Musings of a bunny on her day.

[Pixeliciousness]

The rabbit has always been an important animal to me, really.

I associate them very much as symbols of birth and rebirth. Their gentle and nurturing, but also somewhat quiet, and shy. A bit of a coward, a bit of a target, but yet a surivor and oppertunist as well. A caregiver and a mother.

I suppose I felt drawn to them in particular because they have qualities I possess, or wish to possess, or hope too. I've always wanted a large family, even if circumstance keeps me from having them.

I never really knew anything about the existance of furries other then that, they existed, though untill I tried out the bunny look a few weeks ago, that was likely to be all I ever knew. Prior to that the closest I ever came was a deep love for Archies sonics comics!

So on a day of rebirth and beginings, I'm earnestly starting my attempt to hop a mile in her paws, as it where. I may not be a furry, but I'm certinally not opposed.

Carrots:
Thoughts on this?
Thoughts on your own nature?
Just anything at all?

But I'm just rambling, exscuses. Happy zombie jesus day to everyone:3  

[Selene Aries]

So what are your impressions of this odd little fandom after discovering it?

No matter what animal we associate with, we have one thing that binds us together and that is our love for anthropomorphic animals. 4laugh  

[Pixeliciousness]

Well I've not really been part of it much, and I've limited all exploration to gaia!

I've found furries to be very supportive, and very nurturing. I've seen a bit of venom, but alot more camradirce. I don't see alot of the negative things associated with..well, most people, really.

I could be wrong though! lots to discover smile  

[Selene Aries]

Well, in the end we are all still human and have our faults. It really is something to keep in mind, as a whole furries are no better or worse than the rest of humanity, however we are on average far more open and less socially repressed. I note, this is not the same thing as being accepting, you can meet quite a few block heads. There is just a whole lot less fear when it comes to being yourself.  

[Pixeliciousness]

Thats pretty interesting!

Though I find the whole thing interesting.

Are there..you know...Like....bad furries? Or self hating furs? Are there certain taboos?  

[Selene Aries]

Pixeliciousness

Thats pretty interesting!

Though I find the whole thing interesting.

Are there..you know...Like....bad furries? Or self hating furs? Are there certain taboos?

Oh there are a lot of self hating furries. XD To be honest, they probably attack the fandom more than anyone else.

There are hundreds of thousands of furries all over the globe, there are bound to be a few bad people that exist. Far as taboos go... Well, you are going to run across things that are taboo to normal society, but really anything and everything goes when it comes to Furry.  

[Pixeliciousness]

This is so neat. I'm sorry if I sound like a pest.

How do you regulate yourselves as a group though? I understand an individual should ideally be responsibile for themselves, but, how do you deal with association with things traditionally viewed as negative, or destructive?

How does one prove herself as 'in'? Or can they be 'out'?  

[Selene Aries]

Pixeliciousness

This is so neat. I'm sorry if I sound like a pest.

How do you regulate yourselves as a group though? I understand an individual should ideally be responsibile for themselves, but, how do you deal with association with things traditionally viewed as negative, or destructive?

How does one prove herself as 'in'? Or can they be 'out'?

Umm... o.O It is not like we are some private club or something. Anyone that is involved with the fandom is pretty much a furry by default. There is also no real single group, while we may all be connected by a similar genre, you will find a variety of different groups and clicks.

The only real negative I can think of, which I guess would be the only real taboo in furry, is expressing one's sexuality in public. It is one thing for us to discuss and have our fun here online or in private, it is another to make a display in front of people.

You also have nothing to prove, long as you have an affinity for anthros and associate yourself with the fandom in some way than you are a furry.  

[Pixeliciousness]

Well my feeble attempts to reach out outside of gaia where generally met with silence or indifference, I was worried I was doing it wrong?

I don't wanna pretend and just say I know all about it and everything, I hate lying:/.

Also thanks for responding dear, I know I must be annoying right naow, but I'm pretty introspective right now!

Another question, is the sprituality common, or ..?  

[Selene Aries]

I really do not mind, anyway way I can help is my pleasure. 3nodding


Like a lot of places, you can find that people can be a little cold towards newbies, best advice I can think of is to just keep putting yourself out there. The more you expose yourself the more you learn and the more people you will be. Some will push you away, others will reach their hand out. I would be curious to what sites you have been visiting for your furry exposure.

There are various kinds of spirituality that can be found. You will find all the major religions and most of the minor ones. There are a couple of particular beliefs that I have come to learn about from my time in the furry fandom, but they are not exclusive to furries. These would be other kin and therians. They tend to take the animal connection beyond simple affinity and to the spiritual level.

I am assuming you are curious because you yourself feel a very strong connection to your animal of choice, correct?  

[Pixeliciousness]

Well I do feel a strong connection, one I'd never really noticed untill recently.

Looking back on my art I've noticed that bunnies of various sorts are in just about everything, and that alot of my favourite characters from things are often rabbit related or have a rabbiting quality.

Though this wasn't something I'd ever considered. It honlestly started just two weeks ago when I made a bunny avatar and people acted different, and treated me different. And generally just gratis assumed I was a furry because I had an anthro avatar with anthro art.

it made me look into furries as being something other then something thats randomly tossed into a net slur. I've not found anything I think to be repelent, and some of its very interesting to me, but I guess I don't know you know..saturation.

Prior to a random flight of fancy with my avatar, my only experience with anything related to the whole culture was I knew one in the early 90s, and feeling upset during SA's lolarcaust.  

[Selene Aries]

There are various sides to the fandom, but I would say the art community takes up the largest portion, though we all are role players in on form or another.

If you are aware of deviantart.com you can find a decent amount of furry artists, usually clean artwork. Furaffinity.net is probably the largest collection of furry artists and artwork you will find on the net, with content rating up to the XXX limit. I really do not know what your feelings are towards adult material, so it is hard for me to suggests sites at the moment. VCLart.net is also an old staple back when I was first peeking into the fandom.

I also do recommend taking a peek at some furry comics. Belfrycomics.net is good place to find some online comics, while Rabbitvalley.com sells actual printed material.

Beyond the art wold of furry there is also the role playing aspect. More or less this is simply playing out one's fursona, this is at least the most basic form of role play in the furry community. Meaning that even in just every day conversations you take on the personification that you are this character you created. For many it is even beyond that where it is not so much some character but more of an avatar. I am having difficulty explaining, so do let me know if I am getting confusing but the best way I can describe it is to say your bunny girl is you in every way, just a different body that you are using to represent yourself.

The only other aspect of furry I can get into with my actual knowledge is fursuiting. If you are aware of what cosplay is, this is the exact same thing. The only real difference is that for furries they do not dress up as some popular character from a show/game, but rather their actual fursona. Really, one big thing that needs to be known is that the furry fandom creates most of its own content, there are no companies out there that work in mainstream media that produce products for furry fans, so the fans themselves make just about everything from scratch.

The only that I personally cannot get into is the more spiritual aspect. While I love foxes and feel an affinity towards them, I do not believe in any kind of spiritual connection. There are, however, others on this guild and other guilds that would be able to help you explore that aspect.  

[Pixeliciousness]

Well, I've at least got a good start on the art portion! I was actually getting 4 or more a day, but some artists take longer then two weeks for a piece.

I've been looking at some of deviants arts. Searching 'furry' can bring up alot...same with furaffinity...umm..

Some of the more extreme stuff is a little..odd? but not you know...'omg gross'..just...not what I was expecting. Not quite my thing, but the rest was okay!

I've actually role played most of my life biggrin My parents where both dnd nerds. I've never considered it seeping into everday life, but, then again that could be methode acting, couldn't it? I'm even sort of roleplaying here on gaia, I don't usually talk like this~

If I was going to -be- someone else, pixel is hardly a poor choice, at least:3. She's just me only...more in places, I guess, would be a way to describe her.

And Yah i think looking a little deeper the spirit thing isn't apparently necessary, its not like I wanna BE one, I just you know, find them to be wonderful animals.  

[Selene Aries]

Well, it seems you are off to a nice start then. ^_^ From what you have said, looks like the only thing you have been lacking is some nice interaction with furries. Sorry if so far you have not met the nicest variety so far. sweatdrop

I think the only thing left that there is to look into are the furmeets and conventions. Furmeets are local gatherings of furries to simply hangout, the conventions are large gatherings of furs all over the world.  

[Pixeliciousness]

Ehehe, nick names for hangouts? thats adorable!

Do furs have alot o conventions? is it like....just fans, or fursuits, or a mix?

And no furry has ever really been mean! They've just tuned me out. I come right out and say exactly what I'm going to do, so I can put some off biggrin

I don't know if I haave local furries to talk to! the only one I knew of moved away about 11 years ago.