It is weird.. About 20 years ago, minors were not welcome and really young ones were put into a "daycare" sort of facility. We didn't have teenagers running around interacting with a mostly adult audience. The dealer's dens and artist alley's have always been full of material that's intended for adults. room parties have always been full of booze, sometimes illicit substances.
Conventions then were geared towards adults. We knew what we were, and the only people who challenged our identity were people that for some reason wanted the world to know that they were a fox deep down inside...
Now that we're in mainstream media constantly, everyone wants to join in. We've had to shift our behaviorisms and the way we meet to accommodate teenagers. Now it seems like every other week I get a drama story on my twitter timeline about some grooming incident or something or another. Really kinda sick of it. That's why I blame the zoomer generation. Even then, it's not all their fault.
Yeah, we played defense a lot. Furry is much different in 2023 than what it was in 2003. Crush Yiff Destroy, Encyclopedia Dramatica, etc were all very prominent. We were put in the limelight on television.. Tyra Banks, CSI etc. We didn't have this "super cuddly friendly" front that we have now.
I much preferred the fandom to be limited to adults. Just look at our art websites. Most of our material is GEARED for adults. It disturbs me greatly when I join discord servers that have a blend of adults and teenagers chatting with eachother. It's highly irresponsible and a farcry from our societal norms back in the IRC days. It really do be a bunch of tip-toeing now.
It is weird.. About 20 years ago, minors were not welcome and really young ones were put into a "daycare" sort of facility. We didn't have teenagers running around interacting with a mostly adult audience. The dealer's dens and artist alley's have always been full of material that's intended for adults. room parties have always been full of booze, sometimes illicit substances.
Conventions then were geared towards adults. We knew what we were, and the only people who challenged our identity were people that for some reason wanted the world to know that they were a fox deep down inside...
Now that we're in mainstream media constantly, everyone wants to join in. We've had to shift our behaviorisms and the way we meet to accommodate teenagers. Now it seems like every other week I get a drama story on my twitter timeline about some grooming incident or something or another. Really kinda sick of it. That's why I blame the zoomer generation. Even then, it's not all their fault.
Yeah, we played defense a lot. Furry is much different in 2023 than what it was in 2003. Crush Yiff Destroy, Encyclopedia Dramatica, etc were all very prominent. We were put in the limelight on television.. Tyra Banks, CSI etc. We didn't have this "super cuddly friendly" front that we have now.
I much preferred the fandom to be limited to adults. Just look at our art websites. Most of our material is GEARED for adults. It disturbs me greatly when I join discord servers that have a blend of adults and teenagers chatting with eachother. It's highly irresponsible and a farcry from our societal norms back in the IRC days. It really do be a bunch of tip-toeing now.