First of all, I'd like to welcome you all here. Now for you non-furries, I'd like to explain what a furry is (wrote this to another thread, but realized it wouldn't quite fit how people were acting/posting). There are a few levels to furriness, as well as different fetishes. And just so all of ya know, anal, which seems to be getting more mainstream by the day, IS a fetish. So it's not just the far out shit that you see (bondage, cutting, etc.)
1) Online: This is where a LOT of people fall under, including myself. I happen to roleplay as 8 different types of animals, my most common ones being a zebra and a tiger. Also with this is what TYPE of furry you are, either a quadrupedic (one that goes on all fours, basically the REAL animal) or bipedic (one that goes on hind legs) and displays human characteristics except for facial structure, fur, tail, and/or whatever else is exclusive to that animal. At this point, I've actually been with my mate (think gf/wife) for 7 months, and we do plan on hooking up in reality once I graduate from college. So it's not ALL about the yiff (though that IS fun).
2) Public demeanor: Some of the people who roleplay online will act as normal people in daily life. However, some do act like animals 24/7, putting on neko ears, tails and the like, or just acting like an animal (i.e. biting someone you don't like, purring, etc.). These behaviors really show up in the bedroom though, but so long as you aren't into #3 (see below), it's not too different than simple roleplaying (i.e. burglar and helpless housewife, plumber, etc.), which is VERY MUCH accepted by most people.
3) Fursuiting: This is what most people think of when they think of furries. These are the people that can be found at Anthro-cons (furry meetings, just like anime-cons and the like) dressed up as an animal. The outfits can range from being just the little cat-ears and tail (that quite a few people like to see women dressed as, and usually called Nekos) to the elaborate full body suits of fur, much like Bugs Bunny and the like... except not infringing on copyrights.
4) Plushy-philes (not sure on spelling): These are the furries that really REALLY enjoy their stuffed animals... and not always in the most childish of ways. I personally am kind of... *shudders* about it, but I also recognize that everyone has their own way of getting turned on, and so long as they don't BRAG about it, I'm fine.
Now with the furriness, the mainstream media really has given it a bad rap. I've read reports on news websites (NOT blogs) where they interviewed a plushy-phile who was VERY open about what he did. However, they also focused on how abnormal this behavior was, rather than looking at all aspects of furriness. Aside from this, I heard from a friend that on a recent CSI (I don't watch it myself), the plot involved the fursuiting types, but in a fairly bad light (namely, just having sex in the fursuit, rather than just hanging out in them, as some do). Hope this might clear up misconceptions about the lifestyle, and feel free to respond/add on to this.
Note: All of the stuff said above is not based on scientific data, but rather is pulled straight out of my tailhole. So if anyone has an educated source they can give the link to, I'd love to hear it. On a personal note, I've only "come out of the forest" to about 4 people, all of whom were either "cool, that's nifty" or "okay, that's fine by me".
