# 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:** 6
**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, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/101 "2011-11-18T23:17:34Z")
> [@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? MeanOldLady pretty much nailed it. You shouldn’t be judged on the things you can’t help. Disability, skin color, sexual orientation, you couldn’t change these things if you wanted to. Comparing these issues and struggles to somebody who wants validation for getting a boner when they watch Steamboat Willie is outright offensive. ---
**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, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/102 "2011-11-18T23:31:53Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > MeanOldLady pretty much nailed it. You shouldn’t be judged on the things you can’t help. Disability, skin color, sexual orientation, you couldn’t change these things if you wanted to. Comparing these issues and struggles to somebody who wants validation for getting a boner when they watch Steamboat Willie is outright offensive. Heh. That, and for me it it’s not the fact that it exists that’s creepy so much as the fact that it’s broadcast to the rest of the world. There’s no law saying you can’t be attracted to what you like but putting your sexual interests out there is very vaguely creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2011, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/103 "2011-11-18T23:55:02Z")
Wow, didn’t expect this thread to get so many replies _(just back from being generally heroic, natch)_ > [@phouka](#): > > I’ve seen more contempt and ridicule than hatred, but, yeah, there’s a lot of negativity. > > \ > > This is sheer speculation on my part, only that. It’s certainly not meant to impugn anyone within the furry culture. YMMV, not valid in certain states of mind, no cash value, blah blah blah. Good post, and yeah, ‘contempt and ridicule’ is probably a more accurate description than ‘hate’. As for the rest of your post I would suggest that that covers people who are ‘taking things too far’ which is when it starts to become a problem. I kind of thought people who actually go to the lengths of making and dressing up in fursuits were on the more extreme end of the fandom but I’m welcome to be corrected on this. > [@Bosstone](#): > > But I feel safe in saying that a preference for anthropomorphized intelligent animals has existed at least since Disney and Warner Brothers started making cartoons, if not earlier. I recall reading a book on the history of the British people that contained an illustration from a book several hundred of years old _(middle-ages possibly, pre-twentieth century history isn’t my strong suit)_. It showed British forces besieging a French castle, what really took my by surprise was all the characters were anthropomorphic animals, the main British knight was a fox while the French were monkeys _(I kid you not!)_. I kind of imagined that depicting people as part-animal would be just asking for trouble back in the day but apparently not. Something tells me the book is ‘Warrior Race’ by Lawrence James. Intended to make a longer reply but duty calls, reading with interest! One comment, I do think its kind of unfair to think everyone is into the whole furry thing primarily for sexual reasons, which is what comes across in a lot of the comments, certainly a lot of self-proclaimed furries are but thats the whole ‘taking it a bit too far’ thing again. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/104 "2011-11-19T00:06:08Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > One comment, I do think its kind of unfair to think everyone is into the whole furry thing primarily for sexual reasons, which is what comes across in a lot of the comments, certainly a lot of self-proclaimed furries are but thats the whole ‘taking it a bit too far’ thing again. This is fair and as for anybody who just likes to put on a cat tail or whatever and go to a con I don’t really see a problem. It’s nerdy and silly as hell, yes, but it’s harmless fun for them and I don’t see it as any different from Trekkies or cosplayers. I like to get my nerd on too sometimes. It’s just the far end of the scale that I can’t (and don’t ever want to) wrap my head around. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/105 "2011-11-19T00:12:08Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I recall reading a book on the history of the British people that contained an illustration from a book several hundred of years old _(middle-ages possibly, pre-twentieth century history isn’t my strong suit)_. It showed British forces besieging a French castle, what really took my by surprise was all the characters were anthropomorphic animals, the main British knight was a fox while the French were monkeys _(I kid you not!)_. I kind of imagined that depicting people as part-animal would be just asking for trouble back in the day but apparently not. > > Something tells me the book is ‘Warrior Race’ by Lawrence James. I haven’t seen the book, but going by what you’re saying, I’d assume that in that illustration the animal imagery was intended to be symbolic. Depending on where and when it was made, it coudl’ve been saying something like ‘The English knight was cunning and had lots of endurance, while the French were vulgar and subhuman.’ I’d guess it wasn’t intended to be literal, or to say that those individuals had any actual affinity for those animals. ---
**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 19, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/106 "2011-11-19T02:15:29Z")
> [@Terraplane](#): > > MeanOldLady pretty much nailed it. You shouldn’t be judged on the things you can’t help. Disability, skin color, sexual orientation, you couldn’t change these things if you wanted to. Comparing these issues and struggles to somebody who wants validation for getting a boner when they watch Steamboat Willie is outright offensive. Steamboat Willie? More like a Mickey/Minnie Tijuana Bible, not that I would know about such things. ---
**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 19, 2011, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/107 "2011-11-19T02:18:36Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > 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. The point is over there ---------\> “I just don’t see average joes getting riled up about furries, if they’ve ever heard of them.” ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/108 "2011-11-19T02:59:20Z")
> [@Dr.Righteous](#): > > Well, according to [this chart](http://brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html)Furries are at the very bottom of the pile. > > As to why, I cannot say, but it’s certainly a Thing. Linkus no workus! Server overload? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/109 "2011-11-19T09:35:01Z")
[Alternate link.](http://toogeekyforyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/geek-hierarchy.bmp) (This is the expanded version of the chart - the original lacked several of the columns). ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/110 "2011-11-19T17:10:04Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I haven’t seen the book, but going by what you’re saying, I’d assume that in that illustration the animal imagery was intended to be symbolic. Depending on where and when it was made, it coudl’ve been saying something like ‘The English knight was cunning and had lots of endurance, while the French were vulgar and subhuman.’ I’d guess it wasn’t intended to be literal, or to say that those individuals had any actual affinity for those animals. Sure, thats almost certainly what it meant, but it still gave me an eyebrow-raising moment because I’d never came across historic anthromorphic art like that. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/111 "2011-11-19T19:07:31Z")
> [@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… This is sooo wrong… You mean Keith Moon. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/112 "2011-11-19T19:28:07Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > Random thread from [www.customerssuck.com](http://www.customerssuck.com/board/showthread.php?t=83599) that relates: > > Note, this was not some random person on the internet hating on someone, this was a customer overhearing another customer and butting in. What a totally believable story! I’m convinced. :rolleyes: If you seriously think that anonymous third hand anecodte is reliable, let alone proves anything, you have a lot to learn. Dear Furries, most of the world hasn’t heard of you. Of those who had heard of you, almost all of them don’t give a shit (that would include me.) The teeny tiny fraction of meat heads who have a real issue with you are way smaller in numbers than you are. Get the fuck over yourselves. I’m sure that it’s a big part of the shtick to feel like you are maligned and persecuted but you’re not. Feel very fortunate that you don’t know what real persecution is like. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/113 "2011-11-19T19:32:36Z")
On the great spectrum of “People are friggin’ crazy,” the whole furry phenomenon barely raises an eyebrow… unless it’s taken to an extreme that is heading into the pedophilic, infantilized, or dissociative zone. ---
**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 19, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/114 "2011-11-19T19:34:20Z")
> [@lisacurl](#): > > On the great spectrum of “People are friggin’ crazy,” the whole furry phenomenon barely raises an eyebrow… unless it’s taken to an extreme that is heading into the pedophilic, infantilized, or dissociative zone. Dissociative? What, multiple animal identities? ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/115 "2011-11-19T19:59:22Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Dissociative? What, multiple animal identities? Oh don’t be all judgmental, just because you think you’re a catfish/otter/salamander hybrid doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/116 "2011-11-19T22:10:25Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I don’t wear fangs, or my renaissance gowns other than at events unless it is Halloween … Slight hijack - do you ever feel like it’s, I don’t know, cheating? to wear re-enactment gear to “regular” costume parties/Halloween? I occasionally have twinges of guilt, which is weird to me… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/117 "2011-11-19T22:15:17Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > It bothers me that the furries who really believe they are an animal are never an unpopular animal. It’s kind of how no-one is ever the re-incarnation of a peasant. I don’t mind furries, as long as they’re spayed. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/118 "2011-11-19T22:43:01Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Dissociative? What, multiple animal identities? Don’t encourage them! Although I am pretty sure that there are folks out there, especially in the “otherkin” communities, who are working dolphin/alien identities. I meant dissociative in the sense that they are losing touch with their actual human identity, as in the people who are wearing their costumes in real life and such. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/119 "2011-11-20T02:28:25Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Dissociative? What, multiple animal identities? I knew someone years ago who insisted that she was half human, half elf, half wolf, and half bat. She never seemed to notice that this added up to more than 1. ---
**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 20, 2011, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255/120 "2011-11-20T03:16:01Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Slight hijack - do you ever feel like it’s, I don’t know, cheating? to wear re-enactment gear to “regular” costume parties/Halloween? I occasionally have twinges of guilt, which is weird to me… Not really, clothing is clothing. My senior year at school we were allowed to wear non-uniforms, so for halloween I raided my parents closets and went wearing as much la costa alligator stuff as possible, chinos, sperry topsiders and went as a preppie. My normal day wear that year was cowboy boots, jeans, tshirt and if it was cool enough to need something else, a plaid shirt on top. [I went to one of the top montessori prep schools \ I am just not a preppie at heart. I usually started my afternoon after school by mucking out a horse stall so I dressed for it.] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-the-hatred-for-furries-aka-cant-we-all-just-get-along/603255.md?page=7)