What Is A Fur

[beachxbunni123]

I know it sounds funny but I don't know what it is. Is it like a fetish or something?

[Sophie ♥]

The best way to describe this... is to simply give you the link to the wikipedia page on furry fandom.

***EDIT*** Someone beat me to it... but this is a different link nonetheless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furry_fandom

Dont take everything on this page too seriously. Just like the Paraphilic Infantalism page... not everything applies to everyone.

-Sophie

[Sophie ♥]

Well my link explains. Your link just gives you a place to look for an explination! I made things easier.

SO I WIN! Ha.

-Sophie

[babyfur]

I know it sounds funny but I don't know what it is. Is it like a fetish or something?

If you really want to know ask a fur! Furry cna be a fetish but it's also just a fandom. a furry is someone who likes anthropomorphic animals, think of disney's version of robin hood for instance. Furry can be a fetish, I'm not really into that but I have played around with it and it is kind of fun. What makes someone a fur is defined more by themselves than wikipedia. SOme furs just like the art, some furs just like the stories, some like me like dressing up in a fursuit, some actually think they are animals trapped in a human body and some just like to get their freak on. I'm a babyfur which means I blend furry and infantilism and now and then I'm also a sissy fur I think you're smart enough to figure that one out.

If you really want information look at the link that diapersallways put up, wikifur is an excellent resource.

[Sophie ♥]

well i think my link explains better so how bout, we are both winners

I'll settle for a tie.

-Sophie

[Knuxie Fawks]

Every fetish outside of furry also exists within it. These fetishes aren't what make someone furry, but being furry may be part of their enjoyment. This being said, furry isn't all about sex and fetishes. All furry really is is a love of or desire to be an anthropomorphic (human-like) animal.

I, personally, am a fox. A red fox with brilliant shiny reddish orange fur, like fire or the sun. It's beautiful. I have a large bushy tail, big enough to cover myself up with, completely. I am a PG Furry which means I don't care for sex and don't want it. I'm also a babyfur, which means whenever I'm tired of being the adult Knux, I can regress to the little baby fox, Knuxie, and wear diapers and do everything ABs do, except with features of a fox. I'm not sure if many knew there was an adult furry side to me. Yup, I'm Knux the Fox and Knuxie Fawks.

Okay, now onto what sets off different types of furries. There are furry artists who draw art of anthropomorphic animals for leisure and/or profit. There are furry musicians who write songs with animal inspired lyrics or fantasy tones. There are fursuit makers who make furry costumes of peoples fursonas, which is the furry representation of oneself, for fursuiters, those who wear costumes. IMO, the definition of fursuiter has gotten quite loose these days. Simple ears and a tail can make someone a fursuiter, but I believe that you need at least a fully covered head for it to be a fursuit. The head goes on like a helmet, and has two small eye holes and normally a hole in the mouth for ventilation and to make it easier to breathe. The vision is typically not very good inside a fursuit head, but fursuit makers do their best to maximize visibility without taking from the effect of "Holy crap! There's a giant fox standing on two legs staring at me!" But I die grass....What? It's pretty!

Keep in mind, people, that furry came off as a sub-genre of fantasy and sci-fi, but became unique on it's own due to the freedom of not having any ties to TV, movies, or other media such as Star Wars, Star Trek, anime, videogames, etc. However there are many things in media which may be considered furry, yet doesn't define the fandom itself. Stuff like Bugs Bunny cartoons or Star Fox videogames.

If you grew up with Loony Tunes, Hanna Barbara, and Disney cartoons, as well as animal themed videogames such as Star Fox, Jazz Jackrabbit, Spyro the Dragon (some may call scaly, but still within the furry fandom), Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and Clank.....much more and I'd start naming lesser known games like Ty, the Tasmanian Tiger... but if you grew up with that stuff, there's a good chance, you'd enjoy being a furry...or if you really like plushies. Fursuiters are really just big, warm, cuddly, plushies that hug back. 90% of fursuiters love hugs and scritches (scratching of the chest and back) despite what some informative panels say.

I hope I provided enough information. If there's anything else you'd like to know, just ask.

[beachxbunni123]

Wow I've never heard of that one before..

[Guest refridginator]

EDIT: useless post. i decided to move it to a new topic.

[Guest Dodi]

wow after reading all that im still none the wiser. i like cuddling my cat and stroking it and sometimes i call it fluffykins or kissy fur. is that fury?

[TapouT]

wow after reading all that im still none the wiser. i like cuddling my cat and stroking it and sometimes i call it fluffykins or kissy fur. is that fury?

This awkward moment brought to you by Dodi.

[Yvhuce]

wow after reading all that im still none the wiser. i like cuddling my cat and stroking it and sometimes i call it fluffykins or kissy fur. is that fury?

Theoretically, it could be. "Fury" is actually a rather nebulous broad term. What makes someone a Fury in one person's mind, may not have anything to do with being a Fury in another's mind, and both people may consider themselves to be Furs... One of the biggest examples of this is therianthropes. Some people consider therianthropy to be a Fury subject. Others are violently opposed to this idea (go ahead and ask someone who considers themself a therianthrope if they're a fury [just don't come crying to me when they break your face]).

Now, in the world I set most of my stories in, I've set it up so that humans, furs (under the "morph" title), and therianthropes are all descended from various feral species and for all intents and purposes are interchangeable in most situations (though the therians tend to have an edge in the close combat department, most of the chars I write for tend to be heavily armed and prefer the "don't bring a knife/fang/claw to a gunfight" line of reasoning). Does this make me a fury writer? Does it make me a therian writer? Or both? Or neither? I honestly don't know...

Do I have thoughts of being something other than human? Only in wishful thinking... Would I undergo genetic mutation to become another species? You bet. It doesn't matter if that's as a therianthope or fury... I'd be happier either way... Does that make me either a fury or therianthope? Depends on who you ask...

Would I accept Thing assimilation? Damn straight. That'd be even better, apart from the whole "everyone's trying to immolate me" factor... But does that mean that I'm one of those "walk in" people? Nope. My obsession with alien life stops with the Thing (From the John Carpenter movie, not the old 50's one, or the superhero). I like it because it's the perfect lifeform concept: Able to assimilate other life forms and use their genetics to adapt to any given situation. By simply coming into contact with another life-form, one could do everything that that lifeform can do, and mix that with compatible abilities and physical attributes from every other life form that's been encountered before. Lock the keys in the car? Form a biological lock pick. Too short to reach something? Grow longer legs or arms, or just form some tentacles and get it that way. Lose a limb? Grow a new one or re-attach the lost one. Want a pet/friend? Assimilate something/someone but don't absorb their biomass. And heaven help anyone who decides to pick on you and doesn't have explosives, plasma weapons, and/or a flamethrower...

[Knuxie Fawks]

I think you mean "furry". "Fury" is what happens when someone or something is really angry. I guess there's really no true way of telling if someone is furry. It's like a belief...like people who think they are Christian and that some guy will come from the skies and save them. (sorry to all the Christians....and Jews...and every religion known to man.) Furry isn't exactly a religion though. It's more of an agreed society.

[wetbed24]

Ok. I have a couple questions. I'll start off by saying I never really explored the AB much. Does a furry have to be cute? I sometimes see myself/dream of being a wolf - but not the cute cuddly kind, more like the Mononoke of Jungle Book kind. I never really paid much attention to furries because I guess I never connected the two. I always considered furries to be on the friendlier cute side like Tales or you Knux. If I see myself as a wolf, its never a baby wolf - but more the elder wolf, or hunter wolf. Does that jive with the furcom??

Second question: whats a therinthrope?

[Yvhuce]

I think you mean "furry". "Fury" is what happens when someone or something is really angry. I guess there's really no true way of telling if someone is furry. It's like a belief...like people who think they are Christian and that some guy will come from the skies and save them. (sorry to all the Christians....and Jews...and every religion known to man.) Furry isn't exactly a religion though. It's more of an agreed society.

Sorry 'bout that... I've had some troubles with spelling ever since I learned to write... It doesn't always get caught by the spellchecker. And sometimes, it's so bad that it breaks the spellchecker and the thesaurus...

Ok. I have a couple questions. I'll start off by saying I never really explored the AB much. Does a furry have to be cute? I sometimes see myself/dream of being a wolf - but not the cute cuddly kind, more like the Mononoke of Jungle Book kind. I never really paid much attention to furries because I guess I never connected the two. I always considered furries to be on the friendlier cute side like Tales or you Knux. If I see myself as a wolf, its never a baby wolf - but more the elder wolf, or hunter wolf. Does that jive with the furcom??

Second question: whats a therinthrope?

Cute is a subjective term. Many people find human babies cute, but there's plenty of us out there who think they're ugly. Try looking at the folks who have zombie fursonas. They're usually not cute (though this may vary, depending on artwork styles). And some of us have more than one fursona. One of mine is a coyote/wolf hybrid hunter/tracker who perty much just lives off the land and wears the pelts of his kills. He's got more scars than he can keep track of, thanks to having to actually fight for his life a lot of the time. He's not cute, or cuddly by any stretch of the imagination.

Therianthopy is the broader term that lycanthropy falls under. "Lycanthropy" can only be truly applied to wolves and dogs, because the "lyc" (and often "lycan") part refers specifically to wolves. A werefox, for example, isn't a lycanthrope. It is, however a therianthrope. Therianthopy applies to all species (and objects [case in point: Turbo Teen or the useless Wonder Twin who can only turn into water]). This has its based in the fact that every culture has their own take on therinathopic beings, often with them being associated with the apex predator of the region that culture comes from. Like furryness, there's some nebulousness about them, as well, given that it's very rare for cultures and personal opinions to jive. Many reject the hollywood and catholic conventions, in favor of the conventions of one or more cultures, or even their own rules. As such, one may have an aversion to silver, while another may wear clothes made of silver just to mess with the previously mentioned one's mind. Those who consider themselves therianthropes will often take being called a furry as an insult. There are also varying "levels" of shifting. Most are willing to concede that actual physical shifting is impossible. There's also spirit (or soul) shifting, mental shifting (though this could be clinical lycanthropy), and dream shifting (often physically shifting while in a dream [though, it can also mean an spirit or mental shift, as well]). I'm a dream shifter. I honestly don't recall just when I started lucid dreaming, but at some point I did and shortly after started going psycho were-direwolf on would-be nightmare creatures and people. I haven't had very many nightmares since... After I got into The Thing, I incorperated that into the shifting, as well. Heaven help the poor dream character who gets on my bad side...

[Knuxie Fawks]

Ok. I have a couple questions. I'll start off by saying I never really explored the AB much. Does a furry have to be cute? I sometimes see myself/dream of being a wolf - but not the cute cuddly kind, more like the Mononoke of Jungle Book kind. I never really paid much attention to furries because I guess I never connected the two. I always considered furries to be on the friendlier cute side like Tales or you Knux. If I see myself as a wolf, its never a baby wolf - but more the elder wolf, or hunter wolf. Does that jive with the furcom??

Second question: whats a therinthrope?

There are furries who are raptors, some who are werewolves....many are cute, but some are frightening. It all depends on the character. If you want to be a grizzly old wolf, you can be. Nobody would argue with that. People just prefer to hang around those who are friendly, so being bitter and mean as part of your character might not go over too well with some attendees of a convention.

[wetbed24]

oh, I'm sorry. I'm Catholic too

I did have a bout with lucid dreaming though.

[wetbed24]

So - conventions too? I don't think I've ever been to a convention of any kind. I wouldn't say 'mean' was ever a characteristic I'd use for myself. In fact, its not something I ever really socailized before. Are there lots of furs around?

[Yvhuce]

The conventions I meant are as in the things that are conventionally used (Silver = ultimate weapon [a more practical approach is that it's less effective than lead], full moon = transformation, etc.) or cited as "the rules". Most of these are actually rather absurd, and sometimes make you wonder what someone was taking that made them think of these things (of course, during the big witch and werewolf scare, most of the people were hopped-up on ergot-contaminated bread). The Howling movies are really good at breaking these conventions.

My best friend's dad is a preacher and agrees with my theory that therianthropy in and of itself doesn't have an inherent alignment, but rather, would most likely simply conform to the nature of the person "afflicted" (or "blessed") with it.

Given the problems with social stigma, there's a lot of people out there who still think that all Furs are sickos. So, depending on where you are, there may be way more Furs than make themselves known. It's not something that comes up often in random conversation... At least not where I live...