Furries

[Mollfie]

^ that's what I mean. I actually love learning about these sorts of things, I find it incredibly interesting. We all have interests that we're probably a little/very obsessed with, but hopefully we have enough respect for people to not run around shoving it down people's throats. Though obviously many people don't seem to understand this concept. I don't care what you (general you) do, just don't push in my face. However the same can be said with anything really, I equally don't want other peoples religions, politcal views, sex lives or their love of beef shoved etc in my face lol

Edited March 12, 2009 by Mollfie

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Me, I love anthro. Not exactly for the sexuality, although anything with curves like those on just about anything will get me hooked. Although I'm not really one for the fursuits, you won't EVER catch me in that unless its a school mascot suit. That's just not my thing.

I'm mainly in it because of the various ways to create a character by changing his species, and it's basically making a human out of an animal. I like the idea of giving human physiology to an animal like a fox or lion, and giving them their natural abilities they were born with in the wild, like a bipedal cheetah clocking speeds of 60 mph. It's just unique. And besides, who doesn't like to be an animal in the bed with their partner? Okay, that was a little TMI on my part.

But a somthing I figured out about our fandom is that the reason folks find the sexual side of the Furry Anthro fandom is simply because how their body is shaped in the same fashion as a human. Like any guy would think, this is what they're thinking when they see Anthro girls:

Hips, Breasts, Legs, Ass, and a cute face, and Anthro girls usually have it all. That's why folks are into the sexual side of it, and really there's nothing different between folks who do like it and folks who basically only like human girls. The tails and ears of an Anthro girl are added for extra cuteness.

They're not much different from any other person, they just want to bump it up another notch. But that doesn't mean they want to screw an actual dog, cat, horse, lion (unless its a death wish), fox, etc. Although there ARE folks who have that fetish, but I'm not delving into that area.

Here's a compare and contrast sketch by well known furry anthro artist, Jolly Jack (he hates the word "furry" by the way, and same here for me), showing what the fandom generally thinks is right and wrong:

Call me a fur fag if you want (it becomes a complement after a while), but ain't nothin' wrong wit that if you ask me.

But there is a line on how far to go, and there are some people who go off it's cliff.

Edited March 12, 2009 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Mollfie]

^ I love the guy that draws the last furry girl (not the cat though that's fucking hilarious XD)

I think it's more the fursuiting I find a bit weird...but then I don't like it when people even wear masks cos I hate not being able to see faces.

But yeah, like the art (by some artists) don't like the crazies lol

Same with anything though, I'm an anime/manga fan but I find the crazy fans to be just too weird, some are really scary.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Mollfie

[Dr. Mechano]

The tails and ears of an Anthro girl are added for extra cuteness.

However humanized they may be, CSS, they're still covered in hair. And that's just an impasse a lot of people, myself included, are repelled by. The "tails and ears added for mere cuteness" would be more reminiscent of an anime catgirl or something, which truly does have a purely human body with tacked-on extra features for decorative purposes.

I'm not challenging what you like, but just explaining why it's different. It's not as easily comparable to "humans with a few extra features" as you might think.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

However humanized they may be, CSS, they're still covered in hair.The "tails and ears added for mere cuteness" would be more reminiscent of an anime catgirl or something, which truly does have a purely human body with tacked-on extra features for decorative purposes.

Hey, a lot of people have a fur fetish even on humans ...either way it goes, the general thing they see is an hourglass shaped body, many folks wouldn't exactly care if it was a human, anthro, alien, demon, etc. It's all in the shape.

It's not as easily comparable to "humans with a few extra features" as you might think.

One could challenge that view, El Gran Gordo. You may it as more than "humans with a few extra features", others may see it otherwise, because they don't look at it in the same light as you do.

When they view anthro, that's exactly what they see it as, "humans with a few extra features". They're attrached by that sort of thing.

Also, I have a friend who dislikes furries, and is into Beastiality. Bet you've not seen that before ;].

How...ironic.

Edited March 12, 2009 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Blacklightning]

Here's an interesting point. Why do people (well, the ignorant ones anyway) assume furries are (at least partially) into Beastiality?

Maybe the same reason people assume all heavy metal artists worship the devil? The same reason people assume all grafitti artists are mindless anarchists? The same reason people assume all fans of violent first person games are likely to go on a school shooting rampage?

It's classical close-minded assumptions based on a bad minority. To some people it takes only one bad sheep to spoil a flock, and once you see a bad sheep you're not about to stick around to see the rest of the flock are you? You might bump into another for all you know. I can't blame them for thinking that way based on an unlucky first experience - it's when people persist in the belief that all x do y atrocity even when confronted with it otherwise that bother me.

[Chile]

I was exaggerating about the bestiality thing! I didn't say that all of them do that. I'm just saying that I don't like the very few who do.

This is what I said

I'm cool with furries, but not the "people who fuck dogs, really think they're animals, say furries are more oppressed than slaves, say 'closed-minded', etc. " type

Now where do you get that I think furries are into bestiality? I'm saying that there's a minority of furries I dislike. The majority are cool in my book. I even love the artwork.

Edited March 12, 2009 by STK

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

I was exaggerating about the bestiality thing! I didn't say that all of them do that. I'm just saying that I don't like the very few who do.

Now where do you get that I think furries are into bestiality? I'm saying that there's a minority of furries I dislike. The majority are cool in my book. I even love the artwork.

I don't think Siriku was talking about you....was he?

Edited March 12, 2009 by ChaosSupremeSonic

[Mick]

Yeah, I'm pretty much with STK on this one. The majority of furries are cool. But ya know the ones that go really really too far like they wanna do real live animals, that's a no-no.

[Flyboy Fox]

I'm not sure how bestiality even got mixed into this. It's an entirely different kettle of *cough* fish.

Bestiality is about animals, furry is about sentient humanoid beings. Regardless of whether you feel furries are human or other, it's still not even remotely the same as zoophilia.

[Mick]

Yeah, that's pretty much true Flyboy. Two totally different things that shouldn't really be mentioned in the same sentence.

[Johnny Sasaki]

I think of myself as a little bit of a furry because I have like these furry cat eat things and my girlfriend likes me act like a cat and stuff and I can't say I don't like it. But I could never see myself dressing up in like a full costume and doing stuff like that. I find that a bit weird but to each his own, you know. *doesn't have a problem with furries*

[edge.]

Two of my friends are furry addicts.

[Evil Sonic]

I have half a problem with them, just the costume-thing part not the others but people should not try to attack them because they don't like what they do.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Evil Sonic

[Mega]

I have nothing against the fandom. If people like that sort of thing, more power to them. How is it any different than being into anime or other fandoms? No matter where you look, every fandom has its extremes as well as its sane individuals. It just doesn't seem like a big deal to me. Frankly, it's just plain stupid to stereotype a fandom based on the extreme behavior of certain groups as is.

That being said, I am not a furry, but I do think that drawing nonhuman characters is a lot of fun. The features of animals I don't find attractive in a sexual sense, but you can use the traits of them to establish personality. You want a fierce character? Sharp teeth, narrow eyes, and a long snout can work wonders when designing cartoons. With that in mind, I really do prefer them to look less humany and more cartoonish, such as Mickey, Sonic, Digimon, Bugs Bunny, etc. For me, I just don't like seeing critters looking too human because that sort of takes away the effect when designing animal-like characters.

And for the record, I do try to draw humans as well. They have their own purposes when it comes to designs, but in a surreal setting I find that animal characters are great additions, particularly in cartoons, because of the features you can use to demonstrate elements of personality, and just the fun cartoony style.

Now, Gran Goro mentioned how species is/isn't important. To me, species isn't that huge of a factor, BUT... it does help or hurt in certain cases.

For example, Bowser, since he used that. Frankly, I find his personality great, but I don't think he'd be as appealing of a character if he were human because that takes away the fierce and beast-like appearance that makes him Bowser. Likewise, I wouldn't want to see Dr. Robotnik as an animal because it would just over complicate his design, and the human look works best with him.

Another example would be, well, just about any human in Kingdom Hearts. The human look works great with them because of the style of the game. Yes, there are Disney anthros, but for Square original characters to be anthros...well, usually it just looks odd to me. XD Unless they're just sentient animals like Red XIII, that's cool, but I wouldn't want to see Riku, Marluxia, Kairi, or any of them as anything but humans because it's just not necessary.

But honestly? Some characters I like are nonhuman because I think they look cool in many cases. For example, when I watch Digimon, I watch it for the Digimon. I admire the human characters, too, but I find V-mon, Guilmon, Tailmon (or Gatomon if you're into the dub, unlike me :, and others more unique because of the cool designs they have. Do I think they're attractive? No. .___. Cool? Adorable? Yes. But to me, the show is about the Digital Monsters just as much as the kids, otherwise you might as well just call it "Chosen Children".

All this tl;dr aside, I absolutely do not like the idea of sexualizing cartoons. At all. :/ Then again, I dislike porn in general (no offense to anyone here), but it's even worse when they take characters from kids shows such as Sonic, Digimon, Animaniacs, etc. I know people have their reasons, but it's a major squick to me. With human characters with less wacky proportions it doesn't bug me as much, but it's still noooot my thing. :c

But yeah. In short? I'm neutral on a lot of aspects, but think that cartoon animals (key word: cartoon) can be fun to draw/design. XD

Edited March 12, 2009 by Mega

[Thirsty Pocket]

I like to think that I am "Furry Lite" but truthfully, some of the characters I have likings for, could really shoot down that claim. I used to be just a generic Sonic furfag, but occasionally I find some other nice characters. Im just not into those overly realistic characters that bare to much resemblance to their real life animal counterparts.

I admit, I think most the furry artwork is grotesque, and should not see the light of day. And I think furries have low standards sometimes... as when you search for great characters who are popular with furries ( Tails and Krystal come to mind ) in any art website... you get flooded with tons of horrifying crap. Mostly poorly drawn. It's because furries will favorite just about any picture that contains something even remotely risque that contains that character. So the crap often hides the decent pictures ( or even the pictures that are not meant to appeal to furries... )

I draw my own furry artwork sometimes, yeah, but I am not particularly proud of it. But that goes for my "Clean" artwork too. I used to have a FA but I have not been there in some time, and honestly, the next time I go there, I am likely to shut it down. It's got nothing but terrible MS paint pictures anyways, from before I had a scanner.

I guess you could say I have a "fursona"... a rehashing of Rouge the bat, but male with blue hair. But I didn't create this character with the intention of it being a "fursona" or anything. Just another crappy fan character.

I wouldn't be caught dead at any conventions or anything like that. I'm just not that into it. I definitely don't want much to do with those who beleive they really are some kind of animal... It kind of annoys me that wolves and foxes and such are the most popular among the fans for some reason.

The thing that annoys me most about furries is the freaky lingo they invent.

I don't fly into a rage whenever I see your typical furry basher, but I do get annoyed. Especially when they confuse it for bestiality.

[LATER BUDDY]

I don't know what to call my case, D=.

You see, I love the art style and such of anthro-animals and the whole human characteristics bundled with them. However, I don't find anything that's sexual with them appealing. I'm completely fine with it and accept anyone who likes it with no problem, but I guess you can say it's just not my thing, ^^. Now, I'm not sure if things like Balto, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Lion King, and what have you are considered furries, but I have big obsessions with these kinda things. Something about the design and character really grabs me, =D. So yeah, I don't know what my stand point is for myself, but I do know that I think it's fine and cool for other people who are into them, =3. If someone would like to point me to the right door, that'd be coolio, 8D.

So I like pretty much everything about them, except in the use of sex really. Doesn't bug me, just not for me, XD.

-Blur

[Eileanach]

It's not all about finding anthro art sexually appealing that's only a small part of the fandom allegedly same as bestiality is only a minority.

I just like having a cute little mask to put on when I am online and hide behind the anonymity of a cutesy little fluffy things as opposed to a real life picture or a character whom everyone would know.

[Mollfie]

I've been wondering, what exactly makes you a furry?

As an example, I like some furry art (some) and I'll draw furry characters from time to time for fun when I'm bored. But I don't take part in the fandom, nor do I go into the sexual side of things, nor do I have any interest in fursuits or cons. Just like many others here.

So what makes you a furry? I've seen a few people here saying that they're a furry, or they're sort of a furry, or "furry lite" lol, so what is it that defines a furry?

Edited March 12, 2009 by Mollfie

[Tweaker]

I fapped to a picture of Tails once. Outside of that, though, I don't really consider myself a furry in any capacity; most of the aesthetic properties of the art I've seen seriously turns me off, and I can't particularly say I've ever felt a burning desire to wear a fursuit.

On the other hand, a bunch of the coolest people I know are furries, so I'd have to be a total dickcheese to judge anyone into that kind of stuff. If I bash a furry, it's because they have a bad personality; and if they had a bad personality, it wouldn't matter that they were a furry--I'd bash them anyway!

By the way, I just skipped the last 3 pages, so my bad if I'm stepping into the middle of a shitstorm here.

[Eileanach]

Mollfie I guess what makes you a furry is if you walk about saying "I am a furry" no one else can make you one it's a personal choice. Like no one can make you a Sonic fan, you either ARE or you're not.

[Dr. Mechano]

But that's exactly why I think the fandom is a constricting label. I'm capable of liking characters who happen to be bipedal animals without making that the focus of why I think said characters are cool. Because of that, I see no need to be part of a fandom which focuses specifically on the species aspect of the characters.

A lot of the characters I like happen to have mustaches- I'd go so far as to say the majority of them do. But I'd feel just silly starting a "Mustached Character Fandom" that focuses primarily on the presence of their facial hair. (I'm sure that if such a fandom ever was started, it would be targeted with "But Hitler had a mustache!" in the same way the furries are targeted with bestiality claims. I digress though.)

Edited March 12, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Eileanach]

Well El Gran Gordo, I agree I use a fluff-ball to represent me and I like looking at art of anthro animals (i.e. Disney Art or even just Sonic stuff) I'm not a furry, I don't focus on it but a lot of people jump to that conclusion.

Sad when you are labelled automatically for something.

[Mollfie]

Mollfie I guess what makes you a furry is if you walk about saying "I am a furry" no one else can make you one it's a personal choice. Like no one can make you a Sonic fan, you either ARE or you're not.

Yeah, I just wondered because I often wonder how people feel when others label them a furry when they just draw in that style, or only partake in a section of the fandom? If that makes sense. It must be really frustrating because...they're calling you something that you're not.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Mollfie

[Wyde]

I'm capable of liking characters who happen to be bipedal animals without making that the focus of why I think said characters are cool. Because of that, I see no need to be part of a fandom which focuses specifically on the species aspect of the characters.

Strangely enough, I find a lot of people in the fandom areas I frequent that I can't really solidly define as "furs". While yes, the fandom focuses on bipedal creatures with paws and whatnot, all sorts of other people with all sorts of varying interests are drawn into the fandom. I guessing it's pretty notorious for how...liberal it can be in certain respects, and almost acts as a beacon for people like, er, myself: Though in my case the fandom has simply managed to stay in my sphere of interests; getting into it in the first place was more curiosity than anything else.

I often wonder how people feel when others label them a furry when they...only partake in a section of the fandom?

Apologies, but a strange possible response popped up in my and I'm following it through.

Anyways. Does anyone think that'd count if someone was only into the fandom for the smut?

Again I apologise, but I couldn't resist.

Edited March 12, 2009 by Wyde