Our Furry Friends
Have you ever sat up, late at night, and thought, “What are furries all about?”. Well ok then, just me. Either way, here are the results of one of the promised investigations I’ve been doing into the more interesting Second Life subcultures. I hope to cast some light on this topic and bring eternal peace between the fuzzy and the meaty (that’s a sort-of, furry in joke right there! Haha!).
I took it upon myself to spend some time with some members of the Second Life furry community as a blogger/observer. A contact had briefed me and introduced me to some furries and what follows is my account of conversations with these people. At first I thought they were largely misunderstood and relatively normal (like other fetish communities). I was to find out I was somewhat right, but mostly quite scarily wrong.
So what is a furry? That’s a good question because most people don’t know exactly, and even furries seem to have different ideas on the topic. Well, a broad definition might be that a furry is someone who enjoys the look of anthropomorphized animals (that is, animals in human form, or is it humans in animal form? Whatever). For some this is an aesthetic thing, an enjoyable fantasy, like playing D&D or dressing up for Halloween. For others… it’s something different.
Furries are a diverse group. For every furry that got interested in the hobby (calling it a lifestyle for this sub-category would be too much) there are several more whose experience of furrydom is a more intense one. For these people furry is primarily a sexual fetish, an excitement in seeing anthropomorphized humans involved in sexual activity. This interest might be gay, straight, hermaphrodite or BDSM focused, anything imaginable, as long as it involves the furry-looking human form. Furry forms the basis of their entire sexuality. Despite what many furries might claim this is the nub and the crux of the scene. What wearing black is to the goth crowd, ‘yiffing’ (furry sex) is to furries.
While it is fairly widely known that the furry world seems to be a very sexually charged one, what goes on has been anyone’s guess. Speculation ranges from rumors of animal shagging, to sex with each other in real life furry animal suits, to in-game Second Life furry orgies, to gender-bending ritualized animalistic encounters too complex to describe.
All of these rumors are true.
But when you talk to furries you won’t find these topics discussed with an outsider. The furry community is careful to self-censor, as they are wary of any media attention, in much the same way my cat is wary of my boot. This is because they are frequently the target of satire sites such as SomethingAwful. Consequently my discussions stayed on the safe topics of asserting one’s real-life furry identity and the positive emotional impact of coming out, that sort of happy, nice stuff.
Carefully avoided was chat about sky-box orgy rooms where a dozen furries get jiggy, or real life furry-cons, where sweaty overweight men squeeze into fuzzy costumes and growl at each other.
Avoided also was chat about the rather mad internal politics of the furry world (are realistic furries more serious about the lifestyle than the Disney-esque looking ones?).
Not discussed were the even stranger politics of a Second Life gay furry harem and how they have all moved in together in real life after knowing each other for two weeks online.
Never mentioned was how the Master of the now-real-life group (yes, it’s a gay, furry, BDSM harem) forbids STD testing, ‘meatbag’ clothes and jobs or contact with the outside world.
Avoided also, discussion about the sex parties where the new gay, furry, BDSM, harem slaves ‘entertain’ guests of the master fur at his order.
Yes, we’re talking real life now. In a neighbourhood. Near you.
Hearing these stories from my contact made me realize that all is not entirely sane in the land of fur. Now, I have no problem with fetishists, but the weirdness of this behavior smacks of somewhat extreme identity and personal issues. Simply ignoring, for now, the sheer comedy value of the gay, furry, bdsm harem there’s the simple strangeness of moving across country to join someone you met two weeks ago online. And to do so to become one of their animal slaves. That is odd behavior for any fetishist when you’ll normally hear them talk about ‘safe, sane and consensual’.
As you will note actual behavior is a lot different from polite conversations about how someone was always a fur inside or how acceptance of a furry identity leads to a better mental state. Perhaps my conversation with furs should really have focused on questions along the lines of, “when were you last committed?”.
At this point I should remind you, dear reader, that there are a great many different kinds of furs. For every gay, bdsm, harem slave there are many furs who enjoy the community as a hobby and social group rather than a lifestyle. These are normal people with normal lives, relationships and a normal mental balance who enjoy the cartoon fun of dressing up and light, sometimes sexy, roleplay.
These are the kind of furs you and me will tend to meet in Second Life as they aren’t elitists like the real fruitcakes. The crazies shut themselves away and don’t like to deal with meatbags. So please, be nice to furs you meet, and don’t assume they are gay, furry, bdsm harem slaves. Not unless they show you their slave collar of course.
As you can imagine, the fact that the furry community has such a huge range of participants leads to intra-group tension. The furs with their minds firmly fixed on leg humping don’t see eye to eye with those who don’t even like being called furs because of the crazyness associated with it (although you and I wouldn’t be able to spot the difference in a lineup.).
More than most groups the furry world is rife with cliques and the community splits and divides like ameoba on a petrie dish. Recent events in the SL fur community have split the active participants as some recoil at the above noted insanity and others embrace it. That the information in this column comes from a member of this community should give you an idea of how differently members of this group think about what goes on.
But it can’t be denied that the origin of fur as the hobby it is today is in it being a sexual fetish, even when some of the community much prefer the social and roleplay side. For many, fur is sex and sex is fur, the two are intertwined if not inseparable. Thus, members of the fur community are inevitably intimately involved with each other. Naturally, this leads to drama. But it is also the key to understanding furry social dynamics. For example:
…Say you want to try out this fur thing. Well, first up you must realize that the fur world, oddly enough, mirrors the real animal kingdom, social status in the fur community is based on who you are shagging. And unless you want to be a nothing you’re going to have to pimp your ass to get noticed.
A new fur may even be ignored by some until the newby has gained status through working their way up the social sex chain. Perhaps a fur DJ will be the first person you yiff. He or she will, of-course, take pictures and advertise their conquest in their private rooms for other furs to see. But don’t worry, this is a good thing. Now when people see who you’ve done you’ll have some social status, especially if you were good. Slowly you work your way the social ladder, perhaps a land owner next, then a group leader, a popular club owner and so on. Pretty soon good reports of your sexual behavior, along with pictures, are plastered everywhere and you are now popular with many followers. Just like the animal world, banging the alpha male or female has its perks.
Now you’ll find others wanting to use you as their ladder to greater things and your Second Life sex life becomes as busy as you want. Unless of course, you spread it around too much. Sex for status implies that what is going on is something special. If you’re important and you shag 100 people no one will think much of them and they won’t bother with you any more. Shag one and that person is obviously very special and cool and you will be in even more demand from the proles
Follow my tips and you’re well on the way to being a top fur. Fantastic!
Disturbingly, I’ve been reliably informed that the goth community works in much the same way. I await the inevitable cojoining of fur and goth. Perhaps one day we will see goth, gay, furry, BDSM harem slaves!
So what are we left with after this carnival ride through fur? Are some furries twisted sexual perverts? Yes. Are some as harmless as a Disney comedy sidekick? Yes. In the end I believe how you respond to furs says more about you than it does about them. Don’t automatically shun them, after all, never judge a book by its cover (or a fur by his suit!). At least wait until you hear about who they’ve been yiffing before you let out a chuckle.
But I warn you, as you get to know fur you will find one thing forever taken from you. You’ll never look at those amusement park workers in cute animal costumers the same way ever again.
@TinyPirate 
Anon
/ March 6, 2006Most of your article about furry is accurate, however I must correct you on a few points :
1) Self-censorship
Furries do not always self-censor becuase they’re wary of negative media attention. Often, we do it simply to avoid shocking or offending others. Sometimes we do it because it’s convenient For example, at social events, if I only have a few minitues to talk to someone, there is not enough time to give an adequate explanation of some things, so it’s better to just not talk about them at all then to give an inaccurate impression. You’re right that furries do censor the more kinky aspects of their community and selves from other non-furs (and even from less kinky furs!) – but there are good reasons they do this, which go far beyond simple fear of the media spotlight.
In summary : furries do self-censor, but they often do it for reasons far more sensible and morally good then simply being afraid of negative judgements by others.
2) Mental Health
You *can* tell the difference, usually in a few minitues of conversation, between furs of the sensible, reputable kind and the ones who really do belong in a mental hospital. Some ways of doing this are : good furs have at least moderately sucessful real lives, friends, perhaps a partner, a stable job, and aren’t fixated on any of these things. In particular, any fur who offers you sex before getting to know you at *least* a little is probably not doing well. In a lineup, you might not be able to tell who’se sane, but if you could talk to a fur for a few minitues and ask probing questions you’d be able to find out. This is normal – it’s quite hard to tell who suffers mental health diffiulties in non-furs too….. most people don’t go around with signs around their necks saying things like “I suffer from depression”.
In summary : Some furries are nuts, most furries aren’t. You can usually tell the differene quickly by talking to them – but beware of making assumptions… some things you think imply a crazy person don’t (e.g. some slaves are well-adjusted!) and some things you think would be normal or ok do (having sex with everyone in sight is usually an indication of serious trouble).
3) The idea that your social status is determined by who you sleep with might appear to be true, but in my experience it is totally false. Put simply, status in furry is determined by skill at furry-related activities (drawing, roleplaying, computers) activity (how well known and active you are in the community) the status of people you associate with / hang out with, your attitude…
I can see how you could get the impression that social status in furry is determined by who you have sex with, but it’s not true – good quality furries with high social status are attracted to other good quality furries with high social status…. just like in real life the good, mature people are attracted to other good, mature people.
4)
The furry community does have a fair number of nutters in it, I admit, however the majority aren’t crazy and there are actually some very sane people there. Unfortunately it’s the nutters that get all the spotlight, who are most keen to call themselves ‘furry’ and who spend the most time in places like SL.
Checking out the most highly visible furs in SL is like checking the depressed people – many people are depressed sometimes and lead otherwise normal and productive, happy lives. However, if you seek out the people who identify as depressed and grab the spotlight with their depression, then of course you’re going to find people at the extreme end of the spectrum who are crazy or mentally ill.
Lastly, I’d point out that furry is a community based around sexuality, not intelligence (though most of us compensate for this by being selective about our friends!). You get a substantial portion of idiots in the general population (just turn on the TV and wath the news for a few hours, or any documentary channel on human affairs). So, just as there are idiots generally, there are idiots in furry. Furry also does tend to attract idiots because furs are very open and accepting of others, and becuase sex is something almost everyone can do to some degree.
You do say this in your article, but really I’d expect everyone reading this to know that anyone nowadays who wants to have sex with several partners and actually BANS the use of STD/STI tests is probably not only stupid but also actually dangerous and should not be touched. People like this are known to exist but 99% of furs have nothing at all to do with them and prior to your article I wasn’t even aware such people existed at all. I’ve been an active participant in furry for about 5 years now across both OL and RL and I’ve not seen anyone do anything nearly as stupid as that.
If you take nothing else from this comment, take the fact that furries are 10% good, 80% ok, and 10% dangerously bad… about the same proportions as normal people. It’s just the bad 10% get most of the attention in articles. Yes, furries are more prone to mental health problems, but then so are people who spend a lot of time online doing anything, so are students, so are the elderly….furry has good and bad bits, and though it is potentially very dangerous and very good, one must admit both of these things to understand it fully. Most articles either go for the “woah, wtf? dangerous!” line or the “it’s ok really we’re just misundersood line”. The truth is somewhere in between. Most furs are ok but there are a fair number of nutters.
-Anon
-A furry for the last 5-6 years…