"Furry"

[Kiniel]

Hmm, this has bothered me for a while now. I was going to just post it in the general discussion place, but since it's something "bother"-worthy, I figured it belonged here.

I see a lot of questions on the internet directed at various people (specifically, many webcomics featuring anthos have this somewhere in the faq): "are you a furry?" In most cases, there's no yes or no answer, and the person gives some roundabout answer. Frankly, though, I have no idea how to answer that either.

My original working definition of "furry" was someone who idenitifies with/is interesting in/is attracted to anthropomorphic characters and associated fiction/artwork (that includes the lizards and birds, etc.). In that working definition, I definitely fit the definition (and happy in all my feline glory). What I find mostly, though, is that a lot of the random online people (both associated with the fandom or otherwise) reserve "furry" for the real, hardcore lifestylers and yiffy fiction/artwork exclusively, in which case, I would certainly not fit the definition.

This is a really random post at this point, but I'm legitimately interested to see what the general consensus seems to be. (I apologize for any illegibility or partial lack of point in this... I'm getting tired...)

[Rilvor]

opps nvm just saw the poll *facepaws*

[Rilvor]

While to me Furry is anyone who loves anthropormic characters/artwork, lifestylers and/or yiff art/artists, ect.( not going to list them all) its like it seems to be with the definition of it, there really isn't a definition for "Furry" its what you make it to be for yourself. What one considers enough to call oneself a furry may be completely different for another. There really is no thing that labels you furry, you can only be one if you choose to be really, regardless of your interests, even though I personally think if you are into Anthro characters,artwork, or the like you've got some furryness in you.

[Vegex]

When I think furry I think of over-weight, bald men and sexual molestors.....

I dunno, the ones who make a lifestyle out of it kinda creep me out

[Orlith Nemeth]

I think furry is all inclusive (suits, art, artis, artlooker-aters, fursonas, rp, yiff...whatever)

[Icarus]

duh, when the trolls say "fuhrries" it means those who make a lifestyle out of a fetish and those who take the internet seriously.

[capthavoc123]

I think of the lifestylers now.

I certainly don't want to be known as "furry" anymore.

[Sulacoyote]

I always liked animal-head people, but I think I was only really a 'furry' when I started finding the idea of it to be sexy.

[Jelly]

*barf*

I don't really find anthropomorphics all that sexy, I do think when they appear sexy or having sex it is entertaining/comical.

I still self-identify as furry scum. I love cartoons, but I prefer when they're aminal-d00ds (and this is why, i is a furrys). I also has fursona. :3 It just seems like you can do much more outrageous stuff with some of them. Then again, they also seem to be a priority in some of my favorite cartoons when I was a young'un. It also doesn't help that the shit-heap H-B style of humans really started spreading with Scooby-Doo copies.

Tex Avery was always my favorite (and his/Preston Blair's [Bluth, too] humans were definitely neato, but H-B KKKorean Dooby-Doo shit definitely tainted the waters).

[raptorbator]

I personally think that furry should refer to the kinky side alone.

Regardless of what the word was originally meant to mean, in the minds of a great number of the public it has sexual connotations. Also, the non-sexual definition is quite broad. If a love of anthropomorphic characters is all that is required, a lot of kids could be called furries. Similarly, I have several friends that are about my age who just think the Lion King is a really cool movie, and have all the songs memorised. When I told them I was a furry, they had no idea what the word meant.

It is great to be inclusive, but whittling down definitions to near universality reduces their usefulness.

Also, allowing the definition to be so broad offends some people who don't wish to associate themselves with the sexual side of our (my?) obsession. All in all I think "furry" as an interest in erotic aspects of anthropomorphic characters is a more useful definition.

[Unbrokenkarma]

General consensus is *drum roll please.....* There is no general consensus!

I see people who say that they like animal cartoons and so claim to be furry, and I've seen people who draw anthro's doing the ol' carpet aardvark who jump up and down claiming they aren't furry. If I talk to a furry, I only class them as that if that's how they explain themselves.

I call myself furry, but then I'm no life-styler, not into suiting, not into yiff, only the better anthro's catch me as being interesting. I love the fursona, I love being able to use said fursona in art and writing as a representation of me/people.

There's my two cents - you gotta ask everyone of us individually, cause we're difficult that way

[dave hyena]

I wonder if Sci-fi/Fantasy with it's "Fandom is a way of life" (According to wikipedia anyway) people had/have all these meta-debates about the meaning of Sci-fi/fantasy fandom and what exactly was a Sci-fi/Fantasy fan? etc.

Fandoms sure love their meta-debates, that is for sure.

I like the concept and design of anthromorphic animals and media featuring the aforementioned, A furry fan.

If there were three paintings, all of equal quality and composition etc, depicting some beings talking in bar (but a space bar in space in the future in space) for example. If A has furries alone, B humans alone and C humans and furries, I would consider C to be the most worthy in mine eyes.

[net-cat]

I guess there's truth to what a friend of mine said...

"If you ask 50 people what 'furry' is, you'll get 65 different answers."

[Leahtaur]

I'd like to answer your poll, but I can't. XD To me, you're furry if you say you are, and that's it. I have friends in this fandom, and I'm obviously on a furry forum. I draw the "yiff" (ugh, I hate that word, lol), and I may even make it to a con someday.

But I don't consider myself a furry. I like human and furry art pretty much equally; to me it's about quality only, not subject matter (well, sure I have things I like to see, but I mean I don't prefer either genre). In my own definition, most people who are furries tend to like furry subject matter OVER other subject matters, not equally or slightly less than say, (human) anime. I kind of find it lame when I hear furries going "oh ma gaaaawd, we need more furry cartoons/games/movies! I'm so sick of the hyoooomans!" Dude, you are human. Get over it. :P

[Aikon]

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. So here's my opinion :

I don't consider myself a furry but others here do and that's fine. Yet, outside these walls no one's ever come up to me and said "OMG are you a furry?" because I don't wear all my interests on my sleeve like others (here, and abroad) do. I don't care what people on this board think of me (as a furry or not), I just don't want to be associated with the fandom when I log off the internet.

[Silverdragon00]

I think furry is the lifestylers/fetishes that the fandom seems to be so well known for. I look at anthro art from time to time, but I don't consider myself "furry".

[Bloodangel]

I can't pick one. There's too much gray there for me. I mean, I call myself furry 'cause I like the artwork and think fursuits are kinda cute to look at. I wouldn't wear one though. Someone else might feel the same, but not call themselves a furry and I wouldn't argue with them. It's an all covering blanket term for all the parts really. Like how this site can be classed as "Internet", but there's lots of other things that go under "Internet" too.

[Darksilver]

I voted the first. I think yiff is just something that exists in the fandom thing but not every furry likes o.o
I consider myself to be a furry because I like anthro/feral/were art, among other stuff >_>

[Purplecat]

When I think furry I think of over-weight, bald men and sexual molestors.....

I dunno, the ones who make a lifestyle out of it kinda creep me out

Hey, not all of us overweight are bald and sexual molesters.

Well, it depends on my mood. Furry is just a internet slang for anthropomorphic characters. Characters with humanlike anatomy (as the word anthro stands for human).

Having a fandom as a way of life is stupid though... I do consider myself in the way that I have fursonas, like furry art, but I don't wear a tail in public or think I have a cats soul or whatever. :S

[DarkMeW]

I find the whole argument of because you like anthro art or have looked a furry art, so there for you are a 'furry' incredibly stupid and some what hostile. The 'furry' subculture sucks everything around it a declares that it's furry. Having anything anthro declared as furry is incredibly offensive a lot of the times. There has been anthro artwork in cultures long before there was ever anything resembling a 'furry' subculture, yet now I've found that often the 'furrys' will even include Native American artwork as 'furry' and frankly any other similar artwork as 'furry'. 'Furrys' is and ONLY is a self identification towards a fandom or lifestyle. Declaring a person 'furry' just for like, viewing, or being anywhere near all the crap that is sucked into the 'furry' fandom is just spiting in their face and anyone who does that is just a horrible person, no exceptions.**

[Wolf-Bone]

I agree with DarkMeW, and I see it as nothing more than a cheap attempt at trying to make furry seem more mainstream and culturally established than it is. It's not fooling anybody.

[shetira]

Given the current connotation of the word "furry", I tend to think of it as referring to lifestylers/die-hard anthro-art types (though not particularly yiffy), but that's just me.

[Wolfblade]

Meh...

Attitudes change fast. It kinda sucks to see people limit the definition of Furry to the most undersirable elements. That's a development that's only come around in the last few years. The more people are involved with the fandom without much actual attraction or interest in it, the more that trend seems to grow.

Whenever I first found the fandom, if you liked anthros you were furry if you wanted to be. That was all it took really, and you were welcome to join the club and all that jazz. Everything beyond "I like anthros" was kept where it should be, as part of each individual's interests, and not inextricably attached to the fandom itself. Nowadays you see so many people with their own version of "This is what Furry is." It used to be that people would just say "this is what Furry means to me," and relating what connection it had to their own life as opposed to trying to say how they define it when applying it to other people.

I find the whole argument of because you like anthro art or have looked a furry art, so there for you are a 'furry' incredibly stupid and some what hostile. The 'furry' subculture sucks everything around it a declares that it's furry. Having anything anthro declared as furry is incredibly offensive a lot of the times. There has been anthro artwork in cultures long before there was ever anything resembling a 'furry' subculture, yet now I've found that often the 'furrys' will even include Native American artwork as 'furry' and frankly any other similar artwork as 'furry'. 'Furrys' is and ONLY is a self identification towards a fandom or lifestyle. Declaring a person 'furry' just for like, viewing, or being anywhere near all the crap that is sucked into the 'furry' fandom is just spiting in their face and anyone who does that is just a horrible person, no exceptions.

No more hostile than the growing insistence that "Furry" only be applied to the worst aspects of the fandom.

What I don't particularly understand is why people who are so deeply offended by the remotest association with furry have such a problem disassociating themselves from it. Like, why be around furry if you're not into it? It just feels to me like an atheist going to a Bible Retreat just to tell everyone there how wrong or stupid they are. What's the point? :

I guess there's truth to what a friend of mine said...

"If you ask 50 people what 'furry' is, you'll get 65 different answers."

QFT.

[Rilvor]

hmmm...I agree with Wolfblade, but perhaps using atheists and Bible Retreat was a bad example :P Knowing FA, thats going to probably turn into some kind of debate

I agree though, you're furry if you want to be.

[Bokracroc]

If you haven't done something like this, you're not Furry in my eyes.