In my experience people like on the left tend to be upper class so that’s probably why they’re marketed to. There’s a lot of jokes about furries all being engineers and aircraft technicians and stuff but there’s not really enough rich ones to be worth marketing to for massive corporations. No offense but that kind of “gay pride” stuff is bougie as fuck these days. I feel alienated by it but not by the furry fandom despite not being a furry.
There’s a lot of anti-furry sentiment here comparing it to beastiality and zoophilia which is nothing new, but it’s too early in the morning for this.
To all those arguing this: You do not understand what being a furry is.
The furry community is firmly against fucking real animals as they obviously cannot consent. Any sex that happens in the community is among consenting adults. It isn’t a “stepping stone” to fucking animals either. The community has worked hard to expel zoophiles (people actually fucking animals) and Nazis (different tangent but also interesting).
The sensory experience of fur (or scales or feathers) is nice, and wondering what having a tail or multiple appendages would be like is fun, but some people have a problem with it when adults want to enjoy that with other adults.
This video is the best explanation I’ve encountered on the topic and has way more information than what I can put in a comment. NSFW and there’s a lot of sex jokes strung throughout.
TL; DW: There is a common experience of being dehumanized which the LGBT+ community experiences as well as those who are autistic which is one of many reasons both groups are drawn to the community. Animal comparisons are a good way of contextualizing how you would like to be interacted with. Furry is nothing new, and we have plenty of depictions of gods seducing people as animals because of the juxtaposition of power dynamics, divinity, humanity, masc, and fem.
I credit the fediverse, specifically Mastodon with ahem “humanizing” furries for me. I never had any exposure to them outside of memes and jokes before that. Now they are just members of another harmless subculture to me. Furries (and trans peeps!) also seem to be overrepresented in the fediverse and infosec communities, so respect and thanks to all the rad furries out there!
I’ve had to block so many furry, hentai, and furry hentai communities on here… What is it about Lemmy that brought so many users who get off to dog dicks?
Ooh, I actually know this, and it’s kinda hilarious. Lemmy tends to trend more techy, with a lot of emphasis on Linux communities. Furries are generalized as being stereotypically prevalent in IT, with a general joke of a plane crash full of furries could cripple an IT sector. Over 50% of furries are in STEM fields, with 28% of those surveyed in IT, 12% in science, and 12% in engineering (these numbers are from 2011, and a later survey was done in 2019, but I haven’t been able to find results).
Additionally, Lemmy tends to lean left politically, with a lot of emphasis on communities that are for trans rights, such as servers like blahaj.zone. Furries lean very much left politically socially, though they tend to skew right economically (numbers from 2013).
In short, furries are here because Lemmy matches their interests beyond the furry community. Aside from their love of dog dicks, you’d likely get along pretty well with them.
I’d probably have as hard a time getting over the dog-dick thing as they seem to lol. If bestiality (simulated or otherwise) is a core part of someone’s personality, I don’t think we’re gonna get along, and I’m far from upset about that. I also don’t think it’s doing any good for LGBTQ+ acceptance to be associated with.
While a slight-to-decent majority of furries appear to be in the LGBTQ+ community (at least according to Wikipedia), I’d hope that no one would say “Because you’re accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, even if you’re straight and don’t identify as part of that community, you must be part of the furry community.” Just because there’s LGBTQ+ people into odd kinks like bondage, humiliation, sounding, etc., there’s no reason you would have to be interested in those things to be supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Same thing with furries.
LGBTQ+ acceptance isn’t about throwing specific people under the bus in order to win the favor of bigots. That’s what the right-wing gays are doing when they speak out against trans people, as if being gay is fine but being trans is a bridge too far. As for kinkshaming just read up on anything regarding keeping kink out of pride. I don’t share everyone else’s kinks either but I fully support their right to have them.
Pretty much. Generally speaking furries are fans of anthropomorphic characters, which inherently require a human component.
A lot of the hate the furry fandom gets is carryover from it being a very LGBT positive space in the early days of the internet, when that was a significantly less popular opinion to have. This led to a lot of false rumors (and one really inaccurate csi episode) getting spread around.
People who don’t think furrys are sexual haven’t accidentally been invited to a furry party in San Francisco like I have. Trust me, they are pretending to be dogs fucking, and it crosses the beastiality line.
They may not be part of your LGBTQ+ community, but there’s a large percentage of furries that are LGBTQ+, so they’re mostly a part of the same overall communities, with, or without their fursuit on.
Honestly, I didn’t think there would be this much judgement from members of a community that should know how important inclusion is.
It’s fine to not be a furry, it’s fine to not want anything to do with furries. This is in the same way that has been yelled at the cisnormatives for a long time. It’s okay to be straight, gay, lesbian, queer, trans, bi, (etc), and it’s only to not be a part of that as well. Straight people are supporters of LGBTQ+ rights and freedoms, while not being LGBTQ+. I would think that someone who had to fight and struggle with being accepted by society, and in many ways is still shunned and ostracised by some communities, would understand that different isn’t bad, and you can support people in their freedom to express themselves, without feeling the need to express yourself in the same manner. That different isn’t bad, it’s just different.
I’m disappointed right now. Holy heck.
I’m not a furry, and I have no sexual interest in anything that looks like an animal or anthropomorphic animal looking things either, but if that’s what they like and enjoy, then fine. As long as they’re not going out and engaging in actual bestiality, who cares? (They’re not, btw)
I've noticed the same thing. There are so many furries who are actually gay men (most of whom claim to be bisexual) - I've seen them actually having sex with other guys in costume to the point of orgasm(!) - who has to clean those things. Anyway - I like the costumes, I like the people involved, and at least they are out there and being proud.
BUT - and this is my own big BUTT showing - I do honestly think there's something to the idea of these people costuming themselves in a way to hide their real orientation from themselves and others. I've just seen so much of these guys obvious attraction to each other but unwillingness to openly say they are gay without any costume, disguise, or other armor on.
Maybe furry is part of a stage in acceptance of themselves, and I'm all OK with it, I just think it's kinda obvious that it's a masquerade about their real sexual feelings in certain ways. (MY thoughts only - feel free to lob horse apples if you disagree). Not that there's anything wrong with it!
You’re close but coming in from an odd angle. The furry fandom is foremost extremely accepting, especially of people considered minorities or “weird” by normal society (LGBTQ+/autism/anything “cringe”). Putting on a fursuit or a furry avatar online and being able to pseudo-anonymously show the true parts of yourself is very liberating to those that don’t feel safe being themselves IRL. As an example, I’ve seen many trans people first switch the gender of their fursona to see how it feels to present as their preferred gender, and how it feels to be acknowledged by others as the person they are inside. I won’t say having a fursona is a mandatory part of being in the furry fandom (there are basically no rules on being included), but for many people that have one a fursona is often an idealized version of themselves and who they wish they could be IRL. So yes the furry fandom is often pivotal in a person’s “stages of acceptance”, but it has nothing to do with any kind of internalized “masking” and everything to do with the fandom’s external supportive community helping them become more comfortable with who they’ve always been.
I totally get that vibe, they seem ultra willing to be accepting and welcoming to anyone, and I love that. But like you said, a big reason for putting on a fursuit or avatar is liberating "to those that don't feel safe being themselves." That's what I'm getting at - part of the furry thing is disguising your real self.
My thing is, I just wish the world itself was so accepting and welcoming that nobody had to feel unsafe for being who they really are. I'm willing to bet that if we lived in a society where religious bigotry and hate didn't exist, you'd find that there was no furry community at all - no need for masks to hide who you really are or any need to go through "stages of acceptance."
But I'm not slamming the furry community. I've seen a few documentaries about it, and it seems fun and also like a great way to build community with like-minded guys (I'd say girls also, but I've almost never seen women participate in it). I support anything people do that helps them become outgoing or more confident people.
In an accepting world I think the furry fandom would still be quite large. The accepting community is why a lot of people stick around, but there are many other reasons for it to exist which aren’t influenced by being persecuted. Some people feel like they’re inherently furry from birth, like a gay person would, and some pick it up during their life as something they want to be associated with aesthetically or otherwise. You’ve also got therians and various other subcultures that are heavily based around the furry/animalistic themes themselves without considering any sort of societal values.
I also personally think pseudo-anonymity is healthy even when all of society is accepting, and I suspect there’s a large draw in being to socialize and try out different versions of yourself while keeping the option to burn your account and start again if you make mistakes. Now more than ever in our surveillance state, it’s nice to leave your identity behind and say things without worrying about it coming back to you IRL. I personally find furry/animal avatars to be a fun way of achieving this without needing to pick something boring and impersonal.
As for gender disparity I don’t think this is any inherent aspect of the furry fandom but just how predominantly-online cultures are weighted in general. I’d expect this to change given enough time. You can see recent gender studies here, and I highly recommend checking out some of the other pages from their findings if you’re interested in some of the bizarre trends that furries have compared to the average person. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that being furry is heavily biased by specific genetic circumstances, and that the explosion of furry culture is a figurative opening of Pandora’s box.
Edit: Also I found this page and the graphs+text have a lot of overlap with this topic.
Well it's an interesting idea. People already are animals just as giraffes or elephants, we're just a different species - but still we are part of the Animal kingdom. So in a way, people ARE furry from birth, in having intrinsic animal-like qualities.
With furry-dom, you don an exaggerated physical costume with outsized features like large eyes and big teeth - rather than just developing into a furry from within. As you said, it's fun to leave your human identity behind and be something else for awhile, as we do with dress up at halloween or masquerade balls (do they really have those anymore?).
It's odd that most furry costumes basically look alike - I mean, basically with big eyes and ears and big mouths. Are those features we find attractive in other guys? I mean they look less like real life animals and more like cartoon variations - like you'd find in japanese anime versions of gay animals.
In a way, being a furry is kind of embracing the true animal aspects of human nature and human sexuality, but enlarged into a cartoonish exaggeration. I find it very interesting and if I were younger and had the time, it's something I would probably be into. It looks like fun - except aren't the costumes kind of hot after awhile?
Well it’s an interesting idea. People already are animals just as giraffes or elephants, we’re just a different species - but still we are part of the Animal kingdom. So in a way, people ARE furry from birth, in having intrinsic animal-like qualities.
I think the draw is a lot deeper especially when contrasted against people who don’t consider themselves furry. The idea that a person “doesn’t feel like they had a choice in the matter of being furry” is actually very common, and I can vouch for that feeling as well. Luckily I don’t mind that part of me. I wonder how people that reject it feel about themselves - I suspect a lot of the loudest anti-furry people fall into this category, similar to the self-hating LGBTQ+ right-wing.
It’s odd that most furry costumes basically look alike - I mean, basically with big eyes and ears and big mouths
This is mostly a matter of practicality and logistics from my understanding. Even with giant eyes it’s difficult to see out of them, and the big mouths probably need to be matched to the eye size so it doesn’t look bizarre. The full head itself also needs to be big enough to fit over a regular human head. I don’t think everyone intentionally wants the costumes to look like they do, but there’s probably a handful of factors preventing more realistic costumes from being common, like cost increases for custom designs. I’m not really into the fursuiting part (many aren’t), so this is just secondhand info.
It looks like fun - except aren’t the costumes kind of hot after awhile?
From my understanding, they get very very hot. I think the main reason people get them is to have fun goofing off at cons or doing photo op stuff. They cost upwards of 3-4k IIRC and they’re handmade, so it’s probably something you have to wear carefully.
Maybe so, I mean in my case the draw isn't so deep I'd commit to being a furry for certain - in my case, I'd have to actively make that choice. And again, I'd have to choose to spend the $$ to afford a costume!
Yeah the furry costumes ARE adorable but seem so unwieldy, I'm not sure how anyone sees out of them or can even find their way around. And I know myself, I'd be sweating all the time if I had one of those things on. Not a very attractive prospect. I guess you really have to feel that commitment to it from within.
I’m with you here. For some it may be a transitional “phase” of getting to know yourself privately in the company of others.
I’m sure there’s plenty of other reasons to put on a fursuit or fursona, most of which we wouldn’t know about, and would vary on an individual basis. The fact remains that furries shouldn’t be excluded because of a minority having some inane thought that they’re somehow promoting bestiality. IMO, that’s as wrong as saying all trans women just want to get into the ladies washroom for reasons.
This community should well know what it’s like to be ostracised, so I would have a hard time believing that the LGBTQ+ community would reject furries because of a few people who have unfounded hangups about it.
I think that's a good way of seeing it, as a "transitional" phase of getting more comfortable with your real self and building a community with others going through the same thing.
The furry suits are exaggeratedly cute, so there's no argument that they help augment someone's attractiveness, and maybe there's a little animal-philia mixed in there also - in an anime sense of exaggerated animal power and sensuality.
The anti-furry dogwhistle is overwhelmingly used for anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments. The furry community is almost fully LGBTQ+ (80%+), and the idea that the LGBTQ+ community would be at odds with them shows that you are really misunderstanding the point of the rainbow flag. As the OP meme notes, furries have part of the LGBTQ+ community for a very long time and if you think this is some new phenomenon I really wonder what you’re doing trying to speak for us.
the unfortunate reality is that animal fuckers are becoming more and more commonly accepted on the internet as a whole – and expressing any opinion to the contrary is likely to get angry dogfuckers ranting and raving in your inbox.
much like how pedophiles will excuse jerking it to loli by justifying it with “no no, bro, she’s actually a 10,000 year old dragon goddess, she just looks 12!”, furries justify wanting to fuck a dog by saying the dog talks.
It really is just that simple, sport. Fetishizing animals is not okay. And you can use all the mental gymnastics you want to bullshit yourself with so you can sleep at night, but at the end of the day, nobody else is obligated to indulge you in them.
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