Furry lurk. Furry in Russia: a combination of the best qualities of man and beast

Who are the Furries? And what kind of subculture can be with such a strange name?

Translated from English, Furry ["fɜːrɪ] means furry, fluffy. From these simple words, one can already imagine that members of the furry are somehow connected with animals and their appearance.

The basis of the furry subculture is the fusion of man and animal into a single whole. Such an anthropomorphization of the animal world is due to the sympathy of a person (furry) for the bright representatives of comics, cartoons and even films with four-legged friends. But this is only one of the reasons for the existence of furries. There are also a lot of positive motives along with psychological, social and forced-commercial ones. But we won’t talk about the worst side of this beautiful world, because its share is so small and isolated that it’s just Pshik .......

So after all, what do these furries look like, and how to find them among us?

In the daily hustle and bustle of life, in transport, in line to the doctor, and in similar social hustle and bustle, it is not easy to meet Furry. Outwardly, these are the same people as you and I, only in conversation can one understand their special love for animals, for individual representatives of this vast fauna. In their dialogues, one can make out the desire to be endowed with special qualities from the animals that impress them. More often, these are reaction speed, fur cover, endurance, fangs, claws, keen eyesight, connection with nature, the ability to talk with animals ... But this is not all that can be heard, a lot can be seen ...

You can see furries at children's parties, matinees, festivals dedicated to thematic cinema, at nature protection rallies, at public speeches by the Wild Animal Protection Fund, at furry conventions, and for sports. events and many more events that do not cancel their presence. This is exactly how you will be able to notice and even admire their art of reincarnation!

Dressed in the costume of an anthropomorphic creature, they have fun with the public, more often with children, sometimes with real animals, although sometimes they get a lot from the second and third. Furries love to play with each other, flirt like an animal, attack, bark, tickle and hug. In general, they are very positive and pleasant people. Many of them spend a lot of time to sew/order/buy the costume of their favorite animal.

The costume (fursuit) can be made both in the form of a simple mascot mascot, and in the form of complex structures with movement mechanisms jaws , ears , tails , voluminous eyes And . . Such animatronics are often also radio-controlled. For example, the second person, the furry's assistant, can control the movements of the ears, straighten the mane, raise the spikes, and much more that the furry does not have enough hands to do.

The average cost of a suit is in the range of $1000 US, but it is widely spread across the pricing boundaries, it all depends on your imagination and the degree of resemblance to the beast multiplied by the mechanization of the suit. The cost of the "head" is often half the cost of the entire fursuit.

Spiritually

Some of the furries are convinced that man and animal are the essence of an indivisible natural spirit. We should learn a lot from animals, and never break that sacred chain that connects us into a single intelligent living state on planet Earth. Most convinced furries have dreams (by the way, maybe you dreamed them too), where furries completely feel like animals, live in an animal environment, run low clinging to the grass, swim under the thickness of turquoise ocean water, dig the ground, fly wide spread their wings over the unknown expanses of the planet... Such dreams for them are a clear sign of the presence of an animal spirit in us. Each person is like their Twin Beast, and furries can tell you a lot about this.

Furry identifies himself at the level of soul and body with an animal, and tries to live according to the new canons of his non-existence. Such people are mostly peaceful, do not tolerate violence, protect nature and financially support animal welfare funds.

Nothing is alien to man

Abstract human thinking and the ability to combine seemingly opposite one another led part of the interested subculture to intimate question. Which, in principle, is inevitable in everything where the sophisticated mind of a person does not work. Furry cybersex has become one of the creative activities of this big furry. Within such an interesting society, quarrels often arise at the tip of an intimate slippery issue. Some believe that those involved in yiff art om and furrkiber sex ohm they are not worthy to be called furries, others demand to separate them into a separate caste ... The third, who are not furries in spirit, but wear a suit because of official duties, do not even want to think about it at all.

Habitat

As furry fans think (furry fandom) subculture originated back in 1965, when the animated series "Emperor of the Jungle" by Osama Tezuka was released, but Fred Patten, an anime historian, believes that the starting point of the subculture lies closer to us, or rather, in the coordinates of the 1980 science fiction convention, when the image of one of anthropomorphic characters in the book by Steve Galacci caused a heated discussion, and thus formed a group of fans. Throughout the 80s, they published fanzines with a furry theme, collected literature and film material with anthropomorphic characters, created fan clubs and much more.

Whatever the origins of furry fandom, in the late 80s, the community was already generating enough interest to organize its first furry convention in California. Now conventions are held annually in North America and Europe. Auctions are often held at such events, and the funds raised go to the Animal Welfare Fund. In Russia, such events have been gaining popularity since 2001.

And of course, do not forget about the Internet. He played a big role in the development of the furry subculture. Now, in its open spaces you can find numerous fan sites, radio and television. Even in the online role-playing game "Second life" there is a place for furries, not to mention numerous MMORPGs.

Representatives of the furry subculture can be found in almost every corner of the earth. Russia is no exception. Even your neighbor behind the wall can turn out to be a secret furr-fan.

Other

There is a subculture of therianthropes (werewolves) for whom the connection between furries and cartoon characters is offensive. They do not associate themselves with furries and their origins. More seriously, one might say "scientifically" they look at the connection between man and animal. Therianthropes consider themselves beasts living by a tragic mistake in the bodies of people. They consider shapeshifting to be the highest point of development or, more correctly, the harmony of an animal and a human being in unity, this is when the body can transform into an animal and back into a human body.

There is a concept kigurumi, which for the Japanese means the same furry - a man dressed in a cartoon character costume ... However, on the Internet, kigurumi has so far been assigned to characters with human individuals and frank suits...

That's all

Furries will seem strange to some, frivolous people to some, someone will see beauty in them, and someone will become another member of this large and inconspicuous society. Be that as it may, it is still pleasing that furries are positive, kind people who help animals and nature.

Furry "anthropomorphism" is understood as a fusion of the best qualities taken from a person and from an animal and they prefer cute and cartoony images. They have an alter ego of wolves, predatory or other large animals (mainly felines and canines), demonstrate an escape from reality and a search for the power of an imaginary patron through identification with him.

The majority of furries are college-aged white males of homo- or bisexual orientation. Their community is heterogeneous, includes cultural subgroups of different directions. Sexual ("yiff")-themed works featuring alter-ego characters give the subculture a reputation for being sex-crazed perverts. However, besides yiff, furry has other aspects, most of the participants collect not only erotic art. Outside the circle of their furries are often ridiculed.

Story

Disney Fox Robin Hood

Furries believe that the origin and popularization of the furry genre occurred under the influence of Disney animated films. They celebrate the cartoon "Robin Hood", in which zoomorphic characters have replaced all people. The idea of ​​a furry, in their opinion, was formed when cartoon characters were transferred to the reality of a maturing viewer.

The subculture began with hangouts in hotel rooms during sci-fi conventions in the 1980s. The Internet allowed people who preferred "anthropomorphism" in furry understanding to unite. Since the animals are covered in fur, the English-speaking participants used the word furry to refer to the characters and to identify themselves in a special community, which received such a name.

Furry in Russia

The subculture was borrowed by Russian youth from Western furries (in particular, residents of the United States) and spread not only to the traditional locations of subcultures in Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg and the surrounding area), but also to the regions. It is little known, its distribution is small. A study among Crimean high school students showed that furries are the least known of the youth subcultures. A youth survey conducted at Irkutsk State University showed that out of 413 respondents, only 10 indicated the existence of a furry subculture.

Nevertheless, according to A. A. Chubur, in 2009 the furry subculture was gaining popularity, as evidenced by the attendance of the FurNation.ru portal and the emergence of the Association of Russian-speaking furry art, which has been publishing annual thematic almanacs in print and electronic form since 2003.

Fursona

A typical character of one of the categories of participants

Identification with a zoomorphic character is one of the most important characteristics of the furry subculture. It is called "spirituality" or "feeling of the inner beast" by the furries themselves. Participants talk about a different type of consciousness, which is based on a feeling of inner kinship of a particular person with some animal. This is what leads to a passion for a work of art with a zoomorphic theme, provokes creativity (furry art, fanfiction, fursuiting). Almost every furry has its favorite character from a famous work or its own author's ( fursona) . The author's character is used to express an identity in the regular world and on the Internet. It is called, under this name and on behalf of the character, a member of the subculture communicates on furry forums on the Internet. Fursone is dedicated to most of the work, original or fanfiction. Even though they have become less interested in the subculture due to growing up, the former young participants retain sympathy for their fursona. Some people continue to engage in zoomorphic creativity, having stopped interacting with the subculture.

This approach is not a furry invention; identification with an anthropomorphic animal is similar to totemic pagan beliefs. The appearance of the furry subculture is quite typical for the 21st century with its surge of interest in paganism and characters that are more or less animals. According to A. V. Aghasyan, furry is “an example of the archaism of consciousness, a return to“ old ”beliefs, which exists in our time within the framework of the youth subculture.” At the same time, many furries cannot say exactly why they associate themselves with animals.

An “anthropomorphic animal” here refers to a fictional creature that combines the best characteristics of a person and an animal in anatomical and behavioral terms. Furries mentally add the abilities of zoomorphs to their human traits: claws, beautiful hair, fast running, increased regeneration - in the physical plane; tolerance, the priority of spirituality over materiality, the perception of the harmony of nature - in the spiritual plane. For their wearers, fursons are considered a true expression of personality, as opposed to a public persona.

Furries may associate themselves with one or more non-human biospecies. For furson, cute and cartoon animal images are especially used. In general, dragons are common for furson, feline (cat, lion, tiger), dog (wolf, fox, dog). Hybrids such as foxes (eng. folf) or cat-rabbits (eng. cabbit) can be used. Primates are vanishingly little used, except for humans proper.

In the Gerbasi poll at the furry convention (2007), the most common biospecies were (including hybrids) foxes (20.6%), wolves (17.6%), dragons (10%) and tigers (6%). Overall, felines and canids took up three-quarters of the furson.

Among Russian-speaking furries, characters are represented mainly by predatory mammals (~52% of felines, ~39% of canines and ~9% of other carnivores). There are also ungulates (up to 6%) and other mammals (rhinoceros, elephant, hedgehog, hare, pangolin, mouse, etc.), birds and, slightly, reptiles and amphibians (up to 20% in total). Cat characters are represented by lions, less often by tigers, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, panthers, cats and lynxes. Dog characters are predominantly foxes and wolves.

A. A. Chubur believes that the predominance of predators in furry art is a consequence of the search for power through self-identification with an imaginary patron (predatory beast), just as it happened with people of the Paleolithic era.

Creating your own character is based on the norms set within the furry community and, along with online interactions, provides context for interaction with both the character and other members of the community.

In a Gerbasi survey (2007) to the question "Do you consider yourself less than 100% human?" 46.3% answered positively, and to the question “If you could become a 0% person, would you like it?” - 40.8%. Furries have different views on how exactly their connection with the fursona is carried out. Most often (80.9%), the respondents stated the separation of the features of the non-human biospecies. In addition, 43.1% indicated that they were born with it, and 47.6% declared a mystical connection with the biospecies. Less popular were answers about “a non-human biospecies locked in the human body” (29.2%), about reincarnation (27.8%) and about the constant feeling of discomfort from the human body (23.9%) .

Typical character of another category of participants

Furry art

Many furries are talented artists who create art and fursuits of their own through which their fursona can be expressed. Most of the furry art is dedicated to her. Drawings can be small and made in an amateur style or full-fledged paintings. Most of the texts are a kind of fanfiction, works can be short stories less than a page in volume or novels large in volume and number of characters. They are posted by the authors on specific Internet sites and are practically not distributed anywhere else. Furries often emphasize that this work is created exclusively for members of the subculture.

Members of the subculture state that furry is “an artistic and literary genre practiced and enjoyed by tens of thousands of people around the world.” This genre is described as an art that creates hybrid "anthropomorphic", man-beast creatures. On this basis, furries refer to it both their own work and other works that have nothing to do with the subculture (for example, the Disney cartoon The Lion King, Brian Jakes's Redwall novel series, Jan Ekholm's story Tutta Karlsson and Ludwig XIV, book "Mowgli" by Rudyard Kipling, etc.).

Worldview and activities

According to a Gerbasi survey (2007), on average, American furry convention participants identified themselves as furries around age 17 and entered the subculture at age 19.

Furries emphasize their difference from other people and at the same time their closeness to nature. Among the qualities that they attribute to themselves are an understanding of the psychology of animals, a love for nature and a stronger relationship with it than others, as well as a belief in the importance of art and the ability to see beauty where others do not notice it. Furries also believe that they act differently than is customary, do strange things, know how to surprise people, and in general have a vivid imagination.

According to L. M. Herrera, the external manifestation of furries reflect such personal qualities as a lack of a sense of reality, developmental delay, originality and the transfer of mental trauma. On the other hand, L. B. Schneider considers subcultural furry identification to be a behavioral disorder, a personality deformation that occurs in a teenager as a defensive reaction to adverse social conditions. K. Gerbasi, as a result of a survey at a furry convention in 2007, stated that some of the furries are similar to people who have a changed gender identity, although such a formulation of the question is debatable.

Emphasizing one's identification with a humanized animal is often expressed as a defiant refusal to use fur and natural leather products. It shows a refusal to harm any animal. This is reminiscent of the taboo against eating one's totem or wearing clothing made from its fur, and is not associated with animal rights organizations.

The furry subculture belongs to the Internet subcultures. Websites like FurNation and FurAffinity allow furries to express themselves through creativity, forum posts, and storytelling. For furries, there is a wiki called "Wikifur" (WikiFur).

The movement against social norms in the furry subculture is expressed in identity (a person unites himself with his fursona), sexual themes and the public use of fursuits (at conventions). Many furries believe that this is the only way they reveal their identity, because they do not fit well with the main part of society, having differences like Asperger's syndrome or facial tics. The furry subculture allows them to express themselves.

Furries are more into cartoons than the average person and are sci-fi oriented.

Subculture ideology

There is no generally accepted definition of the word "furry" within the subculture. It can be used to name completely different phenomena: the artistic genre of this subculture or preferred by furries; furry communities; desired zoomorphic characters; the furries themselves; ideas of combining human and animal traits in one character. Therefore, furries believe that the question "what is a furry" is not an easy one and the answers to it vary considerably. Most furries agree that a furry is someone who belongs to the "furry fandom" culture. "Furry fandom" refers to a community of people with a keen interest in zoomorphic characters; with nearly all furries having a non-human identity.

Participants present their subculture as a diverse community that includes both technical people and professional sports mascots, puppeteers, animators and other artisans, coming from a variety of backgrounds and expressing their culture in a variety of ways. They also view the furry genre as part of the furry fandom. Some of them consider the very idea of ​​forming idealized human-animal characters to be a specifically furry idea, absent in other cultures.

Typically, the general ideas of the furry subculture become the basis for local cultures of subgroups, the range of which is wide. External pressure on furries (due to stereotyping) only reinforces the differences between parts of the community. Artists and lovers of zoomorphic characters in the furry community do not take the seriousness with which furries take their identification with fursona, considering it a game.

Some people come to the subculture for yiff art (sexual themes), others for the sake of hanging out at conventions. There is also a sports sub-group that combines the ideas of sports fans and furries. It includes projects such as the FBA (Furry Basketball Association) virtual basketball league, projects dedicated to hockey or NASCAR racing. This activity is essentially a furson role-playing game based on random dice rolls that simulates different aspects of real sports life, including sports media. To bring the fictional world of FBA to life, members with different talents come together. However, given that furries prefer cute looks for furson, the FBA project undermines the masculine ideals of the sport, threatening normative views of athleticism.

Furries separate their world and the "human" one, believing that in the world of furries (a specific role-playing world) there are no such problems as racism. However, at the same time it is implied that both worlds coexist, and reality events appear in in-game activity, such as, for example, the murder of Trayvon Martin. This politicizes the roleplaying of characters in the community. Some rigidly oppose both worlds, saying that humans (all other people) have moved too far away from natural naturalness and hate furries. According to a Gerbasi poll (2007), 29% of American furries interviewed at the convention hide their involvement in the subculture from relatives.

Demographics of furries

Most furries are young men. In a Gerbasi (2007) survey, the proportion of males in the subculture was 86% (up from 49% for the entire US population in 2006). Gerbasi also showed that male furries (~26 years old) are on average older than female furries (~23 years old).

Sexuality of furries differs significantly from social norms. A Gerbasi survey (2007) showed that male furries are more likely to be homosexual (31.5%) or bisexual (40.5%) than the average male. Homosexuality of men was presented mainly in cases where furries considered themselves not fully human and would like to completely become creatures of a different biospecies if possible. Heterosexuality, on the contrary, was combined with the recognition of 100% humanity and the absence of a desire to completely lose this humanity. The sexual orientation of female furries identified in the survey was heterosexual (58.3%) or bisexual (41.7%), but not homosexual.

The vast majority of Russian-speaking furries call themselves pagans, some call themselves agnostics or atheists, or demonstrate a positive attitude towards Buddhism or Hinduism. Furry Christians are extremely rare.

Attributes and fursuits

Furry in fursuit at Furry Weekend Atlanta 2015

Furries wear clothes and jewelry depicting fursona, thus emphasizing the inner connection between themselves and their character. At the same time, no mystical meaning is attached to this symbolism. Most of the clothes at the 2015 Furnal Equinox Canadian furry convention were nerdy or rave-inspired.

A small part of the subculture participants is engaged in fursuiting - the manufacture of costumes of zoomorphic characters, which are a full-size display of furson and are needed for conventions and parties. Along with creating art, fursuits give furries a sense of community and identity with their character outside of the online community. Fursuits are not sewn from fur or animal skins, but from factory materials. They are very individual in appearance and do not repeat. Many are accompanied by accessories (umbrellas, suspenders, glasses, etc.). Over the costume, ordinary clothes can be worn to complement the image.

While wearing fursuits at the convention, many furries communicate only with gestures so as not to destroy the image of their fursona.

However, a full fursuit is expensive, so most furries do not have one. In Gerbasi's survey, only 26.4% of respondents indicated that they own a fursuit. An alternative is a partial fursuit (for example, ears and tail).

Slang

In English, the furry subculture is called furry fandom; in Russian - ferrdom.

In Russian, the word furry applied to persons of both sexes, sometimes leaning (in this case, the form furry) . In plural furry turns back into furry(for example, in the phrase "furry site"). In addition, a representative of a subculture can also be called push, fluffy, föhr, furrik, furfag.

The furry subculture is linguistically reproducing. Identification of oneself with an animal significantly affects the natural language of its representatives, who reproduce the sounds of various animals (“woof”, “mur”, “meow”, etc.). The softened manner of speaking is enhanced by such sounds in accordance with the fursona. Furry cats talk about themselves me, meow, myaf instead of the pronoun "I". They also transform other words (“I don’t understand” → “I don’t understand”, “two” → “dvumyau”, “Murmansk” → “Murr-mansk” or “Moscow” → “Myauskva”). Furry dogs adapt words differently, using the sounds “woof”, “gam”, furry wolves - using the sound of howling. T. G. Nikitina gives the following combined example of furry vocabulary (forms of address, greetings and evaluative vocabulary): “Oink-oink, how are you? Poofy! Muff! Murrno! MYAFFFNO! I just want to mrrrrlykat. Snort, Anya, you are either a furry or not a furry! The main thing is FFOST! .

Word human used as a replacement for the word "man", including as a contrast to furries to humans (all the rest of humanity). Furrey erotica is called furrotic.

yiff

Slightly censored yiff art lesbian (most rare) n

The return to nature postulated by furry ideology also implies the removal of the taboo from the topic of sex, which is called “yiff” in slang (as it is believed, in imitation of the sounds of mating animals). Therefore, sex becomes a natural component of the furry subculture. "Yiffle" works depict personal fursons in erotic situations. They are published on DeviantArt, FurAffinity and FurNatoin. The presence of such creativity, along with personal fursuits, denounced the subculture as sex-crazed perverts. As in the case of the slash genre, attitudes towards such creativity are individual and infrequently can be extended to the group as a whole. Most of the furries collect both erotic and non-erotic art. Sex and furry pornography is just one aspect of their lifestyle.

Yiff art depicts zoomorphic characters with human genitalia; they also participate in normal sexual acts. According to furries, it is human, and not anatomically correct animal genitalia, that are depicted because it helps viewers put themselves in the place of the drawn characters. To the uninitiated, yiff art looks like low-quality mass-market production (although there are some masterful works).

Belonging to a furry also affects sexual behavior: some furries use fursuits or make-up in their sex, imitate the sounds that the corresponding biospecies make when mating.

Most North American sexologists want to know if furries are truly paraphilias or if this is just a media exaggeration. Representatives of the Russian school of Bukhanovsky consider furry as a special case of the disease of dependent behavior, namely the disorder of sexual preference. According to them, the development of the situation is as follows: first, a person looks at images of people with details of animals (furry characters), then there is a need to masturbate precisely to such images, dependence is formed, normative sexuality disappears, and the person becomes maladjusted.

Conventions

The furry subculture has a number of its own specialized conventions, the largest of which is Anthrocon (since 1997), held annually in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). There is also Confurence. In Canada, the largest Furnal Equinox convention in 2015 was attended by 910 participants.

There is no public sex in fursuits in the convention space; small children of participants may be present. Fursuits are also not found in every participant; many wear partial costumes (such as ears and tails), and the convention site staff are dressed in casual attire. The central room is occupied by the "Dealers' Den", which sells stuffed animals, fursuit paraphernalia (ears, paws, animal collars and tails with imitation of natural movement), t-shirts with slogans (for example, fur fag), as well as realistic weapons and jewelry. There are also stands of various artists and their portfolios are displayed. As part of the convention, a fursuit parade takes place, the participants of which love to be photographed and videotaped. In one of the halls of the convention, furries play various video games. The conventions are open to non-furries while the furries themselves are busy making acquaintances and having fun.

Furry and society

The image of the furry in society is known from Vanity Fair (2001) and the CSI series "Fur and Loathing" (2003), and also, more kindly, is displayed in the book Caudron (2006). The HBO program in the episode "Entourage" (2007) contained a sexual story about furries. The media creates a reputation for furries as people with psychological problems.

Furry, otherwise ferri(from English furry - fluffy, furry) is a subculture that brings together people who are somehow interested in anthropomorphic animals in the visual arts, animation, fiction and design. A feature of the subculture is the desire of its representatives to embody the image of an anthropomorphic animal in creativity or in themselves, through identification with it.

Anthropomorphic animals are fabulous animals, that is, fictional creatures that combine the qualities of a person and an animal both in anatomical and behavioral terms.

Human qualities are endowed mainly with predatory mammals - lions, cheetahs, foxes, wolves, as well as rodents. But there are also domestic cats and dogs. These animals are covered with fur, so in the English-speaking part of the subculture they were nicknamed "fluffies" or "fluffy" (furries). This word took root and determined the name of the subculture.

The furry subculture is closely connected with the communities of fans of Disney and pro-Disney animation: The Lion King, Chip and Dale, Gummi Bears, Secret of the Rat. It is in Disney animation that an anthropomorphic animal comes to life full-blooded, acquiring certain features of a person, becoming good or evil, cowardly or brave.

Examples of anthropomorphic animals in animation: Robin Hood from the cartoon of the same name has the appearance of a fox with features of human anatomy and reasonable behavior; Simba from the cartoon "The Lion King" - a lion with a stylized appearance and human speech; the behavior of Tod - the fox from the cartoon "The Fox and the Hound" - is determined by a number of human qualities, the presence of which in animals can only be assumed.
Prerequisites
Anthropomorphic animals are typical of the art of different eras: from ancient myths and legends to modern animation. In the 20th century, comics and animation were the main popularizers of anthropomorphic art, which formed certain communities from fans of this or that creation. Thanks to the development of information technologies, mainly the Internet, a common basis was spontaneously found, which united disparate groups of anthropomorphic animation fans no longer by sympathy for this or that work, but by preference for anthropomorphism as such. So in the early 1990s, the concept of furry appeared in the United States, which singled out fans of the anthropomorphism of animals into a single furry community. With the advent of the concept of furry, animation ceased to be the main unifying factor, as community leaders began to produce furry art themselves (usually non-commercial drawings with a furry theme).

Currently, furry is a meta-genre based on the idea of ​​fictional creatures, rather than on the manner of presentation. Any product of creativity, expressed on any medium, may have intersections with the furry genre if it contains fantasy animal characters.

The backstory of furry is covered in detail in Alex Hatchett's article "Furry" in its "Two Paths" section.

Due to the small number of representatives of the subculture and uneven distribution across the planet, the Internet is the main way of communication. Russian-speaking admirers of furry art meet on the Rusnet IRC channels #furry and #yiff.
Subculture
The concept of the furry subculture includes: Fans of animated films or stories featuring anthropomorphic animals. For example: the cartoon "The Lion King" or the series of novels "Redwall" by writer Brian Jakes.
Artists who prefer to draw anthropomorphic animals, that is, furry art producers.
Furrey, i.e. everyone who identifies with anthropomorphic animals.

This division is introduced for descriptive purposes and represents the typical qualities that a representative of the furry subculture may possess to one degree or another. For example, he may draw anthropomorphic wolves, embody an anthropomorphic wolf, and love drawings (or cartoons) of anthropomorphic wolves. If a person has at least one of the listed qualities, then most likely it can be attributed to the furry subculture.

Cartoon fans often draw their favorite characters (fan art) or write stories based on their favorite stories (fan fiction). (The terms "fan art" and "fan fiction" are used in relation to the work of fans not only in the furry subculture.)

Many of the dragons first became aware of their draconity by first being introduced to furry. Dragons are related to furry as fabulous anthropomorphic creatures, that is, having human qualities and non-human form (regardless of whether they are covered with fur or not). However, there is no unambiguous opinion about the unity of the phenomena of furry and draconity - often draconity is singled out as a separate class of phenomena and distanced from furry based on a subjective idea of ​​the difference in moral, ideological, behavioral and other qualities of furries and dragons. At this stage in the development of the furry and dragon movements, the question of draconity as a subset of furry should be considered unresolved.

Representatives of the furry subculture actively use word creation to denote various semantic shades. For example, from the word furry (indeclinable), the word furry was formed, which is inclined and in different contexts can take on different meanings. Furry is an anthropomorphic animal depicted or described.
Furries (furriks, furs or simply fluffy) can also be called each other by representatives of the subculture, who, in addition to a common interest in anthropomorphic animals, are likened to them.
Furry (pl.) - the collective name of all representatives of the furry subculture, regardless of whether they identify themselves with anthropomorphs or not.

It is noteworthy that sometimes in the speech of a furry, the personal pronoun I is replaced by the pronoun me (meow), and instead of you, in turn, cha is used. Examples:
self-identification

A feature of the furry subculture is the self-identification of some of its representatives with anthropomorphic animals, which manifests itself as a desire to resemble an animal in appearance and behavior, and, possibly, in the form of a preference to draw a certain type (s) of animals. Thus, the consciousness of a furry can form a certain ideal of appearance, behavior and worldview, embodied in the image of anthropomorphic creatures.

Each identifying person sees the image of the animal in his own way and can aestheticize the features of the animal depending on his own perception. Ideas about the furry ideal and the criteria for its definition are not constant and can change over time. There is no practical aspect of furry identification, sometimes the whole point of the activity lies in the very process of achieving the desired. If you have the skills, it is possible to embody your vision of the furry ideal in the characters of works of literature, fine arts, and also in music.

Anyone identifying themselves with a subculture quickly gains fame in the community.

The number of people identifying themselves with furries in Russia and Ukraine is in the hundreds.
Self-image

Note: For the sake of brevity, hereinafter, furre will mean a person who identifies himself with an anthropomorphic animal.

Furries, depending on the degree of enthusiasm, may show secondary features - openness, sincerity, friendliness, cordiality and positive interest in their own kind. Interestingly, these features are often interpreted by some furries as unique differences from the inhabitants and as qualities inherent in the entire community as a whole. However, this is not consistent with reality - as in any vast community of people, some furries can set themselves apart from the community, be closed, unfriendly and aggressive, but at the same time love anthropomorphic animals no less than other furries, draw them and identify with them.

For that part of the furry, which maintains a connection with the community, the formation of a special furry lifestyle is characteristic, which, again, is characterized by the most trusting and warm relations with its own kind, participation in joint events, meetings, trips. In Russia, since 2001, meetings of Russian-speaking furries have been held annually (the so-called "confurrents" or "rusfurrens"). American and European furry communities hold charity exhibitions of furry art and so-called fursuits (animal costumes).

Attempts to find common features characteristic of furries often come from cultural ideas about the animal; independence, freedom from stereotypes, misanthropy are emphasized. The latter, indeed, do take place, but at the same time they do not determine the features of furries, which unambiguously separate them from representatives of other subcultures. It also cannot be argued that all furries are characterized by atheism or vegetarianism. Thus, a clearly defined set of characteristics that a furry can (should) have has not been identified.

Often, furries have an interest in animals with human behavior shifts to people with animal habits. (See also yiff, therianthropy.)
see also

Anthropomorphism
Furry art
Furry convention
Therianthropy
Draconity
Toon
yiff

0 Today, Japanese animation has gained quite a lot of popularity in Russia. A lot of teenagers were carried away by this overseas phenomenon. Because of this, they have some questions about incomprehensible expressions and terms that they meet in the anime. On the site, we will open your eyes to the meaning of many words, so do not forget to bookmark us. After all, we will have a lot of useful information. Today we will touch on such a word as Furry which means you can read a little below.
However, before I continue, I would like to recommend you a couple more sensible publications on the subject of anime slang. For example, what does Itadakimas mean, Konbanwa translation, what is Oyasumi, what does Watashi mean, etc.
So let's continue what does furry mean translation?

Furry- this is a characteristic subculture, which includes people who are fond of anthropomorphic (human-like) animals in animation, fine arts, design and even fiction

There is no single definition of what is Furry. Even within this fandom, people can't always agree on what makes a human Furry.

Some argue that being a Furry means talking and even thinking in fluffy, kawaii, cute words and expressions. When you meet like-minded people, wear an appropriate outfit, draw cute animals, write amazing stories about them, but do not use "fluffy" jargon in your speech - you do not Furry.

Some argue that only sympathy for anthropomorphic creatures makes you a Furry fan. You may have no idea that there is a Furry fandom, and have never heard of " furry convention", not to mention one of the many websites. In fact, being sympathetic to any anthropomorphic creatures makes you a Furry.

In my mind if you consider yourself Furry Well, that's just your personal opinion.

As with any hobby, most furries are normal people, just like everyone else you meet at work, at school, in the park, whatever. Although there is a small percentage, the main core, who took this hobby to "armament", and completely perverted its meaning, sometimes literally.
This phenomenon originated as a confluence of science fiction, comics, and animated fandoms in the 1980s. It flourished, grew, and developed into its own branch of fandom. After some time, this hobby has found adherents around the world. This number is quite enough so that they can be considered as a separate formed subculture. furry fandom highly represented on the internet. In addition, every year there are meetings of Furry fans in North America and Europe, the largest of which is "Anthrocon" in Philadelphia in July, with an attendance of about 2500 people. Another convention, held every January in San Jose, California, is almost as big as the Philadelphia convention. In 2004, 19 such conventions took place worldwide.

Some Furry fans create furry characters (imaginary characters based on their own personalities) for which they become widely known in the fandom. It is common among these fans to explore their identity. They can write stories around their characters, set up dates so they can bring their characters to life, or role-play on one of the many "furry-themed MUDs" on the Internet, the oldest of which is FurryMUCK. When such Furry fans meet each other in person, they may be more familiar with each other's online prototypes than their actual personalities.
Today, there are many artists who are exclusively engaged in drawing furry characters, as this brings in good money.

By reading this article, you have learned what does furry mean photo, and you will no longer get into trouble if you find this word again.

Predatory Nur

What is Furry?

Well, someone has already asked me this question once, and I will try to answer it. I do not undertake to declare the correctness of my answer, but I think that the truth is somewhere nearby.

What is "furry"? There are many interpretations of this word, but in order to give the most appropriate, I should state that "Furry" is a form of figurative anthropomorphic art. And stop there, adding that it concerns mainly animal subjects. In other words, "furries" are images of animals behaving like people.

The popularization of "furries" probably began under the influence of Disney films, and, most importantly, under the influence of "Robin Hood". Why him? Therefore, it was the first feature-length animated film where all the main roles that could be played by human characters were played by animals, and even if people were brought back, the script would not even need to be edited. What I mean when I say "furry" is when animals take on roles that by all accounts should be assigned to humans.

However, it is not always so categorical. The meaning of the word "furry" has evolved over time into a motley mass of sometimes directly opposite definitions, and now some mean everything by it, from intelligent animals to people who consider themselves furries at heart. Personally, I don't think sticking a ponytail to your pants and running around screaming "Yiff!" you can automatically be considered a furry. However, some do not share my opinion.

However, the longer we look at the essence of the problem, the more examples we will find when modern comics artists resort to the help of anthropomorphic upright animals in order to tell a sometimes completely real life story. It's funny, but the furry movement, in fact, was divided into two camps. There are fans of "toons" (cartoons, "toon" from "cartoon"), who try to stay away from serious themes and rough pictorial forms, and prefer to either copy or create their characters based on cartoon constructions. But there is also a stronger tendency - to put quite human problems before the "furries", ranging from a crisis in their personal lives to pornographic topics. The reasons for this are simple - sometimes, in order to tell a story, the author is forced to use a fable, replacing people with more easily digestible symbols - for example, animals.

And this is where the shift in emphasis occurs - the author suddenly realizes that his "fable" characters have much more pronounced characters than their human prototypes. Thus, the anthropomorphic animal enters the scene in the role of itself. For example, a skunk girl working as a web designer Rhino driving a tank. Deer-legionary in the ancient Roman army. An owl historian who survived the French Revolution and documented it. A mercenary cat, half French by origin, at one time a member of the Foreign Legion. Roughly speaking, these are all human characters in the originally human world, but something will change, will be lost if we replace the animal back with a human.

Some may argue that the presence of an animal's hair ("fur" - "fur, wool") is a necessary condition in order to be called a "furrik". But this kills the very principle of anthropomorphism in the bud. Some have more hair, some have less, so where is the dividing line? Is the chihuahua a "furry" then? And the South American hairy frog? And the elephant? And shaggy tarantulas? Obviously, in this case, wool is not the main criterion.

Returning back to the topic, it must be said that the underground trend in furry, with quite adult themes of sex, violence, drugs and completely unchildish scenarios, began even when no one even suspected what it was. No one will call "The Adventures of Fritz the Cat" by the grandfather of the "underground" R. Crumb a furry work, but it is! It seems to me that "furries" include all the appearances of anthropomorphic characters in world literature and art in general, from Puss in Boots, Hedgehog in the Fog to the werewolf foxes of Japan. And this is not so much because someone there called such things "furry" in the 80s, but because "furry", as an artistic genre, is an integral part of anthropomorphic culture, and because it has a specific name .

But we decided to introduce strict limits in our definition of "furry". Animals that play the role of animals in the animal world are of little interest to us, so we do not take them into account.

We at the Furry Militia rely on drawing selection criteria already used to some extent in the Furlough magazine by the Antarctic Press, now under the Radio Comics logo. The magazine was dedicated to comics about furries and military topics. We do not claim that it was our idea - we are not the first, we are not the last who drew, draws, and will draw on this topic. But anyway, we're going to do something. Hence the Furry Militia.

P.S. “I don't know what kind of filthy cretin started the idiotic rumor that "manga" and "furry" can't exist together. Find this degenerate, put him in a time machine and send him ten years back, to the early 90s, where he will have to arm wrestle with Fred Parry, the author of "Gold Digger". An entire generation of American furries grew up on works published by Antarctic Press, the largest publisher that specialized in both Japanese and American mangaka work, while also remaining the largest furry publisher until it split into Radio Comics. ". A fairly large number of normal-minded "furries" are also lovers of "anime". A lot of Japanese artists draw furries, and as proof of this they release role-playing games full of furries. And if someone tries to eat your brains that supposedly these two things are incompatible, spit on his bald spot and say that Japanese comic style is the STYLE of drawing, and "furry" is THE THEME of drawings. And if he is unable to distinguish between these two things, then he is generally unworthy of your attention.

(c) Commander-in-Chief Kitsune, Predatory Nur