What the hell is a furry really?

[YoteFox]

This video got me thinking. I've been basing some of my ideals of the furry fandom much in the same way as this guy.

He breaks down the actual word furry, which is a fair thing to do especially for someone that is an "outsider" to the fandom if ever I can call him that.
Why does the terminology furry even exist? We call ourselves furries yet we are not actual anthropomorphic beings, why can't we take the stance of simply being fans, human fans of anthropomorphic beings?

Take for instance the whole concept of coming out as a furry. Why do people feel the need to come out as a furry? One can argue that it is the fact of the hate that we as "furries" receive, but I have the same opinion as this bloke in regards to that. The so called hate is generated by the actual label that we have given ourselves as people whom appreciate the anthropomorphic beings that we ourselves created. But enough of me enforcing what this guy already said.

Now for my opinion on the matter, the label furry I think has it's own right as a label to signify the interest group that is the fandom. As we are not actual anthropomorphic beings in real life, but we are known as our anthropomorphic selves i.e our furry selves on the internet. I guess it's fair to call yourself a furry on the internet then but however this would mean adopting your fursona's personality completely.

I don't know this matter seems to be quite subjective and I'm sure it will differ from person to person. I call myself a furry, because it signifies my interest in the anthropomorphic fandom. But the term furry carries even deeper meaning in terms of when referring to people who like it as well in the community, when I refer to other fellow fans of anthropomorphic beings I call them furs or furries as I'm sure we all do. This labeling signifies their interest in the fandom as well.

However I know I always refer to the VW community on these matters but it is a good referral to me, I don't label other VW owner's as a dubbie or a Vdubbie or a beetle lover such as myself as a beetly or what the hell ever. The VW exists and it fanbase exists as well, but it is not the same degree as the fandom. Yes we have forums larger forums than the furry fandom even. But people are not judged for being a fan of a VW since that is essentially what it is, you're a fan of something.

It's always interesting to me how I feel the need to hide the furry stuff in my life but when it comes to the VW stuff I'm totally open about it. I have multiple little vw cars, collectors items and so forth of VW's I have paintings in my room of VW's that I have no problem with hanging but as soon as it comes to the anthropomorphic stuff i.e furry I feel the need to hide and be discreet, why is this?

VW existed as the brain child of Adolph Hitler in collaboration with Ferdinand Porsche and the furry fandom existed because someone like the Anthropomorphic animals in a comic(The origin of the fandom is not important for the point I'm conveying). Like honestly the Beetle should have a worse stigma than any furry ever as the Hitler mobile. But even though we fully understand the stigma behind a beetle the owners of beetles aren't hated because of that, in fact the owners of beetles aren't hated because they don't call themselves beetles and act like a beetle on the internet, get what I'm saying?

I will probably still call myself a furry after all this and I will probably still refer to others as furs or furries. But with a deeper meaning attached to it for myself personally. Why do we as furries feel the need to single ourselves and our interest group out as exclusive because of this label?

When I put my fursuit on do I then become the furry? While using this account on this forum am I then a furry? When is it really appropriate to call yourself a furry?
To me putting on the fursuit is becoming someone else, adapting the personality of a made up character that is a anthropomorphic being in essence, can that be classified as a furry in terms of what I have mentioned then and in terms of what was said in the video?

Like seriously I'm super confused as to the terminology and labeling with regards to calling ourselves furries, I feel that if I would refer to myself as a fan of furries I'd be more at ease with the whole concept. But then again would this fan following of myself as a human be limited to me in real life or online or in suit? How would it work? Calling myself a fan of furry doesn't have the same impact as calling myself a furry since that exclusivity of being a furry isn't there.

In the very first sentence I referred to the guy in the video as an outsider to the fandom yet he knows what goes on in the fandom since obviously he did his research, this is an example of the ideology behind the exclusivity that comes with the label furry
It's almost as if we built a clubhouse and called it the fandom and members inside the clubhouse are called furries and somehow we feel a sense of exclusivity this way. We receive hate as a result of this exclusivity in terms of our labeling as furries, who do we have to blame but ourselves?

In essence your furry is your fictional character however putting it in that same perspective ESO players don't refer to themselves as khajiit or argonians in real life.

I'm not referring to your fursona I'm referring to the physical aspect of us as humans in the furry fandom, is it just to call ourselves furries or fans of furries?
I actually want to make a YouTube video of this as well so I want some opinions that I can use as a basis of discussion.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

We call ourselves furries yet we are not actual anthropomorphic beings, why can't we take the stance of simply being fans, human fans of anthropomorphic beings?

Well, I'll admit I haven't seen the video but I think you're overcomplicating something simple. So let me just take a page from my presentation on Understanding Furry.

The word furry, like many words, does not only have a single meaning. In our context furry applies to artwork (stories and others included) that is of a furry nature, the fans of furry things and the actual furry characters themselves. The definition of furry characters is the most important one because that is what feeds into and describes furry artwork and furry fans.

When describing the characters then furry means "a character who is possessed of a combination of animal and human characteristics in such a way that the new character is significantly different from the character's real or canon form."

When describing a real person, furry means "a person who has a preference for furry characters."

When I put my fursuit on do I then become the furry? While using this account on this forum am I then a furry? When is it really appropriate to call yourself a furry?

As you can see above this entire line of questioning is based on a false premise. Once you accept that there is more than one definition of furry, one of them being synonymous with "furry fan", then you will see there is no confusion or mixing of our real selves and anthropormorphic characters.

[werewolfmaster98]

Well how I understand it on a psychological level. As humans we are naturally social beings and what socials being first do? They find a group or a individual who thinks or has similar interests and values as you do. As kids we didn't have this sense much as the only 2 groups were the play ground kids and the loner kids. Cause as kids labels or who u were not important at that stage, unless u the kid who ate their own snot. (Based off experience of my childhood)

In high school it becomes critical to be a label as teens and adult have a 'thing' to label everything, like a OCD kid organising everything, labels become fundamentally important so that people can almost 'place' you in your correct folder. And as humans we have need to feel accepted and loved.

This fandom, to me, is a place where I feel that I 100% belong and yet it's not cause I'm a furry is why I'm accepted. I'm accepted cause i care, listen and understand and connect with people on a personal level. The same intrest in anthropomorphic people just a foundation to start off a environment to feel safe and be open.

Labelling yourself furry is almost trying to split yourself from other people. Like some people shoot down people just cause 'they don't understand'. Why do we need to defend being a furry? As the basic definition states its the intrest in anthropomorphic creatures not being them.

I think that the clubhouse we call the fandom is mostly an escape, I to guilty to use it as a coping device, but I don't indulge in it much so that I need to defend it. The label as every other label its just a word, how the 'participants' act and portray the clubhouse has a effect on what people on the otherside of the fence see it.

What I'm basically saying is that most of people in this fandom either have been experienced emotional trumor or have felt that they been 'pushed out of society' as they are different and this fandom accepts anyone no matter who you are and this becomes a place of sanctuary for those who didn't 'fit in' in school or anywhere else. And again us as humans want to be accepted and loved but is it right to say we are these anthropomorphic creatures, is it right to say me as the human that I'm a furry?

[Adagio]

Well... I may come across as... I don't know...
But my answer is simple.
Who. Cares.

Why wrack your brain with the specifics?
To me being a furry, weather the terminology is correct or not, is all about one thing.
Having fun.

I do this by using an anthropomorphized version of myself. expressing myself in ways I can't as a human.
I use Adagio in many ways as a metaphor.
To externally express how I feel inside. Because he is allowed to where as I am constricted to many social norms.

Yes, the term "Furry" is loose and does not have a set definition. Does that hinder me from having fun?
No. Why should I go and go out of my way trying to define it?
But this may just be my engineer type of thinking...

[Rakuen Growlithe]

To me being a furry, weather the terminology is correct or not, is all about one thing.
Having fun.

It's not about having fun. Children at the playground are having fun but that doesn't make them furries.

[Cape_F0X]

To be fair, he did say that's what it means to HIM.

And another component of being Furry is imagination, which is also FUN.

[Adagio]

To me being a furry, weather the terminology is correct or not, is all about one thing.
Having fun.

It's not about having fun. Children at the playground are having fun but that doesn't make them furries.

Yeah, you kinda took me outta context ther Rak...

My point was; I don't care what the formal definition is. To me being a furry is about having fun...

[TheOldWolf]

In the larger scheme of things my opinion probably matters little. BUT!
I agree with Sir Snep, Who Cares.
The wording is gonna be iffy unless you break it down into itty bitty little bits and all that results in...
A difference of opinion!

Which is great, until someone gets offended and or confused.
For myself when it comes to people asking me, "Oh Fuzzy what's this critter on your cellphone?"
"It's an anthropomorphic fox. Why you ask, because I am a furry and I like furry art."
And then they're confused and leave me alone...
I'm rambling now and have long since lost my point...
However I honestly don't think it matters just how the phrase is used, as long as the point is understood.
Friendly Old Fuzzy.

[CyntheWightRabbit]

It's not about having fun. Children at the playground are having fun but that doesn't make them furries.

Sorry, I don't mean to rude or anything, but I don't really understand what you mean. How can you enforce your way of thinking onto someone else? Especially since he was only giving his opinion? Surely if he thinks it is about having fun and he has fun then to him that is true.

I agree that people will have their own ways of dealing with and coming to terms with being a part of this fandom, but I think people should be allowed to find that answer themselves.

[Galahad]

To me being a furry, weather the terminology is correct or not, is all about one thing.
Having fun.

It's not about having fun. Children at the playground are having fun but that doesn't make them furries.

"To me being a furry" - This indicates it is his personal opinion on the matter, and he does not claim to create a universal definition.
"Weather [sic] the terminology is correct or not" - This indicates he treats it subjectively and not factually, as you attempt to do. Apples and oranges.

Given that "furry" as we describe it does not appear in any official dictionary so far (and any university thesis I have seen - I am only aware of two - on the subject has been vague about any explicit definition), there is no universal standard for it. "A fan of anthropomorphic animals" is commonly accepted, but not entirely satisfactory. Hence, Adagio's definition, though personal, has just as much academic merit as does yours (as "having fun" is indeed a significant aspect of the fandom), so perhaps it would be unwise to be too picky.

[Adagio]

For clarification. I did not take offence in what Rak said.

[Sev]

I'm here, and always have been here, for the yiff. The community is just a bonus (and sometimes a mixed one, at that).

[TheOldWolf]

I'm here, and always have been here, for the yiff. The community is just a bonus (and sometimes a mixed one, at that).

Never change, Furry-Fandom. But for the love all things Lovecraft keep it hidden. Or at least in good company!

[CyntheWightRabbit]

@Adagio: I think we all know you well enough to have gathered as much. I would normally have kept quiet but it just rubbed me the wrong way. :v

@Sev: Thanks for sharing? I guess it is true for most people though so eh.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

Well that's more how I'm used to discussions going... Okay, so there are multiple reasons for my response.

First, subjective and personal definitions are bad. Language is needed as a means to communicate and that can only happen if there is broad agreement about the meaning of words. Subjective and personal definitions are not true for everyone and do nothing to further communication. Words are only needed to exchange ideas. If you think about it, there are many times when you can't find the word but you know the concept you are trying to get across. e.g. "That thing like a bicycle but with an engine..." In addition you can think about and imagine all sorts of concepts without having to name them. Words only matter when you're communicating. Furthermore if you watch Last Week Tonight you would remember the recent episode on opioids included a drug company employee being asked about how they handled questions of addiction. They responded with "Uh huh" because that was not saying "yes." But we all know those mean the same things and they were rightly mocked for that; we didn't say it was just their definition of the word and completely fine. And, at times when words are given other meanings, for example ignoring "no" during BDSM, then it is clearly agreed upon and alternatives are put in place.

Even as a personal definition, it's bad. It works on the feelings one gets from one's involvement with the furry fandom but those are not unique or exclusive to the furry fandom. Non-furry things make people happy too and not everything that makes someone happy is furry. So that fails to be useful at any point. There are also depressed furries who are not made happy by the furry fandom. If you're going to work on a definition of furry then it needs to be as objective as possible, focus on the common themes of furry and separate what is and isn't furry. There are various definitions floating around (of varying quality) but the best one is still mine which fixes a lot of the shortcomings of the most common one.

[Adagio]

Which brings us back to my conclusion:

Yes, the term "Furry" is loose and does not have a set definition. Does that hinder me from having fun?
No. Why should I go and go out of my way trying to define it?
But this may just be my engineer type of thinking...

I never claimed to have a "definition"

I mearly stated, I don't like using my time trying to define sonething that is always changing.
I'm going to assimilate this to a mathematical model.
Rule#1 of models. All models are wrong.
There will always be something neglected, something assumed to be ideal.

The furry fandom is a lot like this. It didn't slowly grow out of a single event. It grew out of a lot of people with the same intrest. I guess we can argue that they all had an appreciation for anthro. But none the less...

Trying to define the furry fandom, is trying to define a tank the concentration of salt in a tank thats being filled with brine.
You can do your best to put it in a box, lable it.
But at the end of the day, something is going to be left out, and tomorrow, a new brand of youngsters are going to come up with a new branch...

I just don't like being kept up with the details.

I'm going to tell a joke. This is to help my point.
An engineer, a mathematician and their friend see a pretty girl.
Their friend tell them, that the one that gets there first, can have the girl, but they're only allowed to half the distance each time.
The mathematician gives up and walks away, the engineer, though. He stays, because he only needs to get close enough for practical purposes.

I don't need an accurate definition to be part of the furry fandom.
I just need to know enough to have fun.

[YoteFox]

Great responses guys, but you're kind off missing the point here. The word furry has broad definition and has a greater meaning to all of us as Anthropomorphic fans. My ultimate point of debate here is why do we label ourselves as furries? Why is it necessary to "come out" as a furry to others. Isn't the whole idea behind being a "furry" or rather in a better way of saying it fans of Anthropomorphic beings just that we are fans of the idea of furries?

We are fans of furries, hence the furry fandom. It's the same with bronies and trekkies why does the label exist even? Again it comes down to that exclusivity of being a fan of something that someone else isn't. Maybe it's because the furry fandom is more broad than the average appreciation club or whatever.

The definition of the word is not what I'm looking for although that first post describing more or less what definition the word has taken on in the fandom is great.

We treat being a furry as some sort of disability or sexuality status or gender or what the hell ever. The idea here isn't the word it's the ideology behind the word the lifestyle if you may, not as indirect as saying the lifestyle of furries because that's apparently a thing. There is this attitude that comes with being a furry and I feel it's directly related to the labeling of oneself as a furry.

If not for the labeling as furries, would the fandom have been different?

[Cape_F0X]

My ultimate point of debate here is why do we label ourselves as furries? Why is it necessary to "come out" as a furry to others. Isn't the whole idea behind being a "furry" or rather in a better way of saying it fans of Anthropomorphic beings just that we are fans of the idea of furries?

It does some times feel like you "came out", but for me it was more a case of overlooking the stigma that the fandom is only negative and deciding to look for friends in it.

So, labeling yourself a Furry could mean that you know the "truth" about the fandom and you are open to meeting people in it. (if I can put it like that)

[Rakuen Growlithe]

There are many furries, myself included, that get very annoyed with people who want to "come out" as furry. It's just something you like, people like many things without the need to come out about them. But as for why the label, it's there to describe a group. Why say "person who like anthropomorphic characters" when you can just say "furry"? It's simpler and easier. Also once you give something a name it's easier to find similar people or content. That's pretty much the same for any word.

I'm not quite sure where you're going with talk about ideology or lifestyle near the end because that doesn't seem to follow and it's not entirely clear what you are talking about. But no, labelling or not would not have any effect on the fandom other than complicating things.

[Faanvolla]

Start using the term furryr/furryrs then,
Like gamers are people who like games, furryrs can be people who like furries. Problem solved
/jk

[Adagio]

Coming out as a furry is absurd... I don't know where that started... I guess with therians and people who believe they are an animal spirit trapped in a human body, it's a little more like "coming out" than simple fans... (note: My knowledge about therians and the like is VEEEERY limited...)

But still...

[Cape_F0X]

Coming out as a furry is absurd...

Agreed. I think it has to do with us fans being "weird/different" and using this simile isn't helping.

[YoteFox]

I'm not quite sure where you're going with talk about ideology or lifestyle near the end because that doesn't seem to follow and it's not entirely clear what you are talking about. But no, labelling or not would not have any effect on the fandom other than complicating things.

To be fair we don't have much of this here. It's difficult to quite describe this mentality or attitude that some have with the label of furry. Like I said my best description what I'm trying to convey here is people treat it like a status symbol. I think the words I used weren't the best suited in terms of lifestyle and ideology.

Take Joe, Joe is not a furry. He is a average Joe and has no sort of status, he is single. Joe finds out about furries and he wants to tell everyone about furries but he is scared to do so because being a furry is connected to a bad stigma as we all know and from an outside perspective it sounds kooky. He feels the need to tell everyone about him being a furry and makes a video about it and put it on YouTube. Why does he feel the need to let everyone know he is a furry?

I mean yes being a furry is awesome and the art and stuff it's just so refined to be part of this interest group, but again you get Metallica fans and Iron Maiden fans and they don't have this stupid fandom pride that the furries have. I myself am a fan of both but I don't feel the need to make a video of me coming out as a Metallica fan.

Why does furry pride even exist? It's not really something to pride yourself in so much to the extent that there is a pride movement, it's a freaking interest. Why are there so many images and messages and stupid stuff that portray some anthro holding a flag or something with furry pride or what fucking ever. Why must we portray to the "outside world" that we are furries? Like who the fuck cares that you like animal people? By we I'm generalising the entirety of the fandom not just limited to us on here. It's almost as if to brag that you are a furry.

There's something I don't quite understand and it's why do I get this panic when someone approaches me about the furry stuff? Yet I don't when it comes to games or when it comes to my interest in cars, maybe it has to do with the creativity aspect of it and the level of emotional attachment we have to our own characters that we are afraid of people judging our creativity? I didn't make my beetle, I customised it but it still conforms to the idea of what must be it has it's degree of professional craftsmanship to it that I had no hand in making where as my furry is my own creation a digital representation of myself that possibly shows my short comings that I'm afraid to display in the real life.

I'm honestly not trying to over complicate anything, I'm trying to have a discussion on a deeper level from an insiders perspective in the view of an outsider. I'm trying to make sense of a deeper meaning in the fandom than what I have been subjected to. This video that I initially posted which I hope everyone has watched has so many similar ideals to mine about the fandom and I've been thinking of just these things for who knows how long and finally I have an opportunity to discuss it.

I want to change my mindset on the fandom, I don't want to be ashamed of having this interest in anthropomorphic beings and I don't want to be ashamed to be a participant in the sense that I have multiple characters of my own. Hope this makes sense, in essence this is relevant to hate and I want to spearhead just that source and show NAY TIS NOT TRUE... Because lets be honest in the end even though we avoid the hate it sits with us subconsciously and we avoid these acts that gets us hate. All of us are so deathly afraid to talk about furries to any form of the media because of this stigma created by the hate, but this hate was generated because of this mentality that I'm referring to.

If someone comes to me and rubs in my face, the fact that they have an interest and they have pride for having this interest I'll be annoyed by this too.

[Rakuen Growlithe]

I don't see all this hate. I'd guess most of it is exaggerated or people that push things in others faces. I talk about furry stuff, I wear furry T-shirts to work. The part where I get a bit reluctant is the adult side because that is not openly discussed in general society but is more common in the furry society and is an aspect of many of the things I have done as well.

[Sev]

Those close to me tend to know that I'm a furry, but I'll be damned if I go around telling everyone - I'm not even like that with my orientation.

That being said, if a situation does somehow present itself - for example, a couple of my colleagues were talking about unusual cliques (vegan goths, in particular) - I may candidly bring up the fandom.

On the other hand, I've gone out of my way to introduce my partner to the fandom, so it must have some greater significance to me than I let on earlier.