Things that make you go: 'Hmm, I don't get it!'

[Yungharri]

Are you saying I'm short!  

[Doressa]

Did I miss something?  

[Yungharri]

I was joking about the not having to look very long. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I promise to behave now.  

[Seeress]

There's a furry HERE. *waves* lol Misconceptions about furry abound, only a few of which I've seen mentioned here, but I'll try to be at least somewhat enlightening.

Furry is not actually a fetish in most cases. The vast majority of furries are normal people who like art and cartoons of animal people. So, it would stand to reason, and showings at convention art shows would support this, that the majority of furry artwork is G-rated.

However, since there are even non-furries who think that Fifi LeFume and Gadget are attractive, and given that the majority of the furry fandom are adults, there IS adult artwork. And yes, some of that gets so grotesque as to singe your eyebrows. However, you can also find tasteful nudity and artwork depicting two characters having sex that focuses more on the relationship and sensuality between the two then the actual act.

Characters in furry art do not always have human genitalia. I've seen quite a few more realistic pieces where the anatomy more closely resembles an animal, although most furries prefer characters to be more human. Furry is, after all, not actually about bestiality.

All furries do NOT have sex in fursuits. Hell, fursuits are expensive (over $1000 for even a low-range suit) and physically demanding to wear (the heads are heavy and you're covered in fur with no ventilation, so it's easy to overheat), so maybe only 10 percent of furries will even own them. And less than half of that number would even consider risking ruining such an expensive suit by having sex in it, even if they leaned that way, which most don't.

So, all that being said, I'll tell you why I like furry artwork. I like animals. I like the human form. I like well-done artwork combining the two. Most people tend to anthropomorphize animals, even if it's just talking to your cat as if she could possibly understand. We give animals human characteristics in order to emphathise them, and then we assign animal characteristics to people in order to understand them. Aw, he's such a puppy dog. What a snake! He's a tom cat, she's a fox.

You get the idea.

Now, one fetish I don't really understand is the foot fetish. I mean, they're just feet... I don't get it. lol  

[Doressa]

Thankyou for enlightening me about furries -I'd never even heard the term before this thread!!

I'm with you on the feet thing...  

[Yungharri]

I just realised something else I don't get. It has to do with these communities where people post pictures of themselves, but instead of posting a picture of themself, some people seem to post pictures of everybody and anybody other than themselves - pictures of their friends, acquaintances on the net, their dog, their cat, their neighbours cat, musicians, actors, and complete strangers. Are these people terribly disfigured that they can't show a picture of themself, or is it they don't want to put a picture of themself in case someone stalks them - in which case they mustn't be too worried about anybody stalking their friends, acquaintances, their dog, their cat, their neighbours cat....

I find this unusual, not because I am desperate to see what they look like, but that I am always careful not to post pictures of people who are not myself without their permission, and it seems funny to me to post pictures of other people while not showing one of myself.  

[Seeress]

Personally, I don't understand wanting to post a picture of yourself online at all. Sometimes I go quite out of my way to avoid it (lost my Elfwood gallery, oh so many moons ago, because I used a picture of my online persona rather than an actual picture of myself).

I'm sure there are just scores of freaks out there in web-land who I wouldn't want to know what I look like. lol  

[Yungharri]

Seeress

Personally, I don't understand wanting to post a picture of yourself online at all. Sometimes I go quite out of my way to avoid it (lost my Elfwood gallery, oh so many moons ago, because I used a picture of my online persona rather than an actual picture of myself).

I'm sure there are just scores of freaks out there in web-land who I wouldn't want to know what I look like. lol

I can understand not wanting to post a picture of yourself online, but I don't understand people who don't want to post a picture of themself but want to post a picture of everybody else including their friends. Perhaps it is like a canary in the cage, if there is a nutter out there killing people who show pictures of themselves on the internet, you'll get plenty of warning when your friends start being abducted.  

[TeenyDevil]

Also, is it possible that it could be a self esteem issue/wanting to be involved. Example: People are posting thier pictures online in a thread, random person wants to be involved, but is very self conscience of how they look, so rather than not being with the crowd, they post just anything..pictures of thier friends, pets, Chuck Norris, etc.  

[TeenyDevil]

One thing I don't get is why they said "one size fits all" when that is soo not the case. I bought a one size fits all hat once and it was WAY too big, fits all...hrmpf.  

[Dafthank]

Yungharri

Seeress

Personally, I don't understand wanting to post a picture of yourself online at all. Sometimes I go quite out of my way to avoid it (lost my Elfwood gallery, oh so many moons ago, because I used a picture of my online persona rather than an actual picture of myself).

I'm sure there are just scores of freaks out there in web-land who I wouldn't want to know what I look like. lol

I can understand not wanting to post a picture of yourself online, but I don't understand people who don't want to post a picture of themself but want to post a picture of everybody else including their friends. Perhaps it is like a canary in the cage, if there is a nutter out there killing people who show pictures of themselves on the internet, you'll get plenty of warning when your friends start being abducted.

I can actually kind of understand that a bit. People post pictures of things that matter to them because they want to give a clue as to their personality and not have too many things jusged based on looks.

For example, let's talk about myspace for example. Granted, myspace ruins more lives than the blck plague during a nuclear war, but whatever...

People can post all sorts of pictures to show who they are and what they are all about, and type messages as to the personality of themselves and what they are all about.

Now, if a person has a fear of internet stalking, then it's perfectly understanable that they don't want to put a picture up. Same thing if a person thinks they are unattractive and has low esteem. Also true if they are a perfectionist and want that one picture to make them look sexy/intelligent/metro/partygirl/etc...

So instead of putting up pictures of them, they put up pictures of what makes them who they are. Undoubtedly, friends and pets help dictate our personalities. So do random monuments and goofy abstract photos. Heck, I even have my avi on myspace so people can get a better understanding of who I am.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that people who don't post their own picture aren't that strange because they at least use photos of other aspects of their life to help build an overall image of themselves. I agree that permission should be asked before photos are put up of other people, but I'm not going to harp on them any for that. Besides, in a society that is highly influenced by what we see rather than what we know, it's a nice change to get to know somebody before you make a judgment based on appearance.  

[Yungharri]

TeenyDevil

One thing I don't get is why they said "one size fits all" when that is soo not the case. I bought a one size fits all hat once and it was WAY too big, fits all...hrmpf.

What about those t-shirts they sell at music concerts. They are either rediculously too big or too small. My sister bought me one a few months ago and it is supposed to be a Large, but it might have fitted me when I was nine or ten.  

[Yungharri]

Dafthank

I guess what I'm trying to say is that people who don't post their own picture aren't that strange because they at least use photos of other aspects of their life to help build an overall image of themselves. I agree that permission should be asked before photos are put up of other people, but I'm not going to harp on them any for that. Besides, in a society that is highly influenced by what we see rather than what we know, it's a nice change to get to know somebody before you make a judgment based on appearance.

I can understand that. The whole status and image thing really gets under my bonnet. I've got no dramas with not judging people on appearance, but posting a picture of an attractive or cool friend is about status and appearance - like when I was at school, kids would hang around with people they didn't like, but did so because they wanted to be cool. Animals, cartoons and celebrities I can understand too, and maybe one or two pictures of your closest friends, but I've seen profiles that take ten minutes to download because there are so many photos of people and not a single one of the person themselves. That's what I don't get. Perhaps it is just a case of them going overboard.