-_-; no words... I'm sorry that happened near your place, darlin'. I hope we don't all get accused during our furry events and what not.

This is far from the first time a furry has been found involved in this kind of thing, unfortunately. I don't foresee this causing any problems for the fandom anymore than those did. More concerned with us not sheltering people like this.

There is more things in the news then groups of costumed perverts. While this is deplorable, I don't believe it will effect anything in the furry community.

I'm all for moral relativism when it comes to things like popular culture and soft drugs, but can we admit that some ideas are inherently pernicious -- fascism and pedophilia, for instance. Can we at least agree on that?

I disagree on moral relativism on principle, but many subjects aren't the perview of morality at all and thus have room for relativism. You definitely have my agreement on fascism and pedophilia being wrong.

Child molestation and the viewing of real child pornography, yes. Agreed.
Pedophilia, no. Pedophiles just have a paraphilia, which in itself is harmless. It is potentially dangerous, though, so if they start lusting after real, live children, they need therapy immediately.

Controversial as it is, yeah if you're just looking at drawn shit I don't care. The second real kids are involved, no dice.

Glad we agree on that. Sometimes it's very difficult to get that across because it's such an emotionally charged issue.
I'm all for protecting kids, but I'm also against witch hunts. In this case, seeing the nuance between child molesters and pedophiles helps protect kids since you're more likely to seek help as a pedophile if you aren't seen as a monster just for having the feelings.

But yeah. To the thrust of your journal: To hell with those awful men, and the furries having knee-jerk reactions defending the fandom need to grow up.

Yeah, most of the commentary I've seen on it has been "Oh no, what if they think we're all like this?" rather than sympathy for the victim(s). It makes me sad and upset that people are like this, and mad that people could do such horrible things.

I'm utterly ashamed of these people.

Had the same problem that time not so long ago that one teenaged furry allegedly murdered her parents and people were more concerned with either the image of the fandom being tarnished by the publicity or with "virtue" signalling by saying that if she was deranged enough to murder them, they must have been bad parents especially because they were furries. Or just saying that furries dying was a good thing no matter how it happened.

No fandom is worth this kind of loyalty. Good on you for reporting this and calling it out.

Uh boy, hear we go...a furry witch hunt commences...! >.< Stupid reporters...

I think you missed my point.

I probably did...

It was just the way the article was written, as though all furries are like those shit brains. It's just that I find reporters just love to go after the 1% of certain groups that are real shit heads and make the rest of the people look horrible. And the gullible normal people just buy their stories without questioning anything.

I think the people we need to be are the people who decided it was cool to gang-rape someone but yeah, it's the reporters we should be upset about. Makes sense. :V

"It mostly consists of visual art, conventions, games, toys and online communities, though in rare cases it also involves a sexual fetish." Man this part of the article even SOUNDS like it was written by a dumb furry trying to underplay the sexual parts of the fandom. And furries are still bitching about it?

Even when a kid gets raped it's all about THEM.

I wish they wouldn't get defensive at all. The least they could do is focus their anger even more on predators and like-minded individuals instead.

Though don't mistake me for accepting or justifying witch hunts.

I hope that boy will be okay not just in the present sense but also in the future although I know there's probably going to a massive amount of psychological help. This is where a documented blacklist of furs who we no longer see as one of us would be VERY useful and these individuals qualify for that blacklist.

To say I draw the line on things like this makes me want to go, "Um... duh? No shit, Sherlock."

What fucking horrible people.

i like sexual funny stereotypical things. like somewhat offensive things

"Furries" spend so much time complaining that they get a bad rap by the outside world, but if you ask me (or do a "browse" of this site a few pages); I believe they fully deserve the reputation they've accrue. Naturally not all of them are bad, just most. Also, it doesn't surprise me that a furry would be involved in a rape. If asked to describe most of the people I know on here in just one word, it would be; rapey.

But Pie

Pie

Don't you understand

what the media thinks of furries is the most important thing

Many people close to me - mostly friends, some family - have been victims of childhood sexual abuse. Seeing the effect those experiences had on their lives really left an impression on me. I hope the perpetrators in this case are prosecuted severely, and I hope their victims get whatever help they need to heal (to whatever degree possible).

That said… I can’t fault furries for also being afraid of a backlash. Yeah, it’s highly insensitive if the first thing you say is “furries aren’t all like this.” I agree with you there! However, I think the instinct is understandable. I had the same thought many times in the ‘90s, whenever I heard some awful story about a gay man raping a minor. Of course I felt awful for the kid. (Hell, that kid could have been me! Or any number of other kids close to me!) It went without saying that the attack was unconscionable. But at the same time I was also overpowered by fear. I truly did worry that I would be associated with crimes like this simply because I am gay myself. (A reasonable fear, since it’s still a stereotype about gay men that we can’t be trusted around children.) Obviously my concern for the victim was paramount, but that didn't stop me from having other concerns as well.

All I mean to say is… yeah, think about the kids first. I’m with you on that 100%. But I don’t think it makes you a monster if you're also worried about how this incident might affect furries. (Even if, perhaps, some furries are expressing that worry in a way that is insensitive and tasteless.)

As a footnote, though - in keeping with your final paragraph, fear of bad press should NEVER prevent furries from REPORTING abuse. That's not understandable, nor is it excusable.

jesus christ... trying super hard not to go ape shit on a certain comments on here. just... fucking hell. people are so fucking self absorbed. that poor child.

"did you hear? 5 furries raped a kid" "oh no! I Hope the fandom is ok"

I do hate this attitude so much, I remember a similar situation not long ago when some furries actually got murdered. A furry that knew the couple that got murdered gave a statement that said something along the lines of what furries were, including the sexual deviancy. People got so mad about it that they publicly tried to shame him...while he was giving statements on the murder of his friends.

This kind of shit makes me sick to my core. People who take advantage of children disgust me on a level beyond that of anything else that I'm aware of. And, you know what? I feel no remorse for pedophiles that get sent to jail. I just hope that they get the professional help that they need while they're convicted of a felony.

As for the community... You can't really stop some members from doing things like this, but what you can do is not participate yourself, and remain vigilant.

When you have a community of people focused on sexual roleplay and escapism, it's no surprise if some participants believe that society's laws and social norms don't apply to their murrsonas.

Furries can deny it until the cows come home, but their sub-culture creates an environment where perverts feel comfortable acting out their urges, just like how the official police forces of Afghanistan keep teenage boys as sex slaves. The difference is that those men are not considered deviants in their own society. Furries however reject their own society, and pretend to be living in an imaginary one.