# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/61 "2011-11-18T14:35:49Z")
> [@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. If they dress in a wolf suit while doing the killing, though … ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/62 "2011-11-18T14:46:27Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > If they dress in a wolf suit while doing the killing, though … I think that’s just “vore” gone awry? (Don’t image-search that. Better yet, don’t search it at all.) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/63 "2011-11-18T14:46:37Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I’m still not seeing the hate. > > “Thinks something is funny” =/= hate. You would be surprised at the level of feeling Furries evoke. I am active in Steampunk. On occasion we have a someone who asks about creating a Steampunk Furry character. There is always someone who reacts very badly to the suggestion that Furries can be allowed to play as well. (Me, I don’t care, and have pointed out The Isle of Dr. Moreau, Wonderland, The Wind in the Willows, and a number of other sources for Pseudo-Victorian anthropomorphic influences. it stil doesn’t matter.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/64 "2011-11-18T14:55:27Z")
I’d like to see a Venn comparing the opinions on furries with those expressed in the shaved porn/unshaved porn thread. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/65 "2011-11-18T14:59:43Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I think that’s just “vore” gone awry? > > (Don’t image-search that. Better yet, don’t search it at all.) Yeah, that stuff is pretty hard to swallow. 😉 ---
**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, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/66 "2011-11-18T15:03:45Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I am active in Steampunk. On occasion we have a someone who asks about creating a Steampunk Furry character. There is always someone who reacts very badly to the suggestion that Furries can be allowed to play as well. How would you respond if someone wanted a Klingon character? ---
**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, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/67 "2011-11-18T15:10:12Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > You would be surprised at the level of feeling Furries evoke. > I am active in Steampunk. On occasion we have a someone who asks about creating a Steampunk Furry character. There is always someone who reacts very badly to the suggestion that Furries can be allowed to play as well. Yes but that’s because marginalized groups generally rush to marginalize someone else whenever they get the chance. I’m talking about hate within the general population who is not a member of any “fandom” thus feels no need to to defend the normalcy of their hobbies. I just don’t see average joes getting riled up about furries, if they’ve ever heard of them. (and that’s another thing: the tendency of fairly small groups of people with concentrated wierdness to be utterly certain that everyone is thinking about them all the time, and be mad about it. When actually no one cares.). BTW, the term “otherkin” just about makes me want to vomit, its so twee. Though there’s probably someone out there with a sexual fetish for vomiting on otherkin… sigh… rule 34 and all. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/68 "2011-11-18T15:12:58Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Back in the realm of sane people, most hotels where conventions are held, will say that the furry conventions are the least disruptive, and generally the cleanest. And that the attendees bathe regularly (no con funk). If all you’ve got going for you is that you don’t smell and won’t pull a Roger Daltrey on a hotel, I’m starting to see the lack of Furrie love… ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/69 "2011-11-18T15:14:53Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > If all you’ve got going for you is that you don’t smell and won’t pull a Roger Daltrey on a hotel, I’m starting to see the lack of Furrie love… Hey, at least they use the litter box. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/70 "2011-11-18T15:17:34Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > How would you respond if someone wanted a Klingon character? Sell me on it. Tell me the story of why your character looks like (or is) a Klingon. Are you sure it’s not a Martian? Or a member of a lost warlike tribe from one of the blank areas of the map? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/71 "2011-11-18T15:25:33Z")
I suspect much of the uneasiness with furries, at least among folks who know what the heck they are, is that they appear to be taking a pursuit natural to reasonably young children (love of anthro animals) to what appears to be inappropriately adult lengths. Of course all fandom has a taste of that, but with stuff like Star Trek or comic book heroes, society at large has to an extend adjusted to the notion that adults are interested in that stuff, and in any event past-puberty teens always were interested in that stuff; the thought of an adult guy dressing like kirk and making out with an adult woman dressed as a green alien isn’t nearly so off-putting - after all, that happened on the show anyway :D. An X-rated Minnie Mouse is a bit more difficult to picture. People tend to associate anthro animals with the love they had for them when they were six, and sexualizing them, or worse seriously believing you _are_ them, seems odd and uncomfortable - much like those guys who like to dress up and be treated as babies for sex. That being said, of course who cares what others think of one’s fetish? It’s none of their business, really. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/72 "2011-11-18T15:51:16Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > 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. Have I invited you lately to bite me? Consider it a standing offer. ---
**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, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/73 "2011-11-18T15:59:26Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Have I invited you lately to bite me? Consider it a standing offer. Great, now we’re back to vore. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/74 "2011-11-18T16:00:25Z")
It bothers me that the furries who really believe they are an animal are never an unpopular animal. They’re always wolves or cats, you rarely find a spider or giraffe or prairie dog or grasshopper. There’s a fantasy book series I read where there’s a spell that takes your traits - cheerful, angsty, noble, etc. - and turns you into an animal with those traits. The well-liked main character becomes an otter. Playful, tricksy and nocturnal. I always liked that, most people would have labelled someone with those traits as a fox, but the author chose a lesser-known animal. The anti-hipster of furries. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/75 "2011-11-18T16:05:08Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Have I invited you lately to bite me? Consider it a standing offer. Oops. I could’ve sworn this was in the Pit. Apologies. ---
**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, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/76 "2011-11-18T16:06:59Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > 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. Well they do have horns. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/77 "2011-11-18T16:33:14Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Yes but that’s because marginalized groups generally rush to marginalize someone else whenever they get the chance. Sure, but the only place furries have a remotely active presence is the internet, of which 45% is made up of marginalized groups. The funniest thing I’ve seen to date regarding furry hate is the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fandom. The brony phenomenon and all that. (Stop laughing, let me explain.) Naturally, you would think a show about cute talking horses would draw some fans who identify as furry, and you’d be right. You might also think that simply liking a show about cute talking horses qualifies you as a furry, and you’d be pretty justified. You might also think that, the show being about friendship, it would attract a reasonably friendly and inclusive fandom, and…you’d be surprised. You would not believe the _hatred_ a good chunk of the fandom has for furries. It’s astonishing, really. Some folks, who really love the show, see absolutely nothing wrong with calling someone else a furfag. One fan site puts up a collection of pictures every day with links back to the sources, and if a source happens to be Furaffinity, which is like Deviantart for that niche, the howls and protests and jeering rise up instantly. It’s hypocrisy on a level I can’t even begin to imagine. As far as I can tell there’s no rational basis for it, it’s just that furries are The Hated Group, and if you don’t want to be painted as one you better hate them too. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/78 "2011-11-18T16:47:44Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > I was teasing! 🙂 I got that. 🙂 > [@](#): > > The difference between Star Wars geeks and furries is that at least Star Wars (or Marvel or whatever) is a defined ‘thing’. There are stories and people and movies and whatever. > > It’s not just ‘dressing up like animals’ or ‘mixing animal and human characteristics’. But there are anthro and funny animal media going back just about to the beginning of the time. Reynard the Fox, Br’er Rabbit, Aesop’s tales, Micky Mouse, the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz (and many more from the books), etc etc etc. There’s no ‘canon’ like Star Wars or Star Trek, but there’s no ‘canon’ for science fiction or fantasy fans either. Furry fans are generally a subset of that. There are certain media that most furry fans enjoy, just like there are certain media that most scifi fans enjoy. > [@MeanOldLady](#): > > 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. I can’t argue with that. On the other hand, I’ve never heard of any real people actually having sex while in a full costume (those things are fucking _hot_ and expensive.) > [@Incubus](#): > > 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. But people could say the same thing about gay people (for the record, I’m not saying that being a furry fan is the same as being gay.) > [@Malthus](#): > > I suspect much of the uneasiness with furries, at least among folks who know what the heck they are, is that they appear to be taking a pursuit natural to reasonably young children (love of anthro animals) to what appears to be inappropriately adult lengths. I can agree with this. Most of the other large fandoms are centered around things aimed at older groups. The only one I can think of right now are My Little Ponies (all the bronies), and that mostly just gets incomprehension from outsiders. Perhaps Harry Potter - there are a LOT of adult fans who enjoy analyzing it and partaking in the various related media, but that is aimed at teenagers. But the only knowledge the average person has of furries, is that CSI episode, which presents no more of a realistic view than it does of, well, science. But because of that, we’re stereotyped as people who dress up like animals and have sex (which again, if it happens at all doesn’t happen often - the fursuits are HOT, expensive, and usually have poor visibility from inside. Ask anybody who’s worked as a mascot if they’d like to engage in strenuous physical activity while wearing one of those). Admittedly most of the internet hate was spread by 4chan and SomethingAwful and has a slightly more varied picture, but still assume that it’s perverted. In case you all can’t tell this is one of my pet peeves (_sigh_ :rolleyes: no pun intended). I would like to emphasize, again, that there is not necessarily a sexual component to being a furry, any more than there is for being a Trekkie, or a brony, or a fan of any of the thousands of other things that don’t have nicknames. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/79 "2011-11-18T16:49:08Z")
I don’t understand the whole idea of “fandom.” What does that even mean, a fandom that is inclusive? Or being active in the \_\_\_\_ scene. I like My Little Pony fine, but I don’t understand why it matters what the fans are like. Maybe I’m not enough of a joiner… ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/80 "2011-11-18T16:49:16Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > You might also think that simply liking a show about cute talking horses qualifies you as a furry, and you’d be pretty justified. Not really. If bronies liked the show _because_ it was about talking horses, _then_ you’d be justified, but in my experience they don’t. Liking a good show that happens to be about talking horses doesn’t make you a furry any more than liking _Shinobi_ makes you a fan of star-crossed lovers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=5)