Another good webcomic is Kevin & Kell.
Terrifel, the convention I work with in Chicago has a furry puppet show as part of its regular programming.
freekalette, I’ve got a lady friend who knows I’m into furry. She actually came to my convention one year, and wasn’t at all put off by the “weirdos”. I’m not into fursuiting or any of the more sexual aspects of furrydom, so it didn’t really affect our relationship.
One of my friends is a furry. His boyfriend is also a furry (I believe they met through some online groups, or at a convention… one or the other) and they are also into some BDSM.
When I hang out in some of the IRC groups I’m a panther. Well I’ve always been more or less cat-like (I move really quietly, can sleep in many places and in weird positions that people think are uncomfortable, I can even hiss, meow and purr good enough to fool real cats…). But I’m basically a fan. I like shows, I have a few interesting pictures saved. Mainly I got into what I am in because of said friend. One of these years I’ll get down to Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Fur Con and we’ll get to hang out.
Tigers have wings?
I don’t want to foster a reputation for “me too” posts, but as a fellow sexual minority of sorts (I’m openly pansexual), I just want to QFT this to show support for Silver Tyger Girl and the other furries here. To the furry-basher nuts out there: Yeah, it’s weird, and yeah, some furries on the Internet are into even weirder shit, but what the hell skin off your knees is it?
As far as that “bottom of the heap” thing goes, it is my opinion that the obsession with Star Trek and the writing of pedophilic fanfics are way below furry fandom.
And as far as ignorance-fighting goes, I had no idea until today that there were furries who weren’t into it as a fetish. What’s the point of applying a condescending label to yourself just for enjoying cartoons with animal characters? If that’s the definition of a “furry”, I’m just about the only person I know who isn’t a furry.
Interesting. I always thought it was mainly a sexual thing too. Anytime I see a group of people so fixated on fantasies, I assume there’s a boner behind it somewhere. But, I see it doesn’t have to be a sexual or arousing thing.
Bosstone: I do see a difference between enjoying an anthropomorphized character, because of the perspective it offers, and fantasizing about becoming an anthropomorphized character because you gain security or arousal from it. I’m of the former, as I enjoy many animations and at least one book of which I can think (Watership Down). In essence, I like to hear of Hazel’s story as told through him, I don’t actually wish to become him in some form. But, hey, to each their own.
One question: It seems the majority of “furries” evoke a feline or canine image. Why do you think that might be?
Oh, so the difference is that a furry has a particular animal that s/he wishes s/he could become?
That’s really no weirder than other transmutation fantasies, like the switch-bodies-for-a-day thing that was in a Jamie Lee Curtis movie, the magic-sex-change-for-a-day folks, and, well, I’m blanking out since I’m no expert on transmogrification, but I’m sure there are a lot of them out there that don’t get nearly as much negative attention as furries.
A question for the furries:
Did any of you see that C.S.I. episode about the furry convention? How did it make you feel? Did it portray furry culture accurately in any way?
I think that’s the difference. There’s probably more subtlety to it than that. Perhaps, STG can shed some more light on what it is to be a furry?
I’m also seeing a difference between dressing up as someone from a particular franchise, as a fan… not unlike dressing up in a costume for halloween, and inventing a furry-esque identity of yourself that isn’t tied to any established work of fiction. Maybe it’s a small distinction, but I’m getting a vibe of different motives at work behind the two. Also, I’m sure there’s some overlap there as well… I’ll bet there are people out there that really wish they actually were Klingon sometimes.
I’m not sure if this is earnestly asked or a leading question, but I would presume they’re the most common. People grow up with cats and dogs around them, after all.
About a decade ago, maybe more than, I was heavily involved in a Sonic the Hedgehog online roleplaying game. My personal character was a bear. I’ve always identified with the strong protective character archetype (I typically play Paladins or other buff melee characters in RPGs), and in that setting a bear was the most suitable representation of that archetype. Around the same time, on a Star Wars game, I played a Wookiee. Which of these is weirder? I see them about the same, myself.
I suppose I’m not the best spokesperson for this particular fandom, as I’m not as heavily involved with it as others, but it’s not nearly as inscrutable or alien as some folks make it seem. It’s just the same as any other geekdom. Hell, if you’ve ever imagined yourself playing for your favorite sports team, or being the lead singer or guitarist in a rock band, it’s not that much different. (To head off the reality/fiction argument, a world in which a fantasy like playing for your favorite sports team is a possibility is usually as fictional as a world in which Jedi or anthro animals exist. 
)
Heck, if that makes you a furry, sign up my whole family, sort of. Our lastname means “wolf” so we kind’a identify with them. The Nephew will be 3yo in October and he already gets upset whenever the Big Bad Wolf gets killed at the end of a tale 
I suppose the point I’m trying to dance around is that you don’t have to be some ultra-committed fetishistic weirdo to be considered a furry, any more than you need to dress up in stormtrooper armor and make your SO wear a Leia costume to be considered a Star Wars fan.
(I’m probably not doing furries any favors by repeatedly invoking Star Wars, but it’s my personal fandom and I find it easiest to draw parallels that way.)
Oh no, it was asked earnestly. I just wasn’t sure if there are certain animals that are sort of looked down on in the furry world. Like, “Oh shit, did you know that Frank chose a tapir? What a creep.”
I did notice some seals (and other animals) though in one of the links freekalette posted. But for the most part, it seems it’s big cats, foxes, or wolves.
Anyway, I’ve never really fantasized being much of anything I’m a fan of, and I’m a huge consumer of music and big entertainment. I admit I don’t really get it, but I don’t look down on it at all, just more off-to-the-side like. 
Although, if it’s a geeking-out thing, what is it they’re geeking-out about? Just animals in general? Becoming an animal? Does it have to be anthro?*
*Sorry about all the questions, but then again, this is the Dope.
I gather that, like any fandom, there’s a variety of different takes on being a furry:
Some people just enjoy anthropomorphic art and stories.
Some like to roleplay as anthropomorphic animals. A subset of this group carries the roleplay over to their sex lives.
There are also those who have sort of a totemic take on the whole thing–identifying with a specific type of animal and the traits it symbolizes, both good and bad. Having such a model sometimes helps people to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses more clearly, and to use that awareness to their benefit.
Undoubtedly there are more variations I haven’t seen, since I’m not involved in furry fandom. I basically fall in the first group, at least the edges of it–I like pretty pictures and interesting stories, although I don’t often seek out furry works in particular. It seems to me that good anthropomorphic art is more challenging in some ways than art involving only normal humans, since the artist can’t always rely on readable human expressions to convey emotion.
I see. It’s probably not so much as about choosing the animal, as it is the animal that chooses you.
A. Abie fantasizes that he is one of the Thundercats, but he keeps it to himself.
B. Bebe and her partner like to imagine that they are muskrats when they make love.
C. Cecil is only aroused when his partner wears a wookie costume.
D. Deedee’s Second Life avatar is an anthropomorphic three-toed sloth.
E. Edie goes to parties where everyone dresses like their favorite woodland creature, but all they do there is play whist.
F. Effie enjoys funny animal cartoons more than any other kind of movie.
Are they all furries? Are any of them furries? Would a furry have to exhibit some combination of two or more of these behaviors? Or is it a self-identification thing - if they want to call themselves furries, that’s what they are.
I sorta wonder if I am some sort of furry-ish person. See, I like bees, a lot.
I have several pictures drawn by a friend of me as an anthro bee (and I keep getting more…I really like them, and this is just a small sample. :)) and I am also sorta in her webcomic as the main character’s bee companion (as shown here ). So, are bees furry enough? Or am I weird even than those considered to be really weird? 
Are catgirls furries? Because I’m not sure if I am one or not. I wore cat ears and a collar with a bell at this year’s Anime Expo, but I was just doing it as a form of cosplay, not really because I have any burning desire to be a cat. I have a couple of questions:
Do “real” furries look down on catgirls/catboys and other casual animal cosplayers as mere dabblers?
Does it count as yiff if I wear the aforementioned cat accessories during sex? Also whether or not my partner were to be in animal costume as well?
Please don’t think I’m being stupid, I genuinely want to know. After all, aren’t we here to fight ignorance?
I’m sorta halfway around the block from ‘furry’ culture, in that I have a somewhat to moderately personality affinity for reptiles, especially larger lizards–I can calm down and handle almost any of the bigger exotic-pet type ones (Bearded dragons, uryomastyxes, plated lizards, etc.) regardless of what their owners or the pet store employees think of their personality problems.
Beyond that, I tend to be emotionally undemonstrative unless I’m actively trying to intimidate or impress someone (and then it’s over the top, my wife refers to it as my threat display and taunts me when we see, for example, an anole displaying its neck flap thinger I can’t remember the name of.), and I like to curl up in sunbeams on cool days.
Some of the really fursuit-sexual types creep me out in the same way any other extreme variant of fandom creeps me out, but for the most part I live and let live. I don’t think it matters, for example, whether someone thinks I’m a furry, I have an animal soul (most people in such communities online pin “dragon” on me), or whether they just (mainstream view) think I’m a big sunbeam-lovin’ guy with a knack for lizards and a somewhat off-center emotional response curve.
I think part of the stigma is that “furry” tends to refer in the mainstream to the sexualized fursuit/yiff portion of the culture, whereas the other big label I’ve seen tossed around is “otherkin” for people who identify with animal or mythological beings (in extreme cases, claiming to posses the reincarnated soul of one) but don’t really attach any sexuality to it. There’s also a healthy degree of weirded-out attached to people like the one guy who’s getting progressive degrees of facial surgery, including whisker implants, to look more like a cat. At the same time, people who just draw anthropomorphic characters and enjoy them tend not to ping most people’s furry radar–as said above, by that rationale every Disney fan is a furry.
So I’m not sure where the line is or the definitions are, and I personally react by avoiding the whole label.
Obligatory link to the Geek Hierarchy. Furries aren’t quite the bottom of the heap. 
The saddest part is the bottom box isn’t made up. I try to respect fandoms, or at least not deride them unnecessarily, but there’s some stuff that’s just pure wankery.
ETA: I take it back. The saddest part is that, even in the unabridged heirarchy, I’ve been in nearly all those boxes at one time or another. (I have two replicas of fictional swords, and I want more!) Thankfully I stay toward the upper half most of the time. 