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Furry

By Vexen Crabtree 1999 Mar 01

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  1. Furry Art, the artwork of it all
  2. The Internet & Furry
  3. Furry Lifestylers, what are these people like?
  4. Furry Philosophies
  5. Furry Meets
  6. Mutual Adoption of friends as siblings
  7. Furry Porn
  8. Furry Links

Furry Art

 AnthropoMORPHINE is the UK's furry fanzine (click the graphic for their home page) produced by Lazy Fox Studios, who also produce Foxes Are Neat.

Furry artwork is any featuring anthropomorphic characters ('funny animals'), and fans of this art are called furry fans. Morphic characters are animals with human characteristics. Bugs bunny is a morphic character, Tom and Jerry, in fact most cartoon characters are anthropomorphic. What specifically sets furry art apart from this is it that much of it explores these concepts in a serious thought provoking way.

Examples of more serious Furry concepts might include werewolf movies, books dealing with issues of being an animal or animal like, like The rats of NIMH or Watership down. The 'Rippers' from Tank Girl are also a good example of Furry characters.

Furry Fandom also encapsulates the proliferation of furry comics and prints, also much Anime and Manga involves morphic characters, one of the most famous being Ramna 1/2.

Anime Fandom
Anime is Japanese comics, cartoons and films. There have been many highly successful Anime films such as Ghost in the Machine and Akira. Anime Fandom works in a similar way to Furry Fandom - as a label to allow social groups and individuals to communicate and meet.

Furry on the Internet

It is safe to say the Internet has been the main catalyst behind the current popularity of Furry and that without it it would have been hard for Furrys to meet each other then tagging on to Anime Fandom groups.

In fact since the advent of the net the interest in furry has grown a lot. The Internet is always available for Fur's to talk and greet each other, to exchange art, short stories, philosophy and gossip.

As well as being a medium for allowing people all over the world to see and show off furry art, the net also provides furries with a place to meet. By far the largest and most well known of these meeting places is FurryMUCK which is a text based environment. Almost all the players on furryMUCK roleplay morphic characters, which are normally basically themselves but with animal characteristics. The fluidity of MUCKs (Multi User Chat Kingdoms) allow much more flexibility and imagination than web based 'chat rooms'.

The way that furries actually roleplay morphic characters online often relates to the way they behave in the real world, this is described in the next sections. As well as FurryMUCK there are quite a few other furry MUCKs and talkers, as well as IRC channels, mailing lists, and newsgroups, all keeping the furry world connected.

Furry Philosophy

There are as many Furry philosophies as there are furrys. Furry as a subculture is not based on philosophy or logic, but on a person's external behaviour, so that no matter what your beliefs are about animals and humans you will still fit in. Here I attempt to describe some generic philosophies.

Mental Shifts; I use the term Mental Shift. Some readers will be unaware what this is. A mental shift is when a person changes into a noticeably different mind set. Sometimes it is purely to do with self perception, sometimes it can result in the person behaving with a completely different personality.

Rugby players performing a dance before a game are enticing a mental shift. Business men in high stress jobs, who relieve tensions during a football game undergo a mental shift. Certain forms of martial art train and entice adherents to perform mental shifts during meditation or training - the phenomenon itself is normal.

Species means a species of animal, such as Otter, Squirrel, Lion. A species could also be fictional such as dragons and unicorns, or a hybrid such as a cabbit or a catwolf. Or a variation on a real species such as a Black Lion.

Generic philosophies:

  1. Spiritual Mental Lycanthropy
  2. Holistic Species Lycanthropy
  3. Inspiration Species
  4. Unknown or psychological reasons

Spiritual Mental Lycanthropy
This is when a person who experiences [be it real or imagined] a mental shift feels that they cease behaving as themselves and instead behave as a particular animal. Native Indians (especially in the more Southern Tribes) would believe that they allowed an animal spirit to take over their body whilst they were hunting or fighting.

Holistic Species Lycanthropy
This is very similar to Spiritual Mental Lycanthropy except that the person does not feel that a single animal will takes hold; but rather that they mentally become a member of that species whilst remaining themselves. An example would be that a person feels he mentally changes into an animal of a particular species; that he becomes tuned in to an entire species and his perception changes accordingly.

Some forms of martial arts, noticeably the various forms of Silat in Indonesia, train a person to mentally assume the mindset of particular species during combat training and meditation. Kung Fu is one of the more famous anthropomorphic body arts; the five forms of Kung Fu are all based on the persona of particular animals; although not as extreme as the animal worship found in Silat, the assumption is still there that people can tune in to a holistic, ever-present animal mindset that is not related to our own genus.

Inspiration Species
The image, style and personality of a particular species cause particular feelings of empathy and inspiration. In the way that Buddhists strive to be like Buddha, an enlightened being, many furries are so inspired and feel empathy towards a particular species that they adopt it as a label. Many people feel that they act like, or are comparable to, a particular species (or hybrid or fictional species) and so choose to represent themselves as a member of that species within the Furry subculture.

Unknown or psychological reasons
Most furries do not know, exactly, the reasons that make them associate themselves with an animal. Most neophytes to the scene are simply on to something that feels comforting, or allows them to express themselves without the dogma of restrictive 'normal' society. But many acolyte furs also remain unsure as to 'why they do it'.

The rest of this page deals more with the generic psychology and sociological behaviour of a furry; these factors alone are often the overwhelming ones, which is partly why there is no unifying Furry philosophy behind the scene. There is, generally, no need for one.

Furry Lifestylers

The word furry can refer to a person, i.e. they are 'furry' or 'a furry'. Frequently abbreviated to 'furs'. Furry lifestyling is the label applied to people who behave in a Furry manner. A furry usually has an empathy for a particular animal or animals in general, and will either in RL (real life) or VR (virtual reality; on the net) exhibit characteristics of an animal. What this means can differ from person to person; from answering the phone with a "meaow" to full body paint and fake teeth.

The UK seems to have a higher furry population density than the rest of Europe, possibly due to the large body of student furs. A significant proportion of student furs are furry lifestylers, who tend to viewed as being quite hedonistic; some aspects are especially notorious, our parties, our friends. Being one of the smaller cultures, most UK Furs know of each other, on-line if not off.

Furry lifestyle & fashion
The inclusive, pansocietal nature of Furry groups means that all types are accepted. The more extravagant and confident Furrys anthropomorphise their entire appearance with body paint (see Bodypainting), depicting themselves as whatever animal they empathise with. Some furrys wear full body fur suits, some wear collars. Furry lifestyling is about behaviour and artwork, not fashion, so it is only a subset of furs choose to decorate themselves in this way.

Furry behavior

"I speak in an unrestricted manner to animals - things like, aren't you just the cutest little kitty ... that kind of thing, which I wouldn't dream of doing to Humans. Then I realized I wish I could."

"Microserfs" by Douglas Coupland 1995, p177

There are many types of animal, many types of person and many types of furry. Some furry lifestylers are art fans who choose to wear a collar when with other furries. When furries get together many modes of behavior emerge. Most furries will think nothing if others sit in a big pile to watch a video, leading each other around on leashes, and grooming each other! It varies how much an individual fur engages in this behavior, there are timid furs as well.

Cuddly or non cuddly
Snuggling, hugging and grooming are not something all people are comfortable with, but in a furry environment those who find this behavior comforting are ensured that are in a safe environment.

It is a proven fact that petting/stroking animals is a relaxant; it makes people happy. Most people don't think to do similarly nice things to other human beings! Why not!

When Furs come to sleeping, the result is nothing but cute. The cuddly ones condense and end up in furpiles. Like cats or something - we live for attention from each other. Attention seeking is such a basic animal instinct, and when amongst friends there really is no need to suppress yourself. Throw a pile of duvets, pillows, bean bags and plushies in a room and sleep we will. Some say it's an insecurity thing. Of course it is, but so is getting married and leading a text-book life.

Silliness
It has to be said that most adults go through their lives suppressing themselves and acting out a laughable attempt to appear dominant, strong and successful; or just 'normal'.

Furry lifestyle get togethers and chat rooms are for many a place to express themselves in as a silly way as possible. Furry society is not based on how _mature_ you are but on how accepting, fun, silly or social you are.

Furry psychology
There is a very good text file originally written by 'Dr Pepper' (who is not a furry, funnily enough) to which there is a link at the bottom of this section, here are some quotes from it relating to 'furry lifestylers':

These are quotes from the essay by Dr Pepper: What is Furry?

Furry Meets

Conventions
A furry meet or convention is when a group of furs get together in real life. The biggest of these is ConFURence, which is held every year in California. Well over 1000 furries and furry art fans attended this year! Events include an art show, costume events, technical and art workshops, furry dances, the infamous slave auction, not to mention the numerous room and pool parties! For a weekend furs can act totally furry, and become their online personas free in the knowledge that everyone else is doing the same.

There are now several other large furry cons in North America such as Further Confusion, Albany Anthrocon, and Feral - a sort of furry summer camp.

Europe has less in the way of furry conventions, there is only one convention of any size known as EuroFurence, which has previously been held in Germany and this year in Holland.

Housecons
Housecons are the most common form of convention. There are several regular ones held in furs' houses. In England there is the Yately Housecon occurring every few months and caters mainly to the art side of furry. Another is UKfurcon, which whilst being about art is more of a lifestyle event. Most fandoms hold similar parties; in Furry they are traditionally called Housecons.

The LondonFurs
The most notable European happenings are in London, and this is where we find the appropriately named LondonFurs. The LondonFurs group started out as a mailing list and has grown much beyond its initial expectations.

The LondonFurs group is unique in that meets are held every three weeks rather than every few months. An average meet will have in excess of twenty attendees for a period of nine or ten hours around London.

Also there are sporadic housecons and get togethers. The largest meets have over forty attendees. There are endless photos taken during these meets, and members are welcome from anywhere, we're not London-exclusive or anything!

Common activities in a UK meet are shopping, lounging around snuggling, clubbing, laying around watching videos, nerding on about computers all day, being vain in front of mirror's (depends on the person), drawing anthropomorphic pictures of each other, drawing generic artwork and swapping & selling artwork.

A day in London would typically comprise of wandering around for a few hours through comic stores (i.e., Forbidden Planet, Gosh) and plushy hunting in Hamleys (and wherever) plus a visit to TCR computer fair. Later; a pub, then a restaurant (Wong Kai's in China Town is our favorite) then those who wish can continue into the night at a club.

Mutual Adoption of friends as siblings [2]

The phenomenon I am about to describe isn't limited to furry social groups. [Also since the time of writing, a number of furs have mentioned they haven't come across this practice, so dear readers, be warned that all I say is (as usual) based merely on personal experience and any resemblance to reality is coincidental! I probably notice this kind of behavior more because I happen to personally like it! - Vexen] Sometimes a pair of close friends will adopt each other as siblings. So, one person may adopt another as their brother or sister, and then refer to them as such. The closeness that causes furries to do this can be either physical affection or an intellectual attachment to the other person. Some people do this more than others and have a large string of people they call bro or sis.

Because furry is a highly affectionate subculture, people who trust or are otherwise comfortable with each other can develop more intimate closeness with each other, despite there being no sexual relations. I have found that when people start assuming that a pair of friends are going out, even if they themselves have no intention of doing so, is when they are most likely to adopt each other as sibling and sibling, by mutual consent. This has a few affects:

  1. It gives definition to a relationship that would otherwise be mistaken for a sexual one by others

  2. It lends itself to curbing more sexual behavior between the people, so, mutual adoption can be done in times when two people are close and trusting enough to form sexual relations, but do not actually want to do so. Adopting each other as siblings then puts up a mental barrier and changes the internal bonding of the relationship

  3. It can be done between friends as a way formalizing and declaring a friendship

  4. It lends an overall positive atmosphere to social groups, and reduces social pressure as people are more inclined to be nice to each other.

If we look at it as a form of ritual, the same as declaring support for a football team, then once you have made that declaration you come to take it more seriously. Likewise, when a pair of friends mutually declare each other siblings then it has the same affect, and the friendship becomes potentially more solid by the way of an informal social commitment.

Furry Porn

Ever since Human beings learnt to draw there has been anthropomorphic porn. Every culture in the world has, since then, had its own type of sexual art. So admittedly there is sexual furry art around, from big breasted comic heroes to hardcore pornography. It does have its place but it is a mere aspect, and not the point, of the Furry world.

Furry Links

UK Home Pages
- List of UK Home pages on www.LondonFurs.org -
And some that aren't included there:

Web sites, Links pages and Directories

By Vexen Crabtree 1999 Mar 01

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Notes:

  1. Most text written in 1999, page redone in 2000
  2. 2003 Mar 25: Added text on Mutual Adoption of friends as siblings

© 2006 Vexen Crabtree. All rights reserved.