[Wargamer]

Oh yes, the big battle of Geekdom has come forth!


As someone who hangs around at the entrance hall of the Furry Fandom, I have often found it inexplicable why Furries seem to get such hate. To satisfy my own curiosity, I've decided to open this thread and get people to explain why they think the Furs are such open targets.

While I'm at it, I'll try and pre-empt some of the likely choices:

Furry is sick / weird!
But claiming your a Level 34 Dark Elf Soul-cutter with a +2 Confounding War Mace is normal? How about being a fat, ugly loser who works at MacDonalds yet seems to think he knows more about Football than David Beckham and every Referee on the planet combined?

Lots of people do very sad things. Better reason is needed.


Furries believe they're animals!
Most people believe some guy in a toga who lives on a white cloud will take them to a magical, shiny place when they die if they go to Church on Sundays...

Furries don't "believe they're animals" anyway; they have a connection to animals. For some, this is just a fantasy thing, kind of like how people like to pretend to be Elves, or Wizards, or Movie Stars... others do make a religion out of it, and those that do often have links with American-Indian styles of faith.


Furry is all about sex!
Ah, the classic...

This is a grave misunderstanding. My own theory is that the Furry fandom tends to attract people who are open minded, who share similar interests, and thus who tend to hit it off well.

Judging Furry by Yiff is like judging Anime by Hentai, or judging the film industry by Porn Movies.


So, anyway, what is it do you think that rubs peoples fur the wrong way when Furries are involved? Oh, and please don't mention the MTV thing about Furries... christ, that's just embarassing.

[Droids_Rule]

Furries? :huh:

[Wargamer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom

[ForbiddenKnowledge]

Does it do anyone any harm? No. I can't see any problems with it other than the fact they are a bit weird, but then we have people who do many weird things.


I've never heard of Furry hate though, I'd have thought people would have left "those weirdo's" alone, and not given them any trouble.

[AuinMyrrath]

My only real experience with Furries comes from two sources - Better Days, which is a very well written and moral webcomic involving no nudity... and Farseer Dell/Jack Bauer/Doctor Who/etc., who emphatically hates furries.

[Tim the Tau]

I like a lot of things that are furry like Redwall, Sonic etc. however where artwork is concerned I almost always would prefer it if the characters were human and I just plain hate Yiff.

I think that a lot of people who hate furries think that its too childish. Everyone laughs at the idea of Redwall because instead of mighty elven heroes slaying dragons it just happens to be mighty mice slaying cats. Heck even writing that I felt stupid and yet I love the Redwall books (not as much as I used to admittedly). Just like some people say that Sonic is a childrens videogame merely because they've played Gears of War or some other violent game. However something like Better Days clearly show this to be a false assumption as it is a brilliantly written web comic which covers a wide variety of adult situations.

And of course some people just see one or two pieces of Yiff artwork and deside that the entirety of furry is pornography so they close their minds to it.

Furry is sick / weird!
But claiming your a Level 34 Dark Elf Soul-cutter with a +2 Confounding War Mace is normal? How about being a fat, ugly loser who works at MacDonalds yet seems to think he knows more about Football than David Beckham and every Referee on the planet combined?

Not sure if thats a good analogy seeing as how both other parties that you mentioned seem to get a huge amount of stick as well.

[Mavfreak]

Well, I expect it has to do with that people are prejudiced against people that are that different from themselves. From what I understand, being a furry isn't just like having a different hobby; its much more involving. And I find that the people who play roleplaying games and pretend to be an elven warlock for fun have less of a problem with them then people who watch T.V. or play basketball in their free time.

The sexual side, small as it may be to actual furries, is also one of the main things that puts people off. I mean, especially to an outsider like myself, furry porn seems very close to an animal fetish. Disturbing to say the least.

For me, I am only marginally put off by furry fandom. I wouldn't be had it not been for one night, playing runescape, having an admittanly drunk Wargamer explain to me how he wanted a large fox to come and cuddle him because he was naughty :P

[AuinMyrrath]

Originally Posted by Tim

Not sure if thats a good analogy seeing as how both other parties that you mentioned seem to get a huge amount of stick as well.

But while the D&D/MMO player gets flak for being a geek/having no life, Furries are labeled as being sick, twisted, and downright Slanneshi out of hand... that's where it gets hypocritical.

I mean really, Trekkies make fun of Furries :sadnshocked:!

[Socky]

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Furry

You forgot to mention those who take it just that little bit too far.

[khanaris]

Originally Posted by Wargamer

Furry is all about sex!
Ah, the classic...

This is a grave misunderstanding. My own theory is that the Furry fandom tends to attract people who are open minded, who share similar interests, and thus who tend to hit it off well.

Judging Furry by Yiff is like judging Anime by Hentai, or judging the film industry by Porn Movies.

No one ever claimed you have to understand something to hate it.

For my part, I don't really understand the culture because I have had little exposure to it. But the idea of blurring the distinction between humans and animals is very old. We see aspects of various creatures that we admire, and so when we ascribe those attributes to ourselves, we see it as an adoption of the animal's persona. This is a common element throughout almost every mythology in human history.

You also find a lot of examples of anthropomorphism in children's stories for similar reasons. The Jungle Book, and the Disney movie based on it. Or Disney's Robin Hood. They could have easily just animated humans, but they used animals both for a sense of wonder, and also to take advantage of stereotypical personality traits we associate with animals. So Robin Hood is a fox because he is clever. The Redwall books are another example.

So the poison in the well is, in all likelihood, the sexual aspect. That, I suspect, is what drove furries to the bottom of the geek hierarchy. Humans seem to instinctively respond aggressively and angrily to sexual behavior or fetishes that fall outside their own preferences and norms. Since that aspect of the culture gets the most attention, the rest of it suffers as a result. Most people wouldn't know how complex it is because they never got past their initial level of disgust with part of it.