I WISH I WAS MY FURSONA IRL :V

[dinosaurdammit]

Well, most sheep live in pastures with other sheep, they don't really have to care how they smell or do anything to change it. Make that sheep an intelligent biped and stick him in a classroom or an office and suddenly he's got problems.

They'd have trouble with a computerized world on account of their vision, as well. They can see everything except what's right in front of their face. It's unclear how good their detail is. (They're absolutely fantastic at facial recognition, which would indicate a pretty good level of visual detail; but they can't tell the difference between a closed gate and a partially open gate until they're right up next to it or they see other sheep go through it, despite most of 'em living around gates their whole lives. It could be that their eyes pick up detail but their brain can't always interpret it.) They'd either have to do something like reading with one eye at a time, or if the detail is bad they'd need the kinds of aids that we give visually impaired humans. (Large text, screen readers, possibly braille, etc.,) They'd get along I'm sure, it wouldn't the issue that the smell is, but they'd have access issues the same way our visually impaired people do. Other ungulates would have similar problems.

You think you have problems- im a sergal. People would be wearing chastity belts in fear of me ;~;

Plus I would have to sit on the floor :/ Raz is like 8 foot three and 200+ pounds

[Cain]

I don't think that a snow leopard that has enough peregrine falcon genes to develop full wings would even be possible, but if so, Snow leopards are renowned for being specifically homofags.
And not to mention the heat.

[Evan of Phrygia]

Fennec wolf hybrid...hm. Not a likely appearance in nature either way...

If they existed, the only problem would be the shedding and the smell after say showering...

[Ad Hoc]

You think you have problems- im a sergal.

You think you have problems- sergals probably eat sheep.

:V

[DW_]

Plus I would have to sit on the floor :/ Raz is like 8 foot three and 200+ pounds

*joins the sitting-on-floor club*

seven-foot-six fursona. plus you could put your fist through my wings and i'd feel nothing. dunno how being a vampire would work, though.



:V

[Cult]

You think you have problems- im a sergal. People would be wearing chastity belts in fear of me ;~;

Plus I would have to sit on the floor :/ Raz is like 8 foot three and 200+ pounds

Probably more realisticly the goverment will hunt you down to disect you. Also, you would have to crouch, not sit.

[Littlerock]

You think you have problems- im a sergal. People would be wearing chastity belts in fear of me ;~;

Plus I would have to sit on the floor :/ Raz is like 8 foot three and 200+ pounds

You could stand upright comfortably in my living room :3c

[TreacleFox]

I wish I was my fursona OP.
How does that make you feel? :V

[Roose Hurro]

They'd have trouble with a computerized world on account of their vision, as well. They can see everything except what's right in front of their face. It's unclear how good their detail is. (They're absolutely fantastic at facial recognition, which would indicate a pretty good level of visual detail; but they can't tell the difference between a closed gate and a partially open gate until they're right up next to it or they see other sheep go through it, despite most of 'em living around gates their whole lives. It could be that their eyes pick up detail but their brain can't always interpret it.) They'd either have to do something like reading with one eye at a time, or if the detail is bad they'd need the kinds of aids that we give visually impaired humans. (Large text, screen readers, possibly braille, etc.,) They'd get along I'm sure, it wouldn't the issue that the smell is, but they'd have access issues the same way our visually impaired people do. Other ungulates would have similar problems.

Except for one thing: The whole concept of "humanizing" an animal is to give it human characteristics... like forward-facing eyes.

[buni]

I suppose for me it's a process of iteration. If you can have a self-identity that doesn't match your physical body in matters of sex, is it really such a far leap to apply the same process to species? Science fiction and fantasy stories abound that detail people becoming the Other (e.g., Avatar, Brother Bear, Beauty and the Beast, The Fly). Is it really surprising to find people who wish they could live in those worlds, experience those sensations? If we accept that someone who is genetically male can dream of bearing children--which I have and do--then is it really such a stretch to say that someone somewhere might dream of running on all fours, or of having fur? For that matter, why stop there? Furry as a fandom is fertile ground and has spawned entire genres of kinks that can't be physically acted out yet clearly excite people. What's the logic in accepting that somebody might get turned on by the fantasy of being swallowed alive, yet reject that somebody might want to actually physically become an anthropomorphic tiger?

As for the spiritual associations, many cultures have used animal symbolism to ascribe personality traits to people, anthropomorphizing animals and narratively connecting people to nature. The "modern Otherkin" usage may not be able to trace itself to any specific cultural heritage, but then, the adoption (or appropriation, depending on your view) of other cultural aspects is hardly a new phenomenon itself. If a person treats their totemic association as something religious, is it any more ridiculous than transubstantiation, the miracle of the Maccabees, or the Hindu milk miracle?

[SIX]

Don't you see a problem in relating 'virtual fetishes' to the process of becoming your fursona? It's easy to say 'I have a sexual attraction towards being swallowed', but the conclusion of your statement is really just 'so
I can conceive that someone exists who has a sexual attraction to becoming their fursona'.

I'm not too sure that sexualised impulses can really be compared to nonsexual rational desires.

[Abbi Normal]

First, I gotta say, I love dogs (notlike that). Dogs are the tops. Love playing with them, love walking them, love their expressive faces and silly, fun attitudes. I have a dog. My parents used to breed and train Belgian Tervurens for schutzhund competition (working trials for guard dogs, basically, if anyone's unfamiliar) and I was baby-sat as a kid by the mom-dogs and helped with puppies like they were younger siblings. I, too, find the musty, animal smell of a kennel or crate homey, nostalgic, and comforting.

That doesn't mean they don't stink. Soaking them down only makes it worse. In fact, one of their greatest talents is producing copious amounts of noxious fumes from both ends of their bodies and finding the most in-the-way place to sit they possibly could. It's just part of the whole dog package.

Meh. Nobody's perfect.

But more on topic, I definitely come down on the side of thinking that people who sincerely, genuinely, deeply want to anthro the world haven't really thought things through. And not just the lol no thumbs fur stinks kind of stuff. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow a puma, and went outside to discover your neighbor is now a deer...and looking just delicious. Within a week we'd have specialized law enforcement task-forces for lion-on-gazelle crime and roving street gangs of feral dogs and wolves. And if you wind up a female preying mantis, you'll die alone because everyone will be afraid you'll literally bite their head off, which you may or may not find your have the urge to do. Humans having animal-like minds would be even more impractical than having animal-like bodies.

This reminds me. In the Discworld book "Moving Pictures", there's a number of normal animals that suddenly gain full sentience. Needless to say, they were highly displeased with the situation: ""One minute I'm just another rabbit and happy about it, next minute whazaam, I'm thinking. That's a major drawback if you're looking for happiness as a rabbit, let me tell you. You want grass and sex, not thoughts like 'What's it all about, when you get right down to it?'""

[Greg]

i'm coming to admire dog smell as it reminds me of athenai.

no, i am NOT calling her a bitch. she owns a throwback labradoodle.

[Dragonfurry]

My fursona would be kinda cool to be, but not in this lifetime.

[SIX]

I wouldn't mind being my fursona, because being a nonsentient feral creature, I wouldn't have many emotional problems. Besides, canonically, I'd probably end up in a Pokéball and going on a grand adventure to fuck fight a bunch of Legendaries. Those things are cool.

[Greg]

from what the game implies pokémon are reincarnated people with full sentience, which is why some psychics can talk to them AND why pokémon do bad things for bad people, they suffer stockholm syndrome AND battered woman syndrome under abusive trainers.

[Ad Hoc]

I wouldn't mind being my fursona, because being a nonsentient feral creature, I wouldn't have many emotional problems. Besides, canonically, I'd probably end up in a Pokéball and going on a grand adventure to fuck fight a bunch of Legendaries. Those things are cool.

Statistically speaking, you would probably get boxed. Although, I suppose being half-starter would give you some help.

[Abbi Normal]

from what the game implies pokémon are reincarnated people with full sentience, which is why some psychics can talk to them AND why pokémon do bad things for bad people, they suffer stockholm syndrome AND battered woman syndrome under abusive trainers.

I once saw something pointing out how everyone in the Pokemon universe is either very young, very old, or female, and the world is filled with training facilities and hospitals but no schools and such, and they have all this advanced technology, but none of it is really in the civillian sector, and so on and so forth. The conclusion they drew is that the lands of Pokemon were recently involved in an extremely long and bloody war, and the games take place among the first generation living in peace.

I was positively gobsmacked at how perfect an argument it was.

Anyways, I haven't had anything to do with any pokemon outside the original 151 and first two games or so. Is the reincarnation actually explicitly stated in the games, or is it something fans like to think based on a few in-game things?

[Greg]

it's hinted at in game and their are many fan cries of NECROMANCY! Abra is a bloody good example of this. Also pokémon dungeon if you count that.

[Hakar Kerarmor]

Hey some species would be a legit pain in the ass. My sona is a sheep. Sheep smell like feta cheese, especially the males. Pretty faint in a barn or pasture but probably an issue in a crowded bus or classroom. They'd need to shower every day to get rid of the lanolin and aksjfkaj washing wool is such a pain in the ass, even when it's short.

Somewhere out there in the universe, at this moment, a group of anthropomorphic sheep are having a discussion on the Humanaffinity forums about the pain in the ass it would be to be a human.

You think you have problems- im a sergal. People would be wearing chastity belts in fear of me ;~;

Plus I would have to sit on the floor :/ Raz is like 8 foot three and 200+ pounds

lol @ northern sergals.

[dinosaurdammit]

lol @ northern sergals.

LOL not a northern or southern sergal :/

[buni]

Don't you see a problem in relating 'virtual fetishes' to the process of becoming your fursona? It's easy to say 'I have a sexual attraction towards being swallowed', but the conclusion of your statement is really just 'so I can conceive that someone exists who has a sexual attraction to becoming their fursona'.

Mostly I note it because I want to establish that the human mind is not limited to the here-and-now for its impulses. We can be moved to tears by a memory, excited by a story of an impossible situation, angered by something that never happened, or dream of something that could never be. The overlap between "what I need to be happy" and "what actually exists" doesn't have to overlap. Granted, the people for whom that is the case are generally miserable and don't last long, but they can exist. Fetishes and kinks are merely one expression of this fact. Sexual identity is merely the first step in a long line of possible explorations on this topic. The fact that we have a surgical solution to enable some degree of rearrangement of primary sexual characteristics is secondary to the fact that there exists some percentage of people in the world who think of themselves as being "the wrong sex." What did these people do before SRS became a medical reality? What do the people who can't afford it do? Most importantly, how will society react when the impediments to such a change are minimized?

Now apply to the new situation. We don't today have a medical means of "species transition," but that doesn't mean that we will never have such a means at our disposal. Positing that at some point we discover one, will we be forced to recognize "species dysmorphia" as a medical condition? And if so, what does that say of all the people today who claim to have such a condition without a cure? Even if we assume that we never find such a medical treatment, can we rightly say that no such condition is possible?

I'm not too sure that sexualised impulses can really be compared to nonsexual rational desires.

I've been through it. I'm not sure I would call my desire for SRS either nonsexual or rational. *grin*

[Eyal Flurry]

I must be, like, the only domestic species of deer here. I wanted to be an avian at one point but...

[Ozriel]

Fuck being a fuzzbutt, I want to be an Elf. A grumpy crack magic-addicted elf so I can be a smug asswipe! :V

[Evan of Phrygia]

I must be, like, the only domestic species of deer here. I wanted to be an avian at one point but...

Shoulda been an okapi :V