Furry != Bestiality

[Sebenko]

As someone who has spent... some time with the furry fandom, I have to add my own views.

Those stereotypes you hear about are true far too often. Of course, those who actually live up to the whole stereotype tend to be rejected (Rejected by the furries, lols and such).

But there are other aspects that are the ones that really sicken me and top of that list has to be "cub" stuff. That's not the "normal" gay meaning of cub, that's cub like "bear cub". Yeah.
They're the furries we should be setting on fire.

Also, fursuits scare the hell out of me.

And furries also tend to hate each other. They're not some united kiddie-raping machine, they're a bunch of kinky nerds banded together by their love of cat ears and hate of everyone else's fetish.

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Being a furry is sort of like that.
As far as I understand it, furries identify with anthropomorphic animals because, on some level, they feel THEMSELVES to be anthropomorphic animals. That's why you see all these fursonas everywhere. That is their way of becoming who they envision themselves to be.

A lot of them, but not all of us feel that way. I'm personally fine with being a human. I just think that Anthros are cooler and to an extent at the same level of attractiveness with regular humans.

Yeah, okay. I had a feeling not everybody was like that.
I dunno, I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. It would still be fair to say you identify with anthropomorphic characters, though, right? You're okay with being a person, but you feel a better connection with anthros than humans?

Don't mean to jump the fucking pop quiz on you or whatever, I just want to have a full understanding of it.

 

[Thyunda]

So...umm yea, while yes there are clear differences if you sit down and try to think why people like furies (it's sexualizing animals with human physical characteristics)

Being a furry is not about sex. I should know, I am one.
People assume sexualisation because of the media portrayed around furries.

Deviant art doesn't do anything to help my argument either....

But seriously. Watch this;

http://vimeo.com/17995012

The guy near the end explains my entire argument.

Ok, first off, not to sound like a dick, but I'm not about to go jump into a 37 minute video or accept blindly that it will somehow/somewhere have some sort of counter to my whole argument. Seriously, I'm not a fan of someone taking a tiny snippet of someone's argument, saying they disagree with it and thus saying it's somehow negating the rest of the argument. It doesn't.
Really sorry, but unless there is more to the arguing against my point I'm not about to go spend half an hour watching a video, that I'm pretty sure won't counter my argument about the definition you're trying to convince people to believe.

You're saying you're going to deny a person's argument because you can't be assed to even know what the fuck their argument is?

You do realise that voids any opinion you might have in any future argument on the subject right? You understand that you have made all your arguments invalid? Yes?

No. Refusing to sit and watch a thirty-six minute video does not void his arguments. TimeLord could have easily stated his argument through typing. If he can't be arsed to type his argument, Rednog shouldn't be expected to be arsed to go find it.

 

[delanofilms]

As a furry, where is the discussion value? Just sharing "bashing" experiences?

 

[Rednog]

So...umm yea, while yes there are clear differences if you sit down and try to think why people like furies (it's sexualizing animals with human physical characteristics)

Being a furry is not about sex. I should know, I am one.
People assume sexualisation because of the media portrayed around furries.

Deviant art doesn't do anything to help my argument either....

But seriously. Watch this;

http://vimeo.com/17995012

The guy near the end explains my entire argument.

Ok, first off, not to sound like a dick, but I'm not about to go jump into a 37 minute video or accept blindly that it will somehow/somewhere have some sort of counter to my whole argument. Seriously, I'm not a fan of someone taking a tiny snippet of someone's argument, saying they disagree with it and thus saying it's somehow negating the rest of the argument. It doesn't.
Really sorry, but unless there is more to the arguing against my point I'm not about to go spend half an hour watching a video, that I'm pretty sure won't counter my argument about the definition you're trying to convince people to believe.

You're saying you're going to deny a person's argument because you can't be assed to even know what the fuck their argument is?

You do realise that voids any opinion you might have in any future argument on the subject right? You understand that you have made all your arguments invalid? Yes?

Wait a darn minute, it is pretty damn clear that I read TimeLord's first post, deconstructed it and gave me counter argument to his argument/post.
He in return cherry picked a single sentence in my entire post (the one line that was actually somewhat supporting his cause) and chose to disagree with that line. And as I stated in my post, that is pretty much throwing out my entire post without even bothering to acknowledge my points.
I made an attempt to understand the man's argument. He in no way shape or form made any acknowledgment to mine. Why should I be arsed to watch a 37 minute video when he can't be arsed to read a post which takes a minute or two and would take far less time to write a clear and concise response. It is his thread which is trying to defend the stance of furries, and instead of bothering to actually argue points the response to a valid point is I can't be bothered to respond, go watch this video?
I denied no part of his argument, in fact I addressed it quite well and even addressed his argument against the single line he decided to pick out of my post.

So before you try to throw someone's argument under the bus and claim that aren't putting in any effort, you might want to take a step back. Because I clearly put in the effort and I'm not going to go and throw in extra effort when someone didn't take the courtesy to address my post, which like I said takes far, far less time.

So no, I do not understand your "argument" that my post is somehow magically invalid because someone wants me to watch a video that is 37 minutes long when they took 30 seconds to not address my argument.

 

[delanofilms]

As a furry, where is the discussion value? Just sharing "bashing" experiences?

The discussion value is in the fact that Furry does not equal bestiality, unfortunately people don't seem to understand the difference between fictional human-animal hybrid with a brain that allows it to understand things on a human like level and an animal which can not.

While I could not agree more, that is a bit more of a statement, not a discussion point.

 

[Mr Pantomime]

If there were no furries, there would be no "Concession"

I like "concession"

Ergo, I like furries

 

[Monkfish Acc.]

Being a furry is sort of like that.
As far as I understand it, furries identify with anthropomorphic animals because, on some level, they feel THEMSELVES to be anthropomorphic animals. That's why you see all these fursonas everywhere. That is their way of becoming who they envision themselves to be.

A lot of them, but not all of us feel that way. I'm personally fine with being a human. I just think that Anthros are cooler and to an extent at the same level of attractiveness with regular humans.

Yeah, okay. I had a feeling not everybody was like that.
I dunno, I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. It would still be fair to say you identify with anthropomorphic characters, though, right? You're okay with being a person, but you feel a better connection with anthros than humans?

Don't mean to jump the fucking pop quiz on you or whatever, I just want to have a full understanding of it.

Not really, I'm much more of a person person, I guess I'm really as furry and a not furry at the same time. Just because I like one doesn't mean I can't like the other. Also, if you want to learn more you should jump into the Furrehs [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Furrehs] group and ask us any more questions you have.

Ah, I'm not really actively seeking out answers, I was just taking this opportunity.
I might pop in sometime, though. If I get, like, really fucking drunk and curious and decide, hey, how about I bother a bunch of people on the internet like an ignorant jackass.

I think I can sort of fill in the blanks from here, though.

 

[ThreeWords]

Wait, wait, wait...back that train up!
Anthropomorphism does not equal half human half animal. Anthropomorphism is any non human thing whether living or not having human traits and or characteristics. From a majority of what I've seen in relation to furry art there is very little to link or to show that in fact many furies are indeed half human/human animal and evolved in some way or are genetically half-half for some reason. They are for all intensive purposes, genetically non-human. Yes there is art out there showing people transforming into furies but let's leave that for another debate.
For example the character you posted, Krystal. Now I admit I haven't played Starfox, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I highly doubt that there is any mention in her back story or during the game that she is indeed part human part animal genetically.

This is where you have to draw the fine line, being anthropomorphic means you can and are humanoid. They might look and act human, but they are definitely not human. Considering the basic definition of bestiality is is the practice of sex between humans and non-human animals, furries kind of fall into that category.

So...umm yea, while yes there are clear differences if you sit down and try to think why people like furies (it's sexualizing animals with human physical characteristics) you know there is a difference between liking that and a straight up animal.
Sorry to say it man, but people who call it bestiality are technically right.

Anthro's don't actually exist; since they are imaginary, they are shaped how people choose to think of them. The Op's argument is that furries are attracted to the idea of humans with animal characteristics, as opposed to being sexually attracted to real life animals.

 

[Casual Shinji]

This thread is getting way too hairy for me

 

[hooksashands]

I'm so glad I know more about pointless terminology than I did a moment ago.

 

[Vergial]

I'd like to point out that the Escapist isn't necessarily a site for announcing such a thing, OP. Not that I'm against you, just sayin'.

As for thoughts on the subject, to each his own. My views are just as plain and simple as that. My gaming group is rather diverse as it is, and it's certainly possible that that may be an understatement. But fact is we respect each other and blow each other to Hell and back as friends and equals.

Furry? Fine. Not furry? Still fine. Hell, you could have fucked animals already and I'd still be fine with it (to a degree, anyway). But that's just me.

Still, seeing the various views is interesting enough for me.

And speaking of random experiences while I'm off on this tangent, I've been called an 'animal fucker' simply because my girlfriend drew my Steam image, and I thought it was awesome enough to use. And all it is is a cat-man in a fictional Admiral's uniform. His head anyway. So despite my stance, I was labeled as what I would consider an Extreme Furry simply for my Steam image. More or less reinforces my stance that all are equals, seeing as I've received 'fire' for nothing.

 

[Mordwyl]

As you can probably tell from my avatar I tend to draw anthropomorphic characters, regardless of the degree in animal on them. Despite this I've never associated myself with the furry community since I still consider it absurd to a point. However, there is a difference between the two as can be easily explained via this argument:

Anthro refers to "humanlike" characters, furries being a subclass of this in being of the animal variety. In a broader term any video game characters at all are anthropomorphic, even if they do represent regular human beings. Would you hold it out against Shepard in Mass Effect when they choose Liara as a romantic interest? I do believe the Asari or any alien race qualifies.

Going by this if we go by the assumption furry characters are aliens or human hybrids it's no different than fantasies about demi-human characters such as elves, dwarfs, gnomes, orcs, draenei, hobbits, goblins, etc. The key factor here is the very definition. Humans are naturally attracted to those of their kind, so would it make a massive difference to them if that cute girl suddenly had a tail and cat ears?

Beastiality is just wrong, in more ways than one. For one, it can cross the point of fantasy which is disturbing. It also goes against my previous argument since it's not meant to be, at all.