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New Post: Leadership, Morality and Humanity (Rabbit)
General | Posted 11 years agoI don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but in Real Life most of the furry fandom—for now, at least—lives in human bodies. We were all born with them, every last one of us. Some may claim souls of more diverse origin, but the flesh and blood nature of their humanity is beyond question. So, when I state that all of us are human and share common hard-wired human traits and frailties I hope people won’t throw too many stones.
For we are human, you know. Thoroughly, depressingly, and very completely so. We see the world through human eyes, hear with human ears, and process these inputs through a nervous system that, though we rarely consider the matter, was shaped solely by evolutionary forces and therefore is brimming with billions of years worth of illogical prejudices and mistaken priorities. Surviving long enough to produce successful offspring is the only thing that matters to Mr. Darwin. Not, for example, having the ability to apply dispassionate and objective logic to all situations. Yes, we’re the best-thinking creatures we yet know of. Yet at heart we’re still just another breed of animal, not immaterial shining globes of energy free from worldly distractions like hemorrhoids and noisy neighbors with ill-mannered children. Not only are we animals, we’re animals equipped with powerful drives and blind instincts, beasts who snarl and fight and sometimes even murder each other for reasons that an immaterial energy sphere would find totally incomprehensible. We’re demonstrably territorial, extraordinarily sexual, protective of our offspring and…
…we live in a social structure that requires a leader in order to function properly.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
For we are human, you know. Thoroughly, depressingly, and very completely so. We see the world through human eyes, hear with human ears, and process these inputs through a nervous system that, though we rarely consider the matter, was shaped solely by evolutionary forces and therefore is brimming with billions of years worth of illogical prejudices and mistaken priorities. Surviving long enough to produce successful offspring is the only thing that matters to Mr. Darwin. Not, for example, having the ability to apply dispassionate and objective logic to all situations. Yes, we’re the best-thinking creatures we yet know of. Yet at heart we’re still just another breed of animal, not immaterial shining globes of energy free from worldly distractions like hemorrhoids and noisy neighbors with ill-mannered children. Not only are we animals, we’re animals equipped with powerful drives and blind instincts, beasts who snarl and fight and sometimes even murder each other for reasons that an immaterial energy sphere would find totally incomprehensible. We’re demonstrably territorial, extraordinarily sexual, protective of our offspring and…
…we live in a social structure that requires a leader in order to function properly.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Zaush, Rape Culture, and Me (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoSeventeen years ago, at about this time of year, a female friend publicly accused me of hitting her.
There was a party at the house I shared with four others, and she was invited. At the end of the night she came into my bedroom. And a couple of hours later, she called a friend of mine, very upset, saying that I’d hit her. She probably told other people as well; I don’t know.
But I didn’t hit her. We didn’t even make physical contact. She was lying.
Here’s what happened next.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
There was a party at the house I shared with four others, and she was invited. At the end of the night she came into my bedroom. And a couple of hours later, she called a friend of mine, very upset, saying that I’d hit her. She probably told other people as well; I don’t know.
But I didn’t hit her. We didn’t even make physical contact. She was lying.
Here’s what happened next.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Reputation and the Furry Fandom (Kyell Gold)
General | Posted 12 years agoFollowing the close timing of two events that caused a good deal of drama in the fandom (explained below), some of the [a][s] contributors exchanged e-mails to discuss the situations and what they and the response to them said about the fandom. Below is a slightly edited (mostly for clarity and continuity and to exclude the names of contributors who did not wish to be included) transcript of the e-mails that went around for a couple days, followed by “closing statements” from contributors who wished to make one. What follows are the opinions of the individual contributors, which should not be taken as any official position of [adjective][species], and which are offered in the spirit of [a][s]’s mission of figuring out just what the heck we are doing in this wonderful furry world of ours. As some of the contributors note, this topic is not particularly relevant to being furry, but it is relevant to the furry fandom.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Guest Post: The Furry Dream (Hemms)
General | Posted 12 years agoGuest post by Hemms. Hemms is a Fox from southern California who has been in the Furry Fandom for 7 years, since discovering it when he was 14 on Christmas Morning in 2006. A Lifestyler through and through, Furry is the driving motivation behind everything he does and studies. He is a student of Anthropology and forever a dreamer. He seeks to understand Furry culture, History, and dreams of a unified Fandom that realizes just how important and powerful it really is. Hemms is on Twitter and Fur Affinity.
In my seven years as a Furry I have witnessed what I believe amounts to a cultural revolution that occurred beyond the view of the public at large. I frequently attest to the view that the Furry Fandom is not just a fandom but a culture in its own right. I don’t expect this view to be the same for everyone.
There are Lifestylers and there are Hobbyists, and the argument over which one is the correct “way to Furry” is an argument that still rages in this Fandom despite this matter having supposedly been settled with the Burned Furs conflict in 1998. Arguing over whether Hobbyists aren’t Furry enough or that Lifestylers really ought to calm down and take off the tail in public is pointless. I’m not writing this to assert whether one view or the other is the right way or not. I’m writing to assert that there is a reason why the argument is still deemed important enough to be worth arguing.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
In my seven years as a Furry I have witnessed what I believe amounts to a cultural revolution that occurred beyond the view of the public at large. I frequently attest to the view that the Furry Fandom is not just a fandom but a culture in its own right. I don’t expect this view to be the same for everyone.
There are Lifestylers and there are Hobbyists, and the argument over which one is the correct “way to Furry” is an argument that still rages in this Fandom despite this matter having supposedly been settled with the Burned Furs conflict in 1998. Arguing over whether Hobbyists aren’t Furry enough or that Lifestylers really ought to calm down and take off the tail in public is pointless. I’m not writing this to assert whether one view or the other is the right way or not. I’m writing to assert that there is a reason why the argument is still deemed important enough to be worth arguing.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Why Pronouns are Important (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoGreenReaper—WikiFur founder, Inkbunny owner, and Flayrah editor-in-chief—was at the centre of an online foofaraw in December after someone asked him about comments he made in 2011:
> Check out the article for embedded images!
He said: I’m not going to call someone “he”/”she” if they are not physically male/female.
His point of view is uncomplicated (if unsophisticated). In short:
He prefers to use pronouns to refer to primary sexual characteristics.
> coyoteseven I believe gender is a subjective and fluid value, and so prefer to use pronouns to refer to primary sexual characteristics.
> — GreenReaper (@WikiNorn) 1:12 AM – 28 Dec 2013
The correct use of words, including pronouns, is primarily an issue for the person using them.
> coyoteseven My point: the correct use of words, including pronouns, is primarily a matter for the person who must choose which to use.
> — GreenReaper (@WikiNorn) 1:10 AM – 28 Dec 2013
To many people, this will seem like a small semantic issue and hardly worth thinking about. To other people, this will seem like a very big deal indeed. It’s actually both: it is a semantic issue, but an important semantic issue. And as is often the case with this sort of thing, the truth is more complex than parties on either side might suggest.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
> Check out the article for embedded images!
He said: I’m not going to call someone “he”/”she” if they are not physically male/female.
His point of view is uncomplicated (if unsophisticated). In short:
He prefers to use pronouns to refer to primary sexual characteristics.
> coyoteseven I believe gender is a subjective and fluid value, and so prefer to use pronouns to refer to primary sexual characteristics.
> — GreenReaper (@WikiNorn) 1:12 AM – 28 Dec 2013
The correct use of words, including pronouns, is primarily an issue for the person using them.
> coyoteseven My point: the correct use of words, including pronouns, is primarily a matter for the person who must choose which to use.
> — GreenReaper (@WikiNorn) 1:10 AM – 28 Dec 2013
To many people, this will seem like a small semantic issue and hardly worth thinking about. To other people, this will seem like a very big deal indeed. It’s actually both: it is a semantic issue, but an important semantic issue. And as is often the case with this sort of thing, the truth is more complex than parties on either side might suggest.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Furry Mythology (Makyo)
General | Posted 12 years agoOne day, a fox and a cat were walking through a field. The cat seemed unusually distracted, however, despite the fox’s animated conversation. While the fox surely noticed, she did her best to try and draw the cat out through sheer ebullience. It had worked in the past, why not now?
“What’s bothering you?” the fox asked, relenting.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” said the cat.
“Come on, if it was nothing, you wouldn’t be such a sourpuss, now, would you?” the fox joked.
The cat was unamused. “It’s…really nothing. I can’t say. It’s a secret.”
“That’s three things. Is it nothing, can you not say, or is it a secret?”
The cat blushed in his ears, “It’s a secret.”
“Can you tell me?” asked the fox.
“No, then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore!” frumped the cat.
The fox and the cat walked on in silence for a bit. The secret was clearly bothering the cat, but the fox couldn’t think of how to help.
“I know,” said the fox, brightening up. “You can tell your secret to my tail. Not even I know what my tail thinks. You can get it off your chest, and no one need actually learn your secret.
The cat thought for a moment, and then nodded, “Okay, but put your paws over your ears!”
The fox put her paws over her ears and stood still, admiring the scenery, while the cat put his muzzle in the dense fur of the fox’s tail and whispered his secret, weaving it through the fur. The fox heard nothing but the rustle of pawpads in fur, the cat felt immensely better getting whatever it was off his chest that he needed to, and the tail, to this day, has never let slip the cat’s secret. That is why it is said that a good way to feel better is to weave your secrets through a fox’s tail: they will surely be kept safe with not even the fox knowing them.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
“What’s bothering you?” the fox asked, relenting.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” said the cat.
“Come on, if it was nothing, you wouldn’t be such a sourpuss, now, would you?” the fox joked.
The cat was unamused. “It’s…really nothing. I can’t say. It’s a secret.”
“That’s three things. Is it nothing, can you not say, or is it a secret?”
The cat blushed in his ears, “It’s a secret.”
“Can you tell me?” asked the fox.
“No, then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore!” frumped the cat.
The fox and the cat walked on in silence for a bit. The secret was clearly bothering the cat, but the fox couldn’t think of how to help.
“I know,” said the fox, brightening up. “You can tell your secret to my tail. Not even I know what my tail thinks. You can get it off your chest, and no one need actually learn your secret.
The cat thought for a moment, and then nodded, “Okay, but put your paws over your ears!”
The fox put her paws over her ears and stood still, admiring the scenery, while the cat put his muzzle in the dense fur of the fox’s tail and whispered his secret, weaving it through the fur. The fox heard nothing but the rustle of pawpads in fur, the cat felt immensely better getting whatever it was off his chest that he needed to, and the tail, to this day, has never let slip the cat’s secret. That is why it is said that a good way to feel better is to weave your secrets through a fox’s tail: they will surely be kept safe with not even the fox knowing them.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Paleofurs - The Anthropomorphic Fans of…(Rabbit)
General | Posted 12 years agoNote: the full title is Paleofurs - The Anthropomorphic Fans of the Past
In many ways I’m not a very typical fur. I’m almost fifty-three as I write this, work in a blue collar field, and have little to no interest in furry art or artists. (I’m into furry fiction to the near-exclusion of all else, fandom-wise.) I don’t have a “furry-name” or “fursona”, and my first fursuit, if I still had it, would be older than the word itself. I would never have heard of half the fandom-famous anthro-cartoon characters if it hadn’t been for the fandom itself, because I was already an adult—even in many cases middle-aged—when the programs aired and became part of the rest of the fandom’s childhood. Perhaps most tellingly, I was thirty-seven years old before I ever heard the word “furry” used in its fandom sense. In other words, I lived most of my life in the universe that existed before there was a furry fandom, and remember it well.
This world was the world of the “paleofur”. The time before any of us knew there were others like us, who shared our interests and tastes. Before the internet brought us together, in other words, the long, long era when being a fur was a terribly lonely and to some degree even shameful thing.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
In many ways I’m not a very typical fur. I’m almost fifty-three as I write this, work in a blue collar field, and have little to no interest in furry art or artists. (I’m into furry fiction to the near-exclusion of all else, fandom-wise.) I don’t have a “furry-name” or “fursona”, and my first fursuit, if I still had it, would be older than the word itself. I would never have heard of half the fandom-famous anthro-cartoon characters if it hadn’t been for the fandom itself, because I was already an adult—even in many cases middle-aged—when the programs aired and became part of the rest of the fandom’s childhood. Perhaps most tellingly, I was thirty-seven years old before I ever heard the word “furry” used in its fandom sense. In other words, I lived most of my life in the universe that existed before there was a furry fandom, and remember it well.
This world was the world of the “paleofur”. The time before any of us knew there were others like us, who shared our interests and tastes. Before the internet brought us together, in other words, the long, long era when being a fur was a terribly lonely and to some degree even shameful thing.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Directions (Makyo)
General | Posted 12 years agoAnd now comes the time when I have to write a very important, rather personal article. Again.
I can see you all bracing yourselves already. “Oh no, here goes Makyo…”
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
I can see you all bracing yourselves already. “Oh no, here goes Makyo…”
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Two New Posts and a video!
General | Posted 12 years agoMakyo was at FC, so we have two new posts this time, plus a video of the [a][s] panel at the convention!
The Legality of Cub Porn (JM)
Furry cub porn, love it or loathe it, is a fact of life. There is demand for cub porn within our community, and so there will always be supply.
I have written before about the ethical aspects of cub porn here on [a][s]: I am, with some qualifications, a defender. There are certainly valid arguments for censorship or restriction of cub porn, not least the impression it can give to non-furry friends and family. Those interested in the ethics should start with my article—In Defence of Cub Porn.
Those interested in the legal status of cub porn should read on.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
When You've Said Too Much (Rabbit)
I’ve long been fascinated by the art of communication. While writing is my forte, I’m also fascinated by radio—I was a teen-aged disc jockey for a time at an educational station—and just about all other forms of gasbaggery. One of the things that has struck me most profoundly over the years is how much all the various means of exchanging thoughts and ideas have in common with each other at the basic level.
Over the years I’ve chosen a very few favorite literary passages and other odds and ends of communication and thought long and hard about what makes them work so well. One is an excerpt from Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, more specifically the arrival of the Midnight Circus Train. Another is the last few paragraphs of Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which never leaves me dry-eyed. A third is a lesser-known but still famous scene from book five of the Horatio Hornblower series (Beat to Quarters was the American title) by C.S. Forester in which the protagonist, half-mad from noise and terror and the strain of command in the most brutal sort of combat struggles to maintain his sanity as he (largely by pure force of will) stands for hour after hour in the hot sun with the corpses of his friends and shipmates piling up ever deeper all around him. These are all three of them brilliant gems of the literary art, and each achieved much of their impact using very different techniques. Indeed, they share only a single thing in common.
Not one of them is one syllable longer than they absolutely must be in order to achieve the effect intended. Indeed, each is remarkably short compared to the power they command in the reader’s mind. Not a shred of “non-essential” or “second-rate” material is present to water down the impact of the rest.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Exploring the Fandom Through Data - FC2014 (Makyo)
Didn’t make it to Further Confusion this year? Made it, but missed our talk? Don’t worry! I actually remembered to turn on the camera this time! Click through for a video of the panel portion of our presentation, “Exploring the Fandom Through Data”.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
The Legality of Cub Porn (JM)
Furry cub porn, love it or loathe it, is a fact of life. There is demand for cub porn within our community, and so there will always be supply.
I have written before about the ethical aspects of cub porn here on [a][s]: I am, with some qualifications, a defender. There are certainly valid arguments for censorship or restriction of cub porn, not least the impression it can give to non-furry friends and family. Those interested in the ethics should start with my article—In Defence of Cub Porn.
Those interested in the legal status of cub porn should read on.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
When You've Said Too Much (Rabbit)
I’ve long been fascinated by the art of communication. While writing is my forte, I’m also fascinated by radio—I was a teen-aged disc jockey for a time at an educational station—and just about all other forms of gasbaggery. One of the things that has struck me most profoundly over the years is how much all the various means of exchanging thoughts and ideas have in common with each other at the basic level.
Over the years I’ve chosen a very few favorite literary passages and other odds and ends of communication and thought long and hard about what makes them work so well. One is an excerpt from Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, more specifically the arrival of the Midnight Circus Train. Another is the last few paragraphs of Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, which never leaves me dry-eyed. A third is a lesser-known but still famous scene from book five of the Horatio Hornblower series (Beat to Quarters was the American title) by C.S. Forester in which the protagonist, half-mad from noise and terror and the strain of command in the most brutal sort of combat struggles to maintain his sanity as he (largely by pure force of will) stands for hour after hour in the hot sun with the corpses of his friends and shipmates piling up ever deeper all around him. These are all three of them brilliant gems of the literary art, and each achieved much of their impact using very different techniques. Indeed, they share only a single thing in common.
Not one of them is one syllable longer than they absolutely must be in order to achieve the effect intended. Indeed, each is remarkably short compared to the power they command in the reader’s mind. Not a shred of “non-essential” or “second-rate” material is present to water down the impact of the rest.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Exploring the Fandom Through Data - FC2014 (Makyo)
Didn’t make it to Further Confusion this year? Made it, but missed our talk? Don’t worry! I actually remembered to turn on the camera this time! Click through for a video of the panel portion of our presentation, “Exploring the Fandom Through Data”.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Guest Post: Tongues of Beasts and Angels (Khed)
General | Posted 12 years agoGuest post by Khed (@khedhorse).
In April 1906, at a home at 214 North Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, fire fell from heaven.
This was no fiery column defending fleeing Hebrew slaves nor cause for a modern-day Elijah to slaughter idolatrous priests. To those at the Bonnie Brae home, these were the “cloven tongues of fire” that had visited Christ’s apostles at Pentecost. They were a sure sign of Jesus’s saving power, in latter days come again into the world.
And they were literal tongues, too. Late one night, a black pastor and a white friend were kneeling in prayer when the latter let loose a flow of ecstatic syllables. The next day, the pastor, William Seymour, did the same. And when Seymour acquired a church-turned-warehouse-turned-stable as his new mission center—the famous Azusa Street Mission in downtown LA—hundreds more, of all races, experienced the outpouring of divine power. Those on the margins of society, generally poor, found in this power meaning for their lives, healing from their ills, and salvation for their souls and communities. Missionaries, believing themselves endowed with the power to speak foreign languages spontaneously, set out penniless but joyful to spread the Good Word.
And there was neither black nor white in Christ Jesus to these revivalists. To onlookers in an America in which racial barriers were being erected and fortified, the expressions these early so-called “Pentecostals” took for signs of divine favor were horrific breaches in social protocol. Seymour’s erstwhile mentor, from whom he had learned of the gift of tongues, denounced the “Negroisms” on display under Seymour’s ministry: seemingly nonsensical ululations, jerky dancing motions, raucous exclamations, weeping faces and bodies collapsing, beatifically smiling all the while. Black men were embracing white women, a clear racial transgression for those of the time that was all but overtly sexual: everyone knew black men couldn’t be trusted around virtuous white women. While the Azusa Street Revival under Seymour’s leadership was revolutionary in its deconstruction of strict racial boundaries, it suffered the fate of all revolutions: the disapprobation of those who defined “decorum” as “like us.” Even today, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t scoff at the so-called Pentecostal gifts of the Spirit, from healings to tongues to handling snakes.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
In April 1906, at a home at 214 North Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, fire fell from heaven.
This was no fiery column defending fleeing Hebrew slaves nor cause for a modern-day Elijah to slaughter idolatrous priests. To those at the Bonnie Brae home, these were the “cloven tongues of fire” that had visited Christ’s apostles at Pentecost. They were a sure sign of Jesus’s saving power, in latter days come again into the world.
And they were literal tongues, too. Late one night, a black pastor and a white friend were kneeling in prayer when the latter let loose a flow of ecstatic syllables. The next day, the pastor, William Seymour, did the same. And when Seymour acquired a church-turned-warehouse-turned-stable as his new mission center—the famous Azusa Street Mission in downtown LA—hundreds more, of all races, experienced the outpouring of divine power. Those on the margins of society, generally poor, found in this power meaning for their lives, healing from their ills, and salvation for their souls and communities. Missionaries, believing themselves endowed with the power to speak foreign languages spontaneously, set out penniless but joyful to spread the Good Word.
And there was neither black nor white in Christ Jesus to these revivalists. To onlookers in an America in which racial barriers were being erected and fortified, the expressions these early so-called “Pentecostals” took for signs of divine favor were horrific breaches in social protocol. Seymour’s erstwhile mentor, from whom he had learned of the gift of tongues, denounced the “Negroisms” on display under Seymour’s ministry: seemingly nonsensical ululations, jerky dancing motions, raucous exclamations, weeping faces and bodies collapsing, beatifically smiling all the while. Black men were embracing white women, a clear racial transgression for those of the time that was all but overtly sexual: everyone knew black men couldn’t be trusted around virtuous white women. While the Azusa Street Revival under Seymour’s leadership was revolutionary in its deconstruction of strict racial boundaries, it suffered the fate of all revolutions: the disapprobation of those who defined “decorum” as “like us.” Even today, it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t scoff at the so-called Pentecostal gifts of the Spirit, from healings to tongues to handling snakes.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: King Crow and Other Stories (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoKing Crow is a well-regarded novel, written by Michael Stewart and published in 2011. It’s a tale of a young man who is exploring identity—his own and that of other people—as if everyone were anthropomorphic birds. The young man is introverted, hyper-focussed on specifics, and unable to grasp complex social dynamics.
It opens: When I look at people, I wonder what sort of birds they are.
There’s a pretty good argument that King Crow, with its anthropomorphics and its exploration of the challenges of being an introverted young man, is the sort of thing that furries would be interested in.
And yet few furries will have heard of King Crow, and even fewer will have read it. It’s very likely that you, reader, are hearing about it for the first time in this article, and that you’ll never hear of it ever again. King Crow isn’t on the furry radar.
But this article isn’t really about King Crow. This is about what furries are choosing to read instead, and it’s not found in the literary fiction section.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
It opens: When I look at people, I wonder what sort of birds they are.
There’s a pretty good argument that King Crow, with its anthropomorphics and its exploration of the challenges of being an introverted young man, is the sort of thing that furries would be interested in.
And yet few furries will have heard of King Crow, and even fewer will have read it. It’s very likely that you, reader, are hearing about it for the first time in this article, and that you’ll never hear of it ever again. King Crow isn’t on the furry radar.
But this article isn’t really about King Crow. This is about what furries are choosing to read instead, and it’s not found in the literary fiction section.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Guest Post: The Uniquely Furry Distortions of Gender
General | Posted 12 years agoGuest post by Thesis White. Thesis is a writer-artist, cognitive science student, and peachy dalmatian who loves creating their own discourse. (Thesis is on Twitter and FX.)
The furry identity is thought by many to be one of sexual and romantic liberation, where furs can engage in relationships with others, bound by a shared sense of playfulness and fetishism. Not all furries have exclusively romantic interests towards others within the fandom; I myself am mated with a non-fur. However, where there is much literature about sexuality and relationships in the furry world, it is outside of what I’m going to discuss. More interesting and dynamic than our sexuality is the uniquely furry distortions of gender.
The internet facilitates our ability to be furry. For most furries, furryness is an interest and a self-identification through a fursona, but to understand it, we must understand its origins. A legacy of human-animal hybrids throughout mythology and 20th-century fiction is behind us, and in our early years exists televised pictures of Bugs Bunny and Balto. Where originally the mythical monstrosities of human and animal were to be feared as gods and demons in the flesh, modern anthropomorphics are adored primarily by children in an intimate relationship between entertainer and audience.
What types of images did we see, though? Many furry cartoon characters weren’t physically sexed, but given gendered social roles. Disney’s fox, Robin Hood, wore no pants and was explicitly physically androgynous, but still played the role of the masculine hero and saved the princess from the horrid King Richard. As we move into adulthood and gain entrance to a mature furry community, we see both sexed and non-sexed furs. As we reach puberty and onward, we discover that our furry personas can serve a sexuality and character that we adopt to explore ourselves and our interests.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Be sure to check us out on Weasyl, too!
The furry identity is thought by many to be one of sexual and romantic liberation, where furs can engage in relationships with others, bound by a shared sense of playfulness and fetishism. Not all furries have exclusively romantic interests towards others within the fandom; I myself am mated with a non-fur. However, where there is much literature about sexuality and relationships in the furry world, it is outside of what I’m going to discuss. More interesting and dynamic than our sexuality is the uniquely furry distortions of gender.
The internet facilitates our ability to be furry. For most furries, furryness is an interest and a self-identification through a fursona, but to understand it, we must understand its origins. A legacy of human-animal hybrids throughout mythology and 20th-century fiction is behind us, and in our early years exists televised pictures of Bugs Bunny and Balto. Where originally the mythical monstrosities of human and animal were to be feared as gods and demons in the flesh, modern anthropomorphics are adored primarily by children in an intimate relationship between entertainer and audience.
What types of images did we see, though? Many furry cartoon characters weren’t physically sexed, but given gendered social roles. Disney’s fox, Robin Hood, wore no pants and was explicitly physically androgynous, but still played the role of the masculine hero and saved the princess from the horrid King Richard. As we move into adulthood and gain entrance to a mature furry community, we see both sexed and non-sexed furs. As we reach puberty and onward, we discover that our furry personas can serve a sexuality and character that we adopt to explore ourselves and our interests.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Be sure to check us out on Weasyl, too!
New Post: When Your Mind Betrays You (Jakebe)
General | Posted 12 years agoWhen I was asked to become a regular contributor to [adjective][species], I couldn’t have been more excited. I had been following the site for quite some time, and I thought its approach to discussing the furry fandom was something interesting, unique and long overdue. Thinking about this fandom as a society, a segment of the population the same as any other, elevates the way we think about ourselves, legitimizes our little section of the Internet, encourages us to take ourselves a bit more seriously than we do. I was excited to be a part of that conversation.
So I sat down and thought up a good post that would serve as an icebreaker between us. This was right around Thanksgiving, so I thought using an anecdote I had heard about the first time the Native Americans had encountered the Europeans would work. It would segue into a rumination on perspective, and how we only find the things in the world that we look for. There were some kinks to work out, but I thought it would be a good thing to open our relationship with. With you in mind, dear reader, I opened up a new document and started writing.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
So I sat down and thought up a good post that would serve as an icebreaker between us. This was right around Thanksgiving, so I thought using an anecdote I had heard about the first time the Native Americans had encountered the Europeans would work. It would segue into a rumination on perspective, and how we only find the things in the world that we look for. There were some kinks to work out, but I thought it would be a good thing to open our relationship with. With you in mind, dear reader, I opened up a new document and started writing.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Two New Posts!
General | Posted 12 years agoTwo posts went life while FA was on vacation.
Transformation as Wish Fulfilment (JM)
The idea of sudden change is a powerful one.
We all wish for things to be different, in a big way or a small way. We look inwardly and wish we were different. And we look outwardly and wish the world were different too.
The idea that we might transform into our furry self is compelling, if not actually possible. But it’s an idea we can explore in art: in visual art, and with fiction.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Breaking Barriers
Guest post by Hyshaji Nightdragon. Nightdragon is a biological science graduate, laboratory specialist & fursuiter from Singapore. Rawr!
Three years ago, I was first introduced to fursuiting and fandom. This year, I made my first ‘pilgrimage’ to Anthrocon. With that came the rather intimidating prospect that is long distance travel. You see, I’m from Singapore, so by traveling all the way to the United States, I do mean a really, really long journey.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Transformation as Wish Fulfilment (JM)
The idea of sudden change is a powerful one.
We all wish for things to be different, in a big way or a small way. We look inwardly and wish we were different. And we look outwardly and wish the world were different too.
The idea that we might transform into our furry self is compelling, if not actually possible. But it’s an idea we can explore in art: in visual art, and with fiction.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Breaking Barriers
Guest post by Hyshaji Nightdragon. Nightdragon is a biological science graduate, laboratory specialist & fursuiter from Singapore. Rawr!
Three years ago, I was first introduced to fursuiting and fandom. This year, I made my first ‘pilgrimage’ to Anthrocon. With that came the rather intimidating prospect that is long distance travel. You see, I’m from Singapore, so by traveling all the way to the United States, I do mean a really, really long journey.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: The Structure of Furry (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoFurry is not a fandom. At least, not any more.
We’re not a fandom because we aren’t fans of some specific piece of art. There is no furry canon.
Fandoms revolve around their canon. The canon provides a permanent reference point for all fandom-related activities. We furries have no such thing, and so furry is defined by whatever we, collectively, decide.
Furry is something that is constantly changing, something that is constantly being recreated by we furries. So, not surprisingly, what exactly makes us ‘furry’ is difficult to pin down.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
We’re not a fandom because we aren’t fans of some specific piece of art. There is no furry canon.
Fandoms revolve around their canon. The canon provides a permanent reference point for all fandom-related activities. We furries have no such thing, and so furry is defined by whatever we, collectively, decide.
Furry is something that is constantly changing, something that is constantly being recreated by we furries. So, not surprisingly, what exactly makes us ‘furry’ is difficult to pin down.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Foreign Furry Fandoms: Australia (Zik)
General | Posted 12 years agoI lied to everyone who read my “furries from around the world” articles over a year ago. I concluded by assuring that I would post an article for Australia soon. That was, as GLaDOS would put it, “an outright fabrication”, as I moved back to college for the semester literally three days later and was absolutely confident (at least in the back of my head) that I wouldn’t be writing about furries during the school semester.
Then, suddenly, school ended and I had no excuse. I had a two-hour interview with Carnival and Kraden from ACTFur as well as four completed questionnaires, including one from a Midfur staff member. I had everything I needed. I just didn’t feel like writing. Four months bled into about fifteen months. But, I have the information, and it would be a shame to let it stagnate any more. It’s time to write about Australia.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Then, suddenly, school ended and I had no excuse. I had a two-hour interview with Carnival and Kraden from ACTFur as well as four completed questionnaires, including one from a Midfur staff member. I had everything I needed. I just didn’t feel like writing. Four months bled into about fifteen months. But, I have the information, and it would be a shame to let it stagnate any more. It’s time to write about Australia.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: A Thought Experiment: $100,000 for Furry (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoA hypothetical question: you are given US$100,000, to be used for the betterment of the furry community. How do you spend it?
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: On Advertising: Part 1 - After (Makyo)
General | Posted 12 years ago(This is the follow-up to the first article, published October 9th, On Advertising: Part 1 – Before which explores the hows and whys of our little experiment in advertising. Start there if you have yet to read it!)
And so it’s over. We ran advertisements for one month on two furry sites to try and gain some insight into the way furries interact both with ads and with those sites in general. Those campaigns ended several days ago and we’ve been looking over the data we have available to us, including information before, during, and after the campaigns were over.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
And so it’s over. We ran advertisements for one month on two furry sites to try and gain some insight into the way furries interact both with ads and with those sites in general. Those campaigns ended several days ago and we’ve been looking over the data we have available to us, including information before, during, and after the campaigns were over.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Making Miracles (Rabbit)
General | Posted 12 years agoSpecial Note: This column was first written for TSAT Magazine in 2001 (on September 9th actually, if memory serves). TSAT was an early e-zine that focused entirely on transformation stories, that branch of fiction in which one thing is likely to very soon become another. All of my own earliest works as a serious authors were transformation stories and many of them still are, as I find TF to be a superb literary mechanism for examining the human condition via making it somewhat less human. At any rate, I’ve received several requests over the years to republish this column despite its age in a more available forum, and so I’ve touched it up for [adjective][species]. Please note that while the column refers specifically to transformation stories again and again, I believe that what I said over a decade ago still pretty much holds equally true for furry fiction today.
(So why didn’t I just edit the thing radically enough to make it about furry fiction instead of TF? Because for some unknown reason I’m inordinately proud of this piece, and feel that I owe it to both TSAT Magazine and the struggling beginner writer that I then was to keep it in as original a state as possible. Don’t worry; it’ll be just fine.)
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
(So why didn’t I just edit the thing radically enough to make it about furry fiction instead of TF? Because for some unknown reason I’m inordinately proud of this piece, and feel that I owe it to both TSAT Magazine and the struggling beginner writer that I then was to keep it in as original a state as possible. Don’t worry; it’ll be just fine.)
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Two Years of [a][s] (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoI’ve been an [adjective][species] contributor since early 2012, and I’m proud to have participated in the site’s growth and success over the last two years.
I’d like to pitch my two cents into the second birthday celebration. I think of myself as a fan of [a][s] first and a contributor second; and so I’d like to revisit some of my favourite articles.
This is a very short list of four articles that I love. None are from the last six months, so hopefully a few people will be introduced to them for the first time. And for those of us who have been following the site for some time, all these articles are worth reading and rereading again.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
I’d like to pitch my two cents into the second birthday celebration. I think of myself as a fan of [a][s] first and a contributor second; and so I’d like to revisit some of my favourite articles.
This is a very short list of four articles that I love. None are from the last six months, so hopefully a few people will be introduced to them for the first time. And for those of us who have been following the site for some time, all these articles are worth reading and rereading again.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Happy Birthday, [a][s]! (Makyo)
General | Posted 12 years ago[adjective][species] turns two today! RandomWolf made it to the party, but he kept having ideas he just needed to write down, I guess. What is it with all these giant candles, anyway? Art by the delightful 
floe, who also did our banner.
Continue reading (and see the picture!) on adjectivespecies.com
floe, who also did our banner.Continue reading (and see the picture!) on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Writing Furry Non-Fiction (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoThere is little glamour in writing non-fiction pieces about furry. It takes time and research to write on any topic with authority, and most articles will attract a small amount of attention on publication before sinking without a trace.
But if you keep your expectations in check, it can be a really enjoyable and rewarding exercise. There is the personal pride that comes from your background reading, as you gain expertise in your topic, and you’ll be contributing to the small but growing body of work that is trying to understand the furry community’s place in the world. Your article will help people learn new things and think of the world in a different way.
This is companion article of sorts to Submissive Roles: Writing For Furry Anthologies, where Huskyteer discusses strategies and tips for submitting short fiction for publication. I’ll review the options for non-fiction publication and offer a few tips to make things as smooth as possible.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
But if you keep your expectations in check, it can be a really enjoyable and rewarding exercise. There is the personal pride that comes from your background reading, as you gain expertise in your topic, and you’ll be contributing to the small but growing body of work that is trying to understand the furry community’s place in the world. Your article will help people learn new things and think of the world in a different way.
This is companion article of sorts to Submissive Roles: Writing For Furry Anthologies, where Huskyteer discusses strategies and tips for submitting short fiction for publication. I’ll review the options for non-fiction publication and offer a few tips to make things as smooth as possible.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: How To Pick Up (Furry) Women (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoThe number of straight (or bi) male furries far outweighs the number of straight (or bi) female furries. Around 1 in 5 furries are female, and some of those are gay or asexual. We looked at the numbers last year and estimated that about 16% of furries—1 in 6—are women who may be interested in a relationship with a guy. And many of those will already be in a relationship, or otherwise not available.
You can read how we reached that conclusion, along with some discussion in a previous article (which has my favourite title to date): It’s Raining Men. It shows how furry’s gender imbalance and sexual orientation demographics conspire to make it difficult for heterosexual guys to find a relationship with a fellow furry. (It’s even worse if you’re a furry lesbian.)
This article is a guide to how a heterosexual male can maximize his chances of finding a furry girlfriend; without being a stalker, without pulling any pick-up-artistry nonsense, and without being creepy or otherwise contributing to the problem that’s keeping women away from the furry community.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
You can read how we reached that conclusion, along with some discussion in a previous article (which has my favourite title to date): It’s Raining Men. It shows how furry’s gender imbalance and sexual orientation demographics conspire to make it difficult for heterosexual guys to find a relationship with a fellow furry. (It’s even worse if you’re a furry lesbian.)
This article is a guide to how a heterosexual male can maximize his chances of finding a furry girlfriend; without being a stalker, without pulling any pick-up-artistry nonsense, and without being creepy or otherwise contributing to the problem that’s keeping women away from the furry community.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post:Dating and Relationships Inside the Fandom (Makyo)
General | Posted 12 years agoThis article originally appeared on our sister site, Love ◦ Sex ◦ Fur on October 5th, 2013.
I’m a very big proponent of the idea that, for the most part, furry is simply a small slice of society at large. We have our skews, of course – the gender skew (towards men), the age skew (towards the 15-25 year old age range), as well as some other, minor skews such as general technical aptitude, or even species selection toward canids – but for the most part, we do not think or act so differently from the “rest of the world” that we cannot interface with it. Our chosen home and family may be more comfortable for us, but we do not exist separate from everyone else.
It’s not surprising in the least, then, that dating and relationships do form a part of our membership with this subculture. We think about it, we write about it, we join websites, make websites, or write litanies against websites focused on dating, relationships and love. It’s part of life, and so it is also part of the fandom. Given the subtitle of “Love and Sex in the Furry Fandom,” it is also part of our repertoire of subjects to write about, and so I think it’s high time that we took a moment to explore dating and relationships inside furry.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
I’m a very big proponent of the idea that, for the most part, furry is simply a small slice of society at large. We have our skews, of course – the gender skew (towards men), the age skew (towards the 15-25 year old age range), as well as some other, minor skews such as general technical aptitude, or even species selection toward canids – but for the most part, we do not think or act so differently from the “rest of the world” that we cannot interface with it. Our chosen home and family may be more comfortable for us, but we do not exist separate from everyone else.
It’s not surprising in the least, then, that dating and relationships do form a part of our membership with this subculture. We think about it, we write about it, we join websites, make websites, or write litanies against websites focused on dating, relationships and love. It’s part of life, and so it is also part of the fandom. Given the subtitle of “Love and Sex in the Furry Fandom,” it is also part of our repertoire of subjects to write about, and so I think it’s high time that we took a moment to explore dating and relationships inside furry.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
New Post: Furry as a Queer Identity (JM)
General | Posted 12 years agoLGBT stands for two things: firstly, a delicious sandwich (lettuce, guacamole, bacon & tomato); secondly a group of people who don’t easily fit into a heterosexual, binary gendered world.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are lumped together into LGBT mostly for convenience. The four groups are discriminated against in a similar way and the political action required for equality are much the same. LGBT people can generally be classified as being ‘queer’ which roughly means that they diverge from a traditional sexual or gender identity.
Of course, there are plenty of people who diverge from a traditional sexual or gender paradigm who are neither L, G, B or T. And so we can continually add letters to LGBT until it spells something awesome like TERABULGE, or we can toss a catch-all Q to give us LGBTQ, an acronym which is gaining traction.
We furries are already accepted within the LGBT community to a large extent, which is at least partly due to our own gender and sexual diversity. But I think that there is a strong argument that the entirety of furry can be recognized as a queer identity, a Q, including the 30% or so (according to the 2012 Furrypoll) of us that are heterosexual and cis-gendered.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are lumped together into LGBT mostly for convenience. The four groups are discriminated against in a similar way and the political action required for equality are much the same. LGBT people can generally be classified as being ‘queer’ which roughly means that they diverge from a traditional sexual or gender identity.
Of course, there are plenty of people who diverge from a traditional sexual or gender paradigm who are neither L, G, B or T. And so we can continually add letters to LGBT until it spells something awesome like TERABULGE, or we can toss a catch-all Q to give us LGBTQ, an acronym which is gaining traction.
We furries are already accepted within the LGBT community to a large extent, which is at least partly due to our own gender and sexual diversity. But I think that there is a strong argument that the entirety of furry can be recognized as a queer identity, a Q, including the 30% or so (according to the 2012 Furrypoll) of us that are heterosexual and cis-gendered.
Continue reading on adjectivespecies.com
