There's mixed reactions. Some don't even know 'bout us. If I find friends like that, I take the time to properly educate them about what we are and are not.

i think many people think we are crazy because we don't fit in there ideal of 'normality' They don't understand us and don't know how to react. But there are people who think we are cool and interesting. It's all mixed man <:

It's mixed. Some people at school don't know about furries, or they just ask me, "Don't they dress up as animals and have sex with each other?" I hate ignorant questions like that. I rather be asked, "What is a furry?" than "Ewww, do you do that?".

true say home slice :3

I think some people have a corrupt and biased opinion on the furry fandom based on show like C.S.I. and bad websites, grouping the entire fandom off of the bad 2% that has given a bad name to the whole.

I think people should give each other a chance and not stereotype or be mean to each other just over a personal preference.

That argument can be applied to anything not perceived as "normal". Furries sadly aren't the only group to have been hated by society because of what a few extremist idiots have done in the public gaze...

All too true.

They just have to take one good look at the new banner..haha..then they'll start shit.

Many furries have given us a bad name by the stupid acts they have done, CSI is also to blame for they put into the public's brain that we are all sex addicts.. when it is not the case

"I mean admit it guys, this website would DIE if people weren't allowed to post they're furry dick all over the place."

Hmm, I heard of something like that happening in SheezyArt, I think.

currently furrys becoming more mainstream. not as many people bashing it as there were before. i believe as a whole furries dont deserve too much bashing, but the bashing IS deserved in a way i guess. people have to learn to keep their sex life private.

This.

Seconded.

Third.

true that!

I had a conversation with someone last night about this. Yes, most everyone thinks we're freaks that suit up and sex things. No help from CSI's infamous episode, it seems our image of makers and artists is totally overlooked by the common stereotype. People who actually want to look up furries go to the place everyone else does: The Internet. Unfortunately, when you google "furry," you get nothing but... Yeah. Porn and hate. It's true, there are just as many yiffers out there as there aren't, but the stereotypes are so damn loud, it just totally overruns us and the furries like us get ignored and just end up falling into the same stereotype as the louder ones.
I honestly don't think the public opinion on furries is justified, simply for the fact that the stereotypical furries go out and make themselves so much more obvious than the rest of us. It's like two different pictures, one of a PG-drawn furry and one of a porn furry... Only the porn furry is a lot bigger and has $1K worth of sound system on it, blasting its presence. No one's going to look at the clean furry, even though it's still just as there as the porn furry. We're just not as loud as they are, so the good side of furry gets so overlooked that no one really knows it exists. <:/

true, you got it all down. But people will ALWAYS blast the negative aspects of something the most. I also hate when people talk about the adult artwork and how it outsells normal artwork. PEOPLE have to remember that ANYPLACE, ANY CON, ANYTHING, boobs and dick are just more popular! sex sells, and whether it is yiffy or human, you can't blame furries for being extremely sexual deviants. (most of us are not)

Indeed. There was a study a professor made... This man was an expert at decoding Nostradamus. The reason Nostradamus always forsaw strife and negativity is because that's what humans are geared towards. It's what we notice more, hence political commercials. Unfortunately, humans are logically and biologically attracted to negativity, be it hate, fear, discretion, etc. And in this culture... It's a bad time to have anything even slightly controversial in your life. You'll be publicly flamed for it and it'll stick. :<

awesome discussion. and yeah, it's pretty sad

I believe it's called selective abstraction in psychology

That's the one.

I think the public's views on us are a product of what actions people from this fandom do. We have the people who could care less and just want to rub their "hobby" in the publics face so they walk around areas with children in god ugly fursuits, fursuits that smell, dirty fursuits, or sexual fusuits.

And then theirs those of us that do it properly and respectfully and pick up their "trash" which is the bad name they leave for us.

Of course, that's just fursuiting. In GENERAL their views on us are obviously bad and they always will be- this fandom is a disgusting pit of smutt and we will never be viewed as anything other than "sexual deviants".

This is kinda off-topic but speaking of 'god ugly fursuits', I don't get people who make their own fursuits with absolutely no experience or any sort of training in costume design. The result is an ugly fursuit that is just embarrassing to be around. Yeah.. it's cheaper.. because it sucks. I'd rather spend $2,500+ on a good costume by Mixed Candy, then walk around in an ugly piece of crap. Lol.

Wow, I'm impressed :D I like you.

I never put down people who try to make their own fursuit because of low funds or whatever. A lot of people succeed! Yet some, fail horribly.. and what I don't understand is why they can't identify that what they made is... well... bad? If you think that a pile of fur with skin and foam showing with crooked eyes and disproportionate muzzles and ears and stuff is a sea worthy fursuit, then save your money because you probably shouldn't be making them.

um. i think that the public can suck it. yup.

Hm, this is going to be really long...

At school I don't think a lot of people even know what a furry is, unless they're into anime. 'Cus then, anime = internet + art, and that's pretty much the same for furries.
But then, in a lot of MMOs I play not a lot of people seem to know what furries are either— ESPECIALLY one which is anime-style, so that kind of contradicts my last statement.
Then there's lovely YouTube, where everyone is horrible. Perverted people, including furries, and trolls, etc... yeah, it seems like a lot of YouTubers know (or at least THINK they know) what furries are. Their opinion is usually the bad one, that we hate humans and watch porn all day.

One thing I have noticed, though, is that if someone hates furries, I either knew that person as a bad person, I didn't know them and that was the first thing I heard from them, or I just in general didn't trust them or didn't have a good feeling about them. For example, in one of those MMOs, I was in this guild, and (even then) I honestly knew I didn't trust most of them, except the Officer. Then one of them tells me their deviantART account, and when I tell him that he might not like my art if he didn't like furries, that was exactly the case. He said, and I quote, "I hate furfags xD" I didn't show it, but I was really offended. Of course, he never did give me a reason as to why he said that.
But then there's people I had been friends with a long time and trusted. When I said I was thinking about the fandom, they were just fine with it. There was one, though, I honestly didn't trust as much as the others. And what do you know? Not long ago, he said something (I can't quote it 'cus I forgot exactly what he said) which implied that he didn't like furries, but didn't hate me because I wasn't much of a furry. Really shows you how much he knows about me... He said he knows I'm a furry but I don't draw furries all the time. I do remember I said, "Shows how much you go on deviantART." <i>(Off-topic: He said he didn't go on because he was a writer and "writers don't draw". I highly disagree, considering I write a lot as well as draw a lot—but of course how would HE know that?)</i>

Sorry if that seemed a little pointless. I was trying to give examples; Good people always seem to be tolerant and fine with furries, and the exact opposite for bad/untrustworthy people.

And really this is just my opinion. I don't know if any of it could be taken as offensive, but don't take it seriously if it is.

Writer's don't draw? Thats ridiculous, Edgar Allen Poe was an inredible artist, whose college friends used to debate whether he would become a famous writer or a famous artist.

I know right, I was laughing hard after he said that. Just so ridiculous, considering I know first-hand that writers can draw, too. xD

Yeah, taht guys just sounds like a snooty know-it-all to me... one who obviously knows nothing, but considers himself a know-it-all.

Sorry to stick myself between your discussion.

But yes. Some of us writers DO draw also. I might not be as good drawing as I am writing, but I´m mature enough to admit that I do have above-average drawing skills.

I think its time for everyone to pull on our big-boy pants and take a little responsibility. Honestly, even on this website, about 60-80% of what is posted could concievably be deemed pornography. In fact, most of what is put on the internet, and on furry sites is porn. Where does anyone go to find information about furries? Well, we don't have comic book shops like nerds do, we don't have hangouts where lots of us regularly go to (fur meets aren't a regular occurance usually), so they go to our hubs on the internet. The shows like C.S.I who wrote that episode about the fandom? They wrote furries like that because that is what they saw when they did an hours worth of research and stretched it out into a whole episode. Why did they think that is what furries are like? Because that is what they found on the internet. I honestly think its about time that the furry community as a whole decided to get serious about not wanting to be seen as sexual deviants and perverts by controlling the ones in our midst. I know it would be difficult, as many people from this whole website want nothing but porn would leave if it were taken down, but you have to make sacrifices if you want to be taken seriously. Get the porn down, or at least reduce it to acceptable (whatever that means) levels. If we police ourselves, and do some serious work on revitalizing our image, people will probably be more likely to give us a chance, or at least they will eventually come around to have a different opinion of us. I'm not saying "no porn" I'm saying we all have to come to a reasonable agreement regarding its accessibility.

i agree, maybe there could be separate 'adult' sites???

Yeah, I think that would work out better. Maybe with paid memberships or something to lessen the accessibility of it.

I agree on that view. On an extra note, it also prevents minors from stumbling into such materials.

Thanks for the agreement

You're most welcome.

So with you on that too.

I agree completely! I have the same view, and I'm glad someone finally agrees. Like I've seen some pretty perverted stuff in the anime fandom, but anime fans are accepted by most people because they keep their sex stuff private. I think we're well on our way to becoming more accepted by the general public as a whole, and we'll get there much faster by following that philosophy. We should try and do what the other hentai-prone fandoms do and keep our porn on porn-based websites and our sexual rping through email and in the bedroom: not in public.

So count me as 100% on that: I'm glad you said it. :)

To be honest, who cares?

I don't fursuit, and people who know me offline don't even know I'm furry at all, but come on!

"Oh you have sex in a suit! That's disgusting!"

"Oh my God, yes it is! I don't see how people can do that!"

"But... you're... furry... sex... *fizzle*"

"Uh.. did you just SAY fizzle?"

i dont see the big deal when adults get disgusted when some ppl do it in a fursuit...its like cosplay to me...so whats the big deal? its like having ur bf dress up as superman...i know ppl that like weirder stuff like do it in the butt but i nvr tell them oHHH GOd ur disgusting! thats just what they like...

I hate to say it, but recent events have shown that at least around here. they know little if anything, and call us rather unkind things. The police for a perfecft example, have shown that they seem to think of us as perverted and freaks. Not the words they recently used to me, but are much kinder than the ones they did. Hopefully in the future this will change, however it is harmful for my roomate. He was arrested and him being a fur, and possing furry porn is being held heavly agasint him.

People don't understand that the radicals are at the front of every group. Not all religious types are bible thumping hypocrites, not all muslums are terrorists, and not all furries fuck animals or participate in giant orgys.

But people only pay attention to those that do.

People usually don't know that not all of those who are into bestiality are not furries.

We just have to deal and do our thing.

Thats exactly my point though. The problem is that no one pays any attention to the rational part of any group. Not all muslims are terrorists, but when was the last time a rational, modern-minded muslim did anything to garner national news attention? Its the terrorists that do that. Not all Christians are bible thumping morons (I am a Christian, I know this first hand) but when was the last time it was made really high profile that a Christian did something nice? Nope, we get the "God Hates Gays!" Christians, and that idiot who burned the Koran as the two prominent news people. In furries, what is that that is most visible? The porn and stuff like it. I think therfore we must acknowledge that there is a problem within the community, just as I think all these otehr groups, Muslims, Christians, and the like, must acknowledge that problem, confront it, and therefore fix our image.

You took the words right out of my mouth, just more eloquently!

There's porn involved with every fandom but it's annoying how we're most readily associated with it.

Thanks, and you're exactly right.

It seems I agree with the majority here: a good portion of the public either doesn't know about furries or think we're all a bunch of kinky perverts with the kinkiest of fetishes. But that is because the kinky ones get all the attention, and nobody hears anything from those of us who don't care about yiff.
Not to say that we're exactly "normal," but being normal is vastly overrated.

Everyone in this country is a freak. Hell, more than that, everyone in the entire world is a freak, its only the dishonest ones who claim that they aren't.

mixed, but the public knows nothing, actually the majority knows nothing about this fandom.

The public views furries negatively. I feel that it is justified. Because the furries that get the most attention are the ones into the sexual stuff. Any normal person whose first interaction with a furry is negative, is going to hold a biased opinion. It's because of the furries that promote sex and are open about being a furry that make furries noticeable and give them a bad rep. If there were no furries that promoted sex, then most normal people would find furries a bit strange but probably wouldn't hate them.

I have personally never encountered someone who actually had preconceived notions about it. But what cracks me up is how SERIOUSLY everyone seems to take the weird accusations --- I mean, if you see a bunch of people in animal suits and the first thing you think of is them having sex, the people in costume are NOT the ones with the problem!

generally i'd say it's negative. either that or they find it just plain weird.

The only interaction I've had with the public and furry was when I was at a meet. I was asked if we were there 'for some fetish thing'.
I replied: "No, not at all." and carried on 'suiting with everyone. ^^;

Everyone that I've told or who has asked me has understood my definitions on the fandom. I do tell them that there is a small percentage of furs who do have sex in their costumes bu tit is a small percentage of furs. Some are convinced that I'm some part of secret underground sex club and others are totally cool with the whole furry thing. They all understand that it has been blown out of proportion by the media and have based most of the furry fandom off of what they have experienced from me or some internet furs they watch on DA>

To the public, we're miles from where we used to be and have miles yet to go.

A lot of people, I have found, think that furrys are sex craved adults that molest children and have some sort of mental disorder. Such as mental retardation, autism, or are on some med to keep their depression, obsesive,and other psychosis type disorder under controle.

The funny thing is that I suffer from A.D.D, a low level of O.C.D, suffered from extreme depression and anxiety and I probably have a virtually undetectable level of autism wich doesn´t mean I´m a retard, since I have an I.Q of 139(I didn´t even know I had autism).

But you are right about something. I myself am not a sick perverted guy who only thinks in the most repugnant sexual acts, like the ones you mentioned.
No... I´m a proud Furry.

That's the thing...everyone has Something going on! It shouldn't be looked down on like it is and it shouldn't be pegged with any specific group. Ignorance just runs wild...

Yes, you´ve said it! It is a mixture of ignorance, fear of the unknown, group pressure and conformity.

are you my long lost twin?

I refuse to consider myself "furry" because of some of the fucked up shit that happens in this fandom.

I heard that, dude. I consider myself a "furry" but I am VERY cautious who I tell.

At the same time though...The same sort of shit happens in pretty much every fandom, when you get down to it. It just may not be as out in the open in other fandoms as it is in this one.

Totally agree with you there man

IT's kinda funny that this pops up. I was on SL last night hanging out with a friend. Said friend has a human avatar and I was in my fursona's av. I noticed this girl slowly moving closer and closer to me until she was right next to me. I IMed her and she says "Hi...you're a wolf...what does that mean?!?"
That led into me explaining furry to her and the first thing she asked afterwards was "Is it a fetish?" I wasn't about to lie to save face and said that to some folks, yes it is.

It's really something that I think we've been wrestling with for a while now. There's the part of the fandom that wants to keep the PR to a minimum, keep tight reigns on the damage control, you know? Then you have a part that just kinda wallows in every stereotype, acts out in public, the Uncle Franks as we call them. Then there's another part of the fandom that honestly just doesn't give a fuck, whether it be because they don't associate as a furry, or they just don't bother paying attention to the public perception.

IT's kinda hard for me to say where I fall on the grid. As the head of a local furry club, I was very much the first one. Now that I'm always gone and very transient, I don't really care anymore.

I sure hope the majority of people have enough common sense to think
not all furs are perverts. :\

I think the public doesn't know what a furry even is, and whenever people try to do anything furry in front of them it freaks the out, cause they have no idea what it is.

my mom certainly don't know what it is, but then again she is a bit 'dur'. I sent my baby sister a tail and ears, and she's obsessed with them. My mom can't understand what is 'wrong' with us.

XD

It is true some people don't know about us, but most do I think. My husbands parents I think are finally getting that we are that, we kind of.... eased them into it. Now I can work on suit's in front of them and they're like... okay.... there's a big rabbit head on the couch... XD

Most people I know that do know about us don't have a negative opinion about us, but I know a few that do.

well dont care about furries in sport events. Thats public so children enjoy the sport and show spirit. Other believe that furries are men and women are like unmature adults. But I dont care. As long they make me laugh.

Its simple why the public have a problem with us. Four words: Fear Of The Unknown.
Anything thats not "normal" to most people scares the crap out of them, and when people are scared they come to really stupid conclusions. Go watch reefer madness, you'll know what I mean.

The "furry" name system is no different from the US Army name system. The army has branches, and a soldier would state which branch he's in to inform other people of "what he is". For example, he's in the air force. He wouldn't go telling people he's an "Army", would he? He'd say he's a pilot in the air force. Furries do exactly that. A furry goes calling himself a furry, which is really a wing name that covers many, many substitute names. Furry is an organization. So when you call yourself a furry, state what kind of furry you are, or you're just confusing people.

So, when a person should have to explain what a "furry" is, he/she should say, "Furry is an organization of people with different inhuman crazes," then stating what branch of furry you are, "I'm an Anthro Artist (Or whatever you are)', and I like to draw cute, anthro-animals."

Wouldn't you agree that when you call yourself a furry, you're calling yourself many different things that you may not be? IT'S AN ORGANIZATION.

Here's all the branches of the Furry Organization:

-Photographer
-Writer
-Musician
-Anime Artist
-Anthro Artist
-Watcher
-Pr0n Artist
-Digital Artist
-Traditional Artist
-3D Modeler
-Landscaper
-3D Animator
-App Skinner
-Art Whore
-Fursuit Maker
-Fursuiter
-Crafter
-Remier

Are you really all these? Maybe you're just a fursuiter, but people also mistake you for a Pr0n Artist. Call yourself what you are of the Furry Organization.

Furry doesn't need less porn, it needs more control over who comes in through the front door. I believe that a ***responsible*** sexually oriented fandom can only exist hidden within the shadow of a completely non-sexual fandom.

Most furries don't know what Yerf is. Yerf WAS a clean furry art archive that went offline due to a catastrophic hardware failure. It was also the way to get rid of the idiots walking in off the street. People with passing fancies/interests in anthropomorphism were directed to Yerf. Once satiated with rated PG clean furry art, they LEFT. This was a very very good thing.

"People come to a party that they don't understand, but they're just smart enough to know that they're the stupidest people there, so that makes them mad." ~Marilyn Manson

You have to make sure that people who are only superficially interested in furry remain on its outer borders. The way you do that is by creating a rated-PG furry archive and directing newcomers to it -- and then let *them* decide on their own if they want to look for more.

Most people don't realize that, in the early fandom days, the furry porn was held on special furry newsgroup servers that you had to manually look for the URL address hidden away on some obscure website, then download a newsreader, and configure it correctly. It used to be that people had to subscribe to umpteen Yahoo Groups (that were all private and unlisted) to get that furry porn.

This insular system kept out the sick fucks by making it too time-consuming to acquire the esoteric fandom knowledge necessary to gain access to the bulk of the fandom's erotic content for the uncommitted or the dangerously stupid to gain access.

It was only with the advent of PUBLIC IMAGE-BOARDS, that spread erotic furry content to people who couldn't handle it responsibly (pedos/animal fuckers/moral crusaders who can't see any type of furry porn as anything other than bestiality (because the sickness resides dormant within them)) very well, that the fandom developed a freefall in its social standards. You want to know why Fchan has a DNP list? It's because the early furry subculture didn't want to lose control over itself to sperging random retards and tried to blacklist Fchan.

How ironic it is that obscure furry imageboards (HINT: e621 and fchan aren't amongst them) that are deliberately not well known have now become the new secret clans and darknets of the furry fandom. The difference between the new fandom hideouts and the old though, is that the old fandom forums were populated by primarily the producers of furry content, while the new fandom forums are populated by exclusive non-creative consumers of furry content, and the gash in the difference of ethics between the two groups over entitlement and property is very noticeable.

The way to return sanity is to place a large, squeaky-clean furry content in furry websites and furry conventions in front of the public that blocks said public's view of the fandom's more mature elements. Since these irresponsible sex-fiends spreading STDs with anonymous sex at conventions come from the unwashed public, blocking the sexual fandom's visibility by putting PG furry content as the first thing John Q. Public sees will cause a drying up of the influx of new perverts.

(Side Note: The word "yiffy" used to mean sex between two anthropomorphic characters. The definition of the word "yiffy" has, unfortunately, mutated in the "nu-Fandom" to now mean sex between two anonymous strangers. Hence this group's existence for "people who are not into sex with random people" by describing themselves as "NotYiffy".)

This proposed restructuring to put non-erotic content in front of John Q. Public is not aimed to "get rid" of or "marginalize" the adult artwork. It will just do a lot to keep unstable, unbalanced people away from it -- those wonderful people who can't resist telling the media about their castration soiled diaper pedo fetishes (sometimes by acting on them in real life). We can protect the fandom and turn off the source of depravity by funneling the sociopathic time bombs floating dormant in the mainstream through nice, ground-floor, clean channels and guided tours of the Disney-level surface fandom (a drop of prevention is worth a ton of cure), and then make the adult stuff difficult to get at for the technologically un-savvy -- of which the sperging retards are a incredibly large part of.

Result: You must be really interested in anthropomorphism and have an IQ over 110 to get at the good stuff. Pedo-bestiality scatological diaper-fetish problem solved.

At this point, though, the fandom has already mostly matured, and is incapable of new growth. The furry fandom has made a deep well-worn groove in its modus operandi and is not about to change anytime soon.

It might be much much easier to start a new fandom, style it "Mascots and Monsters". Base it, not on anthropomorphism or cartoon characters (though anthropomorphic costumes and TV characters would be welcome), but rather on people doing cool family-friendly stunts in costumes and people who have jobs attracting crowds by dressing up in costumes during promotional gigs for corporate America, enforce a very draconian PG-13 code, and then have secret, but decent furries running the show that keep their involvement, perhaps even their identities, in the two fandoms completely separated.

^^^^This might be PLAN "A".^^^^

In brief, I think it's because of two things: the weirdness and, more importantly, the rampant sex addiction.

We can't really make it less sane (apart from nearly every mascot and cartoon character, of course), so that could be said to be prejudice.

The porn, on the other hand, is squarely our fault.

So many people have already said what I wanted to say so I will try and not reapet myself. xD

I just found this group and must say I love it so far. It hasent been long mind you that I've been lurking around this group. But I must say I love it. I love it because oh my god other furs think like me. I would love to see more furs think like this. If not the sake for the fandom or the public, or for your other fur friend, but for themselves. How many times must I defend a sex addict fur I lost count. Usually the same ones, only to see themselves make it worst the minut I turn my back.

I must say it's hard not to bring out the claws when said fur runs up to you in class saying very loudly 'look what I drew last night LOL'' *shows not work safe art* ofcourse you get the other friend coming up to see as well and off goes the siren.... well fantastic, you caught in the middle almost all eye on you and you must now explain and hope to any god that you wont get beat up.

I only wish the other furs who love the furry porn way to much to atleast control themselves in public places and con's. I do mean every type of con's. Nothing is more discouraging then hearing your teacher tell you they saw furrs do 'very bad things' at a comic book con. Seriously one day guys, one day is all I ask.

I fail to see why common courtesy seems to disapear the moment someone is a fur. I'm just as polite with or without my tail on, why cant you guys do the same?

Thats my two cents xD.

My personal opinion?

"The Public" doesn't give a damn. In all the time I've been furry-ing, I've gotten a grand total of ONE negative reaction. Then again, I never really made a big deal out of being a furry. Usually how people find out is they see me with a sketchbook, they peek over my shoulder, and say "What're you drawing?", I say "What you see on the paper." 99% of the time, they don't know what a furry is.

I usually explain it to them, they usually say "That's kinda wierd," I say "Yeah, it is, huh?", and we both go on our merry way.

Those who have heard of us before usually seem to realize that not all of us can be pervs.

Then again, maybe I just live in some kind of government-enforced furry-tolerance zone.

I feel when it comes to non furs that TRY to look up info on furries to figure us out they will just find the porn and since thats what they first saw thats what they will judge it by forever and just stop looking thinking "Oh so its just a porn thing ok...freaks"

Damn i didn't mean to post that incomplete "Oh so its just a porn thing ok...freaks" But they don't seem to understand that if something non human looked up anything about humans they would most likely find tons of porn before anything important came up they just see the porn side to us but we can say the same to them in my opinion we have our normal lives and our dark yiffy sides and non furs have the same *shrugs* I hope i worded things right.

Lotta TL;DR on this page.

I think it's because for the most part, furies are disgusting lowlifes. For the most part.

Hey wait! I'm a furry! Dose that mean I'm a disgusting lowlife?!

No, I said most are, not all. If you don't think you are one, then there is no problem.

I´ve been a furry since late 90´s, probably when the term wasn´t even known. "Normal" people will always go against the alternative point of view for that stupid fear of being rejected by a group. Ignorance is bliss, they say, but ignorance can be a very dangerous weapon. My friends are not supportive on the fact that I´m a Furry. They all say " oh... so you like to imagine yourself having sex with a fox?" I REALLY HATE THAT! It´s not about sex... Or they just send me pictures of Renamon, with very suggestive messeges. (I like Digimon, but not in a yiffy point of view).

But to educate people on what we are, or what we do, we have to ask us that question ourselves... What is a Furry? To be honest, I think that we all Furries have been making the question of "who we are" since our beginings...

I think that we Furries are a lot of things, but at the end there is something that makes us equal. And it is the need to detach from our human identity. Now, this might be done for various reasons, and in various levels.

Some Furries (If we can call them Furries) do it just as a fetish. And make it an excuse to do things that would be considered tabu in our human society, e.g: vore, coprophilia, bestialism, and other severe sexual perversions. Somehow, taking a fictional identity that detaches them from humanity, gives them an "excuse" for doing such things, even if its throughout art, and not reality. I don´t judge no one, but that type of thing doesn´t really fit in our fandom.

Some others find it easier to express their sexuality in the fandom, since human society is very harsh in this aspect. I´m talking about being attracted by the same sex. There is nothing wrong in this since we are talking about people looking for someone to love. And that´s something really beautiful. One of the things I love the most about the fandom.

But being a Furry is not all about sex, or sexual identity! That´s what "normal" people have to understand. There are Furries, that really don´t care about the sexual aspect of the fandom, and it is only an escape from all that it´s human. I would consider myself being part of this group of Furries. This group has either suffered all their lives from the negatives of the human race. We all know that humans can be very... evil, lets say. Society is filled with unfounded predjudices that can scar the very heart and soul of a person. That´s why some of us are just looking for an escape. And we find it in our fantasies, hidding behind our Fursonas. There is absolutly nothing wrong on that. Being a Furry for most, brings out the best out of them. And I see it every single day that I log into this beautiful site.

What I like about most Furries is that we have found in ourselves our true kind nature, and that can be seen in the whole fandom. That´s because the outside world would simply deny that type of behaviour. For example, if you´re a guy with your group of friends that like to party and drink beer all night, you wouldn´t be acting all mellow and feeling all ":3" or "^_^", because you would simply be framed as being gay or some other stupid predjudice.

So yes. I think that being a real Furry is a good thing. And if other people find their Furry self inside them, this would be a world of understanding and tolerance.

I love discussing about this things. It helps to clear our minds. If anyone is interested on having a good talk, please visit my homepage.

I think the fandom started out as a community for artists and/or animal lovers, not in the fettish since people who like animals just for the record, to make another version of themselves that was modeled physically and personally to their liking. It's an escape from normal "human" community to something a bit more welcoming and fun bc we all have this one interest in common. The Furry Fandom was/is for roleplaying, art, and other recreations or ideas and self expression. But as usual, the weirdos and oervs and freaky minority give the rest a bad name

I've noticed that ppl here are very friendly and openminded . Seriously, half a year ago I didn't know about all that stuff, now I wonder why "furries" are made fun off by layman. It's not like "normal" artists don't draw any yiff-stuff. DA is full of yiff stuff from "normal's" and "furries", but the furry artists still get the blame to be porn-fanatics
Furry art/stories was always around us. There are several stories from the middle age that involved talking animals, not to mention cartoons with animals, like looney tunes or micky mouse^^. Or mascot's from sport clubs.

"Normies" that draw porn think that it's gross only because it's with animals. I'm not saying I support yiff, or regular porn for that matter, but I would guess that theres "normal" porn 10x worse than yiff. But as always, rule 34

i'm just gonna add my opinion that says that the public sucks and there isn't really any point worrying about what it thinks so long as you can be yourself.

My view is that the public doesn't know alot about furries, and sure, we cantry to educate people that are willing to listen. I've had alot of people throw food, call names, and even try to set my tail on fire. When they yell "animal" I take it as a complement because from what I've seen, furs are more tolarent and humane than "normal humans." Personally, I don't care because they are not a part of my life and therefore, shouldn't affect my choices of who I am. Be yourself, because its the best thing you could ever be.

Personally my views on the public and furries in general is they are falsely educated by TV shows and peoples little beliefs that come form rumors of those few people claiming to be a furry and doing something rather sickening. They refuse to get to know the real ones when they meet them because of all the bed rep the community gets on the things these people can get a hold of. Then you got the mass crowd online and offline that bashes the community and making falsified info to trouble furs even more. I mean the public is rather confused and misguided to the true meaning fo furry and their doings in my opinion.

Well furry is a mixture of things.. Such as art, stories can be included baby-fur/bestiality however being said most of us like the dam art and stories. I myself personally love the radio show knotcast & I write gives me a excuse to be creativity. Oh also spirituality for some of us not all but some. My views on this subject.

What can I say. I suspect the fact that it isn't "normal" is part of what draws me to it. I have a pretty low opinion of the general public. Perhaps it is bred by living in a part of the US where a lot of people think the wrong side won the Civil War. When even California can vote down gay marriage, I say, to hell with what the general public thinks.

I say mixed,because some anti-furs have evidence that most furries are perverts.Usually those anti-furs are people who have been furry in the past.

My belief is that despite some negative media attention from time to time, the furry fandom is viewed as just another group of nerds on the 'net just like trekkers, Star Wars fans, Anime fandoms, etc. The main issue I really see is allot of furries seem to look down on themselves and fellow furry like being a furry is something to be a shamed of. Mainly that's due to allot drama within the fandom and adult furry material that's produced by furries. But the thing is there is allot of drama as well as adult content in just about every fandom and and all over the internet. Once furries wake up and realize that this fandom is no different than any other fandom and internet community then I believe we will go along way in projecting a more positive image of ourselves. It boils down to the point that in order to earn respect from others you got to respect yourself. That's what needs to happen in this fandom...self respect.

Mixed. In college, they call me Mr. Furry but they love my art style (I only do clean art)

However, some people are jut close-minded. CSI-episode? Porn pics on google image? It means all of them are like that. But it's the same in any fandom: WoW. We think of thoe no-lifes in front of their computer.

Human always see the bad side of something unknown. If they learned what really a furry is, then we could get a break

The public hates us.

Why?

Well... the answer is simple.

This is why.

http://www.furaffinity.net/full/6244647/

Lol, to be calling that the tip of the iceberg is an extreme understatement. XD

Apathy rains supreme - we are the public!

as others have said I think it's mixed, it depends on the person and how much details you relate

justified or unjustified, depends on what's being said and to whom. if you go telling strangers about your sex life or deepest fantasies, or partaking of such things in public (and in this case public does not include posting some pics on a furry site), then expect some backfire, if people accidentally find out or go through their own means such as asking or "spying" (or checking out some furry sites), then it's not justified cause they're the ones bringing personal life into public life, and finally, if your judged for being something your not, then it's not justified either obviously

to all the people who are judging the furs that have sex in their fur suits, that's their business until they go announcing it to you, or do it publicly, if they do it privately, whether it be with a stranger a mate or trusted sexual partner, and don't go announcing it the world, then why not leave them be? and if your gonna judge, why not judge the ones that do it publicly, FOR DOING IT PUBLICLY, rather than for the kink itself =/

as for fursuiters, it takes a lot of self confidence to be willing to go out in public in a fursuit, and be that open about who you are you guys got my respect for that, I don't necessarily think you guys hurting anyone by being that open, but in this case, you can't complain if you get some odd stares

porn, porn can be found anywhere, there's just as much non furry porn, probably more in existence, should less of it be allowed and the more excessive porn lovers be kicked out, to gain a better image, I don't think so, I'm not into porn myself, but I believe that if we have to become a bit more like "normal" society to gain it's acceptance, it's not worth it, didn't our parents, teachers and role models, ever teach us it's better to be who we are rather than what others want us to be just to be in? cause mine sure did, hell I'm a senior in highschool and my one of teachers still says that to us, and deep down I thank her for that every time she does

same goes for fetishes, anyone can have them, a lot of furries do, and the minute you try to limit the ones allowed in the fandom, to the more "normal" ones, to get a little bit of acceptance from "normal" people, you just step on the heads of the ones you left behinds

i hate furries

Whhhhaaatttt WHY are you FA if you hate furries

Everyone has mixed opinions about furries

If a person just attacks someone who is a furry (doesn't like porn),it's like giving the sane ones a bad name. Alot of people automatically think that a furry likes porn/fetishes,but there are some clean furs too!

Just because a person who draws animals and isn't a furry and, doesn't mean he/she is against to furries (well it depends kinda)

I wonder when furries becamed associated with porn/fetishes...somehow disgusts me. :I

its -always- been associated with porn and fetishes lol. And no im not trolling, its just true.

I understand..since my friend said that there were some stereotypical sexy furries from past cartoons. imo

Really? I though it started out innocent to begin with.

Being the furry ambassador sucks. Frankly if i get asked what it is i just say "ask someone else" or "its a cult of baby eating rapists in animal suits". Both seem to get the point across. frankly being a furry is stigma to most of the normal world and im fine with that. what gets me are all the whiners who go "FURRY IS NOT A FETISH ITS A WAY OF LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111111"

i remember a long time ago when furry was an artistic and social medium , before it became a life stile.

The term furry as in the furry fandom, generally makes people think about sex (sometimes in combination with zoophilia). This isn't such a weird thing considering that the furry fandom per definition IS a fetish (although some furries have a hard time accepting this).

Although I generally agree when people say that furry is a fetish, I don't think it holds any relation with zoophilia perse (even though there are always going to be people who are into that extreme sorta stuff). Its just that most people outside the community tend to be quickly turned off by sexual imagery involving animals, even when they're half human.

Let me add by the way, that with 'sexual imagery' I don't just mean mature or X-rated artwork. I find that even PG artwork has a lót of focuss on breasts, or other simular suggestive content. So there's no excuse here.

Personally, I think it's now a total clusterf***, all thanks in part to the horrifically large pornography plaguing almost every furry site in the planet.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against furries, it's just that these extremists are giving the fandom a very bad name. They don't seem to care about the negative implications their cheap excuse of an art/story/furry-related fetish is giving to the fandom.

I just wish one day a White Knight(s) will come charging in and bring change to the fandom for the greater good. If only...

Ahh, a furry fandom without the whining drama queens, the soulless extremists, and the dumbed-down porn.

Now that is Paradise.

My experience is that the general public outside the internet does not know we exist. More often than not, their opinions will be based on how you present the fandom to them. And the absolute worst way to present the fandom to someone is to open up by pleading with them not to think we're sex maniacs.

9 times out of 10, if they get the impression we're all about sex, it will be because too many of us introduce them to the conflicts in the fandom before explaining what the object of the fandom is. That is, in fact, how we got into this public image mess in the first place.

If someone outside the fandom asks about sex in the fandom, then it's ok to talk about it. But otherwise, it's best to just talk about the things the fandom was inspired by - things people in the general public might have some awareness of and understand why such things would have a fandom.

To help Furries have a better understanding of how to explain the fandom to the public, I have created The Furry History Project.

http://spectralshadows.livejournal.com/46979.html

This explains the fandom as a fandom, which is the main thing the general public will be wondering, "what's it a fandom for?"

That any fandom functions as a social gathering phenomenon for people of like interest is a given. No need to explain that. No need to draw them into any of our internal disputes.

Our public image is all up to the individual Furry who acts as our ambassador to the outside world. Present us well, and the public will think well of us.

my honest opinion the public believes that it is a sexed craved orgy costume thing...so its considered taboo and wierd...considering its been on strange addictions and Taboo show...i joined it for kink so i dont care what the public thinks of it...or what furries think of it...i hate joining things what the average person likes...not me to be like everyone else...ppl hate things diff in general

Seems that most people think it's all about the sex, or that we're antisocial and awkward. It's unfortuante, HOWEVER, we shouldn't really care what they think that much. That last thing we all should do is change who we are or ostrasize "yiffy" furs to improve our relations with these haters. We are who we are, as a commmunity, and outsiders don't really matter :3.

ok, look. in truth, i came for the porn, stayed for the porn, lingered for the friendships. the public is a non-issue. there have been some moving posts here, ditto to all. there is the clean side to everything and the porn side, but there are also two sides to those as well; the ugly side, and the beautiful side. not all clean art is beautiful or innocent, and not all porn is "gathering of the whores!" being part of a fandom or anything, for that matter, is only more opportunity for connections, wich is never a bad thing. besides, good and bad are purely objective. both sides think they are good and the other is bad. so... just don't think about it. and, after placing everyone in a group, furry, christian, gay, whatever, how big is the public? the public can go fuck off, whatever's left.

By experience...

Most have absolutely no clue what a furry is. If you tell them "You're a furry," they deadpan and then ask "What the heck is that?"

I find that the general public doesn't care you're a furry. Most just see you the person and unless YOU make a big deal out of it ... they don't care. The worst thing for a furry to do is to say "We're not what the internet says we are. We don't focus on sex!" ... Instead, just say nothing and express your love for art, being derpy, and the things you enjoy about the fandom that do not relate to sexual subjects.

The only people who know, and hate us, are the internet savy people. People who are gamers, go out there and look up these things for the purpose of trolling. That's it, that's all... Nothing more.

So far I've given up hiding. I have way to much fun acting in public in suit to be hiding. Every friend I've told [and I wasn't sure I should tell them,] has scolded me with "Whoa! Why the hell didn't you tell me this about yourself? It's fascinating and awesome! Holy crap I had no idea!" And have since joined me in my outings to parks and public spaces to suit up and entertain the public.

Don't be a zealot about furry and hammer it into peoples brains. This scares people. Just enjoy it and have fun with it around people. They'll get the idea and know it's not creepy.