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submitted by StrawburryMiwk
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By now, most of you will have read the articles about furries and the Portland Library. Here are two follow-up items....


First, a video from September 14. Maybe it was just a slow news day, but NBC Connecticut decided the story was worth a mention:



Second, another article in the Hartford Courant. This one, by columnist Jim Shea, is entitled "What's a Furry? Do You Really Want To Know?", and ends with the conclusion "Bottom line: I now know enough about furries to give me the willies."

http://www.courant.com/features/too-shea/hc-shea-baby-boomers-0919-20120919,0,4026351.column


What's a Furry? Do You Really Want To Know?
Jim Shea
September 19, 2012

Like most baby boomers, I have friends who have no use for computers and see no need to be connected online … whatever that is.

You need to get aboard with this stuff, I tell them, or you are going to be left in the dust.

Not that I am a wiz myself. In fact, some years back when I was undergoing computer training, I had an instructor tell me I was a real Luddite. I took it as a compliment. I thought it was a fancy word for geek.

I was reminded of the myriad of ways a computer makes life more interesting last week when I came across this headline on the Courant's home page

"Portland Library Bans People Dressed As Animals."

This was followed later by a headline that read:

"'Furries' Not Welcome At Portland Library"

What the heck was going on here?

Now, granted, since the repairs to the Arrigoni Bridge began a few years ago, very few outsiders venture into Portland. But still, you would think word might have leaked out that so many residents were now dressing as animals that it was necessary to ban them from the library.

To my great relief I quickly learned this was not the case. Portland residents were not dressing in mass as lions and tigers and bears ... at least in public. What they are doing in the privacy of their own homes …

Anyway, Portland's library board had decided to add animal costumes as being banned by its dress code. The board took the action because young children tend to be trusting of people dressed in costumes and they wanted to head off any potential problems.

While this explained the ban, it still left open the matter of what exactly is a furry?

This is where my Dick-and-Jane level of computer literacy came into play and in a matter of minutes I learned:

Furries, or "anthropomorphist," are people who like to wear animal costumes to which they attach such human characteristics as speech, walking upright and wearing clothes.

The subculture to which furries belong is called furry fandom.

The furry fandom is believed to be 80 percent male.

Contrary to belief, the overriding appeal of furry fandom is not kinky sex.

Bottom line: I now know enough about furries to give me the willies.

submitted by VentKazemaru
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Hello! Over on Fur Affinity I'm known as Mirepoix, and I am working on a pseudo fursuit for the character. She's an anthro dragon with a toony style. My biggest inspiration is rabbitinthem00n and her Bridget character. I really enjoy the freedom of expression through body movements and clothes that animegao kigurumi style allows.

I'm at a fork in the mask making road, and I would like some outside input on how I should continue. When I started, I was hoping I could blend kigurumi and "traditional" fursuit aesthetics and make a moving jaw mask covered in the same spandex I'm using for the bodysuit. During my experimenting, I'm finding that making that work is a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS, to the point I'm considering giving up.

BASICALLY WHAT I'M ASKING: Should I continue to work on trying to make a moving jaw work at the risk of being a little uncanny valley or lumpy, or should I focus more on making a static mask as pretty as possible? Moving jaw allows a lot more expression, but static jaw allows one to make something that looks pretty at every angle.

Picture of my mask pull with temporary eyes put in

Concept art, sorta

Pictures of my jaw prototype compared to blank Watch out for creepy soulless eyes and glasgow smile!

(I am posting this in r/furry rather than r/fursuit, as I was hoping to get a lot of input. Plus, this community is so danged small, I don't know why it was split in the first place.)

Edit: btw, thank you for the three people that gave me watches! I assume you're from here. I cleared my notifications before I could say thank you.

submitted by wambolicious
[link] [7 comments]

Hello again Papabear,

Writing you again for a different issue that I'm having. Though I'm pleased to report that I've been feeling better and haven't had as many thoughts of suicide. :)

On to my problem, I've noticed over the many years that I've been a part of this fandom (and the short time I've been in the brony fandom as well) that quite a few people are very active politically. This is great! I love that people in my age group (18-25) are taking politics seriously. However ... it did not take long to notice that most furries/bronies are at the opposite spectrum from me. 

Yes, I am a conservative and registered Republican. Though I consider my party affiliation/ideals to be more along the lines of a Libertarian, I usually vote Republican. 

This has caused ... rifts between me and the vast majority of furries when politics is brought up. While I consider myself very calm and tolerant of others beliefs/opinions, most furries who engage me spew a surprising amount of hatred my way just because of my party. 

I cannot begin to express how much this upsets me. I feel as though the majority of the fandom has decreed that I'm not allowed to have an opinion and if I say anything that goes against them, I'm the target of extreme hatred. 

At this juncture I'm at a loss for what to do, I was even hesitant to write to you as I know you also share a differing political views than I. It seems that whenever politics is brought up, I cannot respond, because doing so brings a torrent of angry people leaving nasty comments/DMs. I've tried to explain my position rationally and logically but no one wants to listen. They immediately pass judgment and lump me in with the crazed religious Right. Which couldn't be farther from the truth. I support gay marriage, I'm pro-choice, and yet they all seem to treat me like some vile scum unworthy of respect. It feels like I'm forced to listen to what they have to say but if I try to get in a word edgewise I'm immediately treated like garbage. 

Basically, what can I do? I just want other furries/bronies to show my views the same respect I show theirs, am I asking too much? 

-Towyn

* * *

Dear Towyn,

Thank you for a very interesting and germane letter in this political season. I’m flattered that you would write to me despite your fears that I might pass judgment on you on this topic. I hope the below will alleviate that fear (and everyone’s fear) that Papabear would do something like that about any subject, no matter how controversial.

As with many issues that Papabear addresses, I feel I can speak with some authority on this one because of my experience. It might surprise many of Papabear’s readers that he was once a registered Republican and voted for Ronald Reagan—twice. 

But while I believe in some of the values of the Republicans, such as less government control on states’ rights to manage how they spend their tax money (I used to live in a “donor state” of Michigan that gives the government more money than they receive in aid, and I believe California is the same way). The Republicans used to have “paws off” policies concerning people’s private lives, as well. For example, President Reagan believed that government should have nothing to do with abortion or other things we do in the bedroom.

But then the Christian Right and other conservative extremists took over the Republican Party, and it became the party against a woman’s right to choose and against gay marriage and other issues that are none of their business. Once that happened, they lost me as a supporter. Doubly so when I learned, much to my chagrin, that Republican presidents, despite averring that they were more fiscally responsible and conservative, actually spent MORE money and ran up the deficit MORE than Democrat administrations (Clinton, a Democrat, did the most to balance the budget of any 20th century president). There may be some argument about President Obama’s spending, but a lot of that was to shore up the egregious fiscal irresponsibility of the previous administration (Republican) and with being saddled with two wars (started by a Republican).

The problem in our country today is that both parties still have some good ideas to offer BUT THEY WON’T LISTEN TO EACH OTHER and they won’t compromise. It has all become about political agendas, what to do to stay in power, which is something the great George Orwell correctly predicted, RATHER than helping the PEOPLE of this country! Grrrrr!

*Pant pant* LOL. Okay, Towyn, maybe you see the ol’ bear’s point that politics is a very hot issue. Just as with religion, people have strong opinions and are often unwilling to listen. Papabear is guilty of that sometimes. I have a very VERY conservative uncle in Texas who kept sending me anti-Obama emails. Finally, I got sick of it and stopped reading. I have a furry friend who is a horse who is quite conservative. It’s actually interesting to chat with him, and although I only agree with him once in a while, sometimes he points out things I haven’t thought about and has persuaded me occasionally.

What many in the furry community need to practice is tolerance on this topic. It is interesting that we seem to be cool with other religions, races, sexual identities, etc., but you are correct, Towyn, that on politics we seem to be less tolerant.

It is wrong for other furries to get mad at you just because you have some conservative views, just as it would be wrong for conservative furries to get angry at those who are liberals. Papabear thinks you are running into this problem a lot because you are probably chiming in on various social network discussions rather haphazardly with your opinions. Because there are a LOT of liberal furries out there, you are setting yourself up for an attack.

My suggestion would be that you refrain from such open discussions and, instead, keep such conversations where they are more apt to be listened to and debated intelligently, such as the Political Furs group on Furry4Life: http://furry4life.org/group/politicalfurs.  You can also form your own group. You could create a Libertarian Furries group on FB, for instance, and welcome those with more conservative views. OR, you can start a No Drama Political Views group or something like that, where both sides are encouraged to debate intelligently without the fear of being banned because of their views.

I hope your previous experience with political flaming won’t turn you off the fandom and that, instead, you will proceed constructively as suggested above.

Good luck! And big HUGS from a gay liberal bear LOL!

Papabear 

submitted by duku6
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submitted by redfoxriver
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submitted by StrawburryMiwk
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submitted by Dark_Essence
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submitted by evilsibe
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submitted by kaguilar92
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Well tonight I went along to the weekly meetup at South Bank, Brisbane, and it was lots of fun to meet other furries! A couple had fursuits and one of them was being really adorable, it was so cute. It was great and I'd encourage other furries to look for a local meetup if they haven't yet, because it's worth going.

submitted by Ashtalon
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FurAffinity downtime, join us today for talk about the infamously unstable site followed by a masterfully executed derailment to gasoline. We discuss various furry art websites, and more interesting perspectives about how FA plays a major role in the furry community.

Stuff we talked about this show:

• InkBunny and SoFurry as FurAffinity alternatives.
• Ethanol fuels and perspective on their negative impacts.

Hosts: Levi, Wolfin
Podcast image by greenchartreuse. Used with permission.

Daily Show: September 18, 2012 - FurAffinity downtime, join us today for talk about the infamously unstable site followed by a masterfully executed derailment to gasoline. We discuss various furry art websites, and more interesting perspectives about how FA plays a major role in the f...

I haven't been active in furry fandom until very recently. I got myself a FurAffinity account and have been trying to become more active and make myself some furry friends. (Drawing and writing are my fortes.)

One thing I've always wanted to do but haven't tried a lot of is roleplaying. RPG in general is cool and I've noticed that there are some really popular feral roleplays which I suppose are okay too (Warrior Cats is incredibly popular. Sweet jesus.) but I would really like to find some roleplaying forums geared towards furries.

So what are some good furry roleplaying forums/sites/clients? The more populated and active, the better.

submitted by osssumpossum
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I agree with Uncle Kage on this being the best con report possibly ever.  The maker drgnalexia did a GREAT job and a comic like footage from eurofurance which represented the trip with friends to Germany. I hope there will be a part 2 !! CHECK IT HERE!

submitted by captainbozo
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submitted by digivolve8
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submitted by chelzeelee
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I'm not into fursuits. They're just too unrealistic to me. Maybe I'm creepy or something, but I'd really like to see people dressed up (and dress up myself) with body paint, make-up, furry dresses, etc. Kinda like a Halloween costume, but with a lot of effort to actually look like a furry drawing, not just "heehee I'm a sexy kitty," if that makes sense. Is this frowned upon by the furry community? I'm going to my first FurryCon in March and I was hoping I could dress up as my fursona like how I just described. :)

submitted by jaylikesdominos
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submitted by DranerFox
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