All right. Now I'm mad. And this quiz is why.

[camwyn]

Which internet subculture do I belong to? [CLICK] You are a FURRY! You are a sick, sick, individual. Stop lusting over animals! Take off that fursuit and quit yiffing. No-one likes furry art! STOP NOW! More Quizzes at Go-Quiz.com

I don't mind the stupid-ass quiz only having five or six possible answers. Internet quzzes aren't what you'd call the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, not by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm officially completely tired of the goddamn attitude. 'Congratulations, Internet people! You who have every reason for the rest of the world to think you strange, there are people even stranger than you! Mock the living daylights out of them so that the mundanes have some kind of reason to think you might be redeemable! Or just mock the crap out of them because hey, you want someone around who's less acceptable than you, or because they're an easy target!'

Gods damn it, I like furry stuff. I don't go to cons and I don't have a fursuit- and I probably wouldn't ever get one. (I've done mascot work as Sparky the Fire Prevention Dog. The outfit is big, heavy, uncomfortable, and relies on a nine-volt battery to keep the head ventilated, which doesn't work very well in summer.) But I like furry art, and I like furry comic strips: Kevin and Kell, Nip and Tuck and others by the same author, Commander Kitty (though it hasn't updated in months), Ozy and Millie, and so on. I liked the damn Disney Robin Hood movie.

I also like playing at FurryMUCK- and yes, there is more that goes on there than just random shagging, although frankly I have trouble finding anybody who wants to RP because it seems like everywhere I go, the place is full of people screaming real world politics at each other. I have several characters there, and have considered getting a drawing of one commissioned, although after my last experience with a commission artist I'm a little leery.

Before I get into the yiff issue, I'd just like to say this. My friends list is populated by people who are bisexual, exclusively gay, exclusively heterosexual, polyamorous, into BDSM, and turned off by the prospect of physical touching. The monogamous / het people, so far as I can tell, appear to be in the minority on my friendslist- but given that people like them form such a big segment of real-world American society, one would like to think that the bi/gay/poly/etc. people would have at least enough sympathy for the Perceived Weird-Ass Minority to not go actively mocking them. I'm not talking about advocacy here, I'm talking about not talking about them as if they were a particularly pernicious form of gum disease, okay? 'Ooooh! Someone who thinks an anthropomorphic animal is more appealing than Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie! FILTH! HORROR! SHOCK! Excuse me, I have to go talk to someone I'm attracted to, but that if I admitted this in certain parts of the United States, would get me run out of town on a rail.' Yeah. That's real comforting. Thanks a lot, Internet community.

At any rate, the quiz set me off this morning. I'm going to go take an ibuprofen now; I woke up with a headache and it's not getting any better.

Comments

[wheeker.livejournal.com]

I know better.

Your Biggest Fan,
TPQ

[camwyn]

Thank you, hon. I really do appreciate that. I was thinking of you the other day...

hmmm

[yarrick.livejournal.com]

Well if there is one thing I can say about the "Furry" community is this, it's much different than it's percieved as. There are probably in all actuallity more people like us that live perfectly normal straight/ monogomaus live who are on the "fringes" of such fandom than those who are more the lifestyler types who drive these quizzes and shows you hear about.

Admitedly I know quite a few furs IRL. And there are some who fit that whole sterotype pretty well. However there are a lot who don't. I know just as many if not more people who are into it than I am who do not fit that sterotype in any way. They are perfectly normal people in just about every respect and make some of my closest friends. Because of the sterotypes the people on the fringes of such tend to keep quiet and to themselves about the whole issue. I am still that way around most other people, but amongst my closer friends who are into it as well it is something of a relief of meeting a lot of other people that do not fit the sterotypes associated with it. Believe me, your NOT alone.

If you were to include everyone who liked Anthromorphic art whether they admitted to being a "fur" or not (again. because of the sterotypes there are a LOT of closet cases even within the community itself) Your MTV sterotype would likely be a VERY VERY small minority. They are just a very loud, obniouxous and attention grabbing minority that make it there purpose to make us look as bad as well.

As far as the bi/gay etc issue, I have no problem with it personally, it's a personal choice; just don't try it on me. It's kinda funny that IRL I tend to dislike physical contact, so I am living proof that not all "furs" are into plush fetish, hugging and scrtiching as well.

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

(raises hand) I don't own a full-body toupee fursuit, just the mask in the icon. I do go to cons, and will draw furry porn for money, but find said porn deeply unarousing. Likewise, I do own far too many stuffed animals, but respect them too much to get them all sticky... and don't find them appealing in That Way anyway. No, not even Balto. Nuh uh. So I absolutely feel your pain on this one -- which contrasts nicely with the STABBING pain I feel when a very dear friend of mine uses such nonce words as "fursonal" (I can at least understand "fursona" -- rather clever, actually), "furhaps," and other atrocities.

[porphyre.livejournal.com]

I think furries have been getting picked on lately becuase they have the fad fetish. As soon as Savage Love writes another article about something interesting, it will be that. They're just in the limelight, and I think it'll go away.

[batyatoon]

The monogamous / het people, so far as I can tell, appear to be in the minority on my friendslist

*waves*

Honestly, the range of human sexuality is so very weird that pointing to any one part of it and saying "yeah, but that's just too weird" just makes you look stupid.

Look, I don't care if it squicks you personally. Anybody's kink is guaranteed to squick somebody. Is anyone being coerced into it against their will? No? Then mind your own frelling business.
Twits.

[firestrike.livejournal.com]

Specify type of goat?

-M

[chn-breathmint.livejournal.com]

I don't care what furs do as long as it's between two consenting furries who are of age to consent. That's their business. I would also like them to not bother me about what I'm doing, but that's already done, they don't.

Plushies? Well, I keep wondering if the stuffed toys get... crusty, but I don't really want to go there. They're not harming anyone, so that's fine.

The main thing I have with furries is the little injoke of showing a non-fur Doug Winger art on the first encounter with furryism, which sort of...

traumatized me.

He's a good artist and he laughs at himself, but that stuff shouldn't be seen first thing in the morning without tea.

- Mel

[derien.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I only just found out a few months ago that being a furry was now considered something weird. Someone I work with said, "Have you ever heard of furries?" and I said, "Yeah, I used to be one." And he went through this big elaborate shudder-yuck thing. I was so annoyed. I didn't RP (the story lines at that time seemed way too dramatic for me), I was hooked on building, and rarely even talked to people. But, I didn't see anything weird about the people who were into haveing relationships based in furry. Come to think of it, that was where eor and I got to spend time together and got to know each other, but it was a way to talk.

[kitanzi.livejournal.com]

Amen! Being currently braindead, I won't try to say further, but hell yes on all points. Harms no one, give people a damn break.

[milkshake-b.livejournal.com]

These people probably could do with meeting, say, ursulav. And if there's anything left after that, her fans will probably deal with it.

Often overlooked fact: furries have claws.

Still, it's not really surprising, that quiz--there was a lot of accuracy to the Geek Hierarchy (http://www.brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html).

[irian.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with furries? Furries are cute. Winnie the Pooh, if you stretch it, can be considered a furry and yet we don't hear people saying "Ewwww, you're gross because you think Pooh is cute..." And how about Mickey Mouse? And Sylvester? And all those other Disney and Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera anthromorphic cartoon characters? They're mainstream, as far as I can tell.