Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

*EXPLOSION!* *Dusts off pants* *grabs thread microphone*

We got into the topic at "The Phancharacter Menace" and I decided that I will let you all express what you think about furries. Go ahead, I don't mind the slander, hell it's all you people have given me since i started posting.

I wil come and read your opinions, nod my head a few times, then write something back to you after the thirty seconds of ill thought out typing, then I'll go away from the computer for hours enjoying life, while you guys spend the same amount of time planning out your writing, then call me a waste of time. Oh how I love Internet logic.... I'm sorry what? I got a little bored and started talking in stories like usual. BEGIN TYPING!

I still don't fully grasp what exactly is a furry.
Everyone says different things and I'm too bored to go out and look for it myself.
The truth is out there.
Does it come with the sexual interpretation as well?

i want fighting transformers covered in hair.

Well, the term "furry" denotes art of anthropomorphisised animals or objects (including insentient and/or inanimate things like trees, toasters, houses, Transformers; also including animals that do not have fur (such as fish or birds). Otherwise, it also denotes those that have a certain affinity for this sort of thing, and who devote a certain amount of their time to it - like a Trekkie devotes some of his or her time to things like Star Trek conventions, a furry might dress up as an animal like a cat, dog, mole, bear or so on, and then be social with other people who are.

This does not necessarily include the lascivious connotations that the word has received. If somebody or something also can be read with the... lewd interpretation, then that is by definition a yiff as well as furry.

Actually, Furries are just people who are into Anthropomorphic animals. It has nothing to do with anything outside the animal kingdom. While I'm hesitant to accept all Anthropomorphic animal art as being inherently furry, in and of itself... It includes any animal that has humanistic traits. This extends as far as animals who have human level intelligence, and so things like "The Lion King" count.

The idea of a fandom surrounding this concept was coined in 1890 by Palmer Cox who, at the time, referred to the appreciation of what he called "Funny Animals" in reference to animations starring animals (such as Fox & Crow or Carl Barks' Scrooge McDuck).

It evolved over time, and nowadays the Furry Fandom is a rather large and hard to label group, primarily because of the fact that they have refused to narrow down just what a furry is beyond the description (Coined by Fred Patten) "the organized appreciation and dissemination of art and prose regarding 'Furries', or fictional mammalian anthropomorphic characters."

As such, if you were to ask "What is a furry", and I were to answer any of the following...

"Somebody who likes Anthropomorphic art"
"Somebody who draws Anthropomorphic art"
"Somebody who dresses up like Anthropomorphic animals"
"Somebody who believes they have some inner kinship with their 'Fursona' animal"
"Somebody who gets sexually aroused by Anthropomorphic art"
"Somebody who has sex while dressed as an Anthropomorphic animal"

I'd be right. The trouble is that any one given person who identifies as a furry does not necessarily fit into ALL of those categories. As such, it makes it hard to disseminate just what somebody MEANS when they say "I am a furry".

It's all very fascinating to dig into really, but frustrating to deal with in a social setting.

Quote

Oh? Most definitions I have read disagree with that. That said, I really think the term ought to apply only to animals, but from what I have heard a walking and talking couch would also be "furry".

Well, if we can separate things, then
Yeah, I am a furry, I guess.
Lion king is friggin awesome, so is Sonic and Star Fox and such.
I like the concept of anthropomorphic characters.

btw, this image:

You can probably understand it without me translating it, (and maybe there's a version in English of this...)
But it says:
10% -> Not furry
50% -> Furry
70% -> VERY Furry
100% -> Cat

Just funny.
I'm ok with any of them, actually.

This post has been edited by Lycan: 17 December 2010 - 07:31 PM

It could apply to someone who likes animals and feels a connection, and it could also apply to those ho are in the habit of bestaility. I do know some people who consider themselves "furry", and they are very frustrated by people who have no respect for them because they associate furryism with bestiality and consider it some weird fetish. It can apply to people who just like animals a lot, and then it can not. Most vets would consider themselves as having an affinity with animals, and yet none of them would consider themselves furry as far as i know.

my honest opinion is that if you are furry you should be ashamed of it or at least a bit sheepish in admitting so

Kekon - Everything you have said in the last two days has shown me all I will ever need to know about most furries on the internet, and if there are many other furries just like you, it's not hard to see why they are so hated. Nice work idiot

Maverik, on 17 December 2010 - 01:47 PM, said:

Adding to information, the end result of this is that they believe they can see themselves in the species, this is whats called the "fursona" if you don't understand, well I'd probably imagine it to be alot like... ummm... like... *snaps fingers* like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon personallity test thing! However, unlike Mystery Dungeons' personallity test thing, the one you get is the one you wanted. (see thats funny because the game keeps getting my results wrong and makes me Psyduck, lol... the fuck.)

Actually, it's not just Anthromorphic animals, sometimes they can be regular animals. Adding to information, there are quote, "furries" unquote, that use dragons, lizards, and other species without fur as their fursona. There is also furries who use Pokemon and Digimon as their Fursona. I have no clue why, but the sonic fanbase some how passed our defenses and started using their sonic fancharacters as their fursonas... this is why no one likes sonic anymore.

Maverik, on 17 December 2010 - 01:47 PM, said:

Well I definitley don't consider BittersweetCandyBowl a furry comic (even if they advertise on Furaffinity)
Ballerina Mafia: The Mummy's Curse
This is a comic series MADE by a furry, and while it does often use anthromorphic characters, there is no real plot to it, its a "single page jokes, skits, sketches, and that kind of stuff."

Maverik, on 17 December 2010 - 01:47 PM, said:

There is a reason one of the most popular furry websites is called, "fur AFFINITY", but the other problem of labeling the furry community is that now the furry community is so diverse, wide spread, with so many (nowadays) different aspects.

Maverik, on 17 December 2010 - 01:47 PM, said:

I'm glad that you properly understand where I'm coming from because, as Junior Boomer wrote, "Hi I'm generic furry A...". That got me upset. Most furries are very different from each other. In addition, the fact that the general public sees all of us furries to be exactly like the furries from CSI. Let's just say that even though I ended up randomly spouting that I was a furry to make a hater STFU. No one else knows, not my family, not my friends, not my GF (but my ex does know because she got me into it).
-Currently searching for link to add to this part of the response-

Maverik, on 17 December 2010 - 01:47 PM, said:

The topic was tagged as, "NSFW" so the disscussion can be as dirty as we want it. Your not talking about the forums when you say "Social Setting" in which case, yes, it is.

Junior Boomer, on 17 December 2010 - 04:36 PM, said:

See I'm going to start off by saying I'm sad that you don't like me, because your picture is a Dead Rising reference, and I love the Dead Rising series.
I'm also sad because when I looked at the comments this morning I was like, "Oh hey, they aren't attacking me, they aren't attacking each other, they aren't even attacking furries. They're having a serious disscussion about furries, writing out what they know and how they feel about it in a calm, unhurtful way. I can then explain the errors in their knowledge, and we could seriously be going somewhere with this thread." and I was happy n' stuff, but you just show up, hurt my feelings and now I've forgotten what it felt to be happy again.

aside from that. Your still doing that thing... stop it. What? you don't know what I mean? That thing! ya' know, the thing where because I'm an asshole, instead of just hating me, your basically saying the furry community is my clone army. I am a nice person at times, but because my life has become depraved of hope for human kindness (cities near the borders became very depressing places with robberies, deaths, corruption, there is never any news articles about anything good in the world happening.) I've become very serious about things.

I don't know anymore, I'm just tired. I'm not feeling sleepy, I just woke up a few hours ago, but I've been hoping for something to change, waiting. I don't even believing in God a few months ago, because saying he exists just makes it hurt more. I'm tired, I'm just... tired. I actually feel like crying, I swear to god I musn't cry, crying is a sign of weakness.

Boomer, if your going to hate me for what I've said the last two days, hate ME. Please, hate JUST me. Give the furry community a chance, because there a hell of a lot nicer than me.

SuitCase, on 17 December 2010 - 04:33 PM, said:

I've told NO ONE this because its still a secret, I can't trust anyone with secrets epecially how juicy this one is.(my friends have dirt on their other friends in order to force them to do stuff, but they don't have any dirt on me,) And I probably would have kept this a secret from this place too had I not been in a horrible mood, hoping to make myself feel better by going to BCB chat. To which after a guy repeatedly bashed the furry community, to the point where I confronted him hoping to get him to STFU. "Welp, since just about everyone who goes to this website is here in chat, guess its not a secret anymore... SHIT!"

Furries? Oh boy you just had to open that box didn't you Kekon? Well then again this forum is the most liberal place on the Internet I have ever seen. We have all kinds of folks from Ultra Conservatives to Trans genders and now furries and yet the community just shrugs and goes "Cool story bro" and goes on on their way which is quite amazing honestly. I love all of you for that.

On the topic on hand I have to say this: Whatever floats your boat. Just stay the hell away from mine.

Wait, what happened with the pic I posted

Mr SuitCase, do you have a absolute opinion about everything?

If (from what I gather) the base of being furry is only liking anthropomorphic characters,
what is the problem in it?

Ergh, if we get your post and change 'furry' to 'gay' that's discrimination, bro.
I'm only stating this if the base of being furry does not involve bestiality.

Being gay is totally ok, because it's a relationship involving 2 adult (or at least rational) people that want that.
Bestiality is almost like Pedophilia in my eyes.

But saying people should be ashamed without giving any sort of support is plainly irresponsible

This post has been edited by Lycan: 17 December 2010 - 11:08 PM

Mister Nikel, on 17 December 2010 - 07:23 PM, said:

I have to do something retarded at these forums once a day now, if I don't the infection will spread throughout my body, killing me.
I want to know what people really thought of furries, like, normal opinions.
...
I was just thinking about it, I don't see anything wrong with being called a furry, because it's just another word to me now, natural, it's nothing new, it's something I've grown accustomed to. 'furry' the term I see most days now. Then I imagined how weird the term furry would sound to someone who never sees the term, and rejects its existance: in this mindset, the word itself would be foreign, and talking to someone who is labeled furry, well... that person would be seen as abnormal.
Then again, I DON'T KNOW IF THATS TRUE BECAUSE I'M NOT YOU GUYS.
But I guess my assumption as lead me to understand where you guys are coming from.

Kekon - I don't hate you, I just find it rather annoying that you were spazzing out when someone tossed a petty insult at furries, which is just silly. And the reason I have the mindset that most furries are like that, is because almost all of the ones I have seen, do the exact same thing. If someone is overly offensive, just brush it off and don't take it to heart. It's as easy a 1,2,3.

And hey I may be wrong because you didn't respond to my statement with a rage reply, which was surprisingly pleasant. Maybe I was being a little bit of a dick myself. My point is just try not to overreact to things

SuitCase, on 17 December 2010 - 04:33 PM, said:

^
or at least have a fucking sense of humor about it

Lycan, on 17 December 2010 - 07:47 PM, said:

By the way you structured your sentences its hard to tell weither I should correct you, or get mad at you. Because you either "Don't know if being a furry is the same thing as being into beastiallity" or "Believe that their is no difference because being a furry is the same thing as being into bestiallity."
I'm just going to say something that will not need to be revised depending on what you meant.
Beastiality is a human having sex with an animal, for the most part, its all shameless.
Furries are people who live a normal life but at the same time, have the belief that they are similar to a creature of their liking...

It also helps to surround yourself with more furries. Y'know, so they can absorb insults and bullets for you.

On a, slightly related, sidenote, "Furries in a Blender"
Best. Bandname. ever.

ILB, on 17 December 2010 - 12:25 PM, said:

...Quite frankly I don't think furries are attracted to toasters and houses. Trees, however...well, dryads and whatnot.

Also, in truth not many furries actually dress up. They mostly just prefer to draw/view things based around anthropomorphic characters.

And technically, the true definition of "yiff" is a general expression of excitement or happiness, often saying hello...which, I suppose, isn't too far from the "modern" defintion.

[/illthoughtoutpost]

Quote

Not attracted to the objects, but to their anthropomorphised versions. And 'attraction' is a bad word, it implies lust or obsession. It might just be that you think a situation is funnier when two ironing boards or mice are acting it out than what it would be when two humans were.

I also did not mean to say that furries necessarily dress up - if that impression came across, I apologise. I just meant to say that some of them spend parts (or lots) of their time on dress-up conventions.

When it comes to "yiff" - I did not know that. Still, it seems to be the tag many a furry resort to when they defend themselves against insults.

Kekon, I asked people what really it means to be a furry.
I have had many answers, from this forum and from many other sources I have looked.
but many I had from this forum was that "being furry is liking anthropomorphic characters" (<- simplifying everything)

I can see absolutely no shame in "liking anthropomorphic characters"

Then, Mr. SuitCase comes and say everyone that are furry should be ashamed of themselves.

Therefore, I had to assume he meant there was something to be ashamed of. From other sources, I could see people saying furry people also had animal related fetishes. That was the only thing I can think Mr. SuitCase could be referring to.

Then I said: if the base to be a furry does not have anything to do with bestiality, what's there to be ashamed of?
Was I clear this time?

I do think things may be funnier/better/more interesting with anthropomorphic characters (not necessarily animals) than with human characters. What fun would be Star Fox with a lame human model? The charm in it is the awesome Falcon Falco, the annoying Frog Slippy and so on.
I don't take that to the limits, though. I wouldn't like "The Big Bang Theory" having talking animals as characters. That would be lame, I think.
But can I still respect those that would like BBT with animals, as well.

Now, for what you said:

Quote

I think you meant shameful, instead of shameless?

And

Quote

I know I'm going to repeat myself, but I want to answer directly to this sentence:
No, as you can see in this post, I didn't mean either of what you said.

There is a big big difference between "Don't know if being a furry is the same as being into bestiality" and what I said:
"IF it's the same thing, then it is something to be ashamed of"

Please don't narrow what I said in a wrong way.

Oh no Hentai13 strikes again. I'm a furry I dress up I like anthro art movies and such I like fucking with my tail and ears on and I don't give a shit who knows it. My parents know my friends know my family knows and hell my tail and ears are a great conversation starter even with total strangers. I'd never force my opinion or lifestyle on someone else. You're not a furry...cool. You're gay...cool I'm not as long as you're ok with that we should get along. You'se into anal streching......ok thats a little strange but what ever floats your boat.

Some of my friends are gay or furry not furrry black ginger what ever. I realy don't give a shit ether way if you're a cool person and I like spending time with you. I mean I do live in SoCal. I'm shur some places or the people in your life can make it harder to just say fuck it and be your true self come what may but if that person or place cant acept you the way you are should you consider mabe removeing it from your life.

Ok now that my rant is over lets see how much flak I catch. Just cuz I can't seem to post on this forum without a few shots comeing my way.

This post has been edited by Hentai13: 18 December 2010 - 12:01 AM

Got it Lycan, just wanted to make sure.

Lycan, on 17 December 2010 - 11:06 PM, said:

See, in my head I say one thing, but when I type it out, it comes out with one wording error it becomes incorrect.
Okay, let me try this again.
"Beastiallity, is done shamelessly. The people really don't see any problem with it, they do it shamelessley." There hopefully now I said it properly, my horrid headache from yesterday is comming back so I seriously hope I worded it properly.

SuitCase, on 17 December 2010 - 04:33 PM, said:

Agreed.

dont even bother to quote my post even though i said the exact same thing sure ok thats fine

kekon, on 17 December 2010 - 08:50 PM, said:

The problem with this is that yet again, it's a blanket statement that doesn't actually apply to everyone in the community.

I've met several people who identify as furries who consider those people to be the extreamists of the group. Right up there with the fur suiters etc.

As usual, it comes down to a problem of definition. I've tried this... Ask a bunch of different furries to define 'furries', and you'll get almost as many definitions as people you ask.

There's nothing wrong with the furry fetish anymore so than the poop fetishists or the foot fetishists, but furry fandom itself is clogged with some of the most over-sensitized, whining, sniveling shitwipes the internet has ever forced out of its drooling womb.

We are talking about the community that invented the words "yiff" and "fursecution."

The prosecution rests, furfags.

Maverik, on 18 December 2010 - 02:02 AM, said:

Then my question is, how similar were these definitions, did you ever hear a definition repeated (and I don't mean word by word thats stupid), how contrasting did two definitions get.

Jerk, on 18 December 2010 - 02:23 AM, said:

Overruled.

Maybe next time you'll think twice before letting me be the judge.

Otherkin are not furries. People who think the two are the same have no clue what they're talking about.

So Kekon, you are hilariously ignorant. GOOD JOB SUCKING IT UP.

The actual definition is, indeed, being a fan of anthropomorphic characters. Almost every furry will agree on this being the definition. Otherkin are NOT furries in general, but a rather specific subset of them (and indeed, not all otherkin are furries, either - see also the elf otherkin).

Otherkin are worse than furries. It's like if you had a septic tank (furry fandom) that had its own septic tank (otherkin) and that septic tank possibly has its own septic tank too (otakukin), but that's as low as it goes as far as I know so it's not entirely recursive.

@Kekon
You need only look at my first post to get an idea of the range of answers I got. I am nothing if not well researched on topics I make statements about.

Is liking BCB alone enough to make you furry? I'm not into any other anthro.

Starwatcher, on 18 December 2010 - 03:18 AM, said:

We already decided to say that BCB is not a furry comic.

Well, actually that's word straight from Taeshi. It's in the essay.

Eh... no straight answer.
Bah, I don't care anyways, people can do whatever they want if they won't bother other's lives.

And the ones saying they should be ashamed need to mind their own business.

k thanks. I got nothing against furries... their own business you know? But I am kinda relieved.

Well, I think that you need to do a bit more than to like something with furry connotations to actually be a furry. Just because you like Roundabout, that does not mean you have to like all of Yes' extensive album catalogue; likewise you need to actually have some affinity for more things in the same vein (otherwise, other factors can play too large a part - you can enjoy it because of the writing, drawing style, or so on).

@ILB
I agree. It sucks that people can be lumped in with a crowd you don't associate with due to having similar interests. I'm often called a furry because I don't discrimenate on whether or not something is Anthro if I like the story

Titanium Dragon, on 18 December 2010 - 02:37 AM, said:

Sorry it took so long to write back, a cold front just came in and its FREEZING COLD HERE NOW! I'm fine now, all i had to do was set the stove to 'high' and put my face on the stove, thats how you keep warm.

Real response here:
Well I didn't know that, I mean its only natural to not know everything about something, and some people do way too weird shit, I don't want to know, I never exactly looked into it, but if its really this important, then I'll change that post right now.

I've said this in some previous conversation but I feel the definition of a "furry" is:

A person who has a particular fascination with anthropomorphic characters, i.e. they seek out stories about anthropomorphic characters because they are about anthropomorphic characters, spend time thinking about the physiology of such characters, etc.

If an anthropomorphic character appeals to you, or you create your own, you're like most other people and not necessarily a furry. You are becoming furry when you begin to recognise yourself as having an interest in "the furry fandom", and identifying as "furry", and consciously or unconsciously finding yourself consuming a majority of anthropomorphic art in fields where anthropomorphism is not the norm.

Because it's weird and quirky and shows a kind of superficial attachment to things on the basis of whether they're drawn with tails, it's worth being ashamed of.

I have a particular fascination with things on the basis of whether or not they're provable mathematically. Does that make it worth being ashamed of?

Difference is the spice of life, I actually think there could be a lot weirder things to be into.

Just my 2 cents.

<snooths> IN THIS EPISODE OF BCB FORUM ADVENTURES: we discuss what is and isnt furry for the millionth fucking time so everyone feels better about themselves for liking this comic

I like anthro art, I like to draw anthro art. That's about as far into "furry" as I'll go. Honestly though, I don't let furries bug me because...well...why would I? Unless their the annoying type of furry that does really dumb stuff like say "humans suck animals are better and we should kill humans" or something along the lines of that, they really just kind of sit their, draw furry stuff, and...idk. I just think getting mad, agitated, frustrated, irritated, or anything related at furries is about as stupid as someone getting the same feelings for jocks or preppy girls.

"Oh my god but I saw furries drawing sex stuff and ew its disgusting and anthro is just annoying"

The internet is nothing more than a visual device, if your /that/ agitated over an image than I think you have a weak mind. It's just an image, and it's simple to just not care about what your looking at. So you saw a cartoon the you disliked big deal. It's not a direct insult at you and is there really anything you can do about it? No, so, it's a bit of a waste of time if you ask me.

I'm talking about furry complainers here, trolls are different, trolls exploit the stupidity of most furries for their (and others) amusement. and it is amusing.

and I'm not completely backing up furries here. This may sound like a contradiction to what I typed in the earlier paragraph but...really...they have to cut back on the weird sex shit. I don't find it revolting or anything, it just gets so old after a while of trying to find a non-sexual picture. and it really doesn't help with their image, I know many furries who hate it when people think a "furry" is someone who likes animal sex but what else can you expect when you search for something and get a completley retarded looking thing that has to do with sex on most of the artwork, honestly it's almost as if "furry" really /is/ a sexual sub-culture.

Complainers need to chill
Furries need to take it down a notch

whf, on 18 December 2010 - 06:29 AM, said:

Poll: Is it worth discussing things that have been discussed before? What's your take.

not when its debated in irc thoroughly at least once a week and when its on such a boring un-discussable subject

"Somebody who likes Anthropomorphic art"
"Somebody who draws Anthropomorphic art"
"Somebody who dresses up like Anthropomorphic animals"

So basically this means ancient Egyptians are ‘furries’.

This just had to be done.

lolwut, on 17 December 2010 - 12:13 PM, said:

maybe when they transform for the first time, it will take about 5 minutes, and from then on it only takes 3 seconds.

Super pow, on 18 December 2010 - 08:50 AM, said:

DEM GOD DAMN FURRY QUEIRZ! DEY TUK ER JERBS!!!!!!

whf, on 18 December 2010 - 06:29 AM, said:

I haven't gone on IRC in a while, maybe I should go back..... nah.

The power in my home just came back on, it was off for a few hours, so now I'm going to be replying to everyone, ya know, like I do.

This post has been edited by kekon: 18 December 2010 - 10:18 AM