I admit that I'm only a new fur (two months old), but after reading a lot of posts here and on Fur Affinity, it feels like Furry Fandom is still very much a genie in a bottle, in spite of all the talk about the importance of self-expression. Furries are desperate to control the message about their identity in mainstream culture and are constantly trying to manage every piece of writing that increases visibility of furry fandom. And so any writing that touches upon furry as a part of someone's core identity or sexuality is immediately labeled as "one person's experience/opinion" for fear of being tarred by the same brush.
I think all of this is silly, personally. The bottle will eventually break, the genie let loose and there will be no controlling it. A lot of non-furries will convince themselves that Furry is just a sex thing because that's exactly what they did for gay and trans people when they started coming out. And a lot of non-furries are going to get confused by what "Furry" is because it's a vague umbrella term and not a singular specific concept like "Homosexuality" or "Transgender". And for those of us for whom furry is a core part of our biology, it's even harder to talk about because there is no mainstream equivalent. Most people have a gender and sexual identity built into their biology, but hardly anyone has a furry identity in their biology. So getting people to empathise with how we see the world is a much, much harder task.
What we do have on our side are two things:
- The internet; simple explanations of furry are now just a Google search away.
- An increasingly permissive society that understands the importance of personal and sexual self-expression.
The good thing is that when Furry does eventually go mainstream, I'd like to think it will be a last stand for the acceptance of marginalised identities. If you can accept all aspects of furry fandom, from the hobbyist side to the sexual side, then there's not much left to feel threatened by.
I admit that I'm only a new fur (two months old), but after reading a lot of posts here and on Fur Affinity, it feels like Furry Fandom is still very much a genie in a bottle, in spite of all the talk about the importance of self-expression. Furries are desperate to control the message about their identity in mainstream culture and are constantly trying to manage every piece of writing that increases visibility of furry fandom. And so any writing that touches upon furry as a part of someone's core identity or sexuality is immediately labeled as "one person's experience/opinion" for fear of being tarred by the same brush.
I think all of this is silly, personally. The bottle will eventually break, the genie let loose and there will be no controlling it. A lot of non-furries will convince themselves that Furry is just a sex thing because that's exactly what they did for gay and trans people when they started coming out. And a lot of non-furries are going to get confused by what "Furry" is because it's a vague umbrella term and not a singular specific concept like "Homosexuality" or "Transgender". And for those of us for whom furry is a core part of our biology, it's even harder to talk about because there is no mainstream equivalent. Most people have a gender and sexual identity built into their biology, but hardly anyone has a furry identity in their biology. So getting people to empathise with how we see the world is a much, much harder task.
What we do have on our side are two things:
- The internet; simple explanations of furry are now just a Google search away.
- An increasingly permissive society that understands the importance of personal and sexual self-expression.
The good thing is that when Furry does eventually go mainstream, I'd like to think it will be a last stand for the acceptance of marginalised identities. If you can accept all aspects of furry fandom, from the hobbyist side to the sexual side, then there's not much left to feel threatened by.