as a benign identity that causes no harm to the person or others. 1.c. TikTok visibility explosion Between 2020 and 2023, therian content on TikTok accumulated billions of views — not because therians suddenly became more numerous, but because TikTok's algorithm systematically rewards content that generates strong emotional reactions. Quadrobics videos (therian practitioners moving on all fours in outdoor settings) and identity expression content performed well in the engagement economy. This visibility was interpreted by outrage entrepreneurs, not as a subculture finally having a broadcast platform, but as evidence of a spreading contagion. The category error — confusing visibility for growth, and growth for threat — is structurally identical to every moral panic documented in sociological literature. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.5 2. The Litterbox Hoax Pipeline 2.a. Documented origin The modern iteration of therian panic is traceable to a specific lie with a specific origin point. In December 2021, Lisa Hansen of Midland, Michigan posted on Facebook that a local school had installed litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identified as cats. The claim was false. No litter boxes existed. No school district confirmed any such policy. In January 2022, the claim was picked up by Meshawn Maddock, co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, who shared it publicly. Within days, Libs of TikTok — the account operated by Chaya Raichik — amplified it to her audience of millions. From there it entered the Fox News broadcast loop. To date, there is no documented case in which a student's therian identity has disrupted a classroom, harmed another student, or required school administrative intervention. The 'animal in the classroom' crisis exists entirely in the media. 2.b. Political amplification ● J.D. Vance (then Senate candidate, Ohio): repeated the claim on the campaign trail. ● Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA): referenced 'litter boxes in schools' on the House floor. ● Lauren Boebert (R-CO): used it in campaign fundraising emails. ● Joe Rogan: devoted extended discussion to the claim on The Joe Rogan Experience. ● 20+ additional Republican politicians and candidates repeated some version of the claim between 2022 and 2024. By December 2022, tracking databases recorded over 110,000 online mentions. Every single school district named or referenced in these claims denied the allegations. An investigation by the Associated Press and multiple local news outlets found no evidence of litter box policies anywhere in the United States. The only documented cat litter in a U.S. school context: the Columbine, Colorado school district, which kept supplies in emergency lockdown kits — for POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.6 human use during shelter-in-place drills. This was repackaged in conservative media as evidence of 'litter boxes for furries.' 2.c. Infrastructure effect The litter box hoax built the rhetorical infrastructure now capitalized by the Therian panic. By successfully linking animal identification to school policy, conservative media created a repeatable frame: any expression of non-normative identity by young people could now be coded as 'children becoming animals in schools.' When therian content exploded on TikTok in 2023 and 2024, this infrastructure was already in place to receive and amplify it. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.7 3. The amplification timeline 3.1. Key legislative moments January 2024 — Oklahoma HB 3084 Oklahoma Representative Justin Humphrey introduced HB 3084, which would have authorized school districts to treat students who identify as animals as disruptive and call animal control. The bill received national coverage. It was introduced the same month that 4,500 pages of Epstein court documents were unsealed, naming dozens of high-profile individuals. April 2024 — The Mt. Nebo Walkout A student walkout at Mt. Nebo Middle School in Utah was filmed by Main Street Media Utah — an outlet whose operator's wife was running for a seat on the state school board. The footage was posted with the claim that students were protesting 'therian students growling and hissing at classmates.' Libs of TikTok amplified the footage within hours. Megyn Kelly covered it on her podcast. Senator Mike Lee of Utah issued a statement within 24 hours. PolitiFact investigated and rated the core claim False. The school's principal stated that 'no incidents involving therian students disrupting classrooms have occurred.' The school subsequently received bomb threats. March 2025 — Texas F.U.R.R.I.E.S. Act Texas Representative Stan Gerdes introduced the Furries Undermining and Ruining Responsible Instruction in Educational Settings Act — fines of $10,000 to $25,000 for schools that 'accommodate' furry or therian students. When pressed by journalists for evidence of the problem the bill addressed, Gerdes admitted he had none. Governor Abbott endorsed the bill as part of a broader school voucher push. January–February 2026 — The Peak Following the January 30, 2026 DOJ release of 3 million+ pages of Epstein documents, therian content experienced a 5,000% search traffic increase. Conservative media in the United States essentially dropped Epstein coverage. The POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.8 panic simultaneously exploded across Latin America — a dynamic documented in Section 5. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.9 4. The Epstein Diversion Architecture 4.a. Academic evidence A peer-reviewed preprint (arxiv 2511.11532v1, submitted November 2025) analyzed Trump's Truth Social posting behavior against Fox News and CNN coverage patterns of Jeffrey Epstein between 2023 and 2025. The findings are statistically significant and structurally specific. When Fox News coverage of Epstein spiked — as measured by Google Trends for Fox-specific search terms — Trump's Truth Social activity within 2 to 3 days shifted measurably toward culture war content, conspiracy amplification, and outrage-generating topics. This pattern did not hold for CNN or MSNBC Epstein coverage spikes. The diversion mechanism was targeted specifically at the media ecosystem consumed by his base. The study's authors describe this as 'audience-specific diversionary signaling': a practice of redirecting the attention of politically aligned media consumers away POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.10 from accountability journalism toward emotionally activating content that reinforces tribal identity. 4.b. The coverage collapse Marquette University Law School polling conducted shortly before the January 30 Epstein document release found that only 50% of Republican-leaning voters reported having heard 'a lot' about the Epstein files, compared to 72% of Democratic-leaning voters. Among viewers who relied primarily on conservative television news, the disparity was starker: 49% significant exposure versus 75% among viewers of other news sources. Steve Bannon, who had extensively discussed Epstein on War Room throughout 2024, stopped referencing Epstein almost entirely after November 2025 — the same month that internal emails surfaced connecting Bannon's network to Epstein-adjacent figures. Trump publicly told supporters to 'stop talking about Epstein,' calling those who continued to press the issue 'weaklings and losers.' 4.c. Structural incentives It would be a mistake to require a smoking-gun memo ordering the amplification of therian content as a deliberate distraction. The architecture is more efficient than that. Conservative media entrepreneurs profit from outrage. Algorithms reward engagement. Politicians benefit from mobilized bases. The system produces diversion as an emergent property, no coordination required. What the Epstein timeline reveals is not conspiracy but the convergence of certain incentive structures: when accountability pressure rises, the outrage economy reliably generates content that redirects base attention. Therians, furries, and 'gender ideology' are interchangeable folk devils in this system. The specific content matters less than the emotional function it serves. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.11 5. Latin American Deployment The international spread of the therian panic is not organic cross-cultural transmission. It follows identifiable transnational infrastructure and arrives with suspicious political timing. 5.a. Argentina: The epicenter Argentina was ground zero for the Latin American therian panic. The explosion occurred during the week of February 10–17, 2026 — the same week the Argentine Senate passed Javier Milei's sweeping labor reform legislation (42–30 vote on February 12) amid massive street protests across the country. The primary amplifier was Agustín Laje, president of Fundación Faro, which serves as an ideological think tank for Milei's political movement. Laje produced content connecting therian identity to 'ideología de género' and Argentine educational policy, reaching his audience of millions on YouTube and Instagram. Chilean POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.12 influencer Axel Kaiser and Argentine YouTuber Emmanuel Danann (2.2 million subscribers) provided additional amplification. 5.b. Country-by-country deployment Mexico In Mexico, the panic was grafted onto a pre-existing controversy: the firing of SEP (Education Ministry) director Marx Arriaga on February 13, 2026. A fox mask illustration in new SEP textbooks — designed to teach environmental science — was reframed on social media as 'therian ideology being introduced into public schools.' The PanAm Post, a bilingual conservative outlet that serves as a bridge between U.S. and Latin American conservative networks, amplified the story in both English and Spanish. Peru Congressman Alejandro Muñante, a leader of the 'Con Mis Hijos No Te Metas' movement — which originated in Peru in 2016 as opposition to inclusive sex education and has since spread to all 50 U.S. state capitals — appeared on Willax TV on February 18 linking therians to 'the excesses of gender ideology' in Peruvian schools. Colombia Medellín Mayor Federico Gutiérrez warned publicly that therian students would 'demand minority recognition and accommodation' in Colombian schools, framing the subculture as a vector for the expansion of identity-based rights. El Salvador El Salvador provided pre-built infrastructure. President Bukele banned 'gender ideology' from schools in February 2024, making the announcement at CPAC alongside Moms for Liberty. He banned inclusive language from government communications in October 2025. The therian panic arrived in a country already structurally primed to receive it. Venezuela Even Venezuela became a node. A fake 'First Therian Encounter' at the Central University of Venezuela was promoted using AI-generated images showing students in animal costumes. Both Maduro-aligned state media and opposition exile outlets POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.13 amplified the story — demonstrating that the panic transcends traditional political divisions when the folk devil is sufficiently effective. 5.c. The transnational infrastructure These deployments are connected by identifiable organizational infrastructure: CPAC's international expansion (Bukele spoke at CPAC; Argentine conservatives attend regularly); Fundación Faro's regional network across Argentina and Chile; the PanAm Post's bilingual bridging function; and the 'Con Mis Hijos No Te Metas' network, which has achieved organizational presence across the Western Hemisphere. The transnational conservative network did not need to invent the therian panic in Latin America. It needed only to transmit a pre-packaged emotional narrative through pre-existing channels, adapted to local political contexts. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.14 6. The Amplification Pipeline 6.a. Outrage architecture step-by-step Stage 1: Organic Content Real therian teenagers posting genuine content on TikTok, Instagram, and Discord. Quadrobics videos. Identity expression. Community building. Authentic, benign, and utterly unremarkable to anyone familiar with internet subcultures. Stage 2: Algorithmic Amplification TikTok's recommendation algorithm optimizes for engagement, and outrage generates more engagement than most positive emotions. Therian content, stripped of context and presented to users unfamiliar with the subculture, reliably generates the alarm response that feeds algorithmic amplification. The algorithm is not designed to spread moral panics; it produces them as a byproduct of its optimization function. Stage 3: Outrage Entrepreneurs Libs of TikTok — operated by Chaya Raichik — tagged over 222 schools in 2022 alone. Multiple schools tagged by the account subsequently received bomb threats and harassment campaigns. Raichik was appointed to the Oklahoma Library Media Advisory Committee in January 2024. This layer is where authentic content is stripped of context, emotionally reframed, and weaponized for political audiences. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.15 Stage 4: Media Institutions Fox News hosts — Tucker Carlson (before his departure), Jesse Watters, Laura Ingraham — provided mainstream broadcast legitimacy. In Latin America, Willax TV in Peru and Infobae across the region served equivalent functions. The institutional media layer transforms outrage entrepreneur content into 'news stories' that can then be cited by politicians. Stage 5: Political Action Legislation, school board takeovers, parliamentary statements, and anti-trans bills complete the loop. Political action generates new content for Layers 1–4, sustaining the cycle. The FURRIES Act, Oklahoma HB 3084, and equivalent measures in six Latin American countries represent Layer 5 outputs. 6.b. Feedback loop Each stage feeds the next, and Stage 5 feeds back into Stage 1. When Oklahoma introduces a bill banning furries from schools, the bill itself becomes content — reported by independent media, amplified by LGBTQ+ advocates, repackaged by outrage entrepreneurs as evidence of 'elite resistance to common-sense policies.' The loop is self-sustaining. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.16 7. Target Audience Emotional Architecture 7.a. The primary audience The core target demographic for therian panic content is 35–55 year-old conservatives in the United States and their ideological equivalents across Latin America. This demographic shares a constellation of anxieties that the panic activates with surgical precision. 7.b. Fear node analysis Child Protection (Primary Lever) Child protection is the most powerful single emotional lever in the conservative media repertoire. It bypasses critical reasoning, generates immediate visceral response, and makes opposition to the panic morally difficult — anyone who questions the panic can be accused of not caring about children. The therian panic is framed entirely in terms of children being harmed or groomed by schools. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.17 Slippery Slope The explicit rhetorical move in Ohio and Iowa legislative debates was to present therian identity as the logical extension of trans rights. If a child can identify as a different gender, they can identify as an animal. The slippery slope frame is documented in legislative testimony from these states; it is not inference, it is explicit strategy. Institutional Betrayal The panic activates pre-existing distrust of educational institutions, mainstream media, and government. Schools are portrayed as captured by radical ideology, acting against the wishes of parents. This node connects to the broader 'parental rights' movement and the school voucher agenda. Identity Threat Traditional gender roles, family structure, and social norms are framed as under attack. The therian panic provides a vivid, absurdist example that makes 'gender ideology' feel urgent and immediate rather than abstract. 7.c. Framing differences: USA vs. LATAM While the underlying emotional architecture is consistent, the specific frames differ by regional context. In the United States, the panic is primarily linked to school policy, parental rights, and anti-trans legislation. In Latin America, the dominant frame is 'ideología de género' — a broader theological and social conservative concept that treats any deviation from traditional gender norms as a coordinated ideological attack on family and society. This frame allows the panic to be applied to pre-existing battles over inclusive education, abortion rights, and civil partnerships. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.18 8. A Short History of Moral Panics The therian panic conforms precisely to the theoretical framework developed by sociologist Stanley Cohen in his 1972 landmark study 'Folk Devils and Moral Panics.' Cohen identified five criteria that define a moral panic. The following analysis applies all five criteria across four panics, including the therian case. Criterion Satanic panic (1980s) Litter box hoax (2021 - ) CRT Panic (2020 - ) Therian Panic (2024 - ) Concern Child ritual abuse, satanism at daycare centers Children “becoming animals” at schools White children taught to feel guilty for being white Children “identifying as animals” at school Hostility Daycare workers, rock musicians, RPG players Progressive educators, LGBTQ+ advocates, furry community Teachers, “woke” corporations and DEI departments Therian youth, trans people, “gender ideology” Consensus FBI, CPS, bipartisan consensus across mainstream media Republican party: 20+ politicians repeated claim Koch network, Heritage foundation and related think tanks Republican party + LATAM socially conservative governments Disproportionality 12,000+ cases, zero convictions Zero schools with litter boxes found; accused institutions received bomb threats CRT not taught in K-12. Phenomenon based on misreading law school texts Zero harm cases documented, incidents debunked by first sources Volatility 1983 - 1995: Faded after mass exonerations 2021 - Present: Cyclically revived before elections 2020 - Present: Persistent due to institutional backing Jan-Feb 2026: 5,000% search spike; now a mainstream issue in 6+ countries POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.19 8.a. The pattern Each of the four panics documented above follows the same structural trajectory: a real but benign or misunderstood phenomenon is identified as a folk devil; coverage escalates disproportionately to any actual harm; political actors intervene to position themselves as defenders of an imperiled majority; institutional responses (legislation, investigations, policy changes) are implemented; and the panic eventually subsides when the folk devil ceases to serve political purposes. What distinguishes the contemporary era is the speed of the cycle and the sophistication of the amplification infrastructure. The Satanic Panic took years to build; the therian panic achieved global deployment in weeks. 8.b. The Rufo blueprint Christopher Rufo's public description of his manufactured panic strategy around critical race theory (CTR) provides the clearest documentation of deliberate moral panic construction in the contemporary period. In 2021, Rufo stated explicitly in a tweet that he had 'successfully rebranded' critical race theory from an academic legal framework into a political slogan, and that his goal was to link the term to every perceived educational excess until it became 'toxic.' He outlined a media strategy, a think-tank coordination plan, and a legislative pathway. The CRT panic produced: ● 43 publications from Heritage Foundation, Manhattan Institute, and allied organizations ● 3,700+ mentions of DEI-related topics on Fox News in a single year ● Anti-CRT legislation in 18 states within 18 months. Koch network funding provided the financial substrate. The therian panic has not achieved this level of institutional investment, but it operates through the same architecture. POSTDIGITALIST / THE THERIAN AFFAIR / P.20