Secrets (Furry revealing)

[Dragonwolf]

Hey all, I bet lots of you have wondered this at one stage or another so tell us how your friends and family came about to knowing that you are a furry, if you have. Some may be funny others will be questionable, but probably we would all like to know.

With me well… Not many know about me being a furry, my family don’t even know. The first time I told someone I was a furry, they were like cool and all, but after that they have never spoken to me again. It was a big blow to my confidence and I kept it to myself for a long time.

A long time afterwards I fell in love with someone and I decided that if I wanted to get closer I felt I would need to tell her. Well she ‘accepted’ me being a fur and I have never felt more comfortable. Though you may be wondering how things worked out… It didn’t , but we are still very good friends. ^^

So share your experiences and don’t be shy.

[Valerion]

Well ... I only told my closest friends so far, and they accept it. The one female friend is interested in the fandom and lifestyle, trying to understand what it's all about, I believe more to understand me than anything else

Anyways, I doubt I will be telling anyone other than them in a hurry, unless they are already in the fandom.

[Keita Haruka]

IRL...no one really knows. My dad knows that I have a tail (I ever wore it once to show him) and all he did was shake his head and smile. No questions, no comments, nothing. Makes it hard to start a conversation about it when all they do is nothing.

Online friends...I've been very lucky. No one had any bad reactions and was quite accepting. Several came to me to talk about it. That was kinda cool, when I fully expected to lose a few.

[Dracius]

Mmm... You know honestly, I cant say that I've ever needed to approach anyone with this.. I've been so obsessed with dragons for so long, alot of people know about it. If they ask me if I am dragon, I'd say 'of course.' My parents dont really have a problem with it, though they dont understand the definite meaning of furry, and I'm sure that they dont need to know that..

Honestly, I'm not sure if I am even "furry". The thing is, I feel damn draconic 24/7, but at the same time I enjoy leveling with furs because they are soo easy to relate to, and it would be difficult for humans to properly understand the "frame of mind". I dont know if I fit the furry bill directly and I obviously dont have a single problem with it neither..

I've grown up with dragons around me. >..> I guess its just a normal thing for me, nothing special at all.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Hmm... Other than other furs and internet friends only two people know I'm a fur. One is my sister who I talked to about it a bit and the other is a guy from university who was glancing over my shoulder when I was on this forum so I just told him to google it.

[Warwick]

I told some IRL friends, but they thought it was a joke and made fun of it...one of them turned out to be a furry-hater/troll. We're still friends, but I didn't think some of his jokes were funny

On the net, I have lots of friends who know. I was the one and only furry on a Lord of the Rings forum/board ....though later other members also started to say they were furry lol.

I would like to tell my parents, but I'm a bit nervous as to how they would react

[Gryph]

Hmm, well, when i came out the closet as being gay i kinda got over what other people think of me. i knew i'd either let people walk all over me by calling me names and be depressed for the rest of my life or.. i could just ignore them and carry on enjoying my life. All my friends know what furry is and don't really care. they usually just ignore the topic. i feel that friends are people who accept you for who you are, doesn't matter what ur "into" and if they can't accept something then they aren't really ur friend.

Family on the other hand is always a bit tricky. whether its being gay, bi, furry, being with some1 outside ur race... or species, you never know how they'll react. theres always different emotions attached there. but either way i don't feel the need to tell my parents simply cause they'll just look at me and say "thats nice, just be careful boytjie"

[anoyomouse]

well, when i came out, i came out compeltely, told my parents about the furry thing, that was 2 years ago, my mom still thinks it's bad for me, and is Evil(tm) and should be burned >.< my dad asked, "Are there any girls", i'm like, "yeah like one or two", he like kay, prolly thinking i'll turn straight again (actually had him on the phone tonight and he was gong on and on giving me the whole .. OMG you're gay (alternative lifestyle he called it) you're going to get AIDS story) but then again isn't that the normal parents reactions.

what'll be fun is when my mate moves here, and well, they figure out i'm gay and that's the only way i ever was and ever will be
hell, i was never very interested in girls

[Yukon]

Where do I start o.O Only have one IRL friend I've know for nearly 10 years that as of recently, knows fully about me being a furry, and exactly how deep it goes.. we've spent many drunken mornings at pool bars discussing the topic in-depth. He's my only friend who would never hold the sensitive topic against me, but rather support me - certain other friends may but I'd rather not take the chance.

Otherwise there are my younger siblings...my brother got into my computer specifically to steal any furry/yiffy art i may have (that was honestly his excuse) =P bust him and we haven't spoken about it since. My sister knows too (to what extent I don't know), though also haven't actually spoken about it with her. Had to laugh when they both (and mom) saw an envelope on the kitchen counter from Huskie (http://huskie666.deviantart.com), complete with huskie doodles all over it =P My siblings know well the art of Huskie =P

Most friends who've been over to my place have seen some of the furry art on my computer, but I guess they don't really realize that it's "furry" as opposed to "cool art" mostly. Everyone that knows me though, knows how much I like wolves - that's very common knowledge. Got a pool bar howling for fun, always request "anything wolf-ish" for bday/christmas pressies from friends/family, wear wolf shirts all the time, etc. But the nice fact is that nobody would really relate it to being a furry, not that any of them probably know anything about what a furry actually is.

One friend in my pool league team did approach me about it after finding my stuff online (not that it's all too hard to find), though had no problems with that and told him openly (if not boastingly) how one of my older related websites has been my most successful. Not that I would ever have told him about it otherwise, but had to convince him it didn't bother me, as he know most of my other RL friends =P

My mom has seen a few pics here and there when storming into the computer room without warning when I still lived there, but no comments have been passed (perhaps one...but it wasn't regarding me - not sure what she was hinting at). She wouldn't be all too worried though considering I'm still straight and have brought girlfriends around etc., which is enough to make her happy (despite her efforts to keep me away from having girlfriends most of my life). Then again wouldn't want her to know if she understood what a furry was exactly - then she certainly would be unhappy.

I do think I'd die tho if any of my RL friends saw me wearing a collar or tail (or around other people with such attire).. so overall am pretty nervous and secretive about it.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

I wear a collar all the time and so does my sister although that's just a gothy look thing. I also have a tail which my mom wouldn't let me wear in public the one time I decided I might for fun. Apparently she didn't want to be associated with me. Which is stupid considering she wasn't going with and it was to a shopping centre she never goes to. Gryph and Snow have seen me wearing my tail though.

[Wolfers]

With my family being generally as crazy as i am (tho, in a lesser degree), i have opted to tell them about my furry side, and they mostly don't have a problem with it, hehe.

My nephew of 17 calls me a wierdo, and my one sister gets nauseous about my tail.
On the lighter side - my other sister wore my tail (as well as Mousie's tail, ears and paws) and my brother thinks i'm very amusing. I even showed one of my yiffy furry stories to my other brother. He kinda gave away that he's bi, tho. So it wasn't THAT awkward to show him, hehe. My mom frequently asks me to explain concepts to her, and she's genuinely interested in the fandom. She even told me that she could see my furry side long before i even knew of the fandom. She does not allow me to wear my tail into town, tho. *chuckles*

I have furry art on my wall in my room, and pluhsies gaurding the door. I never had a negative comment about it. My closer friends know of my furry side, and i sometimes get mixed reactions, but i never something really bad.

I'm much more open about my being furry than being gay, tho. Which sometimes leads to some uncomfortable questions from other people, but i keep my head, hehe!

[Dragonwolf]

Wow, I just realised I haven't posted to here in ages . Well I guess I should update my previous post. You all know I spoke about that girl I fell in love with and it never turned out right... Well a little bit down the line it finally turned around for the best and we have been dating for almost 14 months and we have never been happier .

Wow 14 months... See how things can always change for the best, though I try not let my furry side show way too much around her, I think it makes her feel slightly uncomfortable ^^.

[Sticky_Fingers]

I'll never tell my parents or family. My cousin hates furries since he spends time on 4chan and he hates their pictures coming up. Luckily my best friend is cool with it. He even lets me brows furaffinity on his pc. I honestly have no shame when it comes to self relevations. I just hate the inpact it would have on my mom and my family. They dont see things like that as just an aspect of myself. They see it as some sort of rebellion or a way to make their "effort" and "time" they put into me meaninless. Actually i stopped trying to figure my parents out long ago.

[Yukon]

My situation hasn't changed *that* much, though i've gone from having just one friend that knows, to about 10-15 of my better friends knowing, many to different extents. Even my current employee knows fully about it =P Thankfully she's quite open-minded.

There are still a lot of friends I could never tell, as they would take it the wrong way, gossip about it to other people that know me, and possibly use it to back-stab me later should we have any fallout. My brother knows, my sister kinda knows tho we haven't really discussed it. She sits next to a furry in class at school (who I haven't met and don't want to pry) o.O Does any1 know a female fur named Rat?

[Ryall]

Hehe, my best friends all know, but my family doesn't. I don't think they would worry much if they did, but it would take a lot of effort and explaining and just generally make for awkward coversation. I do suspect my brother knows however... he's devious like me, and has seen my web browsing history. He has seen me on forums and asked me what they are and I responded , "Just some gaming forums." He has also seen me drawing some furry pics, yet he still keeps quite... not quite sure what he's playing at here ah well. Maybe one day I will recieve some blackmail...

With my friends though... well, I enjoy a good scandal and so insidiously introduced them to the idea of 'animal people (anthros)' , and then later to the fandom, and then finally hinted that Ima fur. They would have had no clue otherwise. They really don't mind - each of us is weird in our own little ways. It's an endless source of amusement, especially seeing that another good friend of mine also revealed himself to be a fur, and then I one day wildly accused one of my best friend's friends of being a fur, and it turned out to be true And then amazingly, the 4 admin (including myself) of my wow guild (which said best friend was part of).. well, we were having this 4 man argument then in the end all revealed ourselves as furries. So I like to point out to my friends, especially said 1, that they are surrounded by furs. I ocassionally then flaunt my fur in their faces, or make subtle references and stuff just to get amusing reactions out of them .
I also tried rubbing my fur in my bisexual friend's face, but then he rubbed his bisexuality in my face.....yeeaaahhh.... I erm... I lost that fight....

[Tigris Astartes]

Most of my best friends know... my gaming clan knows and some other peoples. I haven't been treated any differently aside from the fun they sometimes poke at me being a furry but its all fun and games hehe.

I haven't actually come out and told my family I am a furry. I don't really think it matters. Its just a sort of culture and fetish anyways. But they do know I draw anthropomorphic art and even look at it. As I have had furry art on my backgrounds etc. Very tame stuff mind you. But so far everyone has been pretty accepting of me, probably because I understand and listen to peoples problems.

But in the end I still act exactly the same way with my friends. It hasn't changed since they found out. And so I don't think there was really anything to see bad or dodgy about it! :3

P.S.

The dude that posted above me, I was his wow guild leader if you want to know one of the furs he was talking about! ;p

[Shiro]

I went through a rought patch some time back lost a few friends in the prosess but guess they wornt real friends as me revieling im a furry and explaining to them upstet them and they havent made any contact sins.

All my friends IRL now know im a furry and understand what that means and how I am and have no problem with it. Some of them tease me abbout being a fur or abbout the lvl of my furrynes (Humans is not that attractive of a species for me) like saying "slap a pair of fox ears and a foxtail on that girl and he will be all over her". luckaly its not aimed at making me feel bad or braking me down so its all OK.

I havent told any family members that im a furry for fear of the lvl of christianity my mother is into tho she does know abbout my collar and have seen me ware it meny times. My mother has seen a few revieling furry pics I use as backgrounds but also has nether comented on it. She might have some rought idea about me being a furry but untill she brings it up thats a discussion thats not easaly going to happen.

My sister kind of seems to understand me and understand that im a furry even though I have nether told her. she may have found some pdfs about being a fur on my pc one weekend when I was gone and forgot to hide the furry patition label on my pc. She even gave me a lick for a greeting oneday instead of a kiss

[Ryu Silverwing]

The way i told my friends i was a furry was a bit......unusual.

I was serverly depressed and compeltely on the verge of going over again.... and my friend started talking to me on msn. i told him i was depressed and hated life and wanted to end it all, i then said that the only thing that is holding me back is that when i die my fursona would die with me.

To this he asked what a fursona meant and i told him all about the fandom and why and how i got invovled.

He didn't seem to care and thought it was pritty awesome, i then went on and told another 3 friends, one of which told me he has seen yiff before and thought it was hot.
I felt really happy that finally i was no longer having to hid my furry side, i planned on telling my other friensd but unfortunately that was stolen from me.

One of the friends i had told first decided to tell everyone at my school, so from that i was nervous about going back, but surprise to me when i returned, i found that everyone (well mostly) was really surrportive and one non fur wants to come with me to a meet as she wants to study a sub culture.

A realy nice surprise was that 3 of my friends from school have since then turned to me and told me that they are also a fur.

[Hargan]

Hi, yeah, i know, i haven't been on here in ages

I'm a very... stealthy fox

Anywho... My coming out was rather entertaining:

Firstly, i belong to an organization known as Toastmasters. A great place to start if you're in need of help with public speaking. Anywho, one night, i decided to do a speech on furries just for the heck of it.

Infront of some people i hadn't met before. And my father.

The reception... i don't know. Some prolly didn't know what i was talking about, others prolly didn't care. The good news is that i'm still living at home, so that's some hope

[JaggLion]

Closet person - *Raises paw* that I am.

The only people who carry knowledge of me being furry are my online furry friends (Eight people - Australia: 2, Scotland: 1, Ireland: 1, Brazil: 1, England: 1, Canada: 1, ZA: 1) and obviously any other fur who happens to notice me on this forum or on Furaffinity. I have never personally met another furry and have no idea if anyone who is near me, who I'm acquainted with, knows about the fandom - since I'm a closet person myself, I've never quite attempted to find out. Also, only those same previously mentioned people are informed of my "sexual pre-fur-ence", and no one whom I know personally or who is not a fur.

Being in the closet + being afraid to come out, tends to leave one feeling lonely and out of place, even between your other 'non-fur' and straight "friends" or family who happen to mostly be homophobes... As I am sure many of you may know.

But, that's life and one has to live with it ^^

Although, I definitely do mostly prefer it that people around me don't know, since consequences could possibly be catastrophic. =S

Mew.

[Wolfie-DMX]

Ok, I know this topic is old, but as a new member I need to give my input too hehe...

Ok, No-one also really knows Im a fur, heck, 2 months ago i didnt know myself hahaha... My mom knows, I told her the other day, but wont tell my dad or stephdad...

My one work collegue and his wife knows Im furry, but they just laugh at me and tease me sometimes (in a good way), and all the friends on MSN, who are mostly furry too hehe. My other friends in RL dont know.

Im am afraid to tell, since I dont quite know what to expect. Also, no-one will ever get an idea that Im furry when seeing me in RL, unless they are so lucky to see my new tag I bought since I dont think Id look ok wih a collar...

Peace all

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Well my whole class knows now. I had to do a 5 minute presentation on any topic so I chose the furry fandom.

[Dragonwolf]

Well my whole class knows now. I had to do a 5 minute presentation on any topic so I chose the furry fandom.

That's pretty cool. How did they react? What did you tell them?

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Reaction was fine. I just told them the basics, no real details. Can't be too sure how it went down because I haven't seen them since. :p We all separated now.

[Splicer-Fox]

I almost jeopardized my friendships by just showing a few pics(They were clean).
All they know about furrys are the spectacular art I have shown them(once again they are pics with swords, guns and cool stuff – no nudity or yiff).

At first they they accused me of bestiality.
Long after that I told them I like foxes which led them to the conclusion that I am gay.
(there is also this annoying stigma among furrys that a male fox = gay. I thought foxes are real lady killers).
They are still my friend's but still tease me on being furry.

However they are starting to ease up.
One of them actually requested a few pics from me.
They are also pleased that the Navi and Furries are at war.(played a snippet of 2graphon – we all think he is funny).

I have only told one friend my favourite fursona is a fox and the reason why.
He just dismisses it as weird(no other reaction).

My family knows nothing of it and it will stay that way(If they do: They won't want to see me again).
I do not think I want to tell anyone ever again.(just not after those reactions)
I wish I had friends that will just try to understand why and not excommunicate me.

IS THERE REALY something satanic, sick or warped about being a furry( how can they just presume the worst just like that).

[Wolfie-DMX]

Well Stefan,

Im gonna take a real wild guess and take it you are from Afrikaans origin like myself. Atleast thats what your name is telling me Please correct me if im completely wrong.

Well, I had almost the same scenario as you. My mom knows im a furry, but she doesnt really care, I tried to tell her about everything about the fandom and she seems like I say, fine with it, she also never brought the topic up since, and she has also seen my fursona. (she laminated the pics of him against my OPS room wall)

However, I have found that some of my friends might not take it as well as I would think, and then again, the beastiality thing comes forth But heh, I usually show them the finger since they drool over anime and 4-chan stuff im not really a fan of...

My one collegue at work knows about the furry thing, he actuallly got curious and went to do his own research behind my back, so I dunno what he thinks, but he teases me sometimes, I also just ignore him...

Otherwise, I have chosen that it isnt important for anyone to know im a fur. I wear my paw-tag in public, and even when playing in my band at church, and if someone asks me what its for, I tell then Like it or piss off.

Stefan, remember, in the end of the day, being a fur must make you happy, and you have absolutely no reason to feel ashamed of it, unless YOU give the reason to be...

So again, no-one has to know I believe, and if they wanna know, let them, and give them the finger if they have a problem with it, since i dont think they could be real friends to start off with, only the real friends will know you, and take you for who you are.

I hope I gave you some confidence, and good luck.

PS: Im a furry on basic level , but enjoy it being so. Feel free to drop me a PM or mail if you wanna chat

Cheers
Johan

[Splicer-Fox]

Well Stefan,
Im gonna take a real wild guess and take it you are from Afrikaans origin like myself. Atleast thats what your name is telling me Please correct me if im completely wrong.

Jy is reg! My een kant van die familie is regte boere van die plate land.
Die ader is weer ryk en baie formeel(souties, behalwe hulle is Afrikaans);

I know I am starting to get whiny.
I feel stupid now.

Being a furry is obviously not a big part of my live.
All I relay do I admire the art and stories the same way everyone would admire a specific genre / style of movie, music or game.

I have no clue why I am attracted by arts and themes around anthromorphs.
But I guess that is also what my friends are thinking.

Sorry, I guess I blew that post out of proportion: (because the judgments were out of proportion.)
I am angry at the reactions my friends gave me.

I don't know if I can tell my family.
My one side of the family(souties) cut my brother out because he is gay.
They booted meany family members for odd reasons(one relative was cut out for bieng Jesus happy).
I am just scared that might happen to me.
That is why I can't let more people know.

I enjoy being a furry but not at the cost of loosing friends and family.
That is why I would like to make friends who are furrys.

I hope I gave you some confidence, and good luck.

Dankie Johan

[Wolfie-DMX]

Hey Stefan,

Jy is baie welkom friend

Lets stick to English for those who arent so fortunate

Im also not a extremist, I purely love the art, and occasional roleplaying. I dont like the dressing up thing and so on, I dont mind hanging out with decent friends at all, as long as we have a good time ^^

Like I have said, i have only chosen to tell certain ppl and keep the rest to myself, so I think you should do what you feel right with. If you are scared your family will judge you, then I say keep it low...

Reason why I asked if you where Afrikaans, is because I know that some AFrikaans families dont like "volks-vreemde" things, I know, Ive been there.

SO, I share your concern with you buddy, but thus why we must network like this, so we can support each other.

Glad I could help ^^, feel free to give us a shout.

Good week to you,
Johan

[Dasc-Crescent]

hey, well practicly evryone knows now except my parents, they would find it, well, put it this way, my sister once bought devilhorns for a holloween party, my parents went through her stuff and grounded her(freindly arent they?). as i said, most pepl know at skwl, because i did a poem about furries 4 english, and i bring my collar to school so my parents cant find it(i once tried too stangle my classmate with it, i didnt succeed), my parents look through my room whenever possible so if thet find it there im screwed, the pepl at skwl always ask too see my collar, but they imediatly started telling everyone im a (quote)dog fucker", so im pretty much the freak there, my fred ither ignore the fact or ADORE the fact, haha, but at least i never had too tell em personaly, but now most pepl hav no idea what a furry is so they make up there own Crap, but its kinda funny, sorry for bad english or misspelling, im on my phone

[Fluke]

You shouldn't really tell people your a furry. Its not like coming out, furry is not something your born as, it's more like a kink/interest. You don't have to go around telling everyone your into BDSM or you like cars, they're just gonna look at you and be like "uuhhh ok wtf?". Same applies to furry, hence why I'm not going to 'out' myself but rather casually say like "oh yeah I'm a fur" to anyone who asks, I treat it like any one of my other interests.