Who Are The Furries?

[Guest toddler82uk]

Just found this and thought to share it...

bbc news

A court case where the two defendants met on a "furry" website has put the spotlight in this little-known world. So what is a furry?

Lenya looks adorable, with lots of glossy white fur, black paws, a shiny pink nose and cute little pointed ears.

But Lenya is also a 48-year-old computer network administrator called Marshall Woods, who likes motor racing, visiting museums and reading crime novels in his spare time.

(more on site)

[Knuxie Fawks]

I am a furry, and I just got back from Midwest Furfest. I am a babyfur and intend to stay that way. I am in no way interested in sex, which is what media seems to assume furry is all about.

[AutieAB]

I am a furry, and I just got back from Midwest Furfest. I am a babyfur and intend to stay that way. I am in no way interested in sex, which is what media seems to assume furry is all about.

I read it a couple of days ago and honestly, thought (from my outsiders point of view) that it made the 'not about sex' thing quite clear, as clear as the press will ever make it anyway:

Furries will not thank the pair for casting their hobby in a negative light, and tend to argue the sexual side is hugely overplayed.

"I think the problem is that sex sells," says Ian Wolf (his furry pseudonym), who is editor of the British furry news website, FurteanTimes.com. "It is not surprising that less scrupulous journalists like to print stories about people having sex dressed as foxes."

And:

"The big misconception is that most furries are mainly obsessed with sex," says Mr Wolf. "While there is pornography in the fandom - 'yiff' as it is known - it is only a small part."

It seemed a little simplistic/condescending to furries but furries weren't the intended readers so maybe that it's simplistic is a good thing...

[Snugglebug]

Being furry friendly, I can't say I found anything really wrong with this article. It seemed to present a fairly balanced explanation of furry lifestyle with little in the way of bias. Some have commented on the article being slightly condescending, but I'm not really seeing it.

[Horndog]

If you look at sites like FurAffinity, though, you can see that sexuality is truly abundant in the fandom and people do see the fandom as a gateway to unrestricted sexual escapades. I've been in the fandom for many years and I know how hard it is to overcome that problem. To strengthen the stereotype, it only takes one person, one furry to appear in the mainsteam media and make a fool out of themselves.