There's currently a discussion going on elsewhere about how therianthropy has changed over the years, with one reply capturing the thoughts I've been having on this so well I want to echo them here.
I'll try to sum it up to the best of my ability and add notes of my own.
The creator of the thread has identified 4 waves of therians:
- The 90s with the were community
- The 2000s with forums and grilling (a practice I mentioned in a reply earlier)
- Tumblr otherkin and increasing mainstream attention
- TikTok, quadrobics
In response, someone brought up the "precession of simulacra": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation#Stages
They assigned each wave to such a stage: The first wave is stage 2, the second wave stage 3, and the third wave is stage 4.
This tracks with my own observations of past interactions compared to interactions nowadays.
Back when I thought about joining therian forums, people would often talk about their personal experiences in great detail. If the topic was mental shifts, they would go on to describe what exactly they had experienced in that moment. They would describe their journey to determine their theriotype, the significance of past events, and so on.
This shows very well why this wave does indeed correspond to phase 3 of the precession of simulacra: People pretty much had to elaborate on their experiences because otherwise, it wasn't clear if everyone was on the same page about what something like a "mental shift" really meant to someone. The terminology suggests an objective reality, but it's actually based on subjective interpretations of memories and experiences.
The subsequent waves, however, are shifting the focus from these elaborations to discussions about labels and concepts. Statements that used to be straightforward may now be complex constructs of nuances usually based purely on one's identity. They turned the term "therian" into the purpose itself.
A good example of this is a statement I remember reading a while ago: "I consider my body to be that of a wolf." I learned today that this idea is called "holotherianthropy."
Normally, such a statement would be outright rejected. You can't physically be a wolf just because you consider yourself to be one. But it does make sense when viewed through the lens of the precession of simulacra.
If someone says they're physically a wolf, their line of thinking is as follows: they have a body, they consider themselves to be a wolf, therefore their body is the body of a wolf. The concept of a "physical form" has changed from being straightforward and observable to a matter of "I consider this to be the case". It has lost its connection from reality. And this is exactly what stage 4 is.
Volpeon (Bonus) 
@volpi@icy.wyvern.rip