It has changed (thanks for the watch by the way) and I am still pretty new in my opinion to the fandom. I was prodded about it from a few friends who were furries. I rolled with them, but it wasn't a thing really to come out as furry back then. I mean I was always in the anime side, so I would say that I was a cat girl convert, but it was more or less not knowing the difference, or being so otaku that it wasn't much different?

Then it was the early 2000s (and if you go back wow my art sucked up till a few years ago when I decided to make a goal of furry art) As for anime I was into it, like when I was 11 in '93 going to cons, was an avid IRC gal and forum lurker, and when it hit the states for plebs I was super bummed. I was upset that the quality got sort of crappy, and the people were more creepy than the old school creepers were. I remember diapers and "sissy boys" (like actual terrible outfits and diaper covers, not bishies, and pretty boys) in anime cons, so I expected some cross over but not to the extent it is.

This is the same in furry now. Its trendy as all hell now. Its a new noticed market for hipsters, and the fetish stuff has always been around, but now its sort of more "cool" My fiance, is not a furry, but supports my art, and when we afford it, spoils me with a con, but even he says...is it really because they are into it, or because its topical/accepting.

As for fetish itself. I roll with so many, I can grok them. I understand where people are coming from. I don't like much of it, honestly some of it makes me upchuck a little mentally. But I am super understanding of it. I get a few commissions for things but eventually stopped doing some, like... inflatable art, just not being that into it, but getting too many watchers just interested in that made me artistically frustrated. Its the same with bondage to a point (though I love artistic uses of it) I didn't want to just be known as a porn artist, but I like drawing it and see that in my artistic future.

I would like to get so good I get invited to go to cons, but I have a long road ahead of me to get a name like that. I would like to be known for both types (fetish/porn and general) but those people, not to be like *snotty voice* "those people" but um...they never want to pay a real price for art, and always come out of the woodworks for sales, and are extra picky when they know its not a specialty...kinda exploitative and abusive commissioners. They sort of hold artists back. So I understand artists bailing, because when that's the client base, it is depressing when you want to do something else.

Back on the anime and furry line. I used to really enjoy yaoi and shota, and as I got older, I became more selective, then sort of stopped picking them out of manga forums/fanfiction. In Furry, I don't like cub. I won't want to draw cub, or deal with it, but will still pick up a shota time to time to read, and have been called a pedo wagon before because I often dated younger men :P But its not the same thing at all. It is very much so a fetish fetish, not a "I'm a bit of blush/innocent reaction hound" and more a form of reverting to a time when I was secure/submission to a strong level/need it to get off fetish fetish.

My fiance often says, he sees more trans art when I am looking around, or working on things, and he wonders if its just trending, and people want a form of acceptance, or if its just that people are getting more open and frank about their interests. The current of fetish is pretty strong in furry, more than in anime, but interestingly, less accepted in its format. But I do think it is chasing people away perhaps.

Sorry I rambled. I talk too much XD

I saw your journal and wanted to share that you are not alone in the thought of the fandom changing. I am about to turn 29 and have been in the fandom since 16. So many things have changed, mostly for the worse. I won't comment on the fetish aspect too much, though I have noticed some rather odd fetishes lately. The only one I don't find too odd is the foot one, but the others are not my cup of tea and I can understand the disgust towards them. I know personally, I have begun trying to separate a lot of the fandom from my life, but that's just because I can't wrap my head around the modern thought philosophies of these newer furries which have no tact or class and feel the need to latch onto whatever is "new" in an attempt to be popular. All that said, I hope that things will get better for you!

I don't go to SoFurry as often as I used to anymore. I've checked around occasionally to see if a good role play has appeared on the forums, but nothing catches my interest. And the RPers who frequent there look as if they barely even try anymore. Too many times, I've seen threads where somebody just jumps straight into action, not even providing any sort of context or setting for what the RP is about, or details on who / what their character is. They just show up on stage and start doing stuff, hoping everybody just goes along with it.



I'll be turning 30 this year, which means I've been a Furry for almost half my life, now. And at this point, I think I may be a furry for the rest of it. Or at the very least, I'll be attracted to the concept of anthropomorphic animals, even if I lose faith in the fandom at large. But even with all the stuff I find unappealing, as long as the occasional good one comes along (Petrock, Zaush, Kitsuneyoukai, Paige, to name a handful) then I'm not quite at the point where I break contact from the mainstream community. I still enjoy furries and I enjoy being a furry, even if things are looking a little... off, right now.