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If you feel comfortable with replying: do you (or did you) have friends that had some really weird poo poo happen to them at cons or due to furries? I mean, other than the inevitable groping and stalkings. Have you met any "famous" artists within the furry community? Is any of the drama that furries sling ever justified? I've seen everything from 'waaah fursecution!!!' to accusations of sexual assault and bestiality (the latter occasionally and horrifyingly corroborated), and I question whether it's even possible to separate facts from fiction when the gossip is so constant and ingrained. How different are furry interactions online and in person? Have you known people with a laundry list of horrifying fetishes on their FurAffinity account or whatever, but seem like cool dudes in person, or vice versa? Where do you think the trademark sexual tolerance of furries came from? Have you ever had direct experiences with the weirder furries, i.e. the zoophiles and cubs and diaperfurs? What were they like? edit: just one more i swear: Would anybody at a furcon/parade/etc. get the cops called on them, or do something that really should've? Chelb fucked around with this message at 15:29 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 15:14
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syscall girl posted:Yeah, I'm not experienced but LARPing and renfaire does seem to have a better ratio of women to men. And less pedophilia. Back in my 20's I used to do the renfaire thing, still have bits and pieces of my costume scattered around various unpacked boxes in storage/closets. Where I am it's a pretty seasonal thing, so the opportunity for weirdies to dominate the whole affair is lessened. Most of the guys you see wandering around in costume are there for a day or two at most and are just having fun playing dress up. Most of the legitimately weird goony fucks I've met there are the folks running vendors selling poo poo like ocarinas, and because they make their money traveling from faire to faire, they basically live the whole culture that surrounds it. My girlfriend and I have talked about crafting a few costume pieces and going on a lark, we still go on occasion but mainly in normal clothes. EDIT: To the OP, so far we are getting impressions but I think it's story time. Tell us a story of the depraved, preferably something that happened at a con. Rhymenoserous fucked around with this message at 15:26 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 15:14
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Vic posted:This is not about furries meeting publicly. I'm talking specifically about the act of adults in fursuitsplaying with kids. On the surface this might be innocuous, but kids might be thus susceptible to trusting a big fuzzy wolfdog not triggering the stranger danger alarm. What question are you actually asking here? It sounds like you're just kind of ranting, and I don't know what information the OP can give you that he hasn't already given you.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:34
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Vic posted:This is not about furries meeting publicly. I'm talking specifically about the act of adults in fursuitsplaying with kids. On the surface this might be innocuous, but kids might be thus susceptible to trusting a big fuzzy wolfdog not triggering the stranger danger alarm. By this standard, anything kids like is actually a perfect tool for an aspiring pedo. So, like, being a soccer coach, running a day care, being a superhero cosplayer or professional superhero actor whatever the hell they're called, volunteering to read stories to kids. All you're doing is stating the tautological fact that access to kids would be useful to a pedo. A fursuit, while maybe being a 'magnet' for kids, gives less access than an actual job working with kids. So what the gently caress is your point? You have a really, really bizarre approach to this thread, or maybe just to conversation in general.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:38
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blarzgh posted:Here is the impression I get from your(Camrath's) descriptions: Something that makes any hobby or group bad is when it efforts to isolate its members from the rest of society, to arrest them mentally, developmentally, socially and emotionally, in order to protect its ranks from their own shortcomings and predilections. Spot on, pretty much. physeter posted:At this point do you wish a non-furry had just started kinkshaming the hell out of you to snap you out of it? Or would that have been a complete waste of time? In my case, a complete waste of time as it's never been a sexual kink for me. Vic posted:This is not about furries meeting publicly. I'm talking specifically about the act of adults in fursuitsplaying with kids. On the surface this might be innocuous, but kids might be thus susceptible to trusting a big fuzzy wolfdog not triggering the stranger danger alarm. To be honest, I think you're reaching a bit here. From good intentions, but still. Rollofthedice and Rhymenoserous, your questions will need a big answer, so I'll hit those up in my next post. 
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Jun 11, 2015 15:39
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Obdicut posted:By this standard, anything kids like is actually a perfect tool for an aspiring pedo. So, like, being a soccer coach, running a day care, being a superhero cosplayer or professional superhero actor whatever the hell they're called, volunteering to read stories to kids. All you're doing is stating the tautological fact that access to kids would be useful to a pedo. A fursuit, while maybe being a 'magnet' for kids, gives less access than an actual job working with kids. So what the gently caress is your point? It's the mask and the fact that you don't have to have any actual job to get kids attracted. Not sure how you got all that from it. I was just elaborating on my previous question, and I think it's a sentiment many people share. You really don't need to protect Camrath from my bad posting on The Something Awful Forums tho.
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Jun 11, 2015 15:50
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Vic posted:It's the mask and the fact that you don't have to have any actual job to get kids attracted. Not sure how you got all that from it. I was just elaborating on my previous question, and I think it's a sentiment many people share. If you can't handle criticism of your posting, then put me on ignore or something. You might notice, though, that I'm not the only one who finds your posting bizarre. Try to follow your logic a bit more. Kids, in public, aren't running around unsupervised. Pedos generally don't just grab a kid in public and take them off to a dark room to do poo poo to them. They generally abuse positions of power and trust in order to predate on kids. While I explicitly find the anonymous fursuited people creepy as gently caress, for it to be a 'successful' tactic for a pedophile, they'd have to have kids come up to them and pet them, and then, like, grab them and run away with them without being spotted by someone, and/or slip the kid their contact info or something. Just think through your own scenario and ask if it makes any sense. Not to mention the only time that fursuits are not seen as aberrant and therefore drawing a ton of attention--exactly what you don't want if you're a pedophile--is at conventions and poo poo where kids are really unlikely to be roaming around unsupervised.
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Jun 11, 2015 16:19
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Rollofthedice posted:If you feel comfortable with replying: do you (or did you) have friends that had some really weird poo poo happen to them at cons or due to furries? I mean, other than the inevitable groping and stalkings. Depends how you define 'weird poo poo'. At EF 2011 J was continually stalked by some creepy german photographer dude. I was actually on the security team at that time, and while she was busy trying to flee him (and eventually grabbed literally the gayest dude I know to pretend to be her boyfriend to put him off) I was stuck with all of these self-important german security volunteers in a meeting where they were earnestly stating that we needed metal detectors/x-ray machines and screening and.. yeah. There's a lot of weird poo poo that I've heard of happening but wasn't directly involved in- orgies, bizarre fetish parties and the like. But all the really extreme poo poo happens behind closed doors (and believe me, it DOES happen) and on invite only. J received multiple invites to what the implication suggests would be fursuited orgies. Oh, and one guy was caught in the art show at Confuzzled a couple of years ago openly having a wank. Edwolf, the mega-autist dude I mentioned earlier who turned up in blackface followed a female acquaintance around a con a few years ago singing a song to her that he'd made up, about how she was a car and he wanted to drive her hard. It had an entire verse about her tits (which were admittedly colossal). Oh, and a few years ago a couple of young furries from the north of england murdered the parents of one of them, or tried to at least. It made the news across the country, but I don't really know many details or any of the people involved. quote:Have you met any "famous" artists within the furry community? Depends on how you define 'famous'. I used to know Kenket (half of Blotch, probably the best furry art team out there) pretty well, and had her stay at my house a couple of times. But then she went a bit crazy and seemed convinced I wanted to kill her, to the stage of trying to warn a former girlfriend away from me- I honestly have no idea why. I held her no ill will, and in fact own a few of her original painted peices. I used to be active in the Lion King fandom and roleplay scene with Tani da Real (back when she went by 'The Real Vitani', a character from Lion King 2), but I don't remember interacting with her much. And Zeriera (famously completely loving mental furry artist and dramabomb) used to have a biiiiig crush on me back in 99 when we were still teenagers, again through the Lion King fandom. quote:Is any of the drama that furries sling ever justified? I've seen everything from 'waaah fursecution!!!' to accusations of sexual assault and bestiality (the latter occasionally and horrifyingly corroborated), and I question whether it's even possible to separate facts from fiction when the gossip is so constant and ingrained. Some is, some isn't. To be honest, one of things that disgusts me the most (and was one of the strongest impetuses for me leaving) is how little drama IS attached to bestiality. As I've mentioned before, there are zoophiles in some of the highest echelons of furry society and it's very much an open secret. Likewise, I found out several people that I knew well and classed as friends had.. less than innocent reasons for owning dogs. I very swiftly cut them out of my life even before I disengaged from the fandom as a whole. There are often accusations of sexual assault, but furries being furries this only ever seems to come out in the aftermath through the form of rumour or innuendo. Whenever it was bought to our attention we would immediately escalate it to the police- our roles as community organisers do NOT involve policing the fandom or being judge and jury. I don't know of any conclusively proven cases, at least in the UK community- though I do know of several which turned out to be false accusations. quote:How different are furry interactions online and in person? Have you known people with a laundry list of horrifying fetishes on their FurAffinity account or whatever, but seem like cool dudes in person, or vice versa? Online, most furries are always semi-roleplaying. I used to spend a lot of time on furnet IRC back in the day, and people would basically chat about poo poo, but as their fursonas. It's quite hard to describe. You'd get lots of *Yiffyfox buries PurpleStormDragon28 in his big floofy tail* and poo poo like that. As for people with laundry lists of horrifying poo poo.. well, I've seen my housemate's list of online fetishes, for example. They're loving terrifying, but IRL he's almost completely asexual. A lot of the truly weird and grody stuff that you'll see furries fetishising in art and roleplay is stuff which just isn't physically possible in the real world. Which is something I do take some comfort from. quote:Where do you think the trademark sexual tolerance of furries came from? This is a hard one to pin down (hurhur). If I had to pick an answer out of a hat, I'd go with how the fandom developed in the very earliest days from a mostly gay group of sci-fi fans and proto-furries in the 1980s- the early furry conventions underwent a lot of drama as they basically became gay hookup parties (even more so than nowadays). Obviously when all of this was going down I was busy learning toilet training and how to count and write, on the other side of the atlantic, so I don't have any real perspective or insight into the early history beyond what one can find online. quote:Have you ever had direct experiences with the weirder furries, i.e. the zoophiles and cubs and diaperfurs? What were they like? It depends how you define 'direct experiences'. I've known people from all of those subsections, some of them fairly well (though at the time I knew them well I didn't know about those aspects of their personality). Generally, if someone isn't wearing outward signs of their super-weird kink and doesn't talk about it, you'd not really be aware of it. We had problems at one point with some revolting individual leaving filled diapers in the toilets at our meet venue, and it always made me furious when known zoophiles would turn up with their dogs at meets- on some of them you could plainly see that the animals were just plain /off/ around people, but it was always impossible to do anything about it. I've said it before and I'll say it again- nothing would make me happier than a massive police bust at a furry convention resulting in the whole rotten lot of dogfuckers being dragged away to prison and their poor animals rehomed with people who aren't monstrous abusers. quote:edit: just one more i swear: Would anybody at a furcon/parade/etc. get the cops called on them, or do something that really should've? Not sure really what you're asking here. It's never happened that I'm aware of. I've interacted with the police in an official capacity when leading the walks many a time, and relations have always been cordial- they're generally curious about us, but relax when it's explained that it's an apolitical group of hobbyists. Edit: Vic, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Obdicut here. Your scenario really doesn't make much sense, even to someone who doesn't know how fursuit interactions with the public are managed. 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Jun 11, 2015 16:25
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Camrath posted:As for people with laundry lists of horrifying poo poo.. well, I've seen my housemate's list of online fetishes, for example. They're loving terrifying, but IRL he's almost completely asexual. I've seen this a few times. I believe there is an attraction to the concept of 'kinky sex' (to a potential extreme) rather than actually becoming involved in it, or acting it out. I've often thought that there were two kind of Furries. The kind that keeps it to themselves as a hobby or lifestyle. Then there is the kind that wears it on their wrist, throwing their sexuality and kinks around. Would you agree with this kind of duality within the fandom? I suppose the latter could be their trying to find an identity, and being swept up by the community as a whole and thus never being able to personally develop it themselves.
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Jun 11, 2015 16:36
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iGestalt posted:I've seen this a few times. I believe there is an attraction to the concept of 'kinky sex' (to a potential extreme) rather than actually becoming involved in it, or acting it out. Yeah, you're pretty much on the money there, in every aspect.
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Jun 11, 2015 16:39
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Obdicut posted:While I explicitly find the anonymous fursuited people creepy as gently caress, for it to be a 'successful' tactic for a pedophile, they'd have to have kids come up to them and pet them, and then, like, grab them and run away with them without being spotted by someone, and/or slip the kid their contact info or something. Just think through your own scenario and ask if it makes any sense. 'Wow, you're a pretty cool dude Mr. Lion-Zebra-Bobcat!', little Timmy says. The animal homunculus stares, styrofoam grin never faltering, fabric eyes never blinking, before slipping little Timmy his business card: Sparklefucks McGee Professional Pedophile 1-800-SEX-OFDR Camrath posted:Oh, and a few years ago a couple of young furries from the north of england murdered the parents of one of them, or tried to at least. It made the news across the country, but I don't really know many details or any of the people involved. Holy poo poo! "You know, the usual, backroom orgies and public masturbation, ho hum. oh and murder" quote:Depends on how you define 'famous'. I used to know Kenket (half of Blotch, probably the best furry art team out there) pretty well, and had her stay at my house a couple of times. But then she went a bit crazy and seemed convinced I wanted to kill her, to the stage of trying to warn a former girlfriend away from me- I honestly have no idea why. I held her no ill will, and in fact own a few of her original painted peices. (oh and that armpit-licking guy quote:Online, most furries are always semi-roleplaying. I used to spend a lot of time on furnet IRC back in the day, and people would basically chat about poo poo, but as their fursonas. It's quite hard to describe. You'd get lots of *Yiffyfox buries PurpleStormDragon28 in his big floofy tail* and poo poo like that. quote:As for people with laundry lists of horrifying poo poo.. well, I've seen my housemate's list of online fetishes, for example. They're loving terrifying, but IRL he's almost completely asexual. A lot of the truly weird and grody stuff that you'll see furries fetishising in art and roleplay is stuff which just isn't physically possible in the real world. Which is something I do take some comfort from. Also, have you ever met any furries that keep their interactions with the community forcefully PG due to weird personal issues? 'Christian furries' and all that? I've poked around a few furry forums/communities that kept themselves tame on purpose, just to see the flipside of the weirdo coin, and the politeness often seemed unsettling, like there was something lurking underneath the surface. Or maybe I'm just paranoid. quote:This is a hard one to pin down (hurhur). If I had to pick an answer out of a hat, I'd go with how the fandom developed in the very earliest days from a mostly gay group of sci-fi fans and proto-furries in the 1980s- the early furry conventions underwent a lot of drama as they basically became gay hookup parties (even more so than nowadays). Obviously when all of this was going down I was busy learning toilet training and how to count and write, on the other side of the atlantic, so I don't have any real perspective or insight into the early history beyond what one can find online. quote:Some is, some isn't. To be honest, one of things that disgusts me the most (and was one of the strongest impetuses for me leaving) is how little drama IS attached to bestiality. As I've mentioned before, there are zoophiles in some of the highest echelons of furry society and it's very much an open secret. Likewise, I found out several people that I knew well and classed as friends had.. less than innocent reasons for owning dogs. I very swiftly cut them out of my life even before I disengaged from the fandom as a whole. There are often accusations of sexual assault, but furries being furries this only ever seems to come out in the aftermath through the form of rumour or innuendo. Whenever it was bought to our attention we would immediately escalate it to the police- our roles as community organisers do NOT involve policing the fandom or being judge and jury. I don't know of any conclusively proven cases, at least in the UK community- though I do know of several which turned out to be false accusations. That is horrible beyond qualifiers. You did yourself a service getting away from a community like that. You probably don't have anything concrete to give to the authorities re:dogfucking, but if on the off-chance you do you should try giving animal organizations/cops a call. quote:Not sure really what you're asking here. It's never happened that I'm aware of. I've interacted with the police in an official capacity when leading the walks many a time, and relations have always been cordial- they're generally curious about us, but relax when it's explained that it's an apolitical group of hobbyists. Chelb fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 16:51
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Did you ever encounter, or even hear of, someone who was a furry professionally? As in, they worked at a theme park or kid's pizzeria or sports area as a mascot/animal? Or any profession where their primary role was to be a man in a suit of another creature?
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Jun 11, 2015 16:54
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Rollofthedice posted:'Wow, you're a pretty cool dude Mr. Lion-Zebra-Bobcat!', little Timmy says. The animal homunculus stares, styrofoam grin never faltering, fabric eyes never blinking, before slipping little Timmy his business card: Thanks. That cracked me up.  quote:Holy poo poo! The reason I don't include more stuff on this is that really, it's two hosed up people who happen to be members of the greater community rather than anything inherently furry. I don't know any of the people involved, and it wasn't actually related to furry beyond the two perps being involved in the scene. quote:See, that's the really interesting stuff, the baffling poo poo that can't really explained other than maybe some sort of facet of a mental illness. Do you think the fame got to her head? Honestly, I don't know. I'd had clashes with a friend of hers in the past (physically and emotionally abusive ex boyfriend of my at-the-time fiancee), but no idea how that spiralled into her thinking I was out to get her. In fact I didn't know until after that there was any connection there at all. It's a weird one, but she always was a bit 'off''. Insanely talented (seriously, her art is incredible, even if you're not a furry) but somewhat high-strung I guess. And yeah, I figured that out about Mr Licker. :P quote:Do you think that having such weird online fetishes precludes them from meaningful relationships 'in the flesh'? I don't really know. If I had to hazard a guess I'd say there's probably something in their background that is responsible for both the fetishes and the lack of meaningful RL relationships. Two sides of the same coin. quote:Also, have you ever met any furries that keep their interactions with the community forcefully PG due to weird personal issues? 'Christian furries' and all that? I've poked around a few furry forums/communities that kept themselves tame on purpose, just to see the flipside of the weirdo coin, and the politeness often seemed unsettling, like there was something lurking underneath the surface. Or maybe I'm just paranoid. Not directly. When I first joined the fandom the 'Burned Furs' were a thing, which was a mostly american sub-movement to try and get the fandom back to more PG rated matters. There was a lot of drama surrounding them, but I wasn't involved or really aware of it except in the abstract. As for Christian Furs, I've never really encountered anything like that- but then again as a filthy agnostic godless european, I'd find ANY group of devout christians to be weird and uncomfortable, whether they were furries or not. quote:That is horrible beyond qualifiers. You did yourself a service getting away from a community like that. You probably don't have anything concrete to give to the authorities re:dogfucking, but if on the off-chance you do you should try giving animal organizations/cops a call. Believe me, the moment I had any solid proof I'd be calling up every agency I can think of, up to and including Interpol. Part of me hopes and prays for a doxxing or equivalent to happen on one of these individuals that will blow the whole rotten thing open, but I fear that's likely to remain a dream. quote:Yeah, it was a reach. Just thought maybe I could dig up some weird story about drugs or furries flashing random bystanders or w/e. Drugs are a thing, but as mentioned above most furries keep it fairly on the DL, I know I had multiple places mapped out around our meet venues and walk routes where I could slope off for a quick joint when the idiocy got too much. Everblight posted:Did you ever encounter, or even hear of, someone who was a furry professionally? As in, they worked at a theme park or kid's pizzeria or sports area as a mascot/animal? Or any profession where their primary role was to be a man in a suit of another creature? One of J's former friends used to work as a reindeer for Drayton Manor's (a small midlands theme park) christmas show, but beyond that no.
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Jun 11, 2015 17:10
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I literally just saw this a minute or two ago. It basically looks like 'Furry, the movie'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nP9hU8eUfE I'd be surprised if there isn't already hardcore porn of it being drawn. :/
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Jun 11, 2015 17:22
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The weirdest furry fetishes to me aren't the really disgusting ones like vore, or micro fursonas getting shoved into other fursonas' urethras ( you just crossed your legs right now), but the ones that seem... creepy in their innocuousness, if that makes any sense. Like being blown up into a balloon, or having your shoes tied together. Stuff that would leave a team of psychoanalysts scratching their heads in bewilderment.Camrath posted:I'd be surprised if there isn't already hardcore porn of it being drawn. :/ Knowing furries, you might want to reconsider that use of the present participle. (edit: DEFINITELY reconsider. gently caress i need a drink) ↓↓↓ Those are definitely two big ones. I'd also say that the Disney film Balto is an influence, though as an outsider looking in that might be wrong. Chelb fucked around with this message at 17:36 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 17:29
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Just wanted to say thanks for making this thread, it's been fascinating and informative. I remember reading some of your stories from around the time that chlorine incident happened, glad you stuck around.Camrath posted:'Furry, the movie'.  Yeah, that's... explicit. Actually made me think of a question to ask, too. You've mentioned that your point of entry into the fandom was The Lion King, what are some other pieces of media that people you've known have pointed to as their introduction? I imagine the Disney Robin Hood movie was one for many, it's definitely been joked about on SA before.
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Jun 11, 2015 17:30
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Rollofthedice posted:The weirdest furry fetishes to me aren't the really disgusting ones like vore, or micro fursonas getting shoved into other fursonas' urethras ( I've heard of inflation fetishes before (and seen pictures of several inflatable suits before), but I've never heard of having your shoes tied together being a thing. Oh, on the subject of weird fetishes, there was one guy that J knew from before we were together who provided her with enormous amounts of free socks, on the understanding that she would give them back to him once she'd worn them. He was apparently a nice guy towards her, and perhaps lacking my own long and ugly experience with the fandom she genuinely did think it was a totally innocent offer/arrangement. Chard posted:Just wanted to say thanks for making this thread, it's been fascinating and informative. I remember reading some of your stories from around the time that chlorine incident happened, glad you stuck around. Yeah, Robin Hood's a big one. Also Watership Down, Animals Of Farthing Wood, Balto, Jungle Book.. pretty much any big media 'thing' with sentient animal characters results in some people heading towards the fandom. In my own case I'll add that I'd been thinking about, writing about and playing games about anthropomorphic characters literally as long as I can remember- I have some old school books from when I was six containing short stories I wrote about anthropomorphic hedgehogs fighting a war against foxes. ;p Edit: Balto isn't Disney! It's a Don Bluth movie iirc. Camrath fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 17:33
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Camrath posted:I've heard of inflation fetishes before (and seen pictures of several inflatable suits before), but I've never heard of having your shoes tied together being a thing. quote:Oh, on the subject of weird fetishes, there was one guy that J knew from before we were together who provided her with enormous amounts of free socks, on the understanding that she would give them back to him once she'd worn them. He was apparently a nice guy towards her, and perhaps lacking my own long and ugly experience with the fandom she genuinely did think it was a totally innocent offer/arrangement. quote:In my own case I'll add that I'd been thinking about, writing about and playing games about anthropomorphic characters literally as long as I can remember- I have some old school books from when I was six containing short stories I wrote about anthropomorphic hedgehogs fighting a war against foxes. ;p Hmmm.... maybe you and the Ulillillia guy could have a chat. quote:Edit: Balto isn't Disney! It's a Don Bluth movie iirc. 
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Jun 11, 2015 17:48
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Camrath posted:You raise some interesting points here about furry demographics- and how different they seem to be on the west coast rather than our rain sodden island here. When I first joined the fandom and for several years after it was overwhelmingly, indeed almost entirely formed of goths, metalheads and punks- you can tell from the early pictures in my OP. I really can't think of any hipster-ish furries that were on my radar, but I've always been fascinated by social demographics in general. Would love to chat more about this off-forum or in PM. I'd be totally down to talk about it! The fandom's evolving very quickly after what seemed like decades of stagnation. Camrath posted:I don't know Korrok myself, though J has a conbadge that she drew. I actually lived in scotland for about five years for university, in Aberdeen- but the only furries I really knew there were a collection of awesome goths who lived down the road from me and a few people on the periphery of the fandom. The scotland crowd I was exposed to were very goth or very high end creative or very sexually repressed. A couple of them I miss from the time I spent in Glasgow (I spent a month living at Korrok's house, THAT is an epic weave) but for the most part I recall being very "eh" about the crowd. But I was never much of a goth, was more of a band nerd. Camrath posted:As for the bodypaint thing- we painters really were a minority; I'm not active in the fandom anymore, so I can't speak for the present day but certainly there haven't been more than about 5 or so active bodypainters in the UK for at least a decade. There is an american dude who paints- and who I had a friendly rivalry with (We both had lion fursonas, we both were very into fitness and training but he was a full-on bodybuilder and blew me out of the water, both physically and in terms of his painting talents) but beyond that I really don't know. You're talking about Kiowa. That dude is not only a HUGELY BUFF guy, but a vegetarian and former super shut in nerd. He doesn't do the bodypaint poo poo super often anymore, but he's one of the few people that can rep it because he's actually super buff. I used to hang with him with some frequency, he lives in Utah and used to visit people in the house I lived in when I was going to college in Boulder, Colorado. He does the casual sex circuit but it seems less and less these days, I get the impression he has his self confidence now and has nothing to prove lol. Camrath posted:I think it was more a result of my position within the scene as a community organiser/leader. The vast majority of furries may be annoying, unwashed or unsightly or whatever, but are generally just harmless nerds. However when you're in a position of responsibility you end up seeing behind the curtain. Every grudge, every bit of drama, every idiotic bit of behaviour in the London scene ended up crossing my metaphorical desk. And given my somewhat higher profile I also came in for a lot of flak from all sorts of angles as I was by far the most visible and active member of the leadership during my tenure. Added to that the fact that I don't suffer fools gladly and am not shy about making my opinions known, and you can start to perhaps get a picture of where all the frustration and anger came from. Certainly, it's only after I ended up on the London committee that things truly went sour for me. Holy poo poo organizers for cons and events. I can't imagine dealing with everyone and I figure that the reason most con organizers suck and throw really unpleasant lifestyler events (though, that's changing stateside) is because you have to be ONE OF THEM to be willing to deal with it. There's a big shift in the US where newer cons are becoming all about parties and less about the marketplace, fursuit parade and being gross in public. Biggest Little Fur Con (Reno,) Elliotts Gathering (Florida and Las Vegas,) Rainfurrest (Seattle,) Midwest Furfest (Chicago) and the almighty Further Confusion (San Jose) all have serious reputations as party cons and have formed this... rift between people who con to party and the people who con to be as weird as they can get away with. And stuck in the middle are the dealers there to make money, split between the two camps.
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Jun 11, 2015 17:53
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Camrath posted:I literally just saw this a minute or two ago. It basically looks like 'Furry, the movie'. That looks pretty great, actually. Honestly I'm glad the genre hasn't been completely ruined for Hollywood. I grew up with junk like Redwall, Secret of NIMH, Robin Hood, etc. It was all really wonderful cute fun and after the internet destroyed my innocence I was always worried that movies with anthro characters would be p much tainted material. On the other hand there's something to be said of self-aware furries who can laugh at how horrible the fetishy community can be. For example. (NWS/NMS)
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Jun 11, 2015 17:56
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Rollofthedice posted:I've done a lot of atrocity tourism in my late teenage years, and believe me you do not want to check out the niche furry art sites, particularly the sites that sprung up after FA started banning the pedo poo poo. Not even on a dare. I believe she sent some back before we knew each other. The moment I found out about it (very early in our relationship) I explained what it was probably all about and put the kybosh on it. She still likes the guy and talks kindly of him, but I'm afraid I'll always consider him a skeevy lying creep for pulling that poo poo. And I have no desire to chat to Ullillia in any way shape or form, thankyouverymuch. :P DeliciousPatriotism posted:
I lived a few doors down from Nullmouse, Draconis and Kytherean, did you know any of them? I also spent a lot of time playing D&D with Fionacat, who was always nice to me but I later discovered is a seriously weird individual. quote:You're talking about Kiowa. That dude is not only a HUGELY BUFF guy, but a vegetarian and former super shut in nerd. He doesn't do the bodypaint poo poo super often anymore, but he's one of the few people that can rep it because he's actually super buff. I used to hang with him with some frequency, he lives in Utah and used to visit people in the house I lived in when I was going to college in Boulder, Colorado. He does the casual sex circuit but it seems less and less these days, I get the impression he has his self confidence now and has nothing to prove lol. Kiwa! That's it! We only chatted a few times on FA, but he seemed cool and pretty nice. And I do really admire the costume he pulled off, even if he made me jealous. I used to be trim and reasonably built, but certainly not body-builder buff like he is. quote:Holy poo poo organizers for cons and events. I can't imagine dealing with everyone and I figure that the reason most con organizers suck and throw really unpleasant lifestyler events (though, that's changing stateside) is because you have to be ONE OF THEM to be willing to deal with it. There's a big shift in the US where newer cons are becoming all about parties and less about the marketplace, fursuit parade and being gross in public. Biggest Little Fur Con (Reno,) Elliotts Gathering (Florida and Las Vegas,) Rainfurrest (Seattle,) Midwest Furfest (Chicago) and the almighty Further Confusion (San Jose) all have serious reputations as party cons and have formed this... rift between people who con to party and the people who con to be as weird as they can get away with. Having become completely disgusted with the way cons are run in the UK and Europe (I have/had personal beef with the organisers of Confuzzled and in particular the Nazi Horsefucker head of security for them and EF) I've not really been aware of this trend. To be honest, the last con I enjoyed without reservation was EF2011, for a whole list of reasons. CF2012 was dreadful but for RL related reasons and CF2013 I spent in an almost constant state of anxiety due to being harassed and stalked everywhere I went by the Nazi Horsefucker and his goons. However, that aside the part of cons I enjoyed most was basically getting shitfaced, people-watching and attending the raves. I went to MFF '07, but to be honest really wasn't impressed- though I mostly went there to meet with someone I had a crush on at the time. Ah, internet relationships... ShadowCatboy posted:On the other hand there's something to be said of self-aware furries who can laugh at how horrible the fetishy community can be. For example. (NWS/NMS) Furry Force is hilarious, but it's not made by furries.
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Jun 11, 2015 18:12
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What percentage of people do you think become involved with the scene the way you did (enjoying an alternative, seemingly nonjudgmental lifestyle because you felt socially isolated) versus genuinely identifying with a "fursona" or the animal spirituality aspect of the fandom? Is it more common for those who take the spirituality aspect seriously to have adopted those beliefs after getting involved, or to seek out the fandom because they already have that mindset? I wonder if it's at all common to "organically" discover that you identify with a certain animal, rather than hearing about the furry fandom and THEN developing a fursona in order to take part. My guess would be that a lot of people who become involved claim some instinctive kinship with animals, even if they only came up with it after learning of the fandom. The way you described coming to the fandom, it sounds like a pure coincidence that this happened to be the subculture you stumbled upon. Do you think there is something special or unique about furry fandom that appeals to socially isolated/socially awkward individuals, or could any subculture with a generally welcoming, nonjudgmental attitude have filled the same void? Are you aware of any other subcultures (LARPing has been mentioned in this thread) that have a lot in common with furry fandom? How much turnover did you notice within the scene? Did most furries who joined as teenagers disengage as they got older, or did they get stay or get more deeply involved? What did people who stayed long-term seem to have in common versus people who quit? Were there a lot of curious newcomers who showed up to a meet or convention but got freaked out and left? PurePerfection fucked around with this message at 18:59 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 18:42
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Ages ago a Psychology thread here in Ask/Tell had a short detour into furry talk, and someone linked some surveys done at furry conventions. I think this is the site. What particularly struck me when I skimmed over it all back then was the end of this 2013 survey. 50% and 30% of the furry art that male and female furries viewed respectively was pornographic in nature. Male furries were also reported more likely to view furry porn when they viewed porn at all. Furthermore, "More than a third of furries have relatively negative attitudes toward non-furry pornography, and only about a quarter of furries feel quite positively toward it". This is despite the fact that "almost half of furries say that furry pornography had little to no influence on them entering the fandom" and "the vast majority of furries feel no strong preference or only a slight preference for pornographic furry artwork over non-pornographic artwork", which to my uneducated eyes seems contradictory to the first quote. The surveys also asked spiritual and age-related questions too, so you might want to check that out PurePerfection. Chelb fucked around with this message at 19:12 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 19:06
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Rollofthedice posted:The surveys also asked spiritual and age-related questions too, so you might want to check that out PurePerfection. Thanks! I've always wondered how much of the spiritual aspect was earnest and how much of it was BS that members of the fandom use to justify or provide backstory for the unusual lifestyle. I have a hard time believing that SO MANY people from very similar ethnic, cultural, and social backgrounds really identify with animal spirits and do what they do as a form of self-expression and not just to belong to something. I've encountered furries who describe their experience in ways that are similar to how transgender people describe theirs. They say they feel as though they have the mind/soul/spirit of a certain animal but were born human and feel compelled to present their true selves by wearing fursuits and engaging in furry fandom. And it's always struck me as bizarre, because "wolf" and "lion" aren't identities we are familiar with like "male" and "female." How does a person up and decide that they're really a wolf? What frame of reference do they have for what being a wolf means? I'm not a man, but I have a culturally-influenced understanding of what masculinity is because I live and work and interact with men, and because men and women have many shared experiences and traits as human beings. By comparing and contrasting their identity with my own, I can conclusively say I am not male. I could never conclusively say that I identify or do not identify with the experience of a wolf, because I'm not a wolf and I don't live with wolves and I don't know how wolves think or feel. People who say they identify with wolves must be projecting most of what they consider a wolf fursona and filling in the blanks with their own ideals. PurePerfection fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 19:23
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Rollofthedice posted:Ages ago a Psychology thread here in Ask/Tell had a short detour into furry talk, and someone linked some surveys done at furry conventions. I think this is the site. There is another paper on Furries and Psychology - Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism) Admittedly, I've only ever seen it in passing so I have no idea if it's any good. I did skim it a bit, and it seemed interesting though.
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Jun 11, 2015 19:26
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^^^^ That study at a glance seems much more rigorous - or at least more professional - than what I've seen. Interesting find. A few more snippets from that site I linked: At 'Furry Fiesta 2015', over half the furries surveyed stated they were suffering from some sort of mental or physical disability. The results were skewed overwhelmingly toward 'cognitive' and 'mental health' disabilities. About 75% of the people there were younger than 32 years old. A bit over 20% were around or at the same age as 32, and the leftover 5% was older. FF 2014 results showed that furries expected to stay active in the furry fandom for up to a decade in the future, and reported being much less active in the past decade. Perhaps because a lot of them were prepubescents. 44.36% of the people surveyed at Anthrocon 2012 were atheist. 23.19% were Christian, 9.47% were agnostic, and 13.72% was 'other'. The rest was pagan/wiccan/buddhist/jewish/satanic. On two 7-point scales to determine religiosity and spirituality: Religion ratings were on average a 2.51 - so, not very religious. However, spirituality was at 4.09. Chelb fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 19:41
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Vic posted:This is not about furries meeting publicly. I'm talking specifically about the act of adults in fursuitsplaying with kids. On the surface this might be innocuous, but kids might be thus susceptible to trusting a big fuzzy wolfdog not triggering the stranger danger alarm. I've got a lot of fursuiter/fursuit maker friends that are on the well adjusted side of things and they generally love seeing little kids light up when they see them. Most of them are cute artsy girls and genuinely kind gay dudes, so in most cases its alright. poo poo I even know a few people that gently caress in suit, but they don't hug children in those. But we ALL cringe when we see a matted fur, gross as gently caress looking likely SPH (strategically placed holes) possessing suit touch a child. It aint every worn out suit, a lot just are poorly cared for or didn't age well, but the risk factor is high enough that everyone squirms. Also fursuiters (people for whom that's most of the fandom) are like... a whole world of factions in their own.
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Jun 11, 2015 19:57
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Rollofthedice posted:Ages ago a Psychology thread here in Ask/Tell had a short detour into furry talk, and someone linked some surveys done at furry conventions. I think this is the site. Adjective Species ( http://adjectivespecies.com/ ) is the only good furry demographics blog I know of, run by an actual student in statistics and human data out in Colorado. She's also trans, if that matters to people. They post a lot of hard data, collect attendance figures from cons, have sometimes genuinely interesting articles by guest writers. It's worth taking a peek if this thread interests you. With regards to the whole "how sexualized is furry for you" question, that's something you're always going to get evasive answers on and isn't exactly straightforward. I'd argue that up to three quarters of "active" furs respond positively to pornography, though on various degrees. People are always saying "oh well it's not about the sex" which in a general sense is true. But over time being involved animal themed poo poo sneaks into your discourse when describing things funny, cute, or even attractive. It's not like saying "crazy like a fox" or "hung like a horse" etc isn't exclusive to this community, it's all adjectives and adverbs (though some are way more literal than others.) If you're in a relationship, a happy one at least, you're inevitably going to find cute pet names to exchange with your significant other. Being a part of the community makes that kinda more fun, and there are plenty of ways you can interpret your chosen critter(s) into positive or affectionate behaviors. Everyone takes inspiration from the world of alter egos they build, and because pretty much everyone fucks it's going to motivate that in diverse ways.
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Jun 11, 2015 20:20
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PurePerfection posted:I'm not a man, but I have a culturally-influenced understanding of what masculinity is because I live and work and interact with men, and because men and women have many shared experiences and traits as human beings. By comparing and contrasting their identity with my own, I can conclusively say I am not male. I could never conclusively say that I identify or do not identify with the experience of a wolf, because I'm not a wolf and I don't live with wolves and I don't know how wolves think or feel. People who say they identify with wolves must be projecting most of what they consider a wolf fursona and filling in the blanks with their own ideals. Actually, about this. I've always found it really interesting the way that people interpret various creatures to act as totems or inspiration or party-sona or whatever. I feel like it breaks down to how the society at large views whatever creature, or at least the views of most valued social networks of that individual. For example, wolves aren't particularly independent, hardy or strong compared to other predators, but the way they're viewed in the US are as rugged rogues of the wild, the predatory royalty of the American west (unless you're a cattle rancher.) Add on masculinity's obsession with the hilariously false "canine alpha" mythology and you get lots of insecure people saying they're badass lone alpha wolves because that sounds like it would be nice to be, a fictional being of masculinity and independence. But all that really matters is that they're dogs, and most people have a lot of experience with dogs so the idea of "rugged buff wild dog" seems appealing. Social attitudes on various animals, matched with an individuals understanding of an actual animal divided by what they dislike about themselves make most fursonas. For myself I'm primarily a wolverine. I've never met a wolverine. I've read a lot about them, watched a lot of videos. I've owned ferrets for years so that's where I project a lot of my understanding of mustelids from. Selective, clumsy, independent, temperamental, restless and playful. Also wolverines are adorable and fat. Plus my family is anglo-scandinavian and I live in North America, Wolverines have deep cultural interpretations in the history of each. I love snow and get warm really easily, wolverines depend on permafrost for healthy habitats. I'm a big dude, muscular but not totally cut; wolverines strike me as buff ferrets. Now I know that a lot of people don't put as much though into figuring out what creature fits them best, a lot of it is just power fantasy (DONT EVEN GET ME STARTED ON DRAGONS) but that's how I've rationalized it. It's a combination of my (imperfect and distant) understanding of the largest Mustelid and a cultural platform/historical interpretation of its reputation that is quite unscientific but is a small part of my desperate attempt as an American to have a culture that's something besides western status quo.
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Jun 11, 2015 20:42
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Chaps, can I make the suggestion that those who want to discuss specifically furry topics amongst themselves take it to pm or IMs? It's not that it's not interesting (to me at least it is), but it does have the effect of driving away people from the thread who don't share that interest. This isn't meant to be a furry chat thread, and the chances are that should it become so then bans and probations would soon follow- that's how this has gone down before. If my read is wrong, feel free to correct me but given I am NOT a furry anymore I really don't want to be responsible for the next furry holocaust kicking off in this thread.
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Jun 11, 2015 20:56
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One of the weirder things to me is that you must know you're anthropomorphizing the animals. Wolverines are not clumsy, independent, temperamental, restless and playful-- those are adjectives that we use to compare human beings to other human beings. If you're using them to talk about animals vs. human beings, than wolverines are definitely not clumsy, 'independent' just doesn't make sense because that's far too human an attribute to assign to an animal, they're not temperamental, restless again is far too human a feeling, and playful is directly opposed to 'independent'. So it's not just a distant and imperfect interpretation, it's a knowingly false interpretation, an interpretation of the animal not from an actual understanding of the animal and how it fits into nature and the ecosystem and its real attributes, but only as repurposed and repackaged as some sort of projection of yourself. In a way, it's like a horoscope. One person can say they're into wolves because they're fierce and independent. Another person can say they're into wolves because they're gentle and group-oriented. Another can say they're into wolves because they're smart and social. None of these are real descriptions of the animal, they are all equally valid, but all also totally invalid. To put it another way, despite their attachment to animals, one of the things that bugs me most about furrys is that they fictionalize the animals entirely, while often believing they have some knowledge or connection to the animal that's entirely a projection. When someone says "I'm a lion" or "I identify with a wolf", they're saying something not just inaccurate but really, really false and antithetical to an actual appreciation of the animal. I think this is actually important for the understanding of furries--it's not actually about the animals, except on the most surface, fetishistic level. It's not a bunch of people who all independently got interested in animals and felt this kinship and found each other, it is entirely a human social thing and furries get into it mostly by meeting and being exposed to other furries. Obdicut fucked around with this message at 21:02 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 20:59
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Bean posted:I've always wondered if there were people who enjoyed furrydom but otherwise lead normal lives. You always hear about out and out weirdos, I'm wondering about Ted, who showers, dresses normal and holds down a job and then maybe takes in a convention a few times a year. Sorry to quote from way back. I have a few friends who fall into this category. There's no real "lifestyle" to their interest and participation in the furry community; they go to one con a year, enjoy the non-extreme artwork, and generally just have a good time socializing with the less creepy population. I live in Pittsburgh, so I've gone downtown while AnthroCon was happening on a few occasions (mostly because I used to work right downtown and couldn't help running into the con crowd). One year I went and actually caught the fursuit parade. It was pretty fun, and I got to talk to some relatively normal-seeming costumers who showed me some cool mechanics behind jaw movement and other fursuit features. "Features" did not include strategically-placed whatevers. my cat is norris fucked around with this message at 21:21 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 21:10
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Camrath posted:Chaps, can I make the suggestion that those who want to discuss specifically furry topics amongst themselves take it to pm or IMs? It's not that it's not interesting (to me at least it is), but it does have the effect of driving away people from the thread who don't share that interest. This isn't meant to be a furry chat thread, and the chances are that should it become so then bans and probations would soon follow- that's how this has gone down before. Alrighty. Have you ever listened to The F Plus, Camrath? Since you said you weren't ever really interested in the sexual side of furries, did furries often try talking to you about their fetishes, and did you have to brush them off often? How old does a furry get? Particularly, what's the oldest age of a furry you've met? How do furries treat women? You've mentioned groping and stalking and stuff, so there's definitely some weird stuff going on on that front. How many furries have weird mental attitudes about women? How do they justify themselves when they're being super creepy? (edit: Looking back on some of this, I might be phrasing these questions as if you're some kind of psychic that can read all furries' minds. Needless to say I do not expect hard data when I interrogate you with 'how many') Chelb fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 21:13
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Rollofthedice posted:How do they justify themselves when they're being super creepy? I'd be very interested to hear about this, too. And in general - how do they justify potential strange/creepy behaviour?
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Jun 11, 2015 21:20
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Camrath posted:Furry Force is hilarious, but it's not made by furries. Huh I was under the impression that one of the creators was a furry. But in any case, it's apparently become popular enough among the community that it won an Ursa Major Award. Frankly it's just nice to see furries being more self-aware and self-deprecating over how weird the fandom is.
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Jun 11, 2015 21:30
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Rollofthedice posted:Alrighty. I've never listened to that, no- though again it's something I've heard a lot about and probably should! Yeah, I've had to tell many a person to gently caress off and not go on about their particular kink. I used to be a lot more tolerant of such the bags when I was younger (the whole 'don't judge' thing) but by the end of my time I'd get very blunt about not being interested. Oldest furry? Well I knew several who must be in their fifties, possibly even into sixties by now. Certainly, bald spots and grey hair are much more commonly seen these days than they were when I started out. And wow, furries and women is a big can of worms. I know for a fact that J has been harrassed, chatted up intensely, full on stalked, touched inappropriately and at one point possibly roofied (thankfully she had a good friend look after her and rescue her; this was before we got together). A lot of other women have reported similar, and I've often had to warn males to stop creeping girls out in various ways. The reaction is almost always the same- shocked protestations of innocence. Now, given the number of furs on the autistic spectrum or with other social issues it's possible that they were genuinely unaware of what they were doing or how they came across. However the cynic in me says that it's far too convenient an excuse and that frankly nobody could be /that/ loving dumb and unaware.
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Jun 11, 2015 21:30
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Rollofthedice posted:How do furries treat women? You've mentioned groping and stalking and stuff, so there's definitely some weird stuff going on on that front. How many furries have weird mental attitudes about women? How do they justify themselves when they're being super creepy? I'd also be interested in knowing how women, minorities, and other participants who deviate from the white/male/middle-class norm are perceived and treated within the furry community compared to other fandoms dominated by the same demographic. Some subcultures embrace socially unsuccessful males but have some very vocal bad eggs who are openly hostile to women who intrude upon the realm that they consider a refuge from the rest of society. Do members of the furry community view deviations from the norm in that way? If a happy, popular individual with a fulfilling social life outside of the fandom tries to participate, what is the reaction like?
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Jun 11, 2015 21:41
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Camrath posted:I've never listened to that, no- though again it's something I've heard a lot about and probably should! quote:Oldest furry? Well I knew several who must be in their fifties, possibly even into sixties by now. Certainly, bald spots and grey hair are much more commonly seen these days than they were when I started out. quote:And wow, furries and women is a big can of worms. I know for a fact that J has been harrassed, chatted up intensely, full on stalked, touched inappropriately and at one point possibly roofied (thankfully she had a good friend look after her and rescue her; this was before we got together). A lot of other women have reported similar, and I've often had to warn males to stop creeping girls out in various ways. The reaction is almost always the same- shocked protestations of innocence. Now, given the number of furs on the autistic spectrum or with other social issues it's possible that they were genuinely unaware of what they were doing or how they came across. However the cynic in me says that it's far too convenient an excuse and that frankly nobody could be /that/ loving dumb and unaware. Why do women stay in the fandom if they're treated so badly? How do they deal with all that poo poo? edit: I also echo PurePerfection's questions about minorities. How do white furries treat black furries, or transgendered furries? Is race a topic that's even brought up often in the context of furries? I understand that a lot of furries have either gotten jobs or are in the 'impoverished student' phase of their lives. I wonder how many furries are particularly rich or poor. Chelb fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Jun 11, 2015 |
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Jun 11, 2015 21:46
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PurePerfection posted:I'd also be interested in knowing how women, minorities, and other participants who deviate from the white/male/middle-class norm are perceived and treated within the furry community compared to other fandoms dominated by the same demographic. To be honest there's not so much a hostility towards women as more a large number of participants being creepy fucks as described above- it's not a hatred but more a desperate misplaced longing for female attention. And this also has an effect on female furries as well- often girls getting into the scene have the same issues as the guys, in particular low self esteem and self image. All the attention that is suddenly lavished on them (for good or bad reasons) can sometimes be deeply problematic in its results. In the London scene one particularly unpleasant woman (fat, ugly, deceitful, bullying and cruel. She was also responsible for several proven-false rape claims) ended up becoming a sort of 'queen bee' surrounded by fawning supporters who bullied and mistreat people on her whim. She ended up getting permabanned from meets and did a runner owing a /lot/ of people money for uncompleted commissions and unbelievably badly made fursuits. Sorry, I digressed a little there. :p Oddly, one of the good things about furry (at least in the UK) is a total lack of any racial tensions or problems. I knew black furs, Asian furs, oriental furs and pretty much every variation on racial identity or skin-tone you'd find in a city like London, and I never once saw or heard of any form of racial harassment. And as for the hypothetical popular, socially apt individual joining the fandom? Well, part of me says that such a person wouldn't be drawn to it in the first place, but that's perhaps overly bitchy! They'd probably find themselves rising quite quickly in it, but also burning out once they saw the negative sides to it.
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Jun 11, 2015 21:55
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Obdicut posted:One of the weirder things to me is that you must know you're anthropomorphizing the animals. Wolverines are not clumsy, independent, temperamental, restless and playful-- those are adjectives that we use to compare human beings to other human beings. If you're using them to talk about animals vs. human beings, than wolverines are definitely not clumsy, 'independent' just doesn't make sense because that's far too human an attribute to assign to an animal, they're not temperamental, restless again is far too human a feeling, and playful is directly opposed to 'independent'. So it's not just a distant and imperfect interpretation, it's a knowingly false interpretation, an interpretation of the animal not from an actual understanding of the animal and how it fits into nature and the ecosystem and its real attributes, but only as repurposed and repackaged as some sort of projection of yourself. I firmly disagree with a lot of those points, in particular the idea that an independent entity can't be playful, but I totally get what you're at here. Also if you've ever owned ferrets you would know that restlessness can apply to animals as well: they're either getting their fill of exploration, attention and fun for the day or they start developing depression and behavior problems. Repurposed and repackaged is fine, there's no primary IP that people wrap themselves around. I don't really give a poo poo how accurate people's interpretations of their creatures are: it's not a wolf it's a wolflike thing that emotes and looks like people. Also for the all the energy I've put into developing this alter ego, it really doesn't mean a thing to me and is a drop in the bucket over the 11 years I've been guilty. I don't own a fursuit, I've never piled money into commissions and I don't obsess over some kind of manufactured spirituality (that was high school.) My experience is a lot of weird and wonderful friends, a yearly schedule that includes cons where I go to get hammer drunk with people like from all over the country and animals as a funny/ironic/aesthetic thing in a lot of what I do. Everything is effectively an imagined projection despite exposure or truthful knowledge, and honest people will admit this. Obdicut posted:I think this is actually important for the understanding of furries--it's not actually about the animals, except on the most surface, fetishistic level. It's not a bunch of people who all independently got interested in animals and felt this kinship and found each other, it is entirely a human social thing and furries get into it mostly by meeting and being exposed to other furries. Yeah, this. There's no high church of furry dictating the rules, though some (awful) people will say that. It's human social cliques, the animal part is a fun theme ranging from sexless creative outlet to oversexed and unsocialized catastrophe.
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Jun 11, 2015 21:59
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