The general public isn't wrong on this one, people like you I believe are the minority in this furry community or how you would want to put it. And such sexualizing of animals date way back.
This is from 1992:
There is a massive, massive collection of furry porn on the internet in a lot of areas. It is definitely an irrefutable fact.
That is precisely why I never wanted to be associated with it. Yes, it appears to be the sad truth.
I don't know, I can only talk from personal experience. The few "furries" I have personally met or got to know on the internet so far have been rational, decent people like anyone else.
I never took part in any sort of "fandom", I haven't experienced this dark side yet. I'm sure if you look deep enough you'll find ugliness in just about every corner of the net, no matter what the topic.
I have to admit, it is indeed frustratingly hard to find art on websites like deviantart that is not sexualized in any way. Few people seem to be in it just for appreciation of anthro art. Sad confirmation that you are probably right.
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I've made an interesting observation that it appears to be people with Asperger's in particular, who are drawn to the idea of associating with an animal character. I don't know exactly why that is. Two of my coworkers are also in the spectrum, and they are much in the same boat as I. All three of us have a rather vivid fantasy, maybe that's the key?
One could probably make a serious study out of it.
My coworker loves dragons and designs awesome 3d models of them, for example. He's my go-to buddy whenever I need something modeled in blender for the 3D printer.
Anyways, I hope people will not think of me as a creepy, degenerate pervert for having an animal character as my avatar. I haven't had any unpleasant experiences on this forum so far. GBAtemp is a pretty nice community to parttake in. I'm thankful for that.