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submitted by regular-wolf
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Just a bit ago, there was a piece of art on FA of some feline/vulpine female fire-dancing with two flaming pieces of (coal?) at the end of two chains she was swinging in vertical circles. She was wearing a tank top and some tight fitting shorts, so the whole piece was pretty SFW. It was posted by somebody admitting that the art wasn't theirs, and consequentially it was taken down pretty quickly. I really loved this piece and I want to see and follow whoever drew it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. >.<

submitted by Fafnoir
[link] [4 comments]

Author: GreenReaper Recently published survey results suggest there is “little relationship between furries and clinical diagnoses of psychological dysfunction”. However, those identifying more strongly as furries tended to report “particularly active, vivid and magical mental worlds”, and furries (at ~4%) were “at least 2.25 times more likely to have Asperger’s Syndrome” than the general population, even after […]

TigerTails Radio Season 7 Episode 49
TigerTails Radio Season 7 Episode 49 From: TigerTails Radio Views: 0 0 ratings Time: 02:22:50 More in Entertainment

submitted by BenjamintheFox
[link] [12 comments]

Dear, Papabear

I have been feeling insane. that’s the best way to put it. I have all A's in school except for two B's. I take every advanced course I can, but I feel like it's not enough. I feel like shutting down some days and not going to school, even though I have decent friends. Only one knows I'm a furry, though, and no one knows I’m bisexual. I really don't have feelings for anyone. I feel really lost. Can you please help?

Missing Lynx (age 16)

* * *

Dear Lynx,

Yours is one of those letters where Papabear puts on his bifocals to better read between the lines. I would have to infer from your brief missive that you are putting enormous pressure on yourself to please others—most likely, your parents. They are pushing you to get good grades. There’s nothing wrong with doing your best in school, but don’t do what Papabear did in high school: make it all about the grades. That really sucks the fun out of learning AND, ironically, you don’t learn much when you are just studying for the test. Has this ever happened to you? A test is coming up, so you study study study until your brain hurts. On the day of the test, you spill all that stuff that’s in your brain onto the page, breathe a sigh of relief, and are vaguely happy when you get an A or B. Now, I’m betting if you took that same test three months from now (without studying for it again) you would remember maybe half of it, or maybe less. That’s not learning.

So, the first thing to do here is to take a step back and regroup. Think of what it is you are studying for. Do you have a career in mind? What is it about that career that intrigues you? If you enjoy that subject matter, then that will make learning about it much more fun and stress you out less. And what about classes you have to take even though they are not related directly to your main interest? Well, learning, in general, should be fun. There’s a huge world out there that is completely amazing and utterly fascinating. Learning about it should be a joy. It helps if you have good teachers that convey that joy; of course, the whole “teaching to the test” philosophy that our lackluster education system has in America, again, sucks the joy out of it. You could actually bring some of that fun back by reading books outside the curriculum. For instance: high school American history totally turned this bear off our country’s past. As an adult bear, however, I became fascinated with the History Channel (which, now, sadly, has become all reality show crap). But if you want to read some great books on the topic, check out just about anything by David McCullough to start.

Now, your second topic is about friends and friendship. I can see your problem here, hon. You have not opened up to hardly anyone about who you really are, which, again, is probably because you're trying to be what others want you to be rather than who you are. Therefore, you cannot relate to any of your current friends on a deeper level, which makes for unsatisfying relationships. What you should be doing is finding some friends who are bisexual (or gay) and/or furry and start hanging out with them. It is so much better to be around people to whom you can relate. You will be much happier.

If the reason you don’t do that is because you fear what your parents will learn about you if they figure out the type of people you are seeing, then you need to have some openness with them as well. If that is an issue, check out the Coming Out Furry category on my website.

Hope this helps!!!

Papabear

Hiya! I'm Skunkers, a Platinum 4 league of legends players. I made my goal for the season, so without any goal in sight, I figured I'd find some people who'd like to play for fun :)

I play Summoners Rift and Dominion primarily, but will also play ARAM and Twisted Treeline. Add me as "skunkers" in game if you ever want to play!

submitted by Skunkers
[link] [22 comments]

submitted by xandertheblue
[link] [comment]

The number of straight (or bi) male furries far outweighs the number of straight (or bi) female furries. Around 1 in 5 furries are female, and some of those are gay or asexual. We looked at the numbers last year and estimated that about 16% of furries—1 in 6—are women who may be interested in a relationship with a guy. And many of those will already be in a relationship, or otherwise not available.

You can read how we reached that conclusion, along with some discussion in a previous article (which has my favourite title to date): It’s Raining Men. It shows how furry’s gender imbalance and sexual orientation demographics conspire to make it difficult for heterosexual guys to find a relationship with a fellow furry. (It’s even worse if you’re a furry lesbian.)

This article is a guide to how a heterosexual male can maximize his chances of finding a furry girlfriend; without being a stalker, without pulling any pick-up-artistry nonsense, and without being creepy or otherwise contributing to the problem that’s keeping women away from the furry community.

It’s true that women are staying away from public furry gatherings, and they’re staying away because they are being harassed by men who are hoping to pick them up, talk to them, or just make friends. Data collected online (ref Furrypoll) and data collected at large conventions (ref IARP) show this trend: online we’re (around) 80% male; at conventions we’re (around) 90% male.

We furries have the same problem as gamers, cosplayers, and sports fans: if you’re female and wish to attend an event, you have to prepare yourself for the possibility of receiving unwelcome attention. Some women are naturally more able to ignore or combat this attention; other women simply stop going. And so we tend to mostly see women who are happy enough dealing with this nonsense, and we tend to think of these women as normal. It’s easy to hold them up as an example for all women, and to suggest that all women should consider unsolicited male attention ‘in the right spirit’, or as an ‘ego boost’.

Such standards are wrong. It serves to reinforce the idea that women should be able to deal with unwanted advances themselves… and so the shy, the young, and the I’ve-had-enough-of-this-crap crowd stay away.

So the first rule for meeting furry women is to consider a public furry gathering to be a Safe Space. This means that you should never approach a women with the intent of striking up a conversation, and you should encourage your male friends to follow the same example. Furry gatherings are a place for people, men and women, to socialize with friends. If a guy is inserting himself into a social group because he is motivated by the chance to meet someone of the opposite sex, then he is breaking the tacit social contract, and needs to cut it out.

It sounds counter-intuitive to suggest that, in order to meet more furry women, you should avoid introducing yourself at a social gathering. But such non-action is simply respectful and fair, and will save you from being labelled as a creep.

I am suggesting, by the way, that you treat men differently from women. You can reasonably initiate social contact with (most) men. It’s easy to see this as a double standard.

It’s not a double standard, because there is a difference in the experiences of men and women. Women live in a world where sexual harassment is a very real problem, where men being assertive can be perceived to be threatening, and where women feel like they need to be on their guard in case a friendly gesture is misinterpreted. Men don’t have the same problem because the social stakes are not loaded: it’s a lot easier for a man to brush off the advances of another man, and take it as an ego boost.

It’s a similar situation to how you should treat a celebrity, perhaps at a furry convention. People who are well known will be in demand, and they may find themselves constantly interrupted by well-meaning fans. There are opportunities for fans to meet and socialize with the celebrity, but these need to be controlled by the celebrity, otherwise they risk being overwhelmed by the attention. And if the celebrity can’t reasonably control the social demand placed on them, they must leave.

Women can find themselves in a similar situation, with the added pressure of the male-dominated gender imbalance. A single approach, no matter how friendly and well-meaning, can be sufficiently difficult such that it undermines all the good things about being around friends and furries at a gathering.

I feel like I’m wading into the territory of men’s rights here, a mostly internet-based philosophy that suggests that men have the raw end of the gender stick. Men’s rights advocates are usually well-meaning, but are misguided. They would suggest that it’s unfair that there are special rules that apply to men when talking to women, compared to any other situation (man talking to man, woman talking to man, woman talking to woman). They are right that it’s different, but it’s not unfair… not towards men anyway.

The men’s rights movement thinks that the genders should be treated equally. As it turns out, this is a pretty good definition of the goal of feminism. There is a conflict because the men’s-righters are largely ignorant to the challenges that are faced by women (but not faced by men). Men’s-righters suggest that we should be gender-blind, which is the sort of bone-headed idealization of the real world that might inform a high-concept Star Trek episode.

I don’t want to delve too deeply into feminism or the bizarro world of men’s rights here. It’s interesting stuff but it’s not the topic of this article. I accept that some readers might challenge my characterization of men’s rights, and I’m happy to participate in a wider discussion: perhaps in a co-authored point-counterpoint article for future publication here on [a][s]. If you’re interested, drop me a line (jm@furrynet.com).

Before I move on, I want to give a modern example of a challenge uniquely faced by women: the concept of the ‘friendzone’. The idea is that if a guy has a female friend, he runs the risk of being seen as only a friend and not a potential romantic parter—he is in the ‘friendzone’. It’s a concept rooted in the idea that men want women, but that women don’t want men. The idea is part misogyny and part self-hatred (it’s self-hatred because it suggests that only women can be attractive). The worst aspect of the ‘friendzone concept is that it implies that the friendship of the woman in question is only worth having because of the possibility of a romantic relationship. It’s a term that reinforces the inferiority of women to men; a male-male friendship would never be debased in such a way.

The plight of women in furry goes largely unrecognized or unnoticed because of majority privilege. We are male-dominated, and so our collective experience is largely male-centric. Contrary points of view, perhaps like some expressed in this article, are treated with natural skepticism because they challenge the agreed groupthink. And so women who express unhappiness with their social experience are disregarded for being fringe—after all, we have lots of gay guys in furry and straight guys don’t mind getting hit on occasionally, and that’s just the same right? We men don’t experience things from the women’s point of view, so we are unable to empathize.

But we can sympathize. And we can behave in a way that makes furry a welcoming environment for everyone.

So, guys, here is how to meet a furry woman:

1. Furry gatherings are a Safe Space. Don’t approach any woman who is not already a good friend.
2. You are playing a numbers game. You are going to have to meet, and get to know, 10 to 20 people for each potentially eligible woman. Be patient.
3. So be social, especially online. Get to know people, regardless of gender, in different social circles. You will meet new people through the connections of friends-of-friends.
4. Do not pursue a relationship with someone until you are already good friends. You should have known her for months, not weeks or days. You should have met several times in person and be comfortable in one another’s company.
5. If you are interested in someone, ask online or over text (not in person) whether she is interested. Make it brief and respectful. If she isn’t interested, drop it. Forever. Consider this person for evermore to be a friend of yours.

(And if you’re a guy, and you’re interested in a male friend? You can be more direct. The social dynamics are different: if he’s not interested, he’s much less likely to find it threatening or inappropriate.)

Being single can be lonely. It can be easy to think of a relationship as something you need. This is compelling but flawed: relationships don’t come on demand.

So if you are single, take the opportunity to focus on yourself. Work towards meeting your own emotional and social needs, and work towards making your future self as attractive as possible. You can do this by learning new things, broadening your interests, and generally doing things that you know are good for you.

And if you are feeling isolated, have a read of this article geared towards the lonely fur: A Rough Guide To Loneliness.

submitted by ikeabitch
[link] [49 comments]

submitted by VentKazemaru
[link] [5 comments]

submitted by MarwinJaeckel
[link] [6 comments]

submitted by KooriKitsune
[link] [6 comments]

Author: Hiya, I need a little relationship advice… Me and my girlfriend have been in a relationship for a couple of weeks, but I just feel we need time away from each other. I know as my cat fursona, I can be independent. Her fursona is a wolf-dog and she can be very needy and […]

submitted by grifthesniper
[link] [2 comments]

Soo…. yeah.  Real life seemed to catch up with everyone at the same time and no one was really available.  However Killick, the dashing gentleman that he is,  decided that no episode was not good enough for the lovely listeners of Furballd.  So a mini episode was prepared instead to sate your ears until the real thing.

Stuff!

The Symphony of Legends: Video Games Unplugged concert

Tinycat’s Extra Life 25 hour video game play through: The Facebook event page, The donation page, and the TwitchTV account.  Support sick kids in need and donate!

Doctor Who: 50 Years

Xbonus: The Mountain Due themed Xbox One

Bye for now, but not forever! UnEpisode 58 And A Half – Everyone Is Really Busy - Soo.... yeah.  Real life seemed to catch up with everyone at the same time and no one was really available.  However Killick, the dashing gentleman that he is,  decided that no episode was not good enough for the lovely listeners of Furballd.

At least we put this tangent in its own episode.. Pokemon Matters (2013-10-21)

If there's one thing we can say, it's that we give our audience what they want... Episode 9.5 (2013-10-21)

Okay, when we really sit down and get talkin'... well, we didn't get much more done than in the "short" one, now did we? Maybe you guys have a point... Episode 9.5: "For reals" (2013-10-21)

submitted by pkfreeze830
[link] [7 comments]