# Why the hatred for furries? (aka: Can't we all just get along?) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255 "2011-11-17T19:10:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/41 "2011-11-18T02:22:46Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > That’s otherkin - they can also think they’re an elf or an angel or whatever. And there’s otakukin who believe they’re really a Saiyin from Dragonball Z or a Navi from Avatar or whatever. I love otakukin. I can’t remember when I first heard of them. Just when ya think the human mind can’t get any stranger . . . ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/42 "2011-11-18T03:39:24Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > But I’ve found that the people who hate furries can’t be convinced that there are furry fans that are normal. I’m willing to believe there are furries who don’t go to conventions and pretend to have animal spirits, but I have a hard time believing there’s a dude who bangs his girlfriend in a wolf costume who is normal. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/43 "2011-11-18T03:42:23Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Beast… they only made him look catlike 10 years ago. Anyone who knows the character from before then or knows him from the movies would be going by the non-furry version of the character. Uh, what? He was first furry WAY before that. AND, he was furry in the only movie in which he was front and center with lines. As for the topic, I think of course you’re gonna look down on furries if you think that it’s mostly, or even half, about sex or spirituality. But from what I can tell, at least from my friends in the fandom, it’s not, at least not for a majority (though that’s a total WAG, pun not intended). ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/44 "2011-11-18T04:08:45Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Uh, what? He was first furry WAY before that. AND, he was furry in the only movie in which he was front and center with lines. It should have been obvious from the context that I was referring to “furry” as in “furry fandom” and not as in “possessing fur-like hair”. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/45 "2011-11-18T04:18:01Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > It should have been obvious from the context that I was referring to “furry” as in “furry fandom” and not as in “possessing fur-like hair”. Your clarification has confused me. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/46 "2011-11-18T04:26:14Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Your clarification has confused me. Nightcrawler possesses fur-like hair, but otherwise has no resemblance to an animal - next to his swashbuckling personality, teleportation and demonic appearance, his fur is practically an afterthought. He’s the second type of “furry” but not the first. An anthromorphic lizard does not possess fur but might be heavily defined by the traits of the base animal. He would be the first type of “furry” but not the second. Understand now? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/47 "2011-11-18T04:59:22Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Nightcrawler possesses fur-like hair, but otherwise has no resemblance to an animal - next to his swashbuckling personality, teleportation and demonic appearance, his fur is practically an afterthought. He’s the second type of “furry” but not the first. I see your point with Nightcrawler (I’m not even sure if he’s really “furry” - in either sense of the word - in canon. In the movie, he had blue skin, not fur), but the guy you were responding to was talking about Beast. I’m hard pressed to see an argument that [this guy](http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictures/individuals/b_3d/beast.gif) is some how “less furry,” even in a fandom sense, than [she is](http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/news/comic-news/2tigra111605.jpg). It also seems to me that the definition of whether a particular character is “furry” or not is something decided by people within that fandom, and not imposed by some external taxonomy. Do furries consider Nightcrawler “one of theirs?” ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/48 "2011-11-18T05:17:26Z")
_waves paw in the air_ I’m an anthromorphic in Second Life. Think catwoman with tiger fur. Second Life is a big chatroom and most people want to cyber as soon as they meet someone. I’m there because I have friends to chat with and I make money. (only about 300 a month, but I don’t work as hard as I could) The reason I’m an anthro is because I’m too furry for humans and too human for furries. On those times that I go out dancing with my partner of over 4 years, I go human. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/49 "2011-11-18T06:21:34Z")
> [@Dr.Righteous](#): > > Well, according to [this chart](http://brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html)Furries are at the very bottom of the pile. . . . I couldn’t get it to load, but if it’s the chart I think it is…I occupy every single level of it! ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/50 "2011-11-18T06:52:33Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > . . . People conflate furries who dress up with furries who are perverts, and ignore the furries who don’t dress up and just like things like Bugs Bunny, the Land Before Time (talking animals count!), Pokemon, and everything else. Very true; I’ve been a furry since fur was new (I came within an ace of naming it! Alas, I was calling it “Fuzzy Fandom” in that dim, dim time, and so the palm, according to furry historian Fred Patten, goes to Australian fan Craig Hilton. I missed fame by that much!) I don’t do furry costuming. (I do some other costuming, so I’m still definitely a nerd!) > [@](#): > > Plus furry fandom is very accepting of strange fetishes, weird preferences, and generally attracts odd people. . . . To me, it’s an art style. It’s like Art Deco, or Picasso-derived cubism, or WWII Bomber Nose-Art. It’s a kind of art that some people like, and other people don’t. It seems as absurd to go out of one’s way to hate furries as to hate Picasso fans. What a waste of time! > [@](#): > > . . . I like media like Thundercats, Disney’s Robin Hood, CJ Cherryh Chanur series, etc. When I was younger, I had a furry persona I used online - but at the time I was very into Thundercats fandom and we all had more-or-less fandom related personas. I like the aesthetics of anthropomorphic animals, at least the more humanoid ones. Disney’s Robin Hood was a big early influence on a lot of us! I was also given a huge nudge by Cordwainer Smith’s C’Mell. Also, the Egyptian Gods – Bast and Horus and all – were an inspiration to many. And, of course, the comics field got into it in a big way in the great Black and White Explosion of the 1980’s. (And Usagi Yojimbo is still going strong!) > [@](#): > > When you’re a teenager and you feel like a freak anyway, furry fandom is welcoming. Admittedly, it tends to encourage any strangeness you’re into, but so can the goth, emo, or other subcultures popular with teenagers. Very true; I’ve never seen anyone turned away from a Furry Party at a convention for being too “into it.” “Furry” is a vast, broad, diverse, intriguing sub-genre of the arts. If someone doesn’t like it, well, no big deal. I don’t like heavy metal rock and roll, but I don’t go around hating people who do like it! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/51 "2011-11-18T07:54:27Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I disagree. They aren’t unfairly misunderstood, because there’s not much to ‘misunderstand’ about goofballs who get off dressing up in animal costumes. > > And they aren’t unfairly maligned, because… there’s nothing unfair about it. Or, what could have been said just a few years ago: I disagree. They aren’t unfairly misunderstood, because there’s not much to ‘misunderstand’ about goofballs who get off by looking at people of the same sex. And they aren’t unfairly maligned, because… there’s nothing unfair about it. Either what people get off on is none of your business, or it’s okay to be a homophobe. Take your pick. You can’t have both. ---
**Author:** ![gatorslap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gatorslap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gatorslap)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/52 "2011-11-18T09:35:31Z")
I’m not a furry in any way, but I love furries. I find them highly amusing and fun to be around. I have met the “normal” types and the uber-fetishy, full lifestyle types, and everything in between. They all get my seal of approval. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/53 "2011-11-18T09:57:51Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I don’t do furry costuming. (I do some other costuming, so I’m still definitely a nerd!) I have friends who are furries, one has her furry persona based on some cartoon mouse that dresses like I Dream of Jeannie, can’t remember the name of the original toon offhand. She already has her fur suit, I just make costuming for a roughly 5’6" female mouse 😕 I don’t claim to understand it, nor do I understand my fellow historical re-enactors who seem to feel like they are their personas, or people who want to be any sort of fictional character. I don’t wear fangs, or my renaissance gowns other than at events unless it is Halloween … ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/54 "2011-11-18T11:34:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m hard pressed to see an argument that [this guy](http://www.marveldirectory.com/pictures/individuals/b_3d/beast.gif) is some how “less furry,” even in a fandom sense, than [she is](http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/news/comic-news/2tigra111605.jpg). To quote the wiki about Tigra… > [@](#): > > Tumolo and the Cat People (that’s humanoids magically evolved from cats) mystically transformed her into the legendary half-human, half-cat warrior they called the Tigra. As Tigra, Nelson helped the Cat People defeat the HYDRA agents. > > Although she was able to use the cat’s-head amulet to change back to her human form, Nelson became so accustomed to and enamored of her feline form that she seldom made the transformation. In other words Tigra isn’t just an anthromorphic cat in the same way Disney’s Robin Hood is an anthromorphic fox, _the character is practically a member of the furry fandom herself_. Beast, OTOH, is a biophysicist who accidentally made himself look like a monster - not a catman or a wolfman or any other animalman, but a hunched, blue-furred man with teeth and claws. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/55 "2011-11-18T12:51:42Z")
I’m still not seeing the hate. “Thinks something is funny” =/= hate. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/56 "2011-11-18T12:58:56Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I’m still not seeing the hate. > > “Thinks something is funny” =/= hate. I’ve seen plenty of people express hatred for furries, often quite extreme. Some I think are joking, but some I think aren’t. I think you’ll probably see the level of hatred openly expressed die down when one of the people who _aren’t_ joking shows up at a furry convention and kills a half dozen or so people. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/57 "2011-11-18T13:21:42Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > The fewer “thems” one is allowed to dislike, the stronger their dislike will be for the ones remaining. I dispute this. It was all the rage to openly call black people subhuman in 1930s Germany, but they _really_ went to town on the Jews. Choose any era prior to the last 30/40-or-so years and you’ll find that open hatred of certain groups did nothing to diminish the vicious unpleasantness towards others. And vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/58 "2011-11-18T13:53:58Z")
I think the hate for furries stems from the fact that some of them have a huge persecution complex about it, and they can be really vocal about it. Realistically, nobody cares about furries one way or another. But they often make themselves a huge target about it. Often, people get teased not for what they like, but how open they are about things in socially inapprpriate settings. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/59 "2011-11-18T14:28:22Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I’ve seen plenty of people express hatred for furries, often quite extreme. Some I think are joking, but some I think aren’t. I think you’ll probably see the level of hatred openly expressed die down when one of the people who _aren’t_ joking shows up at a furry convention and kills a half dozen or so people. oooookay. If you say so. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/60 "2011-11-18T14:32:21Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I dispute this. It was all the rage to openly call black people subhuman in 1930s Germany, but they _really_ went to town on the Jews. OK, hey now. I mean, sure we all have unkempt beards and popping chest hair that would make a Greek salesman weep with envy. But to equate Jews with furries? Well that’s just going too far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=4)