"Are you a furry?"

[zzapp the witch]

OMG OMG OMG I know which ones you are!! I've seen that episode so many times, I thought it was cool that they were talking about furries at all (which is a social subset I've poked around looking at on the net for years now). I grew up reading MAD magazine, so I'm always looking at backgrounds in movies and shows, I remember seeing you two and liking the beaded look!

(Weren't you two "petting" each other? I couldn't really tell).

And since you all seem so knowledgeable, where does a chained, banished angel belong in the world of social subsets? (I want her to quit bugging me about it! )

[Evil Queen]

HA! I remember BOTH of you then! it's one of my favourite episodes, I've seen it nearly 2 dozen times.

[Nekojin]

OMG! Which one are you because I love that episode! I wanna be able to tell my furry friends that I know an extra from it!

Missed this one. Neither of us are clearly seen on camera at any point. However, both of us can be seen briefly - she's wearing a silver beaded headdress with ears; I'm wearing an orange tiger headband. I think you can see me from the back for about a quarter of a second. One friend actually called me to say that he finally (about six months after its original airing) saw Fur and Loathing, and spotted me. =^_^=

Random factoid: It was actually filmed in Valencia, CA, not Las Vegas, even though it was for an episode of CSI: Las Vegas.

[Nekojin]

Just to clarify. Furry is no more about sex than the Anime fandom is. It's certainly an aspect of it, but it's far from a dominant role in the hobby. But then, the same can be said about Anime.

[Sliceanddice]

Yes i know, but i do know w few people who have liked to have sex dress kind of like an animal and where furry so thats why i said that
no full suit, but there where masks and paws... and im not going any further hear but to say One even bought a special harness....

[Nekojin]

Sorry, didn't realize that was your quote. I just heard Tyger Cowboy say it once or twice at his Howloween stuffs, and then realized he had his furmeets as an ego stroke for himself, and stopped going.

No worries. It's not like I have it copyrighted, or anything. I don't think I was even attributed in the article. =^_^=

I don't keep a great handle on the furry community as much any longer. Never really been to a Furry Con, only anime cons... So... I dunno, sorry for misrepresenting you. I didn't mean to offend.

You didn't offend, and you didn't particularly misrepresent us. I was just clarifying and expanding on it.

However, with the quote, I must say, Freud was talking out of his ass, and has been disproven frequently. I'm just saying...

*shrug* Just because Freud saw sexual causes in nearly everything, that doesn't mean that he was wholly wrong. He just lacked a sense of perspective. Many of his underlying concepts are still used in psychoanalysis and psychotherapy today.

[Skrae]

I'm just curious, but why is your answer to that question so vehement?

It's not like he asked if you ate babies or anything.

I'm not the one he asked, that's what my friend's girlfriend actually said. She probably phrased it like that thinking of the more extreme stuff that are considered taboo for most, herself possibly included.

Having been a furry in a small area, I know how hard it can be to meet others, hence the question, wearing cat ears, it likely seemed safe to ask you.

Maybe, we don't know. There is a furcon around here so I doubt it's that hard to find other furries...


Also about the cat ears, the 4 of us all met through anime cons (for myself, my girlfriend and my friend, it was Nan Desu Kan, then we met my friend's girlfriend, the catgirl in question, at Anime Wasabi) where cat ears are extremely common, in fact at Anime Wasabi, people were actually running around in fursuits in the final hours of the last day.

[Imogene]

agaion alot of answer to that... some says it like to have sex when dressed up as an animal... or some have even said to have sex with something that looks like an animal... or just liking to dress like an animal

See Nekojin's paraphrased quote...

[Sliceanddice]

Ok I am at a loss, what is a furry O_O

agaion alot of answer to that... some says it like to have sex when dressed up as an animal... or some have even said to have sex with something that looks like an animal... or just liking to dress like an animal

[Aethian]

I'm a mix between a fox and a wolf myself...but haven't been to a furry con yet. I'm still trying to get the boyfriend to think it's a good idea. But he really doesn't get furry...unless it's cat girls...and they are wearing skimpy outfits in his anime.

[Javarod]

Furry can be a lot of things, but simply its an interest in animals, typically those with human aspects. Correctly its anthropomorphic animals (animals with human qualities) which can range from a talking dog to an animal person. The people in it can be writers, artists, costumers and more (2 the gryphon has a radio show or rather radio rant). The people can range from so mundane and boring as to make Louis Tully look interesting to those so weird that it makes you uncomfortable that you share the planet with them (the guy I saw on my way to my room at my first con that was wearing a cowboy hat, boxers, cowboy boots and carrying a whip was a step in that direction).

Having been a furry in a small area, I know how hard it can be to meet others, hence the question, wearing cat ears, it likely seemed safe to ask you. In my case I went even bigger, I started the eList (now Yahoo group) Fur Shore, which took off like wild fire, and was successful in handing it off when I left NJ.

[Imogene]

*wave* Hi there! I'm the originator of that quote. I was asked, for an article about 8 years back, what it means to be Furry, and that was the answer I gave.

Most just wear jeans and a t-shirt, without anything identifying them as a Furry, even at a convention.

Sorry, didn't realize that was your quote. I just heard Tyger Cowboy say it once or twice at his Howloween stuffs, and then realized he had his furmeets as an ego stroke for himself, and stopped going.

I don't keep a great handle on the furry community as much any longer. Never really been to a Furry Con, only anime cons... So... I dunno, sorry for misrepresenting you. I didn't mean to offend.

However, with the quote, I must say, Freud was talking out of his ass, and has been disproven frequently. I'm just saying...

[Evil Queen]

I'm an extra in that episode

OMG! Which one are you because I love that episode! I wanna be able to tell my furry friends that I know an extra from it!

[RetailWorkhorse]

FUZZY! I'm a puppy!

[Nekojin]

That's a whole can of worms just asking that question.
Generally, the rule states, "For every ten furries you ask that question, you will receive twelve unique responses."
A furry, generally, is someone who wears stuff (tails, ears, paws, or for the obsessed, costumes) to look more like an animal (generally? Foxes, cats, bunnies)
I used to be one myself, and realized I wasn't quite thinking of myself in those terms. I upgraded to Otherkin, and am currently stuck. (Otherkin are the 'fantasy' version of Furries) Just about everything you may have ever seen on TV about the furry subculture is focused on the extreme 2%. And even then, a lot of it is sensationalism.

*wave* Hi there! I'm the originator of that quote. I was asked, for an article about 8 years back, what it means to be Furry, and that was the answer I gave.

Not all Furries wear anything special. Some wear ears and/or a tail; fewer wear paws. Most just wear jeans and a t-shirt, without anything identifying them as a Furry, even at a convention. Most have some interest in a specific animal or genus of animals. Some are into it for the "shamanistic" aspect, feeling connected to a specific animal. Some are in it for the artwork. Some are in it for the community. Some are in it for the fursuits, either as mascots or appreciators. Some are in it for the stories (Redwall, Watership Down, Alan Dean Foster's Quozl, Disney's Robin Hood, and the like). And so on.

As Juwl stated, the part that the media focuses on is an extreme fringe - and in some cases, a completely fabricated fringe. It doesn't help that there are several sites online that are dedicated to bashing and harrassing furries whenever the opportunity arises.

Erg... No, sex in a suit would lead to heat exhaustion. Anyone who's ever been a mascot will tell you, just wearing the damn suit is enough to send you into heat stroke. Sex is right out. And it was just regular ol' CSI that did that episode, Fur and Loathing in LA. And it was sensationalism to the extreme.

Yep. I know several Fursuiters, and none who would have sex while wearing the suit.

As Andara stated, we were both extras on that CSI episode. It was an interesting experience.

I'd like to close with a quote from that CSI episode:

Catherine: Okay... Well, I have heard of some guys getting off in some weird ways... but humping an animal suit? Whatever happened to normal sex?
Grissom: What is normal sex?
Catherine: Uh... you think it's normal for a grown human to only be intimate with a talking animal?
Grissom: Well, Freud said that the only unusual sexual behavior was not to have any at all. After that, it was only a matter of opportunity and preference. Some people obviously prefer the feel of fur to the texture of human skin.