Zoomorph, zoomorphic identity, sounds about right. I'd be cautious in calling it categorically furry. You said:
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.
And I can sympathize and I can see how you'd think that's a common position, or that's my position by calling your zoomorphism not generally furry. I can't talk for everybody, but I can talk from my POV.
I am not fearful that someone may think I like to have sex in fursuit. Or that I have a zoomorphic identity like the one you describe. That's something people can do, or can have, happily and healthily, and I'm glad people enjoy it. It's just not what a large amount of people do in the furry fandom, so it makes it factually incorrect to say the furry fandom does it, or the furry fandom is this.
Artistic expressions or cultural tendencies have particular staples that go beyond the nomenclature. So the furry is, as defined, a cultural tendency centered on animal anthropomorphics, but in a sense that is common in those who practice it. So for example about 20 - 25% furry fans define themselves as MLP fans, that is enough to say many furries enjoy MLP. But not enough to say furries are MLP fans. That statement would be false. So no, the furry fandom is not about MLP.
Nuka's statistics show some of the most widely thought-of-as-furry components of the fandom are art, sense of community, and internet activity. [adjective][species] surveys also shows art as one of the most 'prevalent' component of the fandom. So talking about furry in those terms is accurate. Doing otherwise, not so much, thus the 'that's your personal experience' rebuttal. Sex consistently scores low on the general furries' priorities too; as much as someone could have a sexual identity that is unmistakably animal anthropomorphic, that's not what furry fandom is about, in the general sense. But it can very well be in how they live it themselves.
Zoomorph, zoomorphic identity, sounds about right. I'd be cautious in calling it categorically furry. You said:
And I can sympathize and I can see how you'd think that's a common position, or that's my position by calling your zoomorphism not generally furry. I can't talk for everybody, but I can talk from my POV.
I am not fearful that someone may think I like to have sex in fursuit. Or that I have a zoomorphic identity like the one you describe. That's something people can do, or can have, happily and healthily, and I'm glad people enjoy it. It's just not what a large amount of people do in the furry fandom, so it makes it factually incorrect to say the furry fandom does it, or the furry fandom is this.
Artistic expressions or cultural tendencies have particular staples that go beyond the nomenclature. So the furry is, as defined, a cultural tendency centered on animal anthropomorphics, but in a sense that is common in those who practice it. So for example about 20 - 25% furry fans define themselves as MLP fans, that is enough to say many furries enjoy MLP. But not enough to say furries are MLP fans. That statement would be false. So no, the furry fandom is not about MLP.
Nuka's statistics show some of the most widely thought-of-as-furry components of the fandom are art, sense of community, and internet activity. [adjective][species] surveys also shows art as one of the most 'prevalent' component of the fandom. So talking about furry in those terms is accurate. Doing otherwise, not so much, thus the 'that's your personal experience' rebuttal. Sex consistently scores low on the general furries' priorities too; as much as someone could have a sexual identity that is unmistakably animal anthropomorphic, that's not what furry fandom is about, in the general sense. But it can very well be in how they live it themselves.