Public Furry or Private Furry (in RL)?

[Pomander]

Besides wearing a con T-shirt occasionally, you would never guess that I was a furry if you met me in real life.

Some of my real life friends figured it out, and didn't care.

Although the most interesting exchange I got into was with one of my friend's dad:
Him: "Further Confusion? Is everyone there confused?"
Me: "Yeah, pretty much."
Him: "People in general or just the people around here?"
Me: "Actually, this event was in San Jose, California."
Him: "Ah, say no more."

Hahahaha, oh man. That's far more amusing than the usual CSI-influenced response.


As for myself, I'm a pretty private person overall, so naturally I'm not shoving my interest in furry in the public's eye. Around the house though I don't care if company sees my art (well, save for family members seeing the porn.. if they find it online by searching that'll be their own problem, but I'm not going to share it first, haha) or the few furry pictures I have hanging up in my work area. In short, pretty neutral about it.

 

[eevachu]

PSH. Like anyone in Toronto knows/cares what a furry is. They're more concerned whether I'm one of those "otaku" freaks.

Which of course I am. xD

 

[pheonix]

I keep this under raps in RL. new to the internet thing really like it. finally have people to talk to about it.

 

[tacticalsnake]

Well.
I'm both public and private. I chose option number 2.
You see, everyone I know knows I'm a furry. At least, if they know what that is. Otherwise they just think I'm way into animal people. I got away with drawing only furries in my classes at the university since I didn't want to get yelled at for drawing things too anime if I drew a human. (Well, except for exactly 2 projects, where I actually made the characters human. But that's out of every other project I'd done, so.)

I've been known to draw furry art (and porn) in public spaces. I don't really care who sees it. If I want to draw, I'm going to draw.
Even though I know there's a stigma about it in the anime fandom, I don't even hide my furry works at anime conventions. I know there's people who don't mind and furries there at those cons, so I keep it out. :3

My parents know I'm a furry. Even if they think I go to Fuzzy conventions. My friends all know. They better know. I've even converted a few of them over to the fur-side. >

On the other hand.
If I feel it's inappropriate for someone to know, then I keep it all very hush hush. This mostly applies to me keeping it very secret what my handle is in relation to my real name. Which probably is just sensible, really.

 

[kidsune]

Back where i used to live, i knew a lot of friends back from school. Only a select few knew about me being furry/gay. Then Uni came around and I was a lot more open, but i still kept it kinda private. after i left Uni, though, the only real friends i had left were all furries themselves, so i was able to be a bit more free. Now that i've moved state, every single person i know here is a fur, and i can act and look the way i want without the fear of meeting someone i know at an awkward moment. So, atm, i'm very much a public fur. Wearing a collar in public and, when I get one again, a tail as well ^_^

 

[Rayne]

I'm not a public furry per-se, but I have no problem discussing it with someone else provided that they bring the subject up and I don't absolutely hate their guts.

 

[Charlie_Kitsune]

People see that i draw furry, but they think it's rather something Cartoony x3

 

[lafeel]

Pretty quiet about it, mostly due to the almost complete and utter lack of furry community around here.

 

[runner]

im private but i might go to an antho con and one of my friends is trying to get me in to fursuiting and my girl friend who is semi furry

 

[Monarq]

I'm pretty private about it. Occasionally I'll quote something or throw some furry terms into conversation. No one ever picks up on it.

 

[ToeClaws]

I am pretty private about being furry/scalie. Apart from my many Godzilla, dinosaur or other little models on my desk, there are no other outward showings of it. That's also another reason you won't see a mugshot of me on here - I believe in keeping my furry presence and real life completely unlinked.

That stems largely from an awareness of security and information concerns over the use of the Net to gather information about someone. If anyone knew my real name and/or saw pictures of me related to being a fur, then the connection is made. Not that it's a bad connection or anything, it's just that someone has now discovered something about me that I consider to be private and something that I would only be willing to share in person if I knew them well and trusted them to know.

I also know that, like anything, it can also work against you. If you're applying for a new job and the manager or HR person is the least bit tech-savvy, they're going to look you up on the Net, and if they find anything like you being a furry, it could work against you big time in getting employed. I know, legally it should not matter, but employers really don't care about non-discrimination laws, and it doesn't take long to Google someone's name.

So, in the fandom, I share my art and stories willingly with everyone, but in real life, I share the furry side with a very select few. Maybe I'm just getting paranoid in my old age.

 

[mukichan]

I'm still debating on whether or not my parents know what "furries" is... xD lol

 

[Lost]

All of my college buds know and that's only because they called me out after browsing my comp XP but after them its been easier to tell people who would care.

 

[Sequester]

Eh... I wouldn't say I'm -public- about it but I don't aim to hide it either. I mean I don't go around telling people I'm a furry, but I draw furry stuff and wear certain furry accessories when I feel like it and just sort of act like myself, and if people ask about it, I won't hide it. My parents don't even know (or care) what furry is-- my mom sometimes refers to my "wanting to be a cat thing" but I've always been their oddball child so they're used to it by now.

 

[Warrigal]

I dont care if people find out that l am a furry as they normally dont care BUT a few friends love to howl at me now ^_^ (they not furries)

 

[xiath]

hmm... idk now... is wearing a dog collar w/dogtag drawing particular attention to it? if not my original pull stands (ie, public but not bringing any particular attention to it)

 

[Project_X]

If they catch/ask me, i'll tell. Otherwise they will never know.

 

[FacelessScribe]

Whenever I have a chance to make a new friend or even my coworkers I tell them I am fuury. If they can not accpet that then they are not the type of people that I wish to know. I've even helped a few people find out that they were furry in the first place.

 

[Vesuro]

I'm pretty open about it, don't give a shit who knows.

 

[Nargle]

Only my close friends and family really know. So I said rather private. I do run around the house in a tail sometimes, though =D

I actually don't like sharing my interests with strangers period. IRL, that is. People are way too judgmental, so I don't go around openly expressing any of my interests... It's not like they need to know, anyways. Online forums and stuff are different, though. Everybody here is gathered because they have a common interest. So I don't have to worry about anybody shooting me down.

And yes, I know people always say "What does it matter what other people think?" Well, it doesn't necessarily matter at all. It's just, since I'm a senior in highschool, people can still get downright MEAN. I've had people be violent and persistently rude to me, for no other reason then they don't like how I look or something. I've just been burned too many times, and I've found the best way to avoid conflict is to stay completely neutral.

 

[Monarq]

And yes, I know people always say "What does it matter what other people think?" Well, it doesn't necessarily matter at all. It's just, since I'm a senior in highschool, people can still get downright MEAN. I've had people be violent and persistently rude to me, for no other reason then they don't like how I look or something. I've just been burned too many times, and I've found the best way to avoid conflict is to stay completely neutral.

I know the feeling.

 

[Charkonian]

Neutral. Common sense.

 

[Nylak]

I'm private. If one of my friends walks up to me and asks, "Hey, are you actually a furry?", (it happens, since they've seen my art), I'm quick to say "Hellz no." XD But if another furry that I meet IRL figures it out (already happened three times; is there such a thing as furry radar?), I'm fine with it. *shrugs.*

 

[MaxRaine]

I'm quite neutral I think...
I mean, if people come over and see all the stuff lying around and are able to figure out the simple math: 'Loads of anthro drawings' + 'Me referring to myself as a fox' = 'Me being Furry' then I'm busted and I couldn't care less... (I'm sure three of my friends would know it if they knew about the term, furries are that common around here =P ) But I don't randomly bring it up in conversation or anything =P

 

[Lucky_White]

I don't want people to be reminded of me every time they see an animal.