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**** You Margaret Atwood. I Was Just Starting To Like You.
Taken directly from the Fursuit page on wikifur:
The Year of the Flood, a 2009 novel by Margaret Atwood, includes the passage:
Toby got a job as a furzooter: cheap day labour, no identity required. The furzooters put on fake-fur animal suits with cartoon heads and hung advertising signs around their necks, and worked the higher-end malls and the boutique retail streets. But it was hot and humid inside the furzoots, and the range of vision was limited. In the first week she suffered three attacks by fetishists who knocked her over, twisted the big head around so she was blinded, and rubbed their pelvises against her fur, makingstrange noises,ofwhichthe meows were the most recognizable. It wasn't rape - no part of her actualbodywas touched - but it was creepy.
submitted by Hemms3[link] [6 comments]
Straight, Female Fur Feels Snubbed
I have been dealing with a lot of furs that I just don’t understand. Mostly of that from the Bi or gay side of the fandom (note, I have no problems with gays, it seems its the other way around).
I’m straight and I feel from other furs that aren’t, I’m looked down upon a lot at cons. No fur talks to me, they rather talk to my mate that is male, first. Even when I get a chance to talk to them it’s always short.
At cons I think I got a friend and I go to give them a hug and they go "eewwww bewbs!" Not joking, full on serious EWWWW. I’ve even done favors for these people thinking maybe it was me being rude or something maybe this will help prove that wrong ... nope they take my favor and then run off.
I cant take it anymore! I don’t get it, if gays wanted to be treated equal then why am I the one feeling put down? This bullying went so far as to ruin my AC convention making me never to return again. I did not like that con. A lot of furs did/said a lot of rude comments and gestures just and the last day at the con made me cry I just didn’t understand.
Gays personally don’t bother me, hell all of my friends are gay =/ and I’m just fine with them and they are with me. Most of my friend that I have now I’ve only known for a month or so (new furs in the area) so it can’t be cause I don’t know them.
Why is it stranger/furs at cons that are just so mean or come off short to me? Not like I’m going "HEY I’m a furry listen to me!" I’m normally saying hello and they go talk to my mate who didn’t really say anything A LOT of the time.
I’m not a popufur. I don’t have the best made suit, so I guess in a lot of these furs fuzzy eyes I’m not worth their time. That’s how I feel.
I cant tell is it me, is it them? Maybe both sides!? Maybe it’s just a new gen thing and people are just becoming more distant cause of various reasons from technology?
I’m not saying they should be FORCED to say hello to me or even notice I’m there (though when someone says hi and you notice its kinda rude to ignore it >.>)
I’m not saying they should be nicer to me BECAUSE I’m a chick. Just saying that if people want to be equal then, why are they so one-sided and mean to others?
It confuses me cause I just can’t be mean to someone I don’t know.
Hope it wasn’t confusing to read just a bunch of thoughts in my head about this and trying to pick one and focus on it is kinda hard for me. But this one bugs me the most cause I just don’t understand. And I have tried to see there side and STILL don’t understand.
PS: This is not to all gay furs. A lot of them are nice, I’m talking bout the hotshot furs and some random furs that give the gays a bad name =/ .
--MiaFox
* * *
Hi, MiaFox,
First of all, this is from me, a gay bear fur: (((((HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGS)))))
Judging by what you say, it is not you, hon. You are making a concerted effort to be friendly at cons and such and are getting the brush-off. And, as you say, it is not all gay men (boys) who act like this, but enough to make your AC experience unpleasant, and I am sorry to hear that.
Papabear would chalk it up to two likely things: 1) many furries are quite young and, as you might know, male teens are slower to mature than females. So, what I’m saying is they are acting very immaturely. As a 47-year-old gay man living in Palm Springs, home to many mature and older gay men, I can tell you I have never observed a grown man acting so ridiculously about “bewbs.” Would I be correct in assuming that most of those who react to you like this are younger than 20? Or, at least, younger than 25?
Not only are you dealing with immature boys, but (and, readers, please don’t get mad at me for this) you are dealing with furries. A big part of the fandom is the escape into childhood fantasy. This only enhances the possibility of immature behavior. So, what you get in many cases is teen boys made doubly immature by their escape into a fantasy world.
The above are BROAD generalizations—always dangerous territory—but at times generalizations and stereotypes apply, and I think it does in this particular case. I am not saying, by any means, that all furries, including young males, act this way, but many do. Their numbers are particularly concentrated at a furcon such as AC, and the larger the con (AC being the largest) the more anonymous one feels and the more mob mentality kicks in, which further accentuates derpy behavior.
So, what is the solution for you? Papabear would recommend you take your furry (especially young male furry) in small doses. Instead of going to ginormous furcons like AC or MFF, go to smaller furmeets or meet furries in small social gatherings of your own. Make contact with furries in your area online, get to know them and their attitudes a bit better, and then meet them for a nice dinner or a movie. Go on a double date, that sort of thing. Slowly increase your circle of furiends and, next time you go to a big con, try and attend with your furiends.
And then the tables are turned a bit. Picture this: you are at a furcon with 6 or 7 of your close furiends, pleasantly chatting and laughing about the “bewbs” incident, and you notice a single, shy furry cautiously approaching to possibly try and make friends. Welcome them and set an example of how a furry should behave by not judging them and being the friendly person you are.
The fandom needs more people like you, MiaFox. Lead by example of how proper, mature, friendly furries should behave toward one another.
I wrote recently in another letter about the difference between “childlike” and “childish.” Your negative experience was with childish people. Furry should be about childlike, joyous, innocent, fun, playful, and imaginative behavior. It should be inclusive, not exclusive. Open your furry arms and embrace it.
BEAR HUGS,
Papabear
F*ckn’ funny unicorn
Daily Show: December 18, 2012 - The world is ending this weekend! Maybe. Some furs took advantage of all the hype and based a convention off of it. We won't be there, but that doesn't stop us from talking about it. - Today's Topics: End Of The World Con
The world is ending this weekend! Maybe. Some furs took advantage of all the hype and based a convention off of it. We won’t be there, but that doesn’t stop us from talking about it.
Today’s Topics:
Hosts: CrimsonX, Murphy Slaugh, Wolfin
Picture By: Julia S.
Episode 204 - THE END OF THE WORLD
MFF BFF 2012 preview
TigerTails Radio Season 7 Episode 05
TigerTails Radio Season 7 Episode 05
Felis returns this week, reuniting the Season 7 cast once more. In this week's episode the cast make a couple of passing mentions about events that have happened during the week, and Xavier takes a few moments on his soap box to complain about games being blamed for all the world's ills. Featuring TK, Xavier, and Felis. Backing music by Sanxion7. From: TigerTails Radio Views: 0
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People & Blogs Season 7 Episode 05 Podcast Uploaded!
Felis returns this week, reuniting the Season 7 cast once more. In this week's episode the cast make a couple of passing mentions about events that have happened during the week, and Xavier takes a few moments on his soap box to complain about games being blamed for all the world's ills. Featuring TK, Xavier, and Felis. Backing music by Sanxion7.
For Done and Dusted:
Xavier reviews Halo 4.
TK talks about Sonic the Hedgehog (The old MegaDrive game).
Felis covers Starship Troopers Invasion.
Television Talk:
Scooby Do0: Mystery Inc.
Merlin
Question of the Week:
If one of the TTR hosts could become Prime Minister, who would you vote for and what policy would they promote?
Download the Podcast - Download the TubeCast
Just a Donkey
This February, Papercutz (home to the Geronimo Stilton series) presents a brand new full color graphic novel by multiple award-winning author Emmanuel Guibert and renowned illustrator Marc Boutavant — Ariol, Volume 1: Just a Donkey Like You and Me. “Ariol is your everyday tween donkey with blue glasses. He lives in the suburbs with his mom and dad. His best friend is a pig. He’s in love with a beautiful cow in his class. His teacher is a dog. His gym teacher is a huge rooster. In short, Ariol is just like you and me.” Pre-order this new softcover book at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
image c. 2012 Papercutz
Looking For Artist
Hello! This is my first post on reddit so I thought I'd share it with you. Well, its more of a request really. As the title says, I'm looking for an artist to draw an Anthro fox. I'm hoping it to be a male fox with light orange fur with red hair and white ear tips and grayish-blue tail tip. Please have him CLOTHED. Thank you very much if you accept my request.
submitted by Cameron_The_Fox[link] [1 comment]
Season 7 Episode 05 is Live!
Coming at you live from the realms of the TigerTails Entertainment Studio C building, tonight's show features all the things you've come to love from TigerTails Radio - namely Xavier and Felis on camera (if you're watching the YouTube stream). Head on over to the Listen page to get the links for all your favourite media players, or hit the bottom of the Listen page for the link to our YouTube channel to watch the madness happen live!
No, You Don’t Have Asperger’s
There are a lot of furries who have Asperger’s disorder, or at least a lot who think they have Asperger’s disorder. As of May 2013, none of them will have it: it’s being deleted from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It’s in DSM-IV; it will not be in DSM-5. (Roman numerals are out too, apparently.)
Along with three other conditions—autistic disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder, and ‘pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified’—Asperger’s is being lumped into Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. ASD reflects our understanding of autism as a universal aspect of personality rather than a specific condition. People with Asperger’s will be recategorized as having mild ASD, or as having no disorder at all.
This is very good news for people with Asperger’s, especially those with mild symptoms. (Anyone self-diagnosed with Asperger’s is highly unlikely to have ASD, for reasons I’ll explain later in this article.)
Autistic people fail to read social cues, and this leads to communication issues and inappropriate behaviour. In general, someone is classified as having ASD (as per DSM-5) if this condition is bad enough to be disabling.
Everyone, to some extent, has symptoms of autism: it’s a natural outcome of how the brain works. Our species has evolved to have certain mental traits that support our social nature: we excel at facial recognition (to the extent that we might see faces in a grilled cheese sandwich, or in sand dunes on Mars); we are more empathetic towards fellow humans than towards other animals; we unconsciously negotiate sexual interest. Autistic people have poor social skills because these parts of brains are innately limited—a genetic throwback to a pre-evolved brain.
Autism is not an on/off condition, like having a broken leg. Some people have brains that are strongly socially-wired, perhaps actors or salesmen, others are less socially-wired and tend to be more logically minded, perhaps programmers or engineers. But everyone feels socially awkward, or out of place, or humiliated, from time to time.
Compared to society at large, furries are collectively further along the autistic spectrum. Symptoms of this might include our flair for technical work, such as IT and the sciences, and perhaps in our enjoyment of fursuits, which create a ‘deindividualized’ social environment.
I see two causes that place furries further along the autistic spectrum:
- Our demographics: we are young and overwhelmingly male. Put simply, men typically take longer than women to socially mature.
- People with autistic traits might be attracted to furry:
Anyone who struggles to read social cues will feel disconnected from society, especially if they are going through puberty. People who are non-heteronormative or genderqueer—and this somewhere around 70% of furries (ref, ref)—are more likely to feel alienated.
For young people who feel disconnected, it may be easier to identify with an anthropomorphic animal (as seen on TV or other media) than with other human beings. Growing up, furries may internalize this identification to the point that they start to see themselves as more like the animal-person and less human. This will be important to sexual development and may become a touchstone through puberty: the animal-person becomes an alter-ego that can safely experiment with new personality traits through introspection and roleplay—for example, alternative sexual or gender identities.
(I’ve explored the value of furry roleplay as an avenue to maturation previously, Growing Up.)
It’s plausible that a sense of alienation when growing up is a strong contributor to our identity as furries. It helps that the concept of furry identity is open to interpretation, which means that we are free to explore personally useful aspects while discarding others. It also helps that the furry community is social and welcoming, filled with people with a similar internal world. Serendipitously, for many people, the social nature of the furry community provides a solution to the alienation that drew them to furry in the first place.
If the furry identity stems from this feeling of alienation, this offers an explanation for our unusual demographics:
- Furry is largely male: men, on average, are less socially developed when they reach puberty.
- Furry is geeky: geeks, largely people with sharp logical minds, are often slower to develop socially.
- Furry is largely non-heterosexual: if you are sexually queer (or genderqueer), your social development can be more difficult.
In these three examples, furries may come to identify as an animal person as a way of unconsciously abnegating personal responsibility for social failure. It also explains why some furries might self-diagnose a social disorder: Asperger’s.
It’s common for people with Asperger’s disorder to characterize themselves as feeling like a non-human, like an alien tourist in a strange society. It’s easy to see why a young furry, who feels disconnected from the world and identifies as an animal-person, would find this compelling. Asperger’s disorder is also fairly high-profile because it’s relatable—mild autism is comparable to the less permanent condition of being a teenager—and also because of Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a novel with an apparently autistic narrator. The narrator, Christopher, is an easy character for any young adult to relate to in the Holden Caulfield sense: he’s an outsider, confounded by his constant failure to act according to society’s fluid and unsaid rules. It’s an engaging read (although it flags badly in the second half as Haddon gamely tries to narrate action through Christopher’s limited perception of the world).
Anyone identifying with Christopher from The Curious Incident is almost definitely not autistic. To identify is to demonstrate empathy, the very trait that Christopher—and anyone with Asperger’s/ASD—lacks. The same logic can be applied more broadly: if you think you have autism, you almost certainly don’t.
Autistic people are often unable to see themselves as part of society. Ironically, anyone who thinks that they don’t fit in is demonstrating that they fit in well enough to be aware of society’s norms. A feeling of alienation doesn’t imply alienation. It’s usually the opposite: a feeling of alienation implies that you are maturing and learning to assimilate.
This is the difference between being autistic and being a teenager: autistic people do not mature to the point that they can fully function within society. It’s also worth considering that maturation continues until we are about 30 years old, and that the skills that help us feel part of society—empathetic skills—are the slowest to develop (ref).
So self-diagnosis of autistic disorders is usually wrong. It’s also potentially damaging.
Labels are important things. If you believe you have Asperger’s disorder, this means that you believe you will always struggle in many social situations. You believe that you cannot mature and improve beyond a certain point, because you believe you are innately limited. If you are younger than 30 (or so), this means that you are undermining your own ability to mature and develop these skills. In sociological and psychological circles this is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy, defined as ‘a false definition of a situation evoking a new behaviour which makes the original false conception come true’ (ref).
The deletion of Asperger’s from DSM-5 means that doctors can no longer diagnose autistic disorders without evidence of symptoms in early childhood (ref). It’s easy to misdiagnose autism in an older child who is slow to socially mature. Psychologists have been long aware of the danger of such labels: a false diagnosis of Asperger’s can harm someone who would otherwise mature a little later (possibly as a well-adjusted furry).
It’s not just Asperger’s. Among psychologists, there is growing awareness of the danger of labels. For example, a 1997 meta-study on child sex abuse concluded that many people have had positive sexual experiences when a child: consider the trope of the 14 year old boy who has sex with the babysitter. The study recommended that not all children be labelled (and treated) as victims of abuse, because doing so could retrospectively harm someone who would otherwise be fine. (The study, unfortunately, was ignored after it was formally condemned in the United “Think of the Children” States Congress, ref.)
Self-diagnosis of Asperger’s is common because it’s natural for a child, who is slow to develop socially, to define himself as different. All children feel that they are the centre of the universe. When an intelligent, analytical child looks around, it’s clear that the outside world doesn’t treat him as anything special. The inconsistency between his internal world and the external world creates conflict and a feeling of disconnection. This child may read about autism and falsely self-diagnose as having Asperger’s. He would be much better off if he self-diagnosed as a furry, a label that encourages personal growth, as opposed to the self-limiting label of Asperger’s.
How do you tell if you’re autistic? Here’s what the DSM-5 says:
People with ASD tend to have communication deficits, such as responding inappropriately in conversations, misreading nonverbal interactions, or having difficulty building friendships appropriate to their age. In addition, people with ASD may be overly dependent on routines, highly sensitive to changes in their environment, or intensely focused on inappropriate items.
It’s impossible to self-diagnose. If you lack communication skills, you also lack the ability to assess the quality of your communication skills. People with ASD tend to be anosognosic, in that they are unable to perceive their disability (ref).
Your parents, or older siblings, are better placed to judge. They saw you grow up and will have noticed any symptoms in early childhood, which always occur in autistic people (by definition, ref). Otherwise, ask a doctor: they will use a simple written or verbal test to judge whether you have ASD. Everyone has autistic tendencies: it’s a question of the level of impairment.
If you have self-diagnosed as having Asperger’s, or if you were diagnosed when young, it may be time to reconsider. You may wish to think of yourself as logical and analytical, positive identity traits that allow room for you to learn and grow. Your analytical nature will help you learn new skills including improved empathy, if you apply your mind and approach the problem logically. You might begin by broaching the topic with similarly-minded furries.
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/4yqrW.jpg){kind=link}
![[link]](http://i.imgur.com/nvs1v.png){kind=link}
Never stop being true to yourself.
I've been a part of a Fraternity, Kappa Sigma, for 2.5yrs now and they recently found out I was into the Furry Fandom. I tried keeping it a huge secret from them because it's a subject that most people seem to look down on. When they found out I didn't try hiding it anymore and took my walk to the "executioner" and a long road of "weird", "gross", and/or "beastiality" comments. Here's what they said:
They asked why I enjoyed it, what sort of limits I put on how animal they can look before it's too much for me, what my favorite animal was, and other like questions. They teased me about it which took some getting used to, but they didn't tell anyone else. So why am I telling you this?
You should't be afraid to show off who you are completely to people you trust, love, and care about. It should be a "well obviously you should be proud of who you are", but I know there are some people who are like me and don't want to risk it (the hardest was telling my girlfriend about it). So keep doing your furry thing and don't be afraid to strut your stuff. Peace ya'll~
TL:DR: Fraternity found out I was into Furries, everything went better than expected.
submitted by BerCu[link] [21 comments]