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Jade Harley is using furaffinity.net, a popular website for posting art, writings, etc. involving anthropomorphic animals.

Ah.

I'd almost forgotten the furry-esque content in Homestuck. I wonder if there's anything meaningful to be taken from a webcomic?

There is some surprise from the general public about how intelligent and articulate members of the animal-style body mod community (and furry fandom) are, concerning their weirdness and animalistic tendencies. Stalking Cat has a degree in electronics engineering.

In addition, Stalking Cat's work is specialised enough that they have a solid position in their employment field, and isn't worried in that regard. Adding onto that, Stalking Cat is quite introverted, and in their day-to-day life, and Cat really doesn't give a shit, despite their empathy. It was something they had to do, and Cat knows you may feel some way about that, but it's irrelevant. (Without being so brash in words.)

Stalking Cat has experienced behavioral changes in the vein of no longer drinkin' and druggin', heightened empathy, and reacting to certain things in different ways. By no longer denying these feelings, it's been easier to deal with different situations.

Reacts to things in a more "natural cat" way than anything else. Very cat-like in actions. (Lynx -> Tiger for e-mail address.)-> general feline affinity, but focus on tiger because it's the largest non-extinct cat on this continent.

Feline affinity is more great with big cats than smaller, domestic cats. (Primal nature? Bow hunting (Indian tradition) deer. Mutual respect with cats, 10' near bobcat, 25' near mountain lion, leaves when known hunting territory for another animal.) If you're not bow-hunting, and using a gun, you don't deserve that kill, basically. Gun hunting separates people from the experience of hunting. Stalking Cat is very much a cat in hunting & associated mannerisms.

If the resources are available, Stalking Cat plans (planned?) to extend their body modification not just to the face, but tails, claws, feet (paws) everything, but it's an expensive and time-consuming process.

As Shannon Larratt is interviewing Stalking Cat, he brings up a point that's quite interesting to me, and entirely relevant to the idea of privacy and unwanted celebrity we discussed earlier in this course.

SL: "... uh you do- you do go to a fair number of tattoo conventions, and you must experience at least a minor celebrity status while you're there."

SC: "Well, you know, in fact, I've only been to a couple conventions-"

SL: "I guess- I guess it's just every one you go to, they will always photo you."

SC: "Right, and my pictures have been plastered all over the place, and uh, it, in a way kind of irritates me, because these people're making money off of something I've spent a great deal of time doing, and I haven't gotten a dime out of it."

SL: "Mmhmm."

SC: "But uh, and uh, and they're basically using my picture to get themselves famous."

SL: "Mmhmm."

SC: "Or to get publicised."

SL: "Yeah."

SC: "But again, I did this for me, not for other people."

SL: "Mmhmm."

There's also been a positive side to this, as it encouraged self-expression amongst the public, and while not exactly normalising it, it allowed people who needed to do stuff like this to accept it and go for it. (But not those who are doing it as a trend.)

Interesting story behind feline dentures, how the dentist refused to do them when they were healthy, but when Stalking Cat destroyed their teeth from years of drinkin' and druggin' (their words, not mine), the dentist agreed to sculpt feline teeth-style dentures.

I'm surprised it doesn't affect Cat's speech (much).

Stalking Cat spent a lot of time self-medicating with drugs and alcohol trying to deny their empathy and their connection to different animals, especially cats. Trying to subdue and deny these feelings didn't work very well, but living as a cat counteracted these negative feelings.

Stalking Cat has had/coexisted with a variety of animals, including reptiles, wolves, snakes, birds, fish, and horses. Despite Stalking Cat's feline identity, they don't clash with dogs or wolves in a stereotypical fashion.

Maintains a general connection to animals, tied to both their experiences as an Indian, and tied to their identity as an animal themselves.

Being 1/2 Indian (Native American) & 1/2 White was a very big culture shock to Stalking Cat, as they fought with both the Indians & the Whites for being partially the other race. Stalking Cat accepted the cat/tigress as their spirit animal, which was originally pointed out by the medicine man of Cat's tribe.

Has many tattoos, started with aquatic animals and moved onto cat-type tattoos.

Those with Autism Spectrum Disorders can logically break down human interaction, but are woefully unable to replicate it in the moment. This can also be applied to interspecies interactions.

With such a lack of animals in our lives, we use our imagination as children when it comes to animals we do not know. Kids love dinosaurs and big cats. I've only seen a snow leopard once, at a zoo, but they are beautiful creatures, and that's why I have a connection to them. Humans take up the world's prime real estate, killing off thousands of species and shoving the world's animals to the sidelines. It's quite depressing, really, the homogenization of the world.

Interesting point. This sort of body modification may not be harmful in the physical sense, and I mean, maybe the social aspects can be overlooked? Kind of hard to put myself in their shoes, and what can I reasonably say about their experiences?

A critical examination is shaky ground here.

Yiff pays well, which is why many artists go to it despite some moral quandaries.

I need to find a source to back that up, as memes are not a reliable source.

There's a pervading distrust of reporters/outsiders at furry conventions. For a group that had their convention gassed (Midwest FurFest 2014), and regularly puts up with death threats of the internet and in real life, I wouldn't consider their scaredy-cat (forgive the pun) behavior all that surprising

Genetic manipulation has been a running gag/ideal within the furry community for as long as it has existed. The idea of transformation by any means possible is appealing, and these sorts of genetic components would go a long way in establishing that sense of identity.

That's a damn shame, to be honest. Stalking Cat was happy in that co-dependent commune, but as for the money issue, it is what it is.

Probably contributed to Stalking Cat's later decline & suicide.

While this could be argued, I believe that this is a disturbing breach of the Hippocratic Oath on the part of Steve Haworth. This amount of surgery is not reasonable, and ended up severely hurting Stalking Cat's prospects for jobs and in other areas of their life. I am reminded of other people who have horribly proportioned bodies because of the insane amount of silicone pumped into their bodies, and the medical complications that result.

Is there a point where we have to say no to body modifications, no matter how much people such as Stalking Cat may want them? Or do we leave that choice up to them?

This is an interesting account as to the lengths that some members of the furry fandom will go to achieve their image. I give some note to the idea of species identity disorder, as a marked divide between Stalking Cat's vision of themselves and their human body is present. This is quite obviously an outlier, but it's an intriguing illustration. Not to mention that Stalking Cat ties this back to Huron & Lakota ancestor traditions, which is shaky ground at best.

The derogatory nature of the term is in question. It came from the furry fandom, and it's an accepted term throughout the fandom.

See r/yiffinhell on Reddit.

For an activity, and a fandom, that is such a large part of the practitioner's identity (see Gerbasi et. al 2008 and associated responses), it's no surprise that the stigmatization that comes with being a furry is an isolating experience. I believe that this is a large a part of the reason why acceptance is such a large tenant of the furry fandom. Exclusion elsewhere leads to increased inclusion in other areas and groups.

Non-judgementality should be the ultimate goal for health care workers in this position, but we have to recognize that it is a difficult, if not unrideable horse to handle.

There's also the dissenting opinion that therians are a separate group from furries, an opinion perpetuated both by therians and "normal" furries, but it's generally the minority opinion, so for all intents and purposes, this is accurate.

This comment, framed as "egregiously offensive, derogatory, and insulting to the furry fandom and our participants", undermines the prevailing sense of identity in the furry fandom. I understand the transformative powers of alcohol, but in my uneducated opinion, it's a stretch that the furry identity for many people is activated by alcohol, and is not something that exists in all states of being (e.g.: sobriety).

A good example of this was the CSI: Miami episode "Fur and Loathing".

According to the Reception section of the article on this episode on Wikipedia: "Toronto-based filmmaker Michael McNamara, who had been working on his own documentary episode on furry fandom, said that the CSI episode "portrayed the community as a community of sexual deviants who like to have sex in fur costumes" and expressed concern that "it winds up giving the whole fandom a bad name, which made them nervous and camera-shy, so it was tricky to get their trust".[2] He wrote that the deviancy "probably represents about two percent of fandom but it’s the one obviously that the press always gleefully jumps."[3] Greg Gaudio of The Virginian-Pilot wrote that "The steamier side of the Furry Fandom – sexual behavior involving animal costumes and stuffed animals – has grabbed media attention in recent years, most notably as the subject of a 2003 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The episode showed attendees at a furry convention engaging in a costume-clad orgy"; however, one of the furry fandom attendees he interviewed replied that such behavior "only involves a tiny percentage of furries and is not something that’s part of the local scene."[4] Negative perception towards members of the furry fandom for purported sexual deviancy has been a historical shame(?) (<-- figure out correct word in annotated bibliography) amongst members of the furry community, and acts as a harmful stereotype despite the small percentage of furry fandom members participating in acts of plushophilia or autozoophilia.

One must admit that Flora Probyn-Rapsey's comparisons of gender identity disorder and the proposed "species identity disorder" were not without their merits, no? Heck, Gerbasi et. al were the ones to first make the comparison. It is true that it maybe took up too much of a focus in Probyn-Rapsey's criticism of the original paper. After all, the original paper only made use of the comparisons between the two disorders a few times to illustrate a larger point about disorder & confusion about furry identity, in themselves and in their place in the world at large.

Ha.

This is a rebuttal of a response to Gerbasi et al.'s paper summarizing and examination of the furry fandom. I'm curious to see how this paper will critically analyze the others. Given that it's chiefly written by Kathleen C. Gerbasi and Laura L. Scaletta, who chiefly wrote "Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism", I have no doubt that the insights throughout will be charged. Or maybe they won't. Professionalism is chief in academia, after all.

I wonder how I can tie this into the furry fandom as a whole. It's pretty clear from this graph that members of the furry fandom, even in Texas, seem to lean towards more liberal political beliefs. Considering the large LGBTQIA+ & animal rights activist populations, groups that tend to skew more liberal themselves, within the furry fandom, this isn't entirely surprising.

I would argue that this is too loose of a definition. It does not simply refer to a physical body, which has pretty clear criteria for being considered 100% human. To be "less than 100% human" psychologically, while being a good basis for a disorder, does not adequately consider groups with a spiritual connection to animals, such as the Native American tradition of "spirit animals". This vague definition and exclusion of established cultural practices could prove harmful to the legitimacy of "species identity disorder".

When you ask a group of intermediate psychology students to judge whether furries are disordered, it's very likely that they will diagnose furries with personality trait disorder. They are psychology students, it seems pretty darn obvious that they would be more likely to diagnose psychological disorders, and there's the prevailing possibility of overdiagnosing, diagnosing a personality trait disorder where there may not be one. I am not in a position to say this is what is happening here, but considering the evidence, it's a reasonable possibility.

This was also a major problem with the diagnosis "gender identity disorder", which was defined in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) IV as "A strong and persistent cross-gender identification (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages of being the other sex)."

In the DSM V, the diagnostic name "gender identity disorder" was replaced with "gender dysphoria", and other important clarifications, including the need for a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria to go ahead with gender transition surgery.

Amongst younger members of the furry fandom, there is more of a tendency to have a "sparkledog" fursona, meaning a fursona that's flashy, clashy, colorful, and out-standing. While not as crazy as, say, some of the rainbow-coloured winged kitsune out there, a fox with neon-green tail tips is definitely not something you would see in a real life animal.

That being said, being a member of the furry fandom, no matter your age, is a matter of self-expression, and the value of debating the realism of a rainbow kitsune with wings falls apart when you realise that they wouldn't even walk on two legs.

I know that this is supposed to be funny commentary on the chaos on conventions, and I understand, having experienced some of that same craziness during my time at FanimeCon.

But it's as good of an illustration as any on a negative perception of the furry fandom, the inability of its members to take care of themselves. While this isn't as much a widespread ideal as a minor detail, there's a stereotype around furries as being unwashed, non deodorised, and messy. Take, for example, the idea that people have sex in their fursuits. See this comic involving Grey White, which contain a slight, non-graphic sexual allusion, so click at your own discretion. I'd rather not go into the details, as this research project does not deal with the sexual side of the furry fandom, but I feel as if it is necessary to at least address that specific prevailing concern about the fandom. There is some truth to the above statements, amongst specific members of the furry fandom, and of the science fiction conventions and community which preceded and spawned the "furry fandom" as we know it today. I don't think I need to tell anyone that nerds can smell like shit at times, and it's a concerning pattern. Does this stem from social awkwardness, lack of care, the escapism qualities.

(I need to come back to this later, as I kind of lost my train of thought)

While furries are fans of anthropomorphism in general, they connect more with certain animals. There are subcamps of furries, including scalies (with an interest in reptilian animals such as dragons, turtles, and lizards (e.g.: kobolds)) and avians (interest in birds, mainly), and some of the more popular animals in the furry fandom include foxes, wolves, and big cats. This is, in part, due to popular media representation, with movies such as The Fox and the Hound, Balto, Bolt, Alpha and Omega, and Aristocats. Ever since the "funny animal" cartoons of the early 1900s, there has been a persistent animal superiority in anthropomorphic representations.

For some reason, I can't highlight the 1st comment.

Trapping one's self into a box is harmful, and leads to the need to feed off of that identity to feel actualized. While I don't believe that setting a firm identity to yourself ultimately or always leads to self destruction, I see where z is coming from. On the contrary, a firm identity can allow people to feel as if they aren't drifting in space, and can give something they can hold onto. Especially in the case of a fursona, a personality (purrsonality?) and figure that is inherently extrinsic, but connected to one's base self, the human. This same logic could be applied to therians and otherkins, possibly even more so, due to the intense non-human identity associated with the terms, as opposed to members of the furry fandom, which may be participating in a more casual, removed fashion.

This ties back into an earlier passage in this article. Furry-ism(?) is an exercise in self-actualization. Break 'em down and build 'em up. Throughout our lives, we are encouraged to change ourselves for the better, and this is a parallel to that.

Shared experience? Prime material and its relation?

The fursona can be an idealization of one's desires in one's self, or it an be a true-to-life representation. If it is changed, it usually changes along with something in your own life. A fursona being a representation of you means that changes are not taken easily. Then again, I also know of furries with many fursonas.

The truth is, furries often like to hide behind these idealised representations of themselves. For a fandom that's so heavily represented by the introverted, the outcasts, the autistic ((Gerbasi et. al(?)) I need to make sure that's the right paper), it only makes sense that furries would want this sense of escapism. There's also a sense of childlike wonderment at play. Take for example, this article's title, Furry and Magic. The furry fandom, and the action of associating with one's fursona (also, avoid usage of the term "spirit animal", as it appropriates Native American Culture. See Sarah Marie Henry's Furries, Fans, and Feminism: Querying and Queering the Furry Fandom) is a transcendent experience..

Side note: The short, pudgy female cis snow leopard is scarily close to my own fursona, maybe I should tie personal special experience into this? Or that may be oversharing/stepping out of the line of professionalism. I'll think about that later.

I find parallels to my own experiences associating with and relating to characters in books, such as Kory in Waterways by Kyell Gold.

Note to self: research "kinnies"

Wow. This is a side of the fandom I wouldn't want to touch with a 20 foot pole. However, it provides interesting information about the darker sides of the furry fandom, so it would be good to pore over.

I am reminded of "Arkansas":

This is an interesting article. Who has enough money to actually make a fursuit out of real fur? Still, it's a good example of the general public's perception of the subculture.

I believe that the furry fandom has a large proportion of animal rights activists, vegans, etc., but I need to find research to back this up. I hope that FurCon and other associated conventions ban real fur, though.

I am going to choose the subculture of the furry fandom to base my LS-121 annotated bibliography project on, as I already have some experience with it, and it is a broader topic than some of the other subcultures that I was considering, such as the SCP Foundation fans.

This is actually a really good point about the apparent new phenomenon with our generation. The previous generation wasn't really interested in the background(s) of the characters, writers etc and how it tied in to other mediums or other shows in terms of similarities with plots etc. Nowadays, with the wide open access to info on the internet, fandoms have blossomed.