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The fifth largest country in the world in both size and population takes up nearly half of South America’s land mass. Possibly most notable to foreigners for Carnival (“Carnaval” in Portuguese), encapsulating 60% of the most biodiverse forest in the world, football (“soccer” here in America), and a 130-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ iconic of Rio de Janeiro. Brazil is a richly cultured country, so of course it’s bound to have a fascinating furry population.

It’s kind of an iconic statue.

The fuzzballs I talked to were very receptive and really enjoyed talking about the furry atmosphere that thrives where they live. One of the respondents, Koush, mentioned that much of the “furry” population of Brazil is focused in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, and Curitiba, which are Brazil’s first, second, sixth, and eighth largest cities, respectively.

I talked to three furs who all gave input on the nation’s furries: Nisharu Etzel, Koush, and Tanuki Gokuhi. As per the format, their responses are summarized below.

 “Furmeets”, small gatherings of 10-40 or 50 furries, usually at a furry’s house, are popular in America. Do those exist in Brazil, and if so, are they prevalent?

These are often held at public places; malls, zoos, cafes, restaurants, and parks were all cited. Koush mentions that many furries are young enough to still live with their parents. This isn’t uncommon. Survey data posted from the Anthropomorphic Research Project suggests that 70% or so of furries are under 25 years old. Where I live, meets are held exclusively at an older couple’s home. Public Brazilian furry events can have up to 20-30 participants, while smaller gatherings at homes are usually just close friends and go up to maybe 8-10.

How important is sexuality to Brazilian furries?

I have to admit, this one always makes me laugh. It’s such a divisive topic and everyone always has something different to say and people always have some fun insight into the subject. It’s mentioned that there’s plenty of sex appeal in the art and the RP activities. Koush did mention that there’s a strong tendency towards homosexuality within furries in Brazil, that since a lot of furries are young that they’re still closeted about their sexuality, and that furry is a sort of hand-holding support for them to be more open about bi- or homosexuality. This phenomenon is discussed in depth here on adjective|species by JM here. In short, “furry” can act as a sort of gateway sexuality, allowing for people to accept homosexuality in a more comfortable and low-stress environment, and this leads to more people sort of realigning their sexuality as they progress in life. It happens in Brazil just as it happens everywhere else.

Is there a skew towards gay/bisexuals in the fandom like there is in the American fandom?

I have a feeling this is going to continue being answered in the previous question. Tanuki suggests around 2/3 Brazilian furries are gay or bisexual, a rough equivalent to the degree of homosexuality elsewhere. The agreement was strong on this one.

How do Brazilian furries see the American furries? What do they think of us?

I really liked the responses to this. Nisharu and Tanuki mention that there’s some sort of admiration. It’s easy to argue that America is the most furry-active part of the world, and that lends to the idea that there’s somewhat of a privilege here. Conventions and meets are common, and the “furry” population here is huge. As Koush adds, there’s also another dynamic at work. Since Brazil’s furry fandom is still a new concept, they can see some of the territory we tread and adjust accordingly. America’s furry activity is laced with sex scandal, and Koush mentions that there’s an aura of precaution: “let’s grow like them, but avoiding those points”. America sort of pioneers the idea of “furry”, and other budding furry populations get the opportunity to learn from our mistakes.

We’re sort of like a rowdy older sibling; the younger sibling gets to watch us make all the life mistakes so that he doesn’t end up repeating them.

Do furries in Brazil have a strong internet presence? How important is social networking over the internet?

The furry population of Brazil, according to Koush, probably doesn’t exceed a thousand. This is in the fifth largest country in the world. Furries are very scattered. Social networking over the internet is very important. The national language is Portuguese, so there’s a significant language barrier with Americans over the internet as well. It’s why many Brazilian furs aren’t as active on FurAffinity. However, there are plenty of Brazil-specific furry websites. Tanuki says the biggest is Fauna Urbana, a news and social site. Brazil also has its own e-commerce site that resells for SofaWolf, RabbitValley, and FurPlanet at www.furries.com.br. There are also some prolific Brazilian artists such as Nexus, Ursofofinho, and FurryBob.

What differences do you think there are in the artistic styles of Brazilian and American furries?

Nothing special here. Brazilian artists dabble in all mediums and styles. Tanuki does mention that the art seems more “warm” like the people of the country.

I couldn’t find a particularly Brazilian motif or style, so here’s a picture by Carykaiba, a Brazilian artist, of her fursona looking rather like “PaRappa the Rapper” – awesome.

What does the fandom mean to you?

Plenty of pretty common themes here. The creation of a second identity to use to interact with people. An escape from the real world into something more imaginative. Tanuki compared it to a massive multiplayer “real life”. Koush, an admin on both Fauna Urbana and Abando, Brazil’s big furry gathering, naturally has plenty vested into “furry”. Lots of ways to be involved.

I lied! I totally do have culturally-influenced art to post! This is some old promo art for Abando I found back when I wrote that article about international furry conventions. Charming, isn’t it?

What does the fandom mean to those in your region/locally?

Basically between a simple “It’s a thing to do for fun”, to breaking it down into categories: art, sex, escape, religion, socializing. Everyone dabbles in something or other.

How is furry seen as by non-furries in Brazil?

Just like anywhere in the world, not many non-furries know about furries. Public opinion is difficult to gauge, but these articles are about subjective impressions, not hard statistics. One felt like opinion might be better than it is in America, simply thinking they’re “weird people in animal suits” since the stigma American furries have largely doesn’t exist in Brazil. Or, maybe the opposite of that. My favorite response, from Tanuki, suggests that those who aren’t furries but know about furries think they’re “freaks/zoophiles/pedophiles/nuts and have a severe mental problem and should be fixed by applying severe and experimental treatments as seen on Fringe.” Admittedly, I chuckled when I read that. It’s a great way of wording it, for sure.

How are fursuits different in Brazil from America?

This was the most interesting set of responses. Faux fur, it turns out, is very low quality in Brazil. It’s also extraordinarily expensive to import. Tanuki mentions that a few fuzzies are great at making fursuits, but the lack of good materials is still a handicap. Koush mentions seeing good faux fur only once, only in black, only in one style, for $80/m2. Taxes also end up increasing the price. It’s an interesting problem I would have never suspected of a large country like Brazil.

Worth its weight in gold in Brazil.

What do people do in fursuit in Brazil? Community activities? Furmeet activities? Just private/conventions?

Just about the same as meets. Some people fursuit at Abando. Some fursuit at meets. However, the main fursuiting activity seems to be just hanging around in public at malls, parks, and the like, just to show off and interact. Nothing to do with any sort of “community” like the zoo volunteering I’ve heard of. Seems like a simpler “Let’s hang out and wander around!” idea. Which, to be sure, is awesome.

And that’s that. As always, it was a pleasure to get an insight into a new exotic area and to learn not only more about other furries but ultimately more about our own. I’d like to continue this as a recurring sort of series. Stay tuned and shoot me any ideas you’d like to see next time!

References:

• Wikipedia: Brazil
• Wikipedia: List of countries and outlying territories by total area
• Wikipedia: Demographics of Brazil
• Wikipedia: List of countries by population
• CIA Fact Book: Brazil
• Brazilian americans by Alphine W. Jefferson
• Anthropomorphic Research Project International Furry Survey: Summer 2011
• Adjective Species: Re-evaluating Your Sexual Preference
• Fauna Urbana
• Loja dos Furries

This week on KnotCast - Savrin, Shiva, and Fuzzwolf = chatty peoples. Tali = Spiders http://chasing-the-redline.deviantart.com/art/Tali-Unmasked-155385870 Not in your butt! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58-jcJupBug ARGs? What are they? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(game) "18 Wheels And A Tail" http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/217696231661020/ Humble music bundle, woo~ http://www.humblebundle.com/ Sadistic Animal Killers. Not an awesome name for a rock band. http://gizmodo.com/5927083/roadkill-experiment-shows-that-six-percent-of-drivers-are-sadistic-animal-killers Music from the bundle this week - "All is Not Lost (Serious Business Remix)" by OK Go Buy the bundle, help people out, get almost 6 hours of music! Use our coupon code 'knot' at AdamEve.com for a great deal! www.adameve.com Episode 187 - Chatcast

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DON'T PANIC! This is just a little something for you between episodes! Xander has a conversation with Kyoujin, an artist, musician, and also a QA tester in the games industry. Enjoy! His FA and YouTube channel can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kyoujin/ http://www.youtube.com/user/KyoujinTheHyena/videos A Confursation #1: Kyoujin - DON'T PANIC! This is just a little something for you between episodes! Xander has a conversatio...

DON'T PANIC! This is just a little something for you between episodes! Xander has a conversation with Kyoujin, an artist, musician, and also a QA tester in the games industry. Enjoy! His FA and YouTube channel can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kyoujin/ http://www.youtube.com/user/KyoujinTheHyena/videos A Confursation #1: Kyoujin - DON'T PANIC! This is just a little something for you between episodes! Xander has a conversatio...

Jason Brubaker works by day as a visual design artist at Dreamworks Animation, and by night as a self-published comic book creator. His story reMIND… well, here, we better let him describe it: “Sonja, the lighthouse keeper at a seaside oil drilling town, loses her cat, Victuals. Everyone blames the Lizard Man, the local boogeyman, which Sonja knows is a myth created by her late father to generate interest in the town. But when Victuals unexpectedly returns and has the brain of a strange intelligent creature; it seems someone is doing experimental transplants. With the brain of a lizard and the body of a cat, Victuals must now fight to recover his original lizard body and confront what he thought was the all-powerful god.” So, you got that? Good. reMIND has been collected into one hardcover graphic novel previously, and Volume 2 has just been released. And of course, you can visit the reMIND web site to keep up with the latest adventures.

image c. 2012 by Jason Brubaker

Christened only by the purest of pain and portable convenience.

Download MP3

News:

• Furry Movie Award Watch: July by crossaffliction
• ‘Ame and Yuki, the Wolf Children’ opens in Japan as the #2 grosser by Fred
• Hello Kitty demonic toilet paper by Fred
• ‘The Jungle Gang’ out in English by Fred

Emails:

• feral – “Wearing tail to school”
• Alan Rat – “3 questions ( color coded)”
• Free – “Small suggestion / Idea”
• Sparkle Griffon – “Question of morality? (please keep anonymous)”
• Jak – “Geographical paedophilia”
• Shaco – “Furcast Question from Shaco The Hyena. Personal/Psych problem =^,…,^=”
• Hazel – “Please read,urgent help with parents and etc”

Important News:

• New Art site Weasyl, Donations ending July 31st
• A very Special Shout out to Jassi on FA:
  • http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jassi
• She took the time an effort to create a blue tail for me made completely out of yarn. It was an amazing gift to recieve even though I offered to pay for the materials because I hate getting something for nothing. So thank you so much, I love it, it is beautiful. ~Fayroe

FC-93 Samurai Folding Chair - Christened only by the purest of pain and portable convenience.

Christened only by the purest of pain and portable convenience.

Download MP3

News:

• Furry Movie Award Watch: July by crossaffliction
• ‘Ame and Yuki, the Wolf Children’ opens in Japan as the #2 grosser by Fred
• Hello Kitty demonic toilet paper by Fred
• ‘The Jungle Gang’ out in English by Fred

Emails:

• feral – “Wearing tail to school”
• Alan Rat – “3 questions ( color coded)”
• Free – “Small suggestion / Idea”
• Sparkle Griffon – “Question of morality? (please keep anonymous)”
• Jak – “Geographical paedophilia”
• Shaco – “Furcast Question from Shaco The Hyena. Personal/Psych problem =^,…,^=”
• Hazel – “Please read,urgent help with parents and etc”

Important News:

• New Art site Weasyl, Donations ending July 31st
• A very Special Shout out to Jassi on FA:
  • http://www.furaffinity.net/user/jassi
• She took the time an effort to create a blue tail for me made completely out of yarn. It was an amazing gift to recieve even though I offered to pay for the materials because I hate getting something for nothing. So thank you so much, I love it, it is beautiful. ~Fayroe

FC-93 Samurai Folding Chair - Christened only by the purest of pain and portable convenience.

Author: Harvi We’re rebooting the podcast! Now you can take part in the Hop Inn from the beginning! When we catch up to the current episode we’ll update our iTunes Feed to point over here instead of the old, soon to be gone, site. We’ll be adding more information and links as this site progresses [...] [Series Reboot]Live From the Hop Inn Episode 210

Author: GreenReaper A new site is to open this year: Weasyl, for “artists of all kinds“. But they need money to do so…and the countdown ends Tuesday. If funding falls short, the group will still be paid, but must forfeit an additional 5% – up to $ 250 – as well as the regular fee [...]

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For many people, and perhaps furries especially, pets are like a member of the family. So how do you know when it’s time for them to go, and how do you deal with grief when they die? Join us this week as WagzTail takes on a more somber topic, and also discusses how to approach other difficult situations.

Metadata and Credits WagzTail Podcast 2.0 Episode 20
Runtime: 30m
Cast: Levi, Pachua, Rukh Whitefang, Wolfin
Editor: Silent
Format: 128kbps ABR split-stereo MP3
Copyright: © 2012 WagzTail.com. Some Rights Reserved. This podcast is released by WagzTail.com as CC BY-ND 3.0. If distributed with a facility that has an existing agreement in place with a Professional Rights Organisation (PRO), file a cue sheet for 30:00 to Fabien Renoult (BMI) 1.67%, Josquin des Pres (BMI) 1.67%, WagzTail.com 96.67%. Rights have been acquired to all content for national and international broadcast and web release with no royalties due. Special thanks to Phil Edon for the podcast thumbnail for this episode, used by permission. Episode 20 - For many people, and perhaps furries especially, pets are like a member of the family. So how do you know when it’s time for them to go, and how do you deal with grief when they die? Join us this week as WagzTail takes on a more somber topic,

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Author: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FLcAVvMuMIY/Tn-OSLMrqzI/AAAAAAAAAHw/vMOZqzRJFHQ/s72-c/1310461852.ni2_hp_r_donate1.gif Hey Everyone, I never like bringing this up, but it’s time again that it is. HP!R is in need of donations. Now, I know what we are in need of is kinda expensive, but people donating SOMETHING is better than nothing! So please, even if it’s just a quarter, please consider donating something. [...] HP!R Donations

Author: Fred

Author: Fred Animation Xpress for 24 July reports that the four The Jungle Gang films are out, starring Bo, the bar-headed goose; Kuttu, the Slender Loris; and Bhoora, the blackbuck. The Jungle Gang is the first Indian wildlife film series that has been made exclusively for children and young adults. The series has been created [...]

Earlier i was chatting in #gaymers and the topic of furry porn came up and a good point came up that I agree with. Some artists on here are very good but most of it is porn and I think its a waste of their talent (no offense). They could be using their talent for art agencies or something. I would like to see a month of no porn posted on furaffinity or something. I just hate to see great talent go to waste on porn and i dont want us to get known (as a fandom) for all our porn. Hate me if you want its just a good point i want to get across.

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