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Twentieth journal
3 years ago
To the question of “what is a furry” an answer has been given many times before. Though, most answers you find online don’t cover the depths that the fandom contains. Because of the complexity of this particular group and its similarity with actual culture, the fandom by many is also considered a sub-culture. Sure, for curious “passengers” of the Internet that only google what a furry is for basic information, what is presented (for the most part) is more than enough to cover the essential information of what “furry” is.
The thing that makes the fandom so interesting to me, from a theoretical perspective, is its past. The past of the fandom has been covered by Fredrik Knudsen in his video titled “Furries |Down the rabbit hole”.In short, what fascinated me most about the information given is how dark the fandom’s history actually is. Sexualization within the fandom and sexual activity has been worse than it is today with people actively practicing and discussing zoophilia, plushophilia, and other kinky and otherworldly things aside. And you know how bad this whole situation was if the more prominent members of the fandom (consider them some sort of authority) were absolutely disgusted and revolted by those actions. Though, I also seem to find interest in how the fandom was created in the first place. That part of its history dates back as far as when Disney started producing anthropomorphic cartoons. That’s when people got most interested in furry characters (though, they weren’t called “furry” back then). All of this and more has been covered in that video.
Another thing that interests me are the general in-depth details of the fandom, well, sub-culture. I found a book on that topic that can be easily accessed through The Internet Archive. The book’s name is “Furries among us” (yes, after 2020, this name sounds more like a meme than anything else) and it was written by a series of “prominent members of the furry fandom”. The book covers essays on topics like general information about the fandom, the socialization of furries, its resemblance to a folk group, erotica, and much more. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m planning on doing that in the near future.
I mentioned earlier that the fandom can be considered a sub-culture. Looking at the definition of a sub-culture: “a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture”, and its elements: symbols, language, norms, values and rituals we can see how the fandom truly resembles a sub-culture.
It has its own symbols like the most iconic one – the paw (mostly canine though), a “PhiPaw” (a made-up symbol for inter-fandom recognition), the general concept of fur (from which it got its name), and so on. The fandom also has a unique language. It may not be a full-on stand-alone language, but rather a collection of terms specifically used within the fandom. Words like “yiff”, “fursuit”, “fursona”, “somefure”, “befure”, and so on won’t be found anywhere else outside the fandom. Though, English isn’t the only language used as a basis for the fandom’s language. There are lingual variations on German, Chinese, Russian, Slovak, and even Esperanto words. It’s also funny how this collective “language” has a name too – “Furspeech” or “Furspeak”. When it comes to norms it's hard to pint-point out certain differences between the norms of most widespread cultures and of the fandom. Though, I could connect general tolerance to minority groups in all senses (especially the LGBTQ+ group) with the norms in the fandom. What I find the fandom values the most are art and self-expression. It is a collective of creative people (which doesn’t surprise me, knowing on which basis the fandom was made) that enrichen the fandom with their creations. And lastly, the fandom has rituals too, like conventions, meets, fursuiting, partying (could be considered a ritual, maybe), and more.
Another short collection of thoughts I got. Who knows, maybe I’ll summarize my thoughts on this topic in the future in the form of an essay or a book.
The thing that makes the fandom so interesting to me, from a theoretical perspective, is its past. The past of the fandom has been covered by Fredrik Knudsen in his video titled “Furries |Down the rabbit hole”.In short, what fascinated me most about the information given is how dark the fandom’s history actually is. Sexualization within the fandom and sexual activity has been worse than it is today with people actively practicing and discussing zoophilia, plushophilia, and other kinky and otherworldly things aside. And you know how bad this whole situation was if the more prominent members of the fandom (consider them some sort of authority) were absolutely disgusted and revolted by those actions. Though, I also seem to find interest in how the fandom was created in the first place. That part of its history dates back as far as when Disney started producing anthropomorphic cartoons. That’s when people got most interested in furry characters (though, they weren’t called “furry” back then). All of this and more has been covered in that video.
Another thing that interests me are the general in-depth details of the fandom, well, sub-culture. I found a book on that topic that can be easily accessed through The Internet Archive. The book’s name is “Furries among us” (yes, after 2020, this name sounds more like a meme than anything else) and it was written by a series of “prominent members of the furry fandom”. The book covers essays on topics like general information about the fandom, the socialization of furries, its resemblance to a folk group, erotica, and much more. I haven’t read it yet, but I’m planning on doing that in the near future.
I mentioned earlier that the fandom can be considered a sub-culture. Looking at the definition of a sub-culture: “a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of the larger culture”, and its elements: symbols, language, norms, values and rituals we can see how the fandom truly resembles a sub-culture.
It has its own symbols like the most iconic one – the paw (mostly canine though), a “PhiPaw” (a made-up symbol for inter-fandom recognition), the general concept of fur (from which it got its name), and so on. The fandom also has a unique language. It may not be a full-on stand-alone language, but rather a collection of terms specifically used within the fandom. Words like “yiff”, “fursuit”, “fursona”, “somefure”, “befure”, and so on won’t be found anywhere else outside the fandom. Though, English isn’t the only language used as a basis for the fandom’s language. There are lingual variations on German, Chinese, Russian, Slovak, and even Esperanto words. It’s also funny how this collective “language” has a name too – “Furspeech” or “Furspeak”. When it comes to norms it's hard to pint-point out certain differences between the norms of most widespread cultures and of the fandom. Though, I could connect general tolerance to minority groups in all senses (especially the LGBTQ+ group) with the norms in the fandom. What I find the fandom values the most are art and self-expression. It is a collective of creative people (which doesn’t surprise me, knowing on which basis the fandom was made) that enrichen the fandom with their creations. And lastly, the fandom has rituals too, like conventions, meets, fursuiting, partying (could be considered a ritual, maybe), and more.
Another short collection of thoughts I got. Who knows, maybe I’ll summarize my thoughts on this topic in the future in the form of an essay or a book.
Not defending it. I just think it's unfortunate that we get such a hard time from people over it but then there will always be people who choose to see the fandom from a superficial and ignorant perspective.