Furry: Sexual Preference or Fetish?

[WaterShake]

Furry: Sexual preference, or sexual fetish?

I have no real experience with furry porn, or the furry community. But I am interested in it's origins, and it's extreme rise in popularity.

Do you think that "furry" is a sexuality/ sexual preference, or a sexual fetish?

According to a loosely agreed "furry fandom" historian, Fred Patten; the concept of furry originated at a science convention in the 1980's

There seems to be a relatively large furry community within this site. I I have seen people in threads on this site, and others; attempt to argue that furry is as much a sexuality, as heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality. I find this hard to believe, largely because "furries" are a man made convention, thus not entirely natural. In my mind, sexual preferences are things that are naturally instilled into us from birth. It seems impossible that this could be true for any furry.

In 2009, a survey was conducted by David J. Rust to establish sexual preferences of furries. The survey found that within online furry communities, a combined total of 22% of members identified themselves as being zoophile (sexually attracted to animals) and plushophile (sexually attracted to artificial fursuits ). This is more than 1 in 5.
This statistic has been increasing year on year since the initial survey in 1997. It looks like it will most likely increase again.

Furries often complain of being poorly portrayed and understood by the media, and general public at large. Elements of furry and furry fandom have featured in many mainstream television shows such as ER, CSI: Crime Investigation and Entourage. Yet according to "Furry survey", about half of furries perceive public reaction to the fandom as negative. Furry fans believe that they are perceived as being "obsessed with sex"

I think that furry is more of a sexual fetish, than a domineering sexuality.

But what does NG think: Do you think that "furry" is a sexuality/ sexual preference, or a sexual fetish?

[Magyar]

Furries are all gay and love cocks

[InsertFunnyUserName]

I don't think it can necessarily be classified as a sexual orientation like homo/heterosexuality because it's not mutually exclusive. It's mutually inclusive to at least one of the other sexualities. I figure it to be a fetish because if a fetish is defined as sexual attraction to a body part not normally associated with normal sexuality or an object, then anthropomorphic characteristics fall under the prior category. That doesn't mean it's not a legitimate attraction; it's just a different category.

[Lost-Chances]

It's a fetish that sometimes becomes a life-style choice.

Next question?

[Killinkyle]

homosexuals are when the DNA that makes humans want to stay together in packs becomes to close with other men. Back in the cave men ages, women were thrown around like play-doh, but men stuck together in large tribes. Sometimes, a man is born with too much of that certain gene and developes a natural "love" for the other man. This, is called a faggot.

A furry is when you are a man who has a like for females/men, but also likes fur. Back in the cave man ages a woman with alot of fur could survive the winter, and skins and furs were a prized possesion from animals. It just so happened that a crazy ass caveman started banging a fox because he liked her fur so much (sexualy confused... poor shit) and so his genes were born.

Thats a history lesson from Professor Croy. Any questions?

[Tianwell]

What if you're just furry curious?

[PoloPancake]

No, furry is just a perverted fetish for geeks. I hate it.

[Wolfos]

That depends on the person in question.
You can be a pretty normal guy that just likes to see anthromorphic animals having sex but I've heard about people that were completely not attracted to humans anymore.

[WaterShake]

At 8/31/10 11:17 AM, Magyar wrote: Furries are all gay and love cocks

Well, the survey that I cited previously regarding sexual identification showed that only 19% of furrys regarded themselves as gay. I always thought that all equated to 100%.

Anyways

At 8/31/10 11:20 AM, InsertFunnyUserName wrote: I don't think it can necessarily be classified as a sexual orientation like homo/heterosexuality because it's not mutually exclusive. It's mutually inclusive to at least one of the other sexualities. I figure it to be a fetish because if a fetish is defined as sexual attraction to a body part not normally associated with normal sexuality or an object, then anthropomorphic characteristics fall under the prior category. That doesn't mean it's not a legitimate attraction; it's just a different category.

I agree with your point. However, some of the furries i've talked to, see furry, on equal grounds with the "standard" sexualities. I hope a furry sees this thread and offers some insight.

Furthermore, i'd like to introduce a new question to the thread: To what extent do you think furry a "natural" attraction/fetish?

[RubberTrucky]

It doesn't need to be sexual. I can guess you like to make animal costumes, creating a fursona and role-play along with it on conventions without wanting to screw people for the suits alone.

There probably are fetishists out there, who kick on furry sex and can't get hard on other sex. (though I must say, furry porn can be attractive because it still consists of actual sex with real boobs and penis and so on)

It isn't a preference, because furry is not a natural phenomenon. Same as robosexuals.

[1Tyla1]

I'm a furry. And I'm asexual. And I don't have a sex drive at all.

It's about as much a fetish as music is.

[WaterShake]

At 8/31/10 11:33 AM, RubberTrucky wrote: It doesn't need to be sexual. I can guess you like to make animal costumes, creating a fursona and role-play along with it on conventions without wanting to screw people for the suits alone.

Granted sexuality is not the only element of the furry community, there is furry music, art and writing also. But I think it is the sexual element to which is most in/famous, and is seen most on Newgrounds.

There probably are fetishists out there, who kick on furry sex and can't get hard on other sex. (though I must say, furry porn can be attractive because it still consists of actual sex with real boobs and penis and so on)

I think if there are people who are only attracted to furry porn, then the next question would be, what were they attracted to before they discovered it? Were they asexual, sexually confused, etc. etc.

It isn't a preference, because furry is not a natural phenomenon. Same as robosexuals.

Thats the way I see it.

At 8/31/10 11:36 AM, Dew wrote: On newgrounds, I think it's just a bunch of kids pretending to be interested in something that a lot of people are interested in, jumping on the bandwagon so to speak.

I think furries are still a definite minority. They also seem to be subject to a lot of criticism and ridicule, not something i'd expose myself to for the fun of it.

To be honest, I don't get the attraction to anthropomorphic animals, I mean they're the same as everything else around, outside of the fox heads and ridiculous amounts of hair. When it comes to the costume ones, those are probably the real ones, and I can safely say no one on ng would never do that sort of thing.

To answer your question, is it a fetish? Yes, it is. It's a sexual preference and the ones telling you that are just the same kids who are probably just jumping on the bandwagon.

At 8/31/10 11:40 AM, 1Tyla1 wrote: I'm a furry. And I'm asexual. And I don't have a sex drive at all.

When you say your a furry, do you mean interested in the furry community (i.e outside of the porn) or do you mean that you find furry porn erotic?

It's about as much a fetish as music is.

I'd also just like to repost the new question: To what extent do you think furry a "natural" attraction/fetish?

[1Tyla1]

At 8/31/10 11:51 AM, WaterShake wrote: When you say your a furry, do you mean interested in the furry community (i.e outside of the porn) or do you mean that you find furry porn erotic?

I'm interested in it outside of the porn. As I said, I'm asexual, and I don't have a sex drive in the line of fetishes either. The community is what I enjoy because I've noticed utter open-ness about it, maybe a bit too much, but honestly?

Getting to know furries in real life kinda opens up views a bit more, I know a few aromantics who like their sex, but they're not exactly raping people or screaming "HEY, WANNA HAVE SEX?" either.

I'd also just like to repost the new question: To what extent do you think furry a "natural" attraction/fetish?

Can people who have a foot fetish choose that? Or an attraction to blondes? It's as natural as being gay - people are who they are.

Just a side-note here, I'm assuming you have an interest in sexology?

[WaterShake]

At 8/31/10 12:05 PM, 1Tyla1 wrote:

At 8/31/10 11:51 AM, WaterShake wrote: When you say your a furry, do you mean interested in the furry community (i.e outside of the porn) or do you mean that you find furry porn erotic?

I'm interested in it outside of the porn. As I said, I'm asexual, and I don't have a sex drive in the line of fetishes either. The community is what I enjoy because I've noticed utter open-ness about it, maybe a bit too much, but honestly?

Getting to know furries in real life kinda opens up views a bit more, I know a few aromantics who like their sex, but they're not exactly raping people or screaming "HEY, WANNA HAVE SEX?" either.

I'd also just like to repost the new question: To what extent do you think furry a "natural" attraction/fetish?

Can people who have a foot fetish choose that? Or an attraction to blondes? It's as natural as being gay - people are who they are.

But given that furry porn has only really been in circulation for the last 30 years, I don't think it's as deeply embedded within people as feet fetishes, attractions to particular physical elements etc.

It seems much more like something that develops due to exposure, than something thats been in their "nature" from birth.

Just a side-note here, I'm assuming you have an interest in sexology?

Not that specific, i'm more interested in all aspects of psychology than any one branch in particular

[OneWordName]

Great, first furies want to be classified as people, now as a sexual preference? What next, we allow channers to vote?

[RubberTrucky]

At 8/31/10 11:51 AM, WaterShake wrote:
Granted sexuality is not the only element of the furry community, there is furry music, art and writing also. But I think it is the sexual element to which is most in/famous, and is seen most on Newgrounds.

To me, furry is like cosplay and in general I think that's exactly what a furry objectively is. All the rest are aspects of this. The sexual element is the most infamous, perverse aspect of it and because it's so controversial, it's what a lot of people complain about. What's seen on Newgrounds most in art is furry porn, because essentially it's a style of art. Actually, a lot in the art portal is porn.
But I doubt the furry NG community are into furry sex. Most of the users are too young to be busy with sexual activities.

[Conal]

Apparently some of it's origins come from the gay community, but I wouldn't say it was the genesis of furries. Really, there's different kinds of furries.

I categorized them...

Cartoon Furries:
These people tend to be childish, their fursuites often have big eyes & can have funky colours. They tend to be the weird crowd, they're scary at times. Cartoon furries include other branches of the furdom such as Scalys & baby furries.

Baby furries are people who want to be more than just children furries, but babies. They have been known to appear at fur conversions wearing nappies (diapers). The rest of the furdom tend to think that they're weird.

Scalys who are under the 'Cartoon Furries' definition of mine tend to be the same, but their fursonas are of dinosaurs, lizards, fish, or anything scaly.

The cartoon furries seem to be quite a big crowd, they're also the same ones who in extreme cases would wear Bugs Bunny costumes & jack off in them. They go for cartoon characters & act like kids at times with children's music.

Anthropomorphic furries:
These furries are less crazy than Cartoon Furries, but there's less of them. These people want to be realistic anthropomorphic animals or genuine animals. Their fursuites tend to look like a realistic animal (especially the head) so they normally have more realistic looking eyes than big white ones with dot pupils.

These include people like cat man, a guy who had lots of surgery to make him look more like an anthropomorphic tiger (even whiskers).

Artistic furries:
These people don't necessarily have fursonas, they're just into the art. This is the category I'm in. Basically, they're interested in anthropomorphic art & draw it, but it doesn't mean that they want to be an anthropomorphic creature. These people are more "fans" of the furdom.

[TNT]

Honestly, I think the term "furry" varies from person to person based on their experiences.

[WaterShake]

At 8/31/10 12:33 PM, GOTHCLAWZ wrote: Apparently some of it's origins come from the gay community, but I wouldn't say it was the genesis of furries. Really, there's different kinds of furries.

I categorized them...

Cartoon Furries:
These people tend to be childish, their fursuites often have big eyes & can have funky colours. They tend to be the weird crowd, they're scary at times. Cartoon furries include other branches of the furdom such as Scalys & baby furries.

Baby furries are people who want to be more than just children furries, but babies. They have been known to appear at fur conversions wearing nappies (diapers). The rest of the furdom tend to think that they're weird.

Scalys who are under the 'Cartoon Furries' definition of mine tend to be the same, but their fursonas are of dinosaurs, lizards, fish, or anything scaly.

Why is it that "baby" and "scally" furries are treated with contempt within the community? It seems somewhat hypocritical to openly embrace your desires, and then criticise others for doing the same. If liking fur is acceptable, why not scales?

The cartoon furries seem to be quite a big crowd, they're also the same ones who in extreme cases would wear Bugs Bunny costumes & jack off in them. They go for cartoon characters & act like kids at times with children's music.

Anthropomorphic furries:
These furries are less crazy than Cartoon Furries, but there's less of them. These people want to be realistic anthropomorphic animals or genuine animals. Their fursuites tend to look like a realistic animal (especially the head) so they normally have more realistic looking eyes than big white ones with dot pupils.

These include people like cat man, a guy who had lots of surgery to make him look more like an anthropomorphic tiger (even whiskers).

Wow. Thats quite something. I guess it's a pretty strong example of a fetish becoming a lifestyle (which seems like quite a bad idea). Do you know if many people have such surgery? Or is it extremely rare?

Artistic furries:
These people don't necessarily have fursonas, they're just into the art. This is the category I'm in. Basically, they're interested in anthropomorphic art & draw it, but it doesn't mean that they want to be an anthropomorphic creature. These people are more "fans" of the furdom.

By art, do you mean porn?

[Conal]

At 8/31/10 01:08 PM, WaterShake wrote: Why is it that "baby" and "scally" furries are treated with contempt within the community?

Because of this. As for scalys, they tend to get shit from furry critiques, not other furries. I guess it's because they look too odd where as there's more normal looking furries.

It seems somewhat hypocritical to openly embrace your desires, and then criticise others for doing the same.

They don't all necessarily criticize the baby furs, they just think they're weird to the point of not being comfortable around them. Furries don't tend to be on the offensive.

If liking fur is acceptable, why not scales?

There's more weird looking ones that normal. Plus furries look more like people than scalys. Also, more people find furries hot that scalys, so people will find scalys stranger. Like I said, they get shit from none-furries. Furry critiques pick on them more than furries.

Wow. Thats quite something. I guess it's a pretty strong example of a fetish becoming a lifestyle (which seems like quite a bad idea). Do you know if many people have such surgery? Or is it extremely rare?

It's extremely rare. I was just using the most extreme example I know of to make a long spectrum.

By art, do you mean porn?

By "art" I include pornography in addition. I also mean characters in animation such as Disney & Retarded Animal Babies. If you're asking what I like personally; yes, I do like furry porn.

[Dosensuppen]

What I always wondered why so many people call those who like furries sexually as "furfags" and claiming that their gay.

Every furry lover I knew was VERY straight.

[steph2568]

I say fetish.

[Hyrcia]

It's neither. Furry is a lifestyle, because it doesn't have to be strictly sexual.

[BioEthanol]

It is in-denial bestiality.

[Bit]

Someone who has an interest in anthropomorphic characters.

[BioEthanol]

At 8/31/10 02:48 PM, Esshole wrote: Every furry lover I knew was VERY straight.

There are no (thats an exaggeration but there are very few) female furries so it is pretty gay and it is hard to deny that.

[Dosensuppen]

At 8/31/10 03:17 PM, BioEthanol wrote:

At 8/31/10 02:48 PM, Esshole wrote: Every furry lover I knew was VERY straight.

There are no (thats an exaggeration but there are very few) female furries so it is pretty gay and it is hard to deny that.

The furry term get loosely thrown around. When you say female furry are you talking about female furry fans or a character in a furry porn?

Character - I never seen any gay furries. I don't doubt there are, not at all.

Fan - Well, I won't doubt there are more males. But it's not like these furry fans are banging each other. I mean, just because there are a lot more males who are a fan of something doesn't make them gay. I mean, you might as well say WE'RE all gay. Sure, we joke about it all the time. But are we really gay? I'm not, and I doubt you are either.

Waiting for someone to say something about my Fab Aura.

[BioEthanol]

At 8/31/10 03:23 PM, Esshole wrote:

At 8/31/10 03:17 PM, BioEthanol wrote:

At 8/31/10 02:48 PM, Esshole wrote:

STuff

I mean fans. And furries who enjoy or want to enjoy yiffing. They have to be gay or at least Bi cos there are no girls to yiff.

[axlisbak]

its just a fetish, albeit a fetish that takes a lot of flack because its more deluded parts of the fandom get more exposure than most fetishes

[Dosensuppen]

At 8/31/10 03:29 PM, BioEthanol wrote: I mean fans. And furries who enjoy or want to enjoy yiffing. They have to be gay or at least Bi cos there are no girls to yiff.

Yeah, but they're talking about screwing fictional anthropomorphic creatures. Not each other.