An Open Letter From A Furry To The Media, and Society In General

[crocodile]

With the recent emergency evacuation of a furry convention due to a chemical attack bringing furries reluctantly back into the national spotlight ever so briefly, once again the resultant response reminds us that there are still plenty of people who wholeheartedly support freedom of expression and individualism….so long as they can personally

Comments

[kj_roo]

I refuse to grow up. :) It's awful boring there.

[lobowolf]

What he said!

Awesome

[topperdane]

You're awesome and this hits the nail on the head. Not very furry is sexual for a character or fursuit even. I just want a fursuit because I get to spend more time with my husband and get to see people smile.

Another Deep Thought

[griffinwolf]

Let's also not forget that Furries tend to be creative, and, in these days of consumerist culture, that a lot of people don't understand that this is an Original Character created by the costumer or costume manufacturer. Instead, the lay-person wants to try to categorize the character into that which is presented/packaged in the media.

"Oh, what Character are you? [Loony Toons]? [Disney]?"

Nevermind that when a costumed performer acts, there might even be a history/headcannon the actor has imagined for the character (though hard to convey without the help/collaboration of a trusted handler).

[drleo]

Well said. (Although if you want to downplay the sexualization, maybe virility shouldn't have been the first quality you list animals symbolizing.)

I always figured there was an aspect of hidden sadness at losing one's childhood to a lot of this hatred for furries. You know, people stabbing stuffed animals or hating on Barney or that kind of thing. It's like at a certain point the adult brain develops to a point where it can't comprehend pure innocence any more; or having lost its own, doesn't want anyone else to have any. There's this compulsion to corrupt anything seen as pure. It's sick.

[crocodile]

I hadn't thought of that, but now that you mention it... it makes sense.

It's sad that sex is so often seen with negative connotations unless it's homogenized and with a good Christian woman. I guess my views are incompatible with the steadfast intolerance of mainstream society.

[drleo]

Our culture is in a weird place when it comes to sex.

But more to the point, so much of furry isn't about sex, but our adolescent media and culture can't handle anything more complicated than "Duh hurrr hurrrr sex in mascot costumes duh."

[skippyfox]

I think another part of the problem is that the media generally makes no attempt to differentiate between what happens in public and what happens behind closed doors. They just assume that furries are people showing off their special interests in public places and there's a sexual element, so therefore furries are displaying sexual fetishes in public. And if that was actually true I would stop all of my involvement with furry conventions immediately.

However much of a sexual element there actually is, the truth is that the vast majority of us, like the rest of society, have the common sense and courtesy to keep our sexual interests private, away from public view, behind closed doors. There is little relation between what we do at cons in public, to what we choose to do in privacy, as any such relation (for example, interacting with people in public wearing a fursuit that is used for sexytimes) is shunned.

[crocodile]

Very well said, I quite agree. Don't think there's any way to solve that, as people prefer to jump to quick generalizations. :(