Furries: An Inside Look
This documentary gives an inside perspective on the strange and interesting subculture known as the furry fandom. The fandom is explained by furries in their own words.
Furry fandom refers to the fandom for the furry genre of literature, art and entertainment. Furry fandom is also used to refer to the community of artists, writers, role players and general fans of the furry art forms who gather on the net and at conventions.
Members of the furry fandom, known as furry fans, particularly enjoy media that includes fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.
Examples of anthropomorphic attributes include exhibiting human intelligence and facial expressions, the ability to speak, walking on two legs, and wearing clothing.
Characters that morph between human and animal form are also considered by some to be part of the genre. Even certain superheroes with animal derived powers are considered of furry interest by some fans.
It would have been better to view more furries and their costumes while the people were talking... I couldn't watch the whole thing, it was kind of boring.
I decided to watch this documentary for, perhaps to try to understand this community that seems so strange to me.
Unfortunately, it didn't work. I'm still at the same starting point and I felt like I had an ad in front of me. There is no counterpart to the fandom's.
This documentary is too much oriented towards the same point of view.
A lot of you are having some misconceptions about this, so let me clear some stuff up for you.
1. The reason the randomly-selected people were all male is because around 75-85% of furries are or identify as male. Don't ask me why, but if I had to guess it would probably be something to do with the sexual aspect of the fandom.
2. Yeah, furries are weird. Lots of things are weird. Furries just happen to fall into what's called the Uncanny Valley for lots of people. I recommend you look it up yourself, but it is essentially a measure of how close something can get to looking like a human until it becomes uncomfortable. For example, dolls and mannequins fall into the Uncanny Valley for most people, because they look very similar to humans, but are different enough to make it uncomfortable for the viewer. I recommend researching this one yourself.
3. The general term for sexual furry content is 'Yiff.' This is a blanket term used for things that relate to both furries and sex. Not all furries veiw or participate in yiff (Prime example: myself), but there is no denying that a very large portion of them do. I can see why people dislike yiff as compared to other forms of sexual content, but seriously, hentai is just as disgusting, if not more so. The only difference is the persons taking part in the action.
4. Most furries do not think they are animals. That is a separate group of people called Otherkin. The two groups are related, but there are very clear distinctions between a furry and an Otherkin. A furry can usually be referred to as a person with an interest in anthropomorphic animals, while an Otherkin is a person who actually believes that they are or were born a different species that is not human. This can mean they believe that they are actually an anthropomorphic animal, but in my experience Otherkin usually believe that they are simply a species of animal that they relate to. Lots of Otherkin are also furries, but in my experience most furries are not Otherkin.
5. The reason so many of the furries on camera had a hard time talking to it is because many furries suffer from depression. I can't tell you how many times I've seen furries say self depreciating things and talk about being abused. Just being a furry is enough fuel for massive bullying, but to add to that many furries are also LGTB. I've seen pretty much every sexuality out there in at least one furry, and this causes them to be bullied even more. Most furries have some form of depression or anxiety, if not both, so try to be a little nicer to them once in a while,
6. About the people in fursuits who got attacked by a bear, that's their fault for being stupid. Shouldn't have been in it's terroritory.
7. Most furries don't howl at the moon. We like animals, but that doesn't mean we consistently act like them.
Alright, that's all I have to say. This is all from my experience being a furry, so I know what I'm talking about here. Oh, and one last thing - furries are simultaneously some of the nicest people I've met and they overuse emojis like they're a drug, but they can drop the most toxic memes this side of reddit. It's honestly one of the weirdest things I have noticed to date.
2:50, Is that Zelda music I hear? Why is there Zelda music???!!?!?
You interviewed people "at random" who all just happened to be male?
just like nearly everyone above, i 2 think everyone not just like me is ridiculous
that's why we all think we're so smart
"I saw an episode once of some documentary program or other that featured some furries out in the woods doing the wild thing, and they got attacked by a bear!"
1000 Ways to Die on Spike TV is a documentary series to you...
Well, I see your sources are clearly very trustworthy so we should ignore all the furries like myself and those that are in the video who are saying otherwise. After all, a show... I mean documentary series... about people dying from lighting farts would never embellish stories.
I'm a furry myself and it's only from good intentions. I don't like bdsm stuff or yiff also.
Well, whenever I think of all the hatred and misconceptions the furry fandom gets, it always makes me feel better to think of all the hatred and misconceptions all the other fandoms get. Like anime fans, and metal heads.
Seriously, furries don't have it that bad.
However, This could have been a better interview if they would actually focus more on the actual events on the furry fandom, and feature some well known artists like Noogy. They also do not really explain much about the fandom, but rather try to dispell the misconceptions by discussing them. Personally, I feel that dispelling the misconceptions would be easier, if they just stuck to focusing on the positive aspects of the furry fandom, and not the negative.
This is disgusting...These yiffing sodomites will certainly not make it into the kingdom of yaweh...
Heathen! The Flying Spaghetti Monster is the one true god, and will cast all nonbelievers into a land of tainted beer volcanoes, and strippers with VD!
Repent!
I think this is a beautiful way of uninhibited people expressing themselves. I'd rather have a conversation with one of these guys as apposed to the countless dreary 'normal' people I meet on a day to day basis.
Ah, normal people:
"Hey Bob, have you heard that song they were playing at Subway?"
"yeah John, I like to listen to it over and over again. They even play it in the elevators!"
"Cool! Hey, check out my new light blue colored button down t-shirt, think it will make me stand out from the crowd?"
"I'd fap to it."
jk, I love you guys.
i can't believe what i am listening to -
When the guy said he feels closer to his furry family than his BIOLOGICAL family, I vomitted.
2/10, would not YIFF in hell again
I say if it aint harming anyone, go for iit. Fail to see anyones freedom or liberty being damaged by furries. Enjoy!
I agree with a lot said here.
But mostly I hate how the media says that we are sex maniacs (well... 98% of us). I mean seriously why pick on us for our art, which is only about 7-8% pornography, when there are fandoms that have a HUGE amount of porn. Japanese anime, google ANY female character, look at dat porn, and all them fetishes (you got tentacle, gender changing, and ruined childhoods). Let's see, Naruto, any season, naming one character in a google search is all you need. A lot of furry sites that allow furry porn at least make you prove your 18+ or sign in with a 18+ account to see the Adult-Extreme pictures (I have found a few exceptions), while ANY anime porn site lets 6 year olds see their favorite Beyblade character get a launcher shoved up his a**, and him orgasm all over the bed as he pistoned it in and out of him.
Seriously, why pick on us for dressing up... *cough couch* COSPLAYERS! When there are so many worst things in the world, like the local child raper roaming the streets as the media films about us.
mate i'm a biker...our lot showed up in the fifties and there are still people out there that think we're all drug cooking sex addicted pagan rapists from the outskirts of civilization.
you're essentially asking humanity why it's acting like itself.
Imagine a world, where people never generalized..
Life would be complete.
as my dead dad used to say:"dipsticks in camouflage!"
Some kind of bizarre cross between the 90's internet community (back when chat rooms used to get together).
Some part childhood imagination. Still role playing and playing pretend.
Huge part geek or nerd.
I don't really get it... They take this stuff so seriously, but it's all imaginary. I guess, some of them are making money and a living from it.
There is some strange eroticism hidden in there though. Even the word, "Furry", does not sound appropriate. I don't really know what's going on behind the guy at 17:24 either... There seems to be two guys touching a girls legs and butt.
No women were interviewed in this video either, which I find strange.
And I skipped the rest and nothing interesting ever happened.
All I really got was; "We play pretend on the internet, get together every once in awhile and have a strange obsession with animals."
Anyway. I give it a 2/10
Not very interesting to watch.
Does not really explain what Furries are, or where they came from historically.
Doesn't really show what people do at these conventions, or any of the stand up comedy or great speeches they speak about in their interviews. They are either too ashamed to show what they do, or there is very little substance to it.
You'd get a much broader scope of what "furry" entails by going to wikifur . com. Furry fandom is a subset.
Yes, it has its own wiki.
I agree that this interview was half baked, and they focused too much on the "misconceptions.
"Doesn't really show what people do at these conventions, or any of the
stand up comedy or great speeches they speak about in their interviews."
There are plenty of great speeches, and comedies done by Uncle Kage, and The Ranting Gryphon. I'm not sure why they didn't include those. You can find them on Youtube at least.
"They are either too ashamed to show what they do, or there is very little substance to it."
Why can't there be a third option? What if the interview was just crap and they didn't think to include all the artists and animators that actually keep this fandom rolling, like Noogy, who created Dust: An Elysian Tale? There is a lot of substance to it. Anthropomorphism is why we have Disney.
I enjoy going to car shows. I enjoy how cars look and i'm interested in how they have technologically progressed for better or worse. That's what i'm into. To other people cars are simply a tool or means of transportation. They are not wrong but cars capture my interest. We all have our things. Our interests, hobbies, arts, sports. Things that mean allot to us but nothing to others. Now if your not out searching for food water and shelter I would suggest what you are doing with your time is a stupid waste. Just like Furries, Football, and sadly Cars.
I like what you're saying. My curiosity about everything might be seen as a waste of time, but i tend to be focused more on how things work more so than what should be done.. (most of the time.)
(So if i ever said anything that should be done acted upon, I'm sorry.)
Another example of our human preference for concept over reality.
I conceive the notion that these human beings could gather around a realistic concept, such as.....
I don't know, what could I do to help improve the health of my planet?
Some people want to escape into something safe and warm. Let them do it. I've got my own distractions.
some people just want to be furry animals because they believe that they can lick their balls like furry animals??!(....ohh,the disappointment will be neck-breaking!)
Concept over reality, like I said.
Oh, you mean like the Further Confusion (furry) conference in San Jose every January which raises $15,000-$25,000+ (varies year to year) for such organizations as P.A.W.S, Guide Dogs for the Blind, NARF Animal Rescue, The mountain Lion Foundation, Therapy Pets, The Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation, etc.?
Or were you thinking of something else?
I stand corrected and I apologize. Good to hear the Furries are active in nature! Thanks for the info.
Even ignoring the subject matter they are talking about, it quickly becomes clear all of these people are social misfits...some can barely make eye contact with the interviewer. When the one that comes off most "normal" is cockeyed and works as a waiter at a low-end chain restaurant, you know this is the bottom of the genetic barrel. This doc would be much more effective if it featured at least one person who could pass as a normal productive member of society (without needing to call himself "Doctor" and wear an lab coat in a clearly unrelated environment). Well, good for them that they found each other and have formed a supportive community, I guess.
Spot on
very mean
So you are saying that because someone has way low self esteem brought about by a s*itty childhood environment then that has something to do with genetics?
And while LSE might be descriptive of some furries, it's certainly not a defining factor.
Most of the furries I know (and I know a *lot* of them) have at least some post-secondary education. Many have an undergrad degree, some with one or more Masters and even a couple Doctorates. They are Civil, Industrial, Mechanical, and Environmental Engineers, Computer Scientist, Programmers, Teachers, and Entrepreneurs. They work for Google (quite a number of them, in fact), Apple, Amazon. com, Intel, Boeing, HP, Sony, etc. Now just think for a moment. Why do you think someone with a professional career might not want to be interviewed for a documentary of this sort?? Yeah, because they might have deal with an ignorant co-worker or client such as yourself. nuff said.
--
k
steve.
I think ignorant is a bit strong...Is it ignorant to be weirded out by something weird? of course it isn't...Perhaps the fault lies with the documentary maker who either didn't seek out or didn't find any of the people you talk about, thus giving the impression that the entire community is nothing but misfits.
You can't blame a person for jumping to conclusions (s)he's been led to, you made a really good argument and then ruined it by sniping in an insult at the end and undermining your own point.
I wish I could read the original persons comment, but regardless..
"You can't blame a person for jumping to conclusions (s)he's been led to"
Actually, you can. Jumping to conclusions is never intellectually honest. you either choose to accept something blindly, or you actually look at the bigger picture, and then draw your conclusions. Actually doing intensive research, and having experience in something does, however, lead to more logically sound conclusions.
I cannot tell you how many judgmental people I have had to deal with, all because they jumped on the bandwagon of misconceptions, just because they thought it was ok to jumped to those conclusions.
"it quickly becomes clear all of these people are social misfits"
So, being a fan of anthropomorphic animals makes you a social misfit? Where is the logic in that? All of them? Thats a pretty bold claim. Do you have any objective proof? Way to generalize.
"This doc would be much more effective if it featured at least one person who could pass as a normal productive member of society (without needing to call himself "Doctor" and wear an lab coat in a clearly unrelated environment)"
This "Doctor" is Uncle Kage, and he has a PhD in Chemistry.
So yeah, he is actually, a Doctor. And a productive one at that. Probably more productive than you or I could ever be.
However, I do agree that the interview would be far more effective if they had more 'normal' and productive people in it, however many furries are unique, and thus stray away from normality in a sense, not unlike punk rock enthusiasts, or metal heads, however these people may still be normal outside of the convention, and only express their 'other side' when they are at the furry conventions.
"some can barely make eye contact with the interviewer"
Maybe because most furries have little trust in the media? As a matter of fact, we are scarred stupid by them, since they are always out to make us look bad. Most furries from my experience actually do make eye contact.
And even if 'some' couldn't make eye contact with the interviewer, that is still a hasty generalization based on a select few number of people.
"you know this is the bottom of the genetic barrel"
So basically, being a fan of anthropomorphic animals means that you have bad genetics? According to what objective authority? So what you are saying is, I could be an extremely successful person, have a lot of money, a lot of social status, a lot of friends, a family, and still be consider genetically inferior, just for liking the idea of anthropomorphic animals? I guess Walt Disney, the guy who liked, no, loved to draw anthropomorphic animals was a social outcast with crappy genetics that led to him being extremely unsuccessful. That makes no sense whatsoever.
Back then, having bigger muscles and lower intelligence made you more 'genetically advanced', but those times have changed. Furry conventions are expensive. These people need money to get in, and a lot of it, especially for fursuits, which cost up to more than 5,000 dollars. As a matter of fact, many furries do have stable jobs that allow them to actually afford to go to these conventions every year. To most likely get a job in this crap economy, you have to be born with a high IQ, have a lot of good skills, and have a good social standing.
You have not earned those 14 upvotes.
calling it "anthropomorphic attributes" is just encouraging them -sounds so grown up! Call it toddler tendencies and give away a free toaster...zero comrades, and a psyc evaluation...ok I'll watch it at least...
how tf did I get here ?
I don't know, but you've turned into one ;)
About halfway through this, they start talking about some of the misconceptions people have about furries (a funny word that makes me think of unruly pubic-hair, somehow); that is, they start talking about the sexual aspect. I don't know whether it's all just a bunch of dissimulation on their part, and the truth is, I don't actually care all that much. But I think that if they are being misunderstood in that regard, then it must come about out of most of us having the conception of wild animals as being ruled by their "baser" instincts, and that it's thereby a little difficult to imagine from what motivations they might want to do this... Surely, it couldn't be because they have fantasies of running down a gazelle and eating it's stomach out? Or nursing a bunch of meerkat babies? Or curling up one's hindquarters and taking a dump in public? So what does that leave one on the outside to think could be the reason? A sense of community, a genuine love of animals, the expression of one's imagination outside of the norm?
Bollocks! These lovable freaks like doing the nasty in animal costumes!
(lol)
This is what happens when mascots go bad :
I just don't get it and I hope I never do. I know we're supposed to accept everyone for who they are, blah, blah, blah- but I just can't help it. These ppl are freaks.
Well, you gave it your best.
Furballs ;)
Playing World of Warcraft, I made a new avatar on an RP (role-playing) realm, where people write and act stories out using their game characters. The realm also functions as a regular realm in that the usual questing, dungeons, etc. are there, along with the community of players one interacts with on an MMO.
One of the first questions I was asked, via private whisper, was: "Are you a furry?" And...uh...they didn't mean the innocuous "my spirit guide is an animal" kind of furry. Oh no. It was much more...primal...than that. LOL! Needless to say, I had to do a bit of quick internet research on all the ramifications of 'furries'. It was quite an education!
You just said what I was getting ready to say... Don't you just know they have all kinds of weird sex in these ridiculous get-ups? Barking at the moon, waving their tails around in the air, what the hell is wrong with these people? I saw an episode once of some documentary program or other that featured some furries out in the woods doing the wild thing, and they got attacked by a bear! I hate to say it, but I thought that was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I'd imagine that thereafter as primal as they ever got was right next to the living room coffee table while the sun was still up...
edit- Let's throw some bibles at them and outlaw the whole business, whaddya say? (lol)
Hahaha! Since my character is a druid, they were ready to invite me to their guild if I'd wanted to 'play' that way! Who knows the opportunities I lost?!
Have you ever seen pictures of people who have undergone body modifications to become their animal of choice? There was one guy who was famous for it, Dennis Avner--he preferred "Stalking Cat," his Native American name--who died last year, but I came across some pretty amazing photos of what he had done to himself.
Oh, yeah, I remember that guy... Or I think I do. Wasn't he the one who had nylon whiskers inserted in his cheeks, along with getting a kind of half-a$$ed customized harelip? He died?! That's a shame... I'll give the guy a lot of credit for following his dream, but...wow, just wow.
Druid sounds more like it, lol. Makes me think 'wiccan,' virgin sacrifice, and all that... Much more human!
"...but...wow, just wow [no meow]".
where were his nine lives?
I googled him after my post, and apparently he used them all up and committed suicide! Seems he had some long-standing issues with depression, even before he began his body-mods.
Throw some bibles at them? no please don't, have 3/4 of the world dressed as religious animules, well maybe the gods are animals after all. Weird sex? absolutely! but better than screwing the Eiffel tower or a bridge.
"Animules," lol. Give that to the Japanese and let's see what they can come up with!
I was just playing the puritan a little bit. What would've been more accurate would've been to just call it "comic-looking sex," not that all sex doesn't have that side to it. Just think of the faces we all make! Not that they need my seal of approval, or anything, but I guess they're harmless enough. Certainly it's a lot easier to wrap your head around than some dude sticking it to his Volkswagen, lol. Or the doll people... Remember them?
Right, if they ever make my avatar into animule slippers, I will wear them. lol
'furr'ociusly boring!