Plushies, on the other hand, ARE indeed perverts. shudder
Excellent point, rjung. My experience is limited to having a furry as a former roommate and attending sci-fi cons in which furry fandom had a visible presence. I am therefore biased. (My first exposure, if you will, to furry fandom was coming home from school one day to find about a dozen or so men of various ages, in various states of undress and bodily hygiene, sprawled out in a pile on my living room floor engaged in very heavy petting accompanied by animal sounds. Not the best first impression, I greant you. Especially the hygiene part.)
I guess my definition of a furry fan has a lot to do with people who seek out other furry fans in public and publicly identify as a furry fan. They are the public face of furry fandom. If there are other people who are in furry fandom who want to divorce furry fandom from it’s sexual connotations, as the writer of the article would apparently like to do to some degree or another, they are going to have to be a heck of a lot more visible. So far, of the dozen or so people I know personally who identify themselves as furry fans, only one has made it a point to say that he is not associated with sexual aspects. That’s less than ten percent by my calculations.
Again, I am not attempting to say that I think furry fandom is bad for incorporating sexual themes and play into their appreciation of anthropomorphic art. It is not for me, but as long as we both respect our differences, I’ll be quite happy. Right now, the article writer is standing out like a lone voice in the wilderness.
(For what it is worth, I think a similar problem exists for the gay community, of which I identify as a member. Too many people outside of the community think being gay is all about sex. To a certain degree, I think we as a community are doing quite a bit to further that perception, something I’m not very happy about. I hope that I am countering that perception some by being a visible gay person who does not conform to the stereotypes. Is it doing the community any good? I dunno. Perhaps my colleagues think me an aberration. 
JOhn.
(BTW, and for the record, the “fur suit” thing is a new one for me. To me, the sexual aspects of furry fandom are anthropomorphic erotic art and playing like woodland creatures while engaged in sensual play. Entirely harmless, IMO. If the popular perception includes “fur suits” I guess I can understand the concern to some degree. That would be pretty far to one side of the mean, and people in general treat anything that different as wrong. That doesn’t make condemnation right, but it does make it something that can be understood and then effectively countered.)
If you want to dress up like animals and run around in the woods, that’s fine. You have a right to do that if you want to.
I reserve my right to point at you, laugh my ass off, and ridicule you for the ridiculous, unproductive, deviant way you choose to spend your time. Given the nature of this activity, I think people involved know this pretty much comes with the package.
-C
Skipped the article, did we?
Oh no, if you look at pictures of furry people, thats fine too. But you can keep that a secret, so my ability to point and laugh is limited.
It’s just the fur suitees that I’m really gonna bust a gut over.
-C
That whole thing with Cat Man and you Esprix. That was just umm… just “all business”, right?.. Right?:dubious:
Hell hath no furry like a wombat scorned.