I'm A Furry!

[Shino]

[Legend]

You're always hot, Shino. ^_-

[Buda]

I love being the a brick... i was in there in the suna-chan pic i believe

[Kugyou]

I feel the need to speak. Speak, not yell, not point fingers.

It was never my intent to come across as speaking for the whole fandom with my original statements. My intent in the "even among the furry fandom[...]" line was to point out that the furry fandom is actually not a homogeneous collective fostering mindless groupthink, and that even within that group there are those who refuse to believe that they must accept any and all subgroups that form within or attach themselves to the community. My point was that some of the groups that have come about independently of the furry movement (such as the Otherkin/Therians, which grew out of an elf RP board, and whose "fundamentalists" reject "terrestrials" as not being Otherkin) actually have attempted to speak as if they are synonymous with and necessary to furry fandom, which has actually led to ostracization of those like myself who stay in the RP and art milieu. In other words, I do not attempt to speak for the fandom, but some of those in the "fringe groups" do. When I said that certain subgroups have attached themselves to the furry fandom for "legitimacy", it was not my intent to say that those who fall into those groups have any particular motive, but that certain vocal members of those groups are, in fact, using the furry base the same way outspoken NAMBLA members used the nascent gay pride movement, saying "if you accept the larger group, you must accept us as well".

My meaning in saying that certain things are "not furry" was not to say that those who fall into those groups aren't themselves "furries", but that those groups are no more "part of the furry fandom" than being Christian/Pagan/White/Black/an Otaku - there are contingents in the fandom that may be those things, but they are independent of the fandom as a whole, and membership in one group does not necessitate membership in the other. My "warning", as it were, was meant as a reminder that being furry isn't a matter of clear-cut lines and to not let anyone tell you that you are "not a furry" if you do or do not fit in with one of the subgroups. Heck, I get told that I'm not a "real furry RPer" by different groups because I don't fursuit. Or because I don't play on FurryMUCK. Or Furcadia. One fur (who, interestingly enough, was banned from FurryMUCK and now staffs Edwards' Second Life office) told me that I can't be a "real furry" at all because a) I've only been in the fandom since 1993 and b) because I'm conservative. I'm neither Burned nor Wet (I'll explain the references if desired); I have no desire to dictate that a particular person is not furry, and I similarly deny that privilege to others. I don't know about you, but I put sugar on my porridge.

That is all.

[K-chan]

[Gryph]

I figured I might as well chime in, too.

I'm not really a furry, but I am a member of the furry art community. For me, it's all about the art itself. There are just some artists I really like. I don't care if they're drawing something that's furry or not. To my surprise, I discovered this kind of thinking is not new. I've seen other artists with this same mentality already. What makes it even more fascinating, is that from what I've seen, we've all been accepted pretty quickly. Many of them even seem quite happy that there are non-furries who wish to join their community.

I guess us artist-types are ahead of our time.

[Al the DLOE]

[Kugyou]

[FawkesFyre]

[Al the DLOE]