As an inexperienced blogger, I decided to begin my 'blogging experience' with a post about a group of people I have come to affiliate myself with a great deal, yet have managed to maintain a safe distance from in terms of joining into their 'lifestyle'.
**All art above is copyrighted to their respective creators. I do not claim ownership for any of the above images.
These people are known predominately as the 'Furries'. This fairly recent, and perhaps only about two decades old fandom has become on of the largest online and offline communities, without the assistance of any form of corporation or government promotion. To give an overview to those whom are unfamiliar with the furry fandom, 'furries' are traditionally and generally animal enthusiasts, whom in some sense wish to embody part of their personality or even their entire personality in the form of an anthropomorphic character. I.E. An animal with human-like traits, such as walking upright, human figures, human speech capabilities, etc. For the most part, the furries keep mostly to themselves and each other, and do not usually pursue Evangelical lifestyle to spread their ideas.
A Basic Overview
Unfortunately, very early on, the 'furry pioneers' had caused a great deal of negative assumptions about the community as a whole. This is due mainly to the fandom being primarily a fetish to the 'early furries', which quickly associated non-furries with the idea that to be a furry, is to have some sort of fur-related fetish. While this may have been somewhat true in the early days of the fandom, it must be understood that times have in fact changed, and the fandom is quite hardly associated with sexual affiliations and fetishes. Rather, it has become a vast, and very generic term applied to too wide a range of people. It is difficult to provide an accurate definition for a furry, as there are several different 'levels' and variations of being a furry. While its unfair to say that no furries are 'in it for the sex', (as there is of course a small portion of the community still interested in sex-related aspects of anthropomorphism) it can be assumed that majority of furries are on a minor level, and are minor level of animal appreciation, and merely wish to express their personal admiration for the beauty or strength of an animal, or to help reveal the 'animal within' themselves (similar rituals were preformed by the Native Americans, whom would align themselves with a spirit animal, or would wear the skin of an animal in order to embody the animal's strength).
Fursuiting
While its uncommon today for furries to go out and hunt a bear and wear its skin to embody their 'inner animal' (as most furries generally have an acute appreciation and love of animals, and seem to have an inclination to taboo animal hunting / taxidermy), their is a small portion of furries that practice 'fursuiting'. This is simply the act of donning a (usually commissioned and custom) fursuit of the furry's personal character, and acting as their character would in a public setting (usually during furry conventions). Though fursuiters are generally a small population in the fandom, they are generally the embodiment of the fandom to outsiders, and are generally what gives the fandom its bizarre appearance.
** An example of a fursuit parade at a furry convention **
One of the most misunderstood assumptions about the act of fursuiting is the myth that furries only create fursuits to use them in 'furry sex'. While this myth is probably not untrue in some cases, for the most part it is completely false. Fursuits are heavy, hot, and and require a lot of skill to wear. To attempt to commit sexual activity while wearing a fursuit would most likely be similar to attempting to do so while wearing a sofa. In addition, to assume that all of these extremely expensive and difficult to craft suits are being used simply for sexual acts is an utter hyperbole, as many fursuit artists pursue the craft strictly for the creative experience (This is the same as assuming that every painter only paints pornography, which is quite obviously untrue.).
Examples of some prodigy fursuit artists:
Beetlecat: http://www.beetlecatoriginals.com/
Beastcub: http://www.beastcub.com/
Clockwork Creature: http://www.clockworkcreature.com/
(These are just some examples of many very talented artists in this craft, all of which generally pursue the art purely for its artistic and monetary rewards)
Closing - A Personal Outlook of Furries
Overall, my experience with the furry fandom has been one of positive nature. I have found this community to be one of the kindest, and least judgmental groups of people I have ever affiliated myself with. A possible reason for this is most likely due to the furries being some the most diverse, and sometimes some of the most socially awkward people. It may be judgmental to assume, but it very rarely appears that furries are the 'high school jocks', or the 'popular cheerleaders'. Instead, they are generally the quiet and occasionally socially awkward people not generally seen as the prom queen or elected 'most athletic'. This is most likely due to furries having a different outlook on life, usually driven towards a more enlightened or non-humanistic view of life (Perhaps one dedicated to a passion of animals rather than a humanly-dominated view of the world). Though this judgement may be unfair, and of course cannot apply to all furries, in my time of observation, these are the trends most commonly followed.
As time goes on, I will most likely add more to this post, but for now, I figure this is enough to give any person whom is unfamiliar with furries a look into the anthropomorphic lifestyle.
A surprisingly well written post about a group that has received much flak over the past few years. I find it admirable that you chose to write such an article despite the negative view cast on furries. Unfortunately, it is uncommon to find someone who would write something so elegant about a people look down upon in our society. It is easy to look toward the hateful comments of today's forums, but instead I hope people look here for an example of a "good writing". I very much look forward to your next entries. -Phydoof
ReplyDeleteP.S. I find the best way to deal with a member of the "furries" is to KILL IT WITH FIRE!