# 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:** 5
**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, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/81 "2011-11-18T16:53:06Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > 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… 😕 A fandom is a community that happens to be based around a creative work. You can like said creative work and not be a part of the community, or you can go on message boards and talk about it and thus be a part of the community. A fandom has general attitudes, particularly ones centered around particular websites, like the Straight Dope has a community. What’s hard to get about that? > [@Grumman](#): > > 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. That seems an awfully thin rationalization to me, to be honest, but I’m not going to chase that argument down. ---
**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, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/82 "2011-11-18T16:55:20Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > 😕 It’s a community based around an interest. It’s a fandom when it’s a community based around a creative work. What’s hard to get about that? I get that…but the whole idea of a fandom being inclusive (or exclusive). I mean, how can a group of people affect how you enjoy a show? ---
**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, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/83 "2011-11-18T17:32:20Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I get that…but the whole idea of a fandom being inclusive (or exclusive). I mean, how can a group of people affect how you enjoy a show? You have people who like the same thing to discuss it with, instead of spouting about how cool that episode was!!! to people who don’t care and wish you would shut up about it. Also, there’s fanfiction to write, which may inspire your own, and fanart, music mixes, etc etc. You can build an energy with other people. You may not get as excited about things you like as other people and that’s fine. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/84 "2011-11-18T17:52:53Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > They’re who internet losers like to take a shit on to feel better about themselves. > > If someone viciously hates furries, there’s also good odds they hang out on 4chan. Whaaaaat? Cite? Oh, wait… > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > they need to be purged with fire. Every last one of them. The furries I mean. …nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/85 "2011-11-18T18:11:17Z")
> [@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 Hi there! Granted, I much prefer Lola Bunny. > [@Hello\_Again](#): > > 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. [rule34.paheal.net/](http://rule34.paheal.net/) - SFW as long as one doesn’t venture past the linked page - is practically devoted to furry fandom and attracts the occasional derogatory comment. 'Course, I have no idea what, if any, fandom those who posts such comments are part of. > [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > > [@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.) “Fur fags” seems to be the most common derogative comment I’ve seen, on the above site and at YouTube. Remember [the Orangina commercial linked here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10141837&postcount=194)? ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/86 "2011-11-18T18:16:10Z")
> [@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. These things aren’t comparable, nobody is born a furry. ---
**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, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/87 "2011-11-18T18:17:04Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > To quote the wiki about Tigra… > > 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. Honestly, I don’t see how that makes a difference. They’re both fur covered humanoids. The backstory of how they got like that doesn’t strike me as hugely relevant. It’s the aesthetic, I would think, that counts, not the plot. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/88 "2011-11-18T18:20:05Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [the Orangina commercial linked here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10141837&postcount=194)? Whoa, that’s that weird part of the Internet again. ---
**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, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/89 "2011-11-18T18:59:00Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > Hi there! Granted, I much prefer Lola Bunny. > [rule34.paheal.net/](http://rule34.paheal.net/) - SFW as long as one doesn’t venture past the linked page - is practically devoted to furry fandom and attracts the occasional derogatory comment. Yeah this essentially proves my point that there is no massed “hatred” for furries amongst the general population. A site devoted to furriness gets an “occaisional” rude comment. I can’t follow the link (its blocked) but I assume that to even find that site you have to have some idea of what furries are (or at the very least, know what “Rule 34” refers to). It’s not like it appeared in “Newsweek.” Here at the SDMB we get the ocacisional rude comment as well, usually during school breaks and generally alleging we’re all a bunch of teh ghey fagz for caring about grammar. Does that equal “hatred” of people who are against poor comma placement? Clearly, it does not. Most of the English-speaking universe doesn’t even know we exist. Much like furries. However if what “hatred” means to you is “a couple people on the internet once said something mean about it”… wow. Yeah, ok. Have fun with that. I literally cannot think of any subject so innocuous, widespread, and wholesome that it is not subject to “occaisional derogatory remarks” on the internet. ---
**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, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/90 "2011-11-18T19:02:16Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > I get that…but the whole idea of a fandom being inclusive (or exclusive). I mean, how can a group of people affect how you enjoy a show? Well, obviously nobody else is going to tell you what shows you’re allowed to watch or not. But it’s certainly possible for a given community to make newbies or people with “undesirable” traits feel unwelcome (hence exclusive), or accept anyone who wants to be a part of the community regardless of their personal preferences (hence inclusive). I’m a fan of the show Castle, but I don’t go to Castle-specific boards to talk about the show, so I’m not a part of whatever Castle-based communities might be out there. > [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [rule34.paheal.net/](http://rule34.paheal.net/) - SFW as long as one doesn’t venture past the linked page - is practically devoted to furry fandom and attracts the occasional derogatory comment. 'Course, I have no idea what, if any, fandom those who posts such comments are part of. …You seriously linked to a rule 34 site? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/91 "2011-11-18T19:17:49Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Yeah this essentially proves my point that there is no massed “hatred” for furries amongst the general population. A site devoted to furriness gets an “occaisional” rude comment. I can’t follow the link (its blocked) but I assume that to even find that site you have to have some idea of what furries are (or at the very least, know what “Rule 34” refers to). It’s not like it appeared in “Newsweek.” > > Here at the SDMB we get the ocacisional rude comment as well, usually during school breaks and generally alleging we’re all a bunch of teh ghey fagz for caring about grammar. Does that equal “hatred” of people who are against poor comma placement? Clearly, it does not. Most of the English-speaking universe doesn’t even know we exist. Much like furries. > > However if what “hatred” means to you is “a couple people on the internet once said something mean about it”… wow. Yeah, ok. Have fun with that. I literally cannot think of any subject so innocuous, widespread, and wholesome that it is not subject to “occaisional derogatory remarks” on the internet. I noticed you ignored the part about YouTube. Try following the Orangina link over there and read the comments. > [@Bosstone](#): > > …You seriously linked to a rule 34 site? :smack: Not the first time I linked that site, either, given that it meets the two-click rule. 🙂 ---
**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, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/92 "2011-11-18T19:39:27Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > [rule34.paheal.net/](http://rule34.paheal.net/) - SFW as long as one doesn’t venture past the linked page - is practically devoted to furry fandom and attracts the occasional derogatory comment. 'Course, I have no idea what, if any, fandom those who posts such comments are part of. (link removed just to be safe) I never thought of that site as furry specific. I mostly use it to see what weird shit people have sexualized (gender-switched Ronald McDonald with giant tits? _ **WTF?!!** _) and to see if someone has applied rule 34 to whatever random thing I’ve thought of (usually yes, if you define porn as topless pin-up) > [@Hello\_Again](#): > > However if what “hatred” means to you is “a couple people on the internet once said something mean about it”… wow. Yeah, ok. Have fun with that. I literally cannot think of any subject so innocuous, widespread, and wholesome that it is not subject to “occaisional derogatory remarks” on the internet. I’m not about go to searching on SomethingAwful, but they regularly have stuff dedicated to putting down anything related to furry fandom. Random thread from [www.customerssuck.com](http://www.customerssuck.com/board/showthread.php?t=83599) that relates: > [@](#): > > My mom knows I’m a furry, since me, my older sister, and my little brother are all furries! I’m more into it for the fact I like to write and read, my sister likes to sew, and I’m not sure about my brother. > Anyways! > Unfortunately I was over heard by some middle aged woman, looked to be older than my mom cue this conversation. > > W:Woman > Mom:Mommy dearest. > W: You let your daughter dress up as an animal and f\*\*\* animals?! > Mom&Me: ??? > Mom: As far as I’m aware, my daughter doesn’t do that stuff with animals.(I have been teased over the years cause I love to hang on animals XD) > W: How do you know that?! She’s a disgusting person who is going to burn in hell! Note, this was not some random person on the internet hating on someone, this was a customer overhearing another customer and butting in. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/93 "2011-11-18T19:59:32Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > It’s not like it appeared in “Newsweek.” How about [Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2001/03/furries200103)? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/94 "2011-11-18T20:00:42Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I never thought of that site as furry specific. Not furry specific, no, but it kinda skews that way. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/95 "2011-11-18T20:30:21Z")
My guess, based on the places that I hang out, is that the furry fandom is perceived (accurately or not) to be more “abnormal” than whatever Thing That We Like. Sort of a whole: “Okay, yeah, we may be nerds, but at least we’re not FREAKS like THOSE PEOPLE!” sort of thing. In other words, furries are the nerds that even the nerds pick on. Me, meh, I find it a little weird that people make a fetish of adding on animal attributes or that they think of themselves as a Fearsome Tiger, but I do kind of see the appeal of both. Whatever, so long as everybody’s consenting and all that stuff. I worry about the psychological wellbeing of some of the deeper ends of the fandom pool, but I’ve got too much of my own baggage to have to deal with to bother with trying to pry into the skeletons in other people’s closets. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/96 "2011-11-18T21:26:27Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > These things aren’t comparable, nobody is born a furry. And this is relevant…how? Why does being born with a particular sexual interest (as opposed to developing it later as a result of exposure) make a difference as to whether hatred/bashing is permissible/understandable? ---
**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, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/97 "2011-11-18T21:42:07Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > And this is relevant…how? Why does being born with a particular sexual interest (as opposed to developing it later as a result of exposure) make a difference as to whether hatred/bashing is permissible/understandable? Ya, I thought the rule was not to make fun of people for things they can’t help (being gay, short, red-haired) but making fun of them for the stupid shit they do (being Republican, pretending you’re part leopard while fucking your girlfriend) was totally kosher. ---
**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, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/98 "2011-11-18T22:11:12Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I noticed you ignored the part about YouTube. Try following the Orangina link over there and read the comments. Try reading the comments on any Youtube video, ever. They aren’t exactly the top of the barrel. The 5th comment on “suprised kitten” – literally the most harmless video on the internet – is rather crass (“I find it easy to masturbate to this.”\*) Let me put this even more simply: nasty Comments about anything on Something Awful, 4chan, Youtube, or yahoo Answers do not prove that the anything is widely hated. It proves that you find assholes on the internet in all the traditional “assholes on the internet” stomping grounds. You still haven’t proved to me that the existence of assholes on the internet means that most or all people a)have heard of furries b)hate them, rather than think they are inoccuous yet funny if they have heard of them. \*I feel free in saying that anyone who is sexually aroused by actual videos of actual tiny kittens has a problem. ---
**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, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/99 "2011-11-18T22:13:10Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > How about [Vanity Fair](http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2001/03/furries200103)? Yes, I noticed the pure hate dripping from every inch of that article. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/100 "2011-11-18T22:30:45Z")
I’d only encountered furries on the internet, and there only indirectly, until a couple of visits ago when I went to my favorite goth club in DC and there were furries there! Two of them, and they were there the next time I visited as well. One was a wolf and I don’t remember what the other one was. But it was really awkward and weird to have a person dressed in a wolf costume out on the dance floor. I don’t hate them or anything, but I admit I’d have a hard time taking said person seriously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=6)