So in recent weeks I’ve learned that furries are a lot more shunned than I thought, and it’s one of those things like Bronies where it’s not the subject of their obsession but the enthusiasm they have for the subject of their fandom.
I grew up with Disney and Warner Brothers classics, read the Albedo comic anthology and a few others, but don’t see myself as a furry enthusiast (contrast my enthusiasm for late 20th century are we the real monsters? science fiction). Furry porn and furry-themed sex fantasies aren’t particularly my scene, but this is true for the majority of furries as well.
But our society has gotten weird about furries and anthros, which I guess became evident when the US right-wing started spreading the litter-boxes in schools canard. Curiously, in the porn media community, animal genital shapes are a controversy, and mainstream media platforms that sell furry porn will not allow for anthros with canine or equine genitals. I think VISA specifically will not allow transactions for such works, which is stunning interventionism both in its overreach and specificity.
And then some social media sites have special rules for furry content, that even SFW furry content can only appear inside furry-inclusive perimeters… unless it’s classical like Warner or Hanna Barbara. Wikipedia refuses to acknowledge Freefall (1998-present) one of the long-running fairly-hard-science-fiction webcomics (that gets into space-travel culture and robot culture), specifically because it has an anthro as a main character, more precisely, a genetically engineered wolf, next to a robot and a non-human trader.
It’s not that furries are weird. It’s that society is weird about furries.
I had an idea that the paws salute should become the official salute of the new resistance (since furries have been marked as a target for fascist enemy within rhetoric), but then trying to do some basic web searches, I couldn’t find a proper conventional name for the pose, nor easy-to-find art of it, even though I’ve seen the gesture made by catgirls often enough to know it’s a thing, and one of the salutes I might consider when standing before the firing squad.
In the last few years, I went from being resignedly a man to being enby, having become disgusted with how dudes obsessed with manhood have conducted themselves in our society. Before, I didn’t care that much, and my own notions of what it was to be a man turned into adulting in the 2010s (take care of business; make sure rent and utilities are paid; don’t do violence, especially when nuclear weapons are involved). Now men look like Matt Walsh and Donald Trump.
I’m not a furry or otherkin (yet), but considering how the furry community is among the untermenschen, I’m half-inclined to develop a fursona for sake of solidarity.
And I still think the paws salute should be the sign of the resistance.
Sorry, furries are weird and will continue to be weird. Not the people who watch furry porn or cosplay furries, but those that actually think their furries and act that lifestyle, or the new buzzword, “identify” as such. It is cringe and indicative of mental health issues.
I read somewhere that someone’s attitude to furries is a great litmus test for how tolerant that person actually is (assuming that person isn’t a furry, of course). I’ve always found myself mildly confused by furries (and I used to be somewhat weirded out because I mainly knew of furries because a friend bought a house from drawing furry porn). Hearing the litmus test thing helped me to chill out a bunch and recognise that seeing lots of furries in and adjacent to my community was a sign of a healthy social ecosystem, so to speak
I don’t understand them. I doubt I ever will. But I know I do not hate them. They’re doing nothing wrong, hurting no one, leave em be. Simple.
SFW furry? There’s kinda no such thing.
If it’s identifiably furry then it tells me something about you and your sexual preferences that I didn’t want to know. The same if you had a Bad Dragon sticker or an Ahegao sweatshirt. Just because it doesn’t have explicit nudity doesn’t mean it’s not sexual and doesn’t mean it’s appropriate.
Y’all want to do things anonymously on the internet, great. Y’all want to have conferences or get together in spaces that support that, also great. You should absolutely have those spaces. But so many furries that I’ve met overshare about it. Don’t use your fursona as your work profile pic. Don’t tell me you’re a furry when I didn’t ask anything remotely related. Don’t openly thirst over Judy Hopps. Ain’t nobody going around saying “I like tentacles and I’m proud of it” - take a note.
I like Dusk: an elysian tail. Its a nice game with fun mechanics. And is a SFW furry game, just the people its animal like.
SFW furry? There’s kinda no such thing.
You realize that you’re the one sexualizing them, right?
There absolutely are people who have a fursona or participate in the fandom in completely SFW ways. A fursona tells you exactly nothing about their sexual preferences. Honestly you sound exactly like homophobes insisting that two boys holding hands is obscene. Just because you equate a fursona with sex doesn’t mean that every furry thinks the same way.
Your point comparing furry haters to homophobes struck true to me. I don’t know much about furries, but I live in the home of anthrocon and the annual furry parade is one of the most wholesome things this city has. Families and kids love to see all the costumes, and furries are some of the nicest folks I’ve met. I’m always a bit taken aback when people call them perverts - it seems like a harmless hobby to me.
From Wikipedia:
Another survey at a furry convention in 2013 found that 96.3% of male furry respondents reported viewing furry pornography, compared with 78.3% of females.
I don’t have an issue with gay people. I don’t have an issue with anybody existing or being who they are. I have an issue with repeatedly learning sexual things I didn’t want to know about people, which has happened multiple times with furries specifically. Maybe I’ve been unlucky or something, but my experience has been that furries far more than other groups overshare and don’t respect reasonable boundaries around this.
People who read a lot of books often enjoy the occasional smut. People who watch anime are probably more likely to watch hentai. It’s not really surprising that people’s passions and hobbies leak into their choice of pornography.
What in the useless statistics Batman? So because a large percentage of people who identify as furries have viewed (not actively view, not prefer, quite simply have viewed) furry pornography, the entire furry community must be a sex thing? That misses more than a few possibilities. Fuck, I’ve seen gay porn, and I’m not gay. As far as “learning something sexual about someone”, unless you’re calling learning someone has a fursona learning something sexual about them, this whole thing is a non-sequiter based entirely on anecdotal experience.
What about people proudly showing things like this: 🏳️🌈
Please. I’d rather not learn anything sexual about a person.
/S
Sure. Lots of people do that as allies too and it’s just a flag.
Now say you did a rainbow flag shaped like a penis - that I would take some issue with.
Yes, furries seem to be the new group everyone is ready to hate no matter the political inclination. Gays are accepted more and more, trans people are far from safe, but at least have allies, furries seem to be the easiest target now. I need to learn the paws salute.
Please don’t compare your love for cartoon animals to being lgbt
Wow, bigoted much?
Why? If someone’s identity as a furry is as much a part of them as your identity as gay, or for that matter, Marcus’ identity as black, isn’t it similar enough a violation that society deems you can’t be that and be a full equal?
This, to me, is the problem. Mystique shouldn’t have to hide her mutant status even though she could.
Disney adult ass reply
While furries aren’t a marginalized group, 99% of furry hate is a proxy for queerphobia and ableism, the criticisms are almost 1:1 with the shit those same people say about queer and autistic folk.
Tbf, furries are ⅔ LGBT.
There’s research on that. Thanks, Canadian goverment.
That can be true at the same time as “being a furry doesn’t make you an at risk minority”
I see a huge potential for them to become an at risk minority. Why shouldn’t I defend a group that I think is innocent and under threat? I don’t want them to be next. Bullying of groups of people who do no harm, just want to express themselves in their own way, makes me sick.
Because being a furry is a hobby, engaging in a hobby doesn’t make you a minority.
No matter what happens, you can always stop looking at cartoon animals on the internet, can’t really stop being gay or trans.
Are we gatekeeping being rejected now?
Let’s not tolerate narrowing the spectrum of ways people can enjoy their lives. That’s what totalitarian regimes do. They prohibit this and prohibit that, and in the end, you are only allowed to watch the approved movies, listen to the approved music and wear the approved clothes. You can stop expressing yourself, you can stop engaging in your hobbies, you can stop living the way you want to live, you can survive. But it sucks all happiness from your life.
I hella want the coins. 😩
All countries need official fursonas; can’t change my mind.
Hungary should have the mangalica, it’s a furry pig, and it fits sooo well.
🇩🇪: German Sheppard (obviously)
I agree with that, at the very least more countries should have them.
All countries need official moës as well. If not, moës will be made for them.
Moldova=sheep/goat
It’s called a national animal
Nope. Animals aren’t fursonas. A fox fursona isn’t a fox. Fursonas are anthropomorphic.
Let’s just anthropomorphize the animals then
Oh yes!
Your mom is anthropomorphic
You’re not wrong…
FYI: anthropomorphic just means it has human-like qualities of any kind. It can still be a regular looking animal and talk like, or behave like a human to be anthropomorphic.
Bizarrely, I had never heard of this before, and I am Australian. So maybe it was released, but maybe quietly swept under the rug?
I’m in the same boat as you
What’s wrong with having a furry mascot exactly? I mean the Japanese Air force had a furry mascot for one of their bases, not only is he a furry but also a femboy. His name is Omaneko (おまねこ)
Omaneko images
Google’s translation of the text in the first pic:
Motif: Omaezaki City’s tourist attraction “Nekozuka”
A member of the 1st Nyanya Police Force. He is currently stationed at the base because he wants to play with the radar dome.
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Height is 176cm or 40m. Good at sports but not good at water.
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It is male
Is that tall? I like it more now
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not only is he a furry but also a femboy
Are you sure it isn’t the navy?
Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF)
Yeah I’m sure about that.
I love him 😍
He is very cute.
I remember when this happened, and I remember that post on particular from the artist. I’m not certain they swept it under the rug on purpose, but we certainly haven’t seen them since.
Side note, the Paralympics mascot is fine and I’m only a little bit fur-curious, lol.
This has such MSI “there will be no bad dragons on my watch” vibes.
Weird. A real thing that somehow made it through every level… This is truly a remarkable example of the Swiss cheese model in action.
I give you, an eBay listing: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/314945286881
Why would it be a hazard or remarkable or even something special that it “made through”… It’s just a mascot, and a good one as well
TIL Swiss cheese model
I don’t see why any level would go “Oh furries are going to love this, and we can’t have that” and change the design.
How many NBA mascots would lose their jobs if we were all so uptight about shit like this?
This guy is safe
If I’m put in charge, that guy is the first to go.
I feel unsafe looking at that picture.
Displaying that mascot qualifies as large scale mental abuse.
Agreed, @sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works would be best if you wrap that image in a spoiler.
The girl looks uncomfortable being next to it too
Giant zombie baby from Dead Alive?
Based on the photos of the mascots, there’s no way they didn’t hire a furry to draw those.
It’s funny how it’s so distinctly “furry” over just “animal mascot” but I can’t put my finger on the details that make it so
$50 all in w/ shipping to the US‽
Jesus take the wheel I’m about to make some poor financial decisions
Lizard kinda cute tho 👀
That’s Lizzie! She’s adorable!!
She’s the Paralympics mascot, and a frilled lizard! Her frill is shaped like Australia!
Does nobody remember Animalympics? I watched that up and down as a kid! Interspersed with Disnep’s Robin Hood.
Bravo. The long con. Masterfully executed.
Those poor innocent feet
Speaking of no accidents: “innocent soles”, a bone apple tea or done on purpose 🤔
Heh…
what…
Jelly
oh shit, i see now. says John but this is a photograph of Paul McCartney. also its difficult to get jelly in the uk
