Coming Out! Err, Again (Furry)
Yes, I have a revelation for those who don’t already know it. I am a furry. And now, your questions, or rather the ones that come to mind at 3:00 AM or whatever the hell time it is right now.
What is a furry?
http://www.anthrocon.org/info.cgi/a
Basically, the furry fandom is like anime and sci-fi/fantasy rolled into one, except it revolves almost entirely around animal characters. There’s art, costuming, RPGs, writing, and just general fun stuff.
Why bother revealing this?
1. Making up an elaborate cover story every time I want to go to a convention or meet is a royal pain in the tail.
2. I tend to put actions like tailwags into my IM conversations and bark at people, so now anyone who reads this knows what’s going on.
3. I’ve accidentally IMed non-furs from my furry screen name (thanks to the oh-so-wonderful joys of Trillian), and it rather confused them.
4. This is a prominent hobby of mine
5. I feel like it! [tailwags]
Ok, I don’t get it
I like art featuring animals with human traits, I feel a very deep spiritual connection to wolves and canines that’s difficult to put into words, and I have a sort of alter-ego who is an anthro wolf. Do I think I’m some sort of animal in a human’s body? No. Do I want to have sex with animals? Hell no. Do I go to cons for sex, as seen on CSI and MTV?
Umm, I still don’t get it
[growls] I spend all that time typing, and you still haven’t figured out what I’m trying to say, yet you care enough to ask me a third time? Ok, well, I suppose that’s understandable, I’ll have to read this when I’m coherent to figure out what I left out. In the mean time, email me or something.
Is that why you were in Florida this past weekend?
Yes. I was at a small (but fun) fur con in Orlando, FL called Pawpet Megaplex (formerly known as Furry Spring Break). Did you actually think with all my bitching about not having money, that I’d skip school and work to drive to Florida with no apparent reason?
(BTW, don’t misinterpret that sentence. The trip was worth every penny and every mile, and then some).
So, now what?
Now, I want to hear from y’all. Do you want to be able to see my furs-only LJ entries? You’re more than welcome to, just drop me an email or something. Do my usually-omnipresent dog collar or references to paws rather than hands bother you (if you know me IRL)? Let me know. In my experiences, revealing new information usually brings friends closer rather than driving them away, so hopefully my semi-newfound hobby won’t scare anyone away.
Why is this not behind a “cut” tag?
Because no one’s shown me how to use them yet. Any of you experienced LJers want to help a pup in need?
[EDIT: Spirit Wolf showed me how cut tags work. Thanks a bunch!]
March 26th, 2004 at 13:29:23
This is going to sound suprising coming from a fairly vanilla straight-laced gay Republican preppy who has never had a furry thought in his life, but…I’ve been making more of an effort to understand the furry community, because they form a growing subbase of the gay community. I’d appreciate being able to see your furry entries, but that’s just me.
Also you should meet![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
lurene, a really great gal on my friends list who runs the website http://www.pureyiff.com.
March 26th, 2004 at 13:47:40
The lj cut tag goes like this; < *lj-cut text="whatever you want to say here"> To end the cut tag, < */lj-cut> On both of them you need to remove the *’s. I had to put them in there so the code would show up for you.
March 26th, 2004 at 14:10:26
ok, i just figured out how to use the lj cut but how do I make the link that’s highlighted say what I want it to. Mine just says READ MORE…
MOMMY J
March 26th, 2004 at 15:00:43
Yay Felix ^_^ Congratulations on “coming out.”
March 26th, 2004 at 15:18:59
Ok, now that’s just handy to know! thanks!
March 26th, 2004 at 15:25:58
I’ve actually heard a cool little expression for this. “Coming out of the forrest”. it’s a good little expression, I think… I wonder if the entry where i declared my furrdom was a friends-only entry or not… I’m gonna go check on that!
March 26th, 2004 at 15:29:51
Is it just me, or does the heterosexual furr comunity sem to be a minority? It may be just that this group isn’t as open to discuss it, or something else limiting. I do know several heterosexual furrs, including myself… but the online community of furrs seems to be either homosexual or bisexual. nothing wrong with that, not at all. just an observation that i wasn’t sure was true or not.
March 26th, 2004 at 15:35:20
I saw a statistic somewhere that over 50% of furs are gay/bi males. If only there were other furs in this area, maybe I’d be able to get a date :-\
March 26th, 2004 at 15:38:09
I don’t really know. It’s all a puzzle to me. Several months ago, I friended a friend of a friend (![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
otterlot–strange but brilliant) in an effort to understand this better…he’s a furry but also a gay one. All the furries I know are gay, and Lurene is a lesbian furry…also a Republican, like me. I thought it was more of a gay thing because men are, well, more like animals (the indiscriminate sex, the body hair, etc.) but Lurene’s a woman, so…I dunno. I’m still in the learning process.
I may not understand totally but I can accept and respect all tastes. But the first time I ever heard of furries was when Dan Savage discussed gay furries, and brought up http://www.fursuitsex.com. I’m pleased to know it transcends sexual orientation boundaries.
March 26th, 2004 at 15:44:03
This kinda illustrates my point that most people who’ve heard of the furry community have mostly only seen the sexual side of it, which isn’t really what this is all about. And fursuitsex.com is just…eww.
March 26th, 2004 at 15:50:26
Well, well, kinky…
I see Robbie already sent you the best running joke around, http://www.fursuitsex.com.
Lord…
-Jamie
March 26th, 2004 at 16:01:49
hehe…but you must give me credit for attempting to transcend that, now? If I wanted to buy into stereotypes, that would be easy, but to learn requires effort.
March 26th, 2004 at 16:05:50
Nice job.
I never posted about being a furry, but it’s in my intrests. Maybe I should make a post.
March 26th, 2004 at 16:16:47
The text inside the quotes is what will come up as the link. For example, if you want to type up a huge posts on cats it would look like this, < *lj-cut text="read what I have to say about cats here"> Then, you would type all you want to say about cats and when you are done you would close it with the end tag. < */lj-cut> Again, take out all the *s when you do it.
I’m such a happy little helper today, aren’t I? *giggles*
March 26th, 2004 at 16:22:57
http://www.fursuitsex.com
Ok, thats officially one of those web locations i would have been fine never knowing! I am a furr, but i am NOT a yiffing furr! that just strikes me as a bit disturbing, to be fully honest. I’d rather just not think about that side of the matter. see, I just don’t get the idea of sex toys. Sex, in and of itself, is a beautiful thing when done for the right reasons. the toys seem to just… subtract from the overall meaning, to me. A full body suit.. well, that can be considered a considerably large “toy”.
of coarse, this is coming from someone who doesn’t have sex by choice. I’ve been offered, just have never accepted. That is something i’d want to share with a woman i’d want to be the father of her children, and her to be the mother of mine. If i see it as that, then the right time seems to be marriage.
…ok, now that i’ve spent that amount of time discussing that… time to move on!
March 26th, 2004 at 16:40:58
*hugs* Congratulations on revealing this part of yourself to everyone. It feels so good to have it off of your conscience once you do that.
March 26th, 2004 at 17:36:43
Congrats on “coming out of the forest,” if you wanna put it that way! I’m definately a furry, but I’ve never been in a situation where telling my friends was a problem. All of about 2 of them actually know what a furry is (and those 2 thought it meant yiff, so I promptly corrected them). As for the rest, if they don’t even know the meaning, no need to explain it, they can figure it out. Anyway, I’m glad you got it out ::joins in tailwagging::
As far as the furry community having a strong gay/bi presence, I’ve noticed that, too. I guess it’s because I’m straight and straight is often considered “the norm” by many, so the straight population isn’t as vocal since it doesn’t feel it has to be. Just my observations.
March 26th, 2004 at 18:41:13
thank you!
mommy j
March 26th, 2004 at 19:31:44
We’re not all gay.
March 26th, 2004 at 19:33:02
Congrats wolf
March 26th, 2004 at 19:36:56
I’m not gay
March 26th, 2004 at 20:04:34
Congrats softie! I too am about to ‘Come out of the forrest’ -grins at the phrase- to my parents and RL friends soon, and I hope they will be as understanding and inquisitive as the fine folks posting here
March 27th, 2004 at 2:08:18
I’ve mentioned it to a couple of RL friends, and if anyone askes, yeah.. i’ll tell ‘em. However, when it comes to my mother… well, she’s seen the CSI episode on the topic of yiffing furrs, and I’m afraid she’d associate me with them rather quickly. Now, she trusts me as is, with anything i do (mainly because i don’t do stupid things that could get me hurt… maybe some stupid things, but nothing dangerous). I don’t think it’d jeopardize anything if I mentioned it, however since she’s working on a masters thesis, plus trying to rais me and my ciblings (well, not as much me anymore, but she still houses me), why throw a wrench into the machinery? In due time, i’ll probably find a way of slipping it in there.
Of coarse, since i don’t have any sexual trends with this, that’ll make things easier when i do mention it.
March 27th, 2004 at 2:53:55
Softpaw *hugs you close* i didn’t knwo you wer ein teh forrest….but Teh reactions eems ok.
Ya knwo fursuitsex.com wouldn;t be so bad fi it had soem pussy!
*doesn;t midn fursuitsex but no straight fursuitsex*
eys i a a hetero fur the few that there are
March 29th, 2004 at 2:03:33
I don’t think anyone was saying otherwise, really.
But someone had mentioned that furdom trends toward bisexuality.
June 14th, 2004 at 15:16:20
You recently friended my mom,, and she was kind enough to point me in your direction.
First of all, I commend you for “coming out” as it were.
Second of all, I’m taking this opportunity to “out” myself. I am also a furry. I find myself closely connected to felines.
And now the purpose of my comment: I’m adding you! Add me back?
June 14th, 2004 at 16:13:47
Woo, welcome! I’m adding you back
June 14th, 2004 at 16:22:45
We’re in the process of restructuring, but you should definately go join and apply. I think you’d od the community well, and we’d be glad to have you.
We’re a diverse group - so please consider?
~Jon
June 14th, 2004 at 16:24:46
Scratch that - wait a while before you apply, we’re making a new app that will be much better. So I’ll let you know, if you’re interested!
June 14th, 2004 at 16:25:30
I’ve thought about it before, I might give it a shot. Depends on whether I get this new job I’m applying for, if I get it I’ll have time to actually participate in such things
Speaking of which, I must now get my tail to work before I’m late AGAIN. I’ll be on AIM around 9:00-9:30 tonight
See ya! [tailwags]
June 17th, 2004 at 14:14:06
What is a yiff?
June 17th, 2004 at 20:03:30
Yiff is the furry term for sex, derived from the sound a fox makes during intercourse.
BTW, just out of curiousity, how’d you find my journal?
June 18th, 2004 at 9:36:41
To be honest with you, I can’t remember now! My mind isn’t what it used to be, lol, and I’m only 28!