Kinda funny that this topic is popping up everywhere lately when I never lost a word about it before.
Does one have to identify as an animal to be considered a furry?
I played videogames with anthro characters as a child and while studying folk tales and songs as a hobby I often come across animals portrayed with human properties, like talking birds and foxes and things like that.
I'm not even sure why that is, but I took a fancy to that. I'd like to think of Reynard the Fox as an alter ego of sorts.
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I wrote this before, for a friend, but here is my point of view:
I have autism(oh the cringe, I don't care). People are often confusing, stressful and overly complicated to me. With animals I have a much easier time understanding how they tick because they communicate without words and without second meaning. A cat or dog always shows you what it feels, humans are rarely like that.
I know full well that I am human. I happen to like foxes and cats because I feel that I have certain things in common with them. I'd like to think of myself as cunning, I have very good hearing, I'm a loner, small things like that. This resonates with me. Let's say the fox is my "spirit animal", if you will.
For me it's a sort of escapism. It feels good to escape reality with all of it's seriousness and problems for a while and be someone different. In my fantasy I can be as strong, as cunning and as popular as I like. I can be someone else in a very different place. I'm a dreamer, I have a vivid imagination. It is for the same reason that I enjoy reading fantasy books and having all these great adventures I'm reading about play out in front of me in my thoughts and dreams.
As with any "fandom" (if we should call it that) it is always the most obnoxious or scandalous people that are the most vocal and become the focus of the masses. I never wanted to be associated with furry stuff because of all the bad talk it gets, but by now I've come to accept it.
It is rather unfortunate that the general public associates the term with perverts and sexual obsession...
As for me, I enjoy being someone different in my fantasy, or during my time on the internet. If someone asks I don't mind talking about it, but I try not to get on people's nerves.
As long as it doesn't hurt anybody, what's the harm in it?
If you think being a furry is strange, think about children reading superhero comics and imagining themselves like that. It isn't all that different. Even as a grown up I haven't lost my inner child.
That's my personal view on the matter. I apologize for writing so much.
