Furries! (Gaia will fail before I let this thread die)

How much fur can you flaunt?

Full fursuit!	7.4%	[ 197 ]
Partial - head, sleves and paws	4.2%	[ 113 ]
Ears + tails + other accessories	13.6%	[ 363 ]
Just my tail!	4.1%	[ 110 ]
None, but I want the whole suit D:	8.3%	[ 222 ]
None, but I just want a tail... OK, maybe some ears too x3	9.8%	[ 260 ]
Don't have one, don't want one	17.2%	[ 458 ]
Non furry, Just curious	35.2%	[ 937 ]
Total Votes:			[ 2660 ]

[Hiacinth]

Ellithium Carbonate

Wintersnow the raccoon

Hiacinth

Ellithium Carbonate

Nice to meet other furs here. c: Hi, I'm Elliot.

I conpurr cat_whee ! Hi, Elliot!

So I take it you two know each other then?

Hm... not that I know of? Perhaps I'm wrong, though. o:

Nope! Not at all. Just agreeing with the enthusiasm of meeting other furs and welcoming a new purrson

[Wintersnow Nook]

Hiacinth

Ellithium Carbonate

Wintersnow the raccoon

Hiacinth

Ellithium Carbonate

Nice to meet other furs here. c: Hi, I'm Elliot.

I conpurr cat_whee ! Hi, Elliot!

So I take it you two know each other then?

Hm... not that I know of? Perhaps I'm wrong, though. o:

Nope! Not at all. Just agreeing with the enthusiasm of meeting other furs and welcoming a new purrson

I see... D:

your enthusiasm is quite convincing however. But in any case, welcome one and all.

Now start arguing about something so we can maintain our presence on the LD as a discussion thread.

[Hiacinth]

shameful sluts

-400

Goodness, that was fast!

In other news, I saw an article about the furry fandom as a gateway to coming into your sexual preference (homo, pan, bi, etc. but usually homosexual). the article is here. Thoughts?

[Slinkenhofer]

Well, hollo fellow furbles. It is I, Cowmandoo. How do you?

[DerpyPaws]

Sits in the corner.

[Piroshki]

Hiacinth

In other news, I saw an article about the furry fandom as a gateway to coming into your sexual preference (homo, pan, bi, etc. but usually homosexual). the article is here. Thoughts?

That's an idea that's thrown around a lot, and it's very true. I know countless furries, especially male ones, who, when I first met them, wouldn't dare say anything about having teh gay, but over time I watched them come out one by one and get boyfriends. Many furries are embarrassed by their interest because it's not 'normal' and the general public thinks it's all about sex even when it isn't, so it's thought to be taboo (although it is becoming more mainstream, that's a topic I was actually going to bring up here eventually... I'll get around to it). We know what it's like to have to hide something, and as such we've become a very open community. You can be totally open about your fetishes and most people won't bat an eye, for better or for worse (I have a friend who had someone add him on Skype a bit ago, and after exchanging hellos, he told him he was a plushophile, that he was ******** a Sonic toy right now, and tried to get him to join him. What a first impression. Maybe don't do that).

This openness allows a lot of people to come to realizations about what really makes them happy, and provides a generally judgment-free environment for them to give it some real consideration and possibly experiment with it. If you go to a furmeet or even just browse FA, you are going to see tons of people going through the same process or that have gone through the process, which can be a very encouraging thing, so it isn't surprising that furry has led many people to come out.

[Wintersnow Nook]

abditiveTerminus

Well, hollo fellow furbles. It is I, Cowmandoo. How do you?

How do moo do?

>.<

Ugh, sorry that was really lame. I'll just stick with "hi and how are you".

[Wintersnow Nook]

DerpyPaws

Sits in the corner.

-waves-

Well hello there. Another new face. How are you? =3

[Wintersnow Nook]

Piroshki

Hiacinth

In other news, I saw an article about the furry fandom as a gateway to coming into your sexual preference (homo, pan, bi, etc. but usually homosexual). the article is here. Thoughts?

This openness allows a lot of people to come to realizations about what really makes them happy, and provides a generally judgment-free environment for them to give it some real consideration and possibly experiment with it. If you go to a furmeet or even just browse FA, you are going to see tons of people going through the same process or that have gone through the process, which can be a very encouraging thing, so it isn't surprising that furry has led many people to come out.

I couldn't have summed it up any better then this. We're an open community and so its fairly easy for people to explore and come to realizations that they otherwise might not. One of those, "well, I'm a furry, I can't really do much worse/be more embarrassing then that" sort of things.

[Hiacinth]

Piroshki

Hiacinth

In other news, I saw an article about the furry fandom as a gateway to coming into your sexual preference (homo, pan, bi, etc. but usually homosexual). the article is here. Thoughts?

That's an idea that's thrown around a lot, and it's very true. I know countless furries, especially male ones, who, when I first met them, wouldn't dare say anything about having teh gay, but over time I watched them come out one by one and get boyfriends. Many furries are embarrassed by their interest because it's not 'normal' and the general public thinks it's all about sex even when it isn't, so it's thought to be taboo (although it is becoming more mainstream, that's a topic I was actually going to bring up here eventually... I'll get around to it). We know what it's like to have to hide something, and as such we've become a very open community. You can be totally open about your fetishes and most people won't bat an eye, for better or for worse (I have a friend who had someone add him on Skype a bit ago, and after exchanging hellos, he told him he was a plushophile, that he was ******** a Sonic toy right now, and tried to get him to join him. What a first impression. Maybe don't do that).

This openness allows a lot of people to come to realizations about what really makes them happy, and provides a generally judgment-free environment for them to give it some real consideration and possibly experiment with it. If you go to a furmeet or even just browse FA, you are going to see tons of people going through the same process or that have gone through the process, which can be a very encouraging thing, so it isn't surprising that furry has led many people to come out.

I can see how that would be the case. Furry as a series of safe stepping stones, to use the article's phrasing, to an eventual coming out or coming into one's true self. Personally, that wasn't the case. I already knew my preferences in dating. But a similar process occurred for me in the consuming of the erotic artwork the community puts out.

Though I've only been part of it for a short time, it seems there is a growing divide in the community. You mentioned

Quote:

You can be totally open about your fetishes and most people won't bat an eye

but I'm seeing tons of people that seem almost outright angry at the fact that other furries like the more erotic side of being a fur. I've met people that are disgusted by their fellow furs interest in the sexual side of it, enough to call them names and refuse to associate with them. Makes me wonder what the future of the community will be like if it's getting less "judgement-free."

This is definitely the college student in me talking, but...I don't like the way the guy who wrote the article made so many judgements based on one graph. The survey method used to gather this information really isn't ...what's the word?...unbiased (?) enough to make the claims he made. I'd like to see a really good survey, conducted on a group of people over time, with a control group and good questions and stuff. (Oh look! A potential thesis topic!)

[boob jiggle]

Hiacinth

In other news, I saw an article about the furry fandom as a gateway to coming into your sexual preference (homo, pan, bi, etc. but usually homosexual). the article is here. Thoughts?

Another thing no one has touched on is that, while yes, it is very accepting, there's that combined with the level of escapism it provides. Your fursona is probably a representation of yourself but there are lots of situations you can put it in that you may not be as comfortable with or ready for yet in real life. Especially if you draw your own fursona, it's easier to experiment with fantasies when there's no risks.

Oh, also, hi.

[Piroshki]

Hiacinth

Piroshki

Hiacinth

In other news, I saw an article about the furry fandom as a gateway to coming into your sexual preference (homo, pan, bi, etc. but usually homosexual). the article is here. Thoughts?

That's an idea that's thrown around a lot, and it's very true. I know countless furries, especially male ones, who, when I first met them, wouldn't dare say anything about having teh gay, but over time I watched them come out one by one and get boyfriends. Many furries are embarrassed by their interest because it's not 'normal' and the general public thinks it's all about sex even when it isn't, so it's thought to be taboo (although it is becoming more mainstream, that's a topic I was actually going to bring up here eventually... I'll get around to it). We know what it's like to have to hide something, and as such we've become a very open community. You can be totally open about your fetishes and most people won't bat an eye, for better or for worse (I have a friend who had someone add him on Skype a bit ago, and after exchanging hellos, he told him he was a plushophile, that he was ******** a Sonic toy right now, and tried to get him to join him. What a first impression. Maybe don't do that).

This openness allows a lot of people to come to realizations about what really makes them happy, and provides a generally judgment-free environment for them to give it some real consideration and possibly experiment with it. If you go to a furmeet or even just browse FA, you are going to see tons of people going through the same process or that have gone through the process, which can be a very encouraging thing, so it isn't surprising that furry has led many people to come out.

I can see how that would be the case. Furry as a series of safe stepping stones, to use the article's phrasing, to an eventual coming out or coming into one's true self. Personally, that wasn't the case. I already knew my preferences in dating. But a similar process occurred for me in the consuming of the erotic artwork the community puts out.

Though I've only been part of it for a short time, it seems there is a growing divide in the community. You mentioned

Quote:

You can be totally open about your fetishes and most people won't bat an eye

but I'm seeing tons of people that seem almost outright angry at the fact that other furries like the more erotic side of being a fur. I've met people that are disgusted by their fellow furs interest in the sexual side of it, enough to call them names and refuse to associate with them. Makes me wonder what the future of the community will be like if it's getting less "judgement-free."

This is definitely the college student in me talking, but...I don't like the way the guy who wrote the article made so many judgements based on one graph. The survey method used to gather this information really isn't ...what's the word?...unbiased (?) enough to make the claims he made. I'd like to see a really good survey, conducted on a group of people over time, with a control group and good questions and stuff. (Oh look! A potential thesis topic!)

I feel like the anger there isn't necessarily directed at the interest in erotica, rather the fact that not enough furries seem to have the common sense to leave that part out when in public/inappropriate places.

There are people in our local fur group who have gotten FA blocked on a few public wifis because they're looking at graphic furry porn on their iPads at furmeets at Applebees and stuff, and I know a couple furs who don't usually to go to furmeets that gave it a shot a while ago and then made Facebook statuses about how disappointed they were at the newer active members, because several of the younger furs were just discussing their sexual escapades in great detail sitting right outside of Caribou during regular business hours when any random customer walking past could hear them. Heh, actually that same friend I was talking about in my last post is kind of a rude and crude guy not very well liked in our local group for good reason, and he frequently looks at porn on his iPad and like, zooms in on the naughty bits and tries to show it to me, and I've actually yelled at him and threatened to ban him from my house if he ever had that up on his iPad in my living room when my brother came downstairs. There are some places where that's just unacceptable.

And yeah, Furry Survey isn't the perfect source for furry statistics, but it's kinda the best we've got. It reaches only a fraction of the fandom, but it's the largest fraction so far, and most furs who don't do the survey aren't exactly going to be easy to reach by other means, either.

[Wintersnow Nook]

Piroshki

I feel like the anger there isn't necessarily directed at the interest in erotica, rather the fact that not enough furries seem to have the common sense to leave that part out when in public/inappropriate places.

There are people in our local fur group who have gotten FA blocked on a few public wifis because they're looking at graphic furry porn on their iPads at furmeets at Applebees and stuff, and I know a couple furs who don't usually to go to furmeets that gave it a shot a while ago and then made Facebook statuses about how disappointed they were at the newer active members, because several of the younger furs were just discussing their sexual escapades in great detail sitting right outside of Caribou during regular business hours when any random customer walking past could hear them. Heh, actually that same friend I was talking about in my last post is kind of a rude and crude guy not very well liked in our local group for good reason, and he frequently looks at porn on his iPad and like, zooms in on the naughty bits and tries to show it to me, and I've actually yelled at him and threatened to ban him from my house if he ever had that up on his iPad in my living room when my brother came downstairs. There are some places where that's just unacceptable.

And yeah, Furry Survey isn't the perfect source for furry statistics, but it's kinda the best we've got. It reaches only a fraction of the fandom, but it's the largest fraction so far, and most furs who don't do the survey aren't exactly going to be easy to reach by other means, either.

Yeah, I think that's probably the biggest problem in the furry community, there are a lot of socially awkward outcasts who lack a sense of self preservation when it comes to when and where acceptable is...

[Hiacinth]

Not to say that my personal experience is in any way a basis for generalization of the group as a whole, but I've come across a good amount of furs who go out of their way to make sure you know that they don't participate in furry erotica at all and despise people who do. Like the first sentence in their profile description is something like "I don't like furry porn at all so don't talk to me about it. If I find out you do like it, I'm unfriending you." Seeing this lead me to believe there's a sizable amount of people out there that dislike the fact that people like furry erotica, not just dislike people that take it to inappropriate places.