Will someone please tell me ...

what exactly is a furry? hehe ... I know they are avatars that choose to dress as animals - but what exactly encompasses their role play and ... what the heck, lol ... just tell me generally what they are, lol. I would prefer to have a furry answer - and not someone who hates 'em ...

If Gor is matter, Furdom is antimatter.

To avoid any discussion of motives, behavior, or stereotypical remarks, I'll just give you a couple links that might help:

http://www.vexen.co.uk/human/furry.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry

There is also the Therian side of things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthropy

For me a 'furry' avatar is more of an outward expression of an inner totem. An animal I relate to, learn from, and or admire. Not all of the furries in SL are here just for a hay roll. Contrary to what some seem to think, not all 'furrys' are rude, greedy or in some other way a negative drain on society. Actually there are those of us that are the exact opposite in many ways. *gives a polite smile and bows* I hope this help some. I’d be more than happy to expand upon this if you wish.

A Furry in its broadest sense would be any person using sentient animal or creature avatars, for whatever reason.

Normally it's an anthropomorphic animal, with the general anatomy of a human, but key animal features such as snouts, tails, and paws, but you could argue for 4-legged animals to be included, so long as they act human on some level.

Various centaur and dragon-based creatures are commonly seen as well (dracoon, leopardtaur, etc)

Reptile and Amphibian-based furries are sometimes called scaleys, if I recall right, but are generally considered "furry" as well.

http://furry.wikia.com/wiki/WikiFur_Furry_Central


(Furry-themed Wiki encyclopedia)

For me, I write for a fanzine ( http://www.taipanproject.org/ ) that is considered furry, although those of us who started the magazine were fans of David Brin's Uplift Wars, C J Cherryh's Channur books, and the comics Albeedo and Fusion, so at the start we didn't know that furry fandom existed. But because of my involvement in the fanzine I've attended many furry cons, and have a lot of friends in the fandom, and when I came to Second Life it sort of felt natural to go hang out with the furry community, I guess.

I like animals you know but I didn't really fantasize about being one when I was young. When I came across books that had talking animals, it was just another book to me. For example, I read a lot of Andre Norton when I was young, and it never occured to me that the stories that had talking animals in them -- quite a few do -- were in any way special, compared to her other stories. For people who are more into the idea of furry, her animal stories would have stood out.

Anyway, the SL avatars are cute and a lot of fun. ^_^ So I usually have a furry avatar in SL, so I guess I'm more furry now than I used to be.

One of my friends who is involved in our fanzine both writes and draws about anthropomorphic/furry characters, but he has no interest in envisioning himself as any kind of animal and has never drawn himself or written about himself as anything but who he is. He has no "furry" persona. He has, however, been interested in talking animals and the like his whole life. Is he more furry than me? Who knows? (Who cares?)

I dunno, it spans the gamut from people who are only interested in the art (or stories) that involve talking animals, to people who love making and wearing furry/funny animal costumes, to people who identify strongly with a totem animal or with the idea of talking animals, to people who consider it a lifestyle in some way. As well as to people who like to roleplay as some furry character, in various mucks or in games like Second Life.

*grins* Well put Ms. Jalia!!

I'm a fur

Thanks to everyone who responded ... I think I get the idea ... there really is no specific definition or - rather - is a very broad definition of what furrydom is. It seems to me - that it varies on the individual themself. I enjoy seeing the "cute" avatars, and shiver when i see the scarey ones ... And, I enjoy much of what is built by the "furries" ... many are incredible artists (from what I've seen) ... But I do think I understand. Its basically a personal expression for an individual in how they chose to express themselves!

Tata ... and take care

Leilia Wacky-woman

I'll tell you what bothers me - human boobs on animal avatars.

I like to be an animal now and then, though I'm not a furry by any definition. But with my Tinies, even putting on the bra-like top to the skirts looked wrong, and even kind of obscene to me. I am much cuter as a Tiny Koala or whatever wearing just the skirt.

Which is probably one reason why I loved that recently posted picture of the cats in bathing suits so much - they were wearing three bra tops! It looked so much more right!

coco

<--- Half furry.

Which half?

The furry half (I ran out of shaving cream)

Yo' mama was a butterfly, yo' daddy was a...

How, exactly, were you conceived, Aimee?

Never mind, I don't think I wanna know.



P2

I suspect the mailman.

Yeah, you've shown me that portrait before, when you were trying to convince me to contribute my DNA to your bizarre experiment to create a half-human, half-butterfly that could burst into flames. I TOLD you, I was named after the desert metropolis where my parents conceived me. You might try Psyra.

Although if you want my DNA for less specific reasons, gimme a call.

P2