There are those who claim that you can be taught to shift, or who go around espousing that anyone can shift if they believe hard enough. These sorts of people often rely on magical beliefs or thinking to push their way of shifting (often misunderstanding magic in the process), and hold to unrealistic claims on shifting (large gigantic breeds that attack others, claiming they see you as a shifter, etc.) or to doomsday scenarios as a means of encouraging others to shift. This is wrong, and these sort of things can lead to dangerous situations.

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You cannot be made a shifter, nor can you be made a supernatural. It is impossible to become one. No spell, magic ritual, witchcraft, praying to the gods, scientific experiments, pleading, or begging will change your genetics into shifter genetics if you cannot transform, and if a person CAN shift they will realize this on their own. You cannot get turned into a shifter, or encouraged to shift if you're not biologically capable. No one can tell you if you're biologically capable of shifting, and the only way you can ever know you're a shifter is if you shift in some manner on your own, or awaken to your supernatural nature. Shifters are regular people, not magical beasts you should bow down towards and never question.

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However, there is a bigger issue I want to address here. Those who go around targeting vulnerable groups (children, otherkin, therians) and encouraging them to shift, or trying to push them to shift or "become supernatural", are potentially creating a cult. There is very little chance that their recruits will be able to live up to their standards without becoming stressed or apathetic towards the group. Assuming the people they drew in even identify as anything nonhuman, by basically recruiting them and insisting they have the same goal to physically shift (through coercive peer pressure or manipulation) they are ensuring their recruits will be afraid of them, or that they will eventually question what they've been taught to believe and sneak away to healthier groups. Not everyone can shift, and this isn't a bad thing.

 

Additionally, trying to imply that other people haven't tried hard enough to shift, or do not believe hard enough to shift is a shitty thing to do. No amount of belief will change a non-shifter into a shifter. No amount of trying will make a human change their DNA into a completely different subgroup. Most of the people who've tried to shift and failed have given it their all. Most of the people who cannot shift would have known if they had the ability to. Shifting is independent of belief or effort. If you can do it, you can. If you can't, you can't.

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There is no shame in being human, physically and mentally. There is no shame in being unable to shift, or being unable to do anything supernatural. There is no shame in being simply otherkin or therian. You are what you are, for better or for worse. There IS shame in manipulating people though, and making them believe things they cannot live up to.