What Turned You Into a Furry?

I have said this somewhere on here, but I enjoy telling my story. AS with @Marius Merganser I grew up LOVING cartoons. I mean the REAL cartoons: Looney Tunes, Shirt tales, Woody Woodpecker, He Man, Smurfs, GI Joe, Care Bears, Garfield, Duck Tales, TMNT, Heathcliff, Inspector Gadget, etc I can go on and on. Even back then I pretended to be an animal and wanted to play as an animal but everyone thought I was weird.

One day, almost 20 years ago, when I finally had internet (yes, there were days before internet!) I stumbled upon this RP forum and chose a magical female unicorn. Although I had fun with her, I always had this idea of a bunny in the back of my head. One day I decided to go with it, and now almost 15 years later I am Sarah the Horny Bunny.
 
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There's something about pretending to be an animal that is so liberating. Folktales already used their observed traits to express certain things :3 (I talked with @Spilo about Reynard the trickster Fox recently. Being Furry goes back far!)

In general I think every animal has a unique soul and character that they unbashfully show it. They don't lie like people do. You always know where you stand with them.
 
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MooseHorns237 said:
What turned you guys into furries? What sparked the interest, what solidified it?
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Nothing turned me into a furry. I was always a furry. When I was 8 y/o, Mother wanted to make for me a "space man" Halloween costume. I insisted I wasn't going out like that, and I'd prefer going as a flying fox (my fursona at that time, though I hadn't heard that term. I had a succession of fursonas while growing up). Big scream fests. Finally, Father settled the argument. Since Mother was the artistic type, Father pointed out that a flying fox outfit would be just as, if not more, creative. So I got my flying fox costume.

As for learning about Furdom, that was 31 October, 2003 -- the night the infamous "Fur and Loathing" episode of CSI was broadcast for the first time. By the time it was half over, I was going: "Let this be true, let this be true..." After the episode, I did some on-line searching, and -- sure enough -- it was for real. Also found out that I was living right in the middle of a furry hot-spot, found a furry forum, and within a couple of days, attended my first furmeet.

As Paul Harvey used to say: "And now you know the rest of the story".
 
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Always had a fascination for furry characters in various media since I was a child in the 1950s continuing for decades when I discovered furry specific comics in the early Eighties. Many had editorial and letters pages pointing to a growing organized fandom leading me to a serious indulgence especially with the new technology of online socialization (Internet was still years away). I took the final plunge when I accidentally created a fursona years after getting the furry bug.
 
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for me an early influence was the His Dark Material trilogy (still among my favourite books). Most of it is set in a fantasy world where everybody had a daemon, a sentient animal companion that takes various shapes to represent your personality. Basically mandatory fursonas.

Several years later, when I was 17 or 18, I was reading a lot of Terry Pratchett. Many of his Discworld books feature werewolves, and another series has an anthro race. I had always disliked the usual depiction of werewolves as lunatic monsters. Why would being able to transform automatically make you crazy? Pratchett's werewolves were nothing like that, they were just people. That struck a chord with me.

The third step was soon after that when I started reading the Freefall webcomic. The main character is an uplifted anthro. After reading the comic I lurked on its forum for a while and I think that's where I learned of the furry fandom. It's also where I discovered furry art. After that there was no turning back, and the rest is history.
 
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So.....For me it is a bit strange way. So I have always been interested in people that have alternative lifestyles. So I was interesting in people living the Adult baby life. This guy I met only do it clean version. But he was also into furry art so I saw some of his art and I found it interesting and ask what movie or book it was from and he said it is from a furry artist . And I ask what is Furry. I was 17 at this point. So instead of talking about what I wanted to know it was about furry.

I when decided to dig deeper and I registered at a danish forum. But was mostly passive but did buy some art. When I was at a low point in my life and was about to drop off my study. And I saw there was a meeting and I decided to go to meet this stage folks. Funny thing I hat not talked about my gender on the forum so the first comment I got at the meet was. "Whait your not a female." and I was a bit confused on what made me female. (I hat a male fursona that time ) . But I hat the best weekend and I decided to stay
 
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MooseHorns237 said:
What turned you guys into furries? What sparked the interest, what solidified it? Were there any particular artists or people that got you into it? What part of the fandom do you most enjoy?

This would be a poll if they were active, but they aren't at the moment. I wonder if I could edit it later?

The first thing that sparked the interest was hearing about 'people who identify as animals and use litterboxes in schools,' which I have since learned was just a hoax/misunderstanding. I researched things about furries and soon found Fur Affinity. When I found that site I tried doodling an anthro ferret in the corner of my sketchbook, realizing that I am bad at drawing animals and struggle with people, so I expected it to be terrible, but it turned out great and I still haven't been able to replicate it XD

My first anthro drawing is also probably my favorite, and that drawing is what made me like "Yup. I'm a furry." Then I found this site and it was very exciting to be part of a larger community who share this same strange interest that people generally look down upon. So here I am.

This is the drawing. I used my fingers next to it to show you how tiny it really is.

View attachment 9032
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It's a common topic, and prior to the last kerfuffle that saw this site's Forum wiped, I'd already enjoyed reading and chit-chatting with folks about this. We all have personal stories, experiences, thoughts, hopes, dreams and fears, and in spite of a worldwide selection of lives and the paths we lead, 'Furry' is a common theme. I like that.

For myself, it was dreams. Extremely vivid/lucid at times (Where 'I' could knowingly control things). Sometimes they were nightmares, and this was causing me and my whole family problems when I'd wake them up in distress (Screaming/crying). Being the only girl out of four children, Papa almost always deferred to Momma in how I was guided (And disciplined when I earned it, and I earned it, a LOT!) and such, She went 'Western Medicine' on my young self (Best guess when that started would've been around circa age 6? 7? Anyways)... The usual psycho-babble/drugs, for a few long and miserable years, and nothing 'Helped.' As I matured and my body began to realize itself, things in some ways became worse, but I won't delve too deep into the specifics (Site Rules and basic social manners), but it was even starting to scare me. Was I crazy, or going there, fast?

At some point, Papa decided he was going to take part, and he took me to see what folks would think of/call a 'Shaman/Medicine Man' from a neighboring Res.. While this Man was mostly dressed as a regular person, his abode highlighted his Native American roots and life, and in spite of being very peaceful and calm (Reassuring even), he had that particular 'Look' some folks have, that drill right into your eyes and soul, and you feel like you're standing there w/o a thread of clothing and he can see ALL of you (Body, Mind, Spirit). Well, we had a few meetings, did a few things, and in the end he talked with Papa, Momma and myself in attendance (Something I really respected, 'cause for the most part, the 'Western Doctors' never let ME in on the conversations they had with Momma).
There's a few words he used I can't convert to English, but the general diagnosis was that past lives were making themselves known to my current one. How's THAT for an eye opening/mind boggling concept? At roughly 7/8 years of age, I never watched a cartoon depicting animal/furry characters in quite the same light again.

So that was the beginning of my Path into the 'Furryverse.'

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

From K-8th Grade I was taught under the Catholic Faith/Doctrine, and boy was that FUN! (I could choke-out a Black Hole with the sarcasm in that statement). One of the things that interested me was the overlap in all things 'Anthro' so I started with what I'd known best- religion. Angels, Devils, allthings in-between, and so on. Other Faiths, Paths, Mythologies and the stories they contained just kept me going.

So I had plenty of precedence in it, and will never waste a second of this life trying to convince anyone. They're free to choose/believe as they like, just as I am.

Now an aged adult of sixty years (That's as close as I'm sayin', so don't ask for more! lol), I've got many decades into this.

The Internet was truly a wonderous thing, good and bad. For researching stuff, reaching out across the ethereal worlds of different sites and such, seeing what others were up to, was such a fun thing to witness! It helps knowing 'I' am not the only one, of course. :-)

I love both the differences and similarities. The brilliant minds and imaginations of so many Artists, Musicians, Writers, and this all built on top of others (Disney, Hanna-Barbara, etc..). Tie that in with real world anthropologies hailing back to the earliest recorded/created things the human species has to offer, it just keeps going (Chew on THAT 'Energizer Bunny!')

It's sometimes a wild and bumpy ride, and I'm gonna hand on and enjoy it for as long as I can.

Lovely topic, and 'Thanks!' for bringing it back to the Forum!

A.S.
 
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Kostya said:
I mean it took the not wholesome thing for me to actually find the fandom proper

Let's face it, there is a ton of furry porn
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I've never understood the modern 'Western World's hesitation in portraying Eros. I mean sure, you have to be careful to keep the young/children away from 'Adult Rated' stuff, that's simple common sense (And good luck in accomplishing it with today's Internet!).
It's always important to keep things in their proper context, and I see far too many just go over the edge, but that too is a common theme in humanity.

:-)
 
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Bunny Lvr said:
I have said this somewhere on here, but I enjoy telling my story. AS with @Marius Merganser I grew up LOVING cartoons. I mean the REAL cartoons: Looney Tunes, Shirt tales, Woody Woodpecker, He Man, Smurfs, GI Joe, Care Bears, Garfield, Duck Tales, TMNT, Heathcliff, Inspector Gadget, etc I can go on and on. Even back then I pretended to be an animal and wanted to play as an animal but everyone thought I was weird.

One day, almost 20 years ago, when I finally had internet (yes, there were days before internet!) I stumbled upon this RP forum and chose a magical female unicorn. Although I had fun with her, I always had this idea of a bunny in the back of my head. One day I decided to go with it, and now almost 15 years later I am Sarah the Horny Bunny.
Click to expand...
Read the book "The Last Unicorn" before I saw the wonderful cartoon/movie. Your Post made me remember it.

:-)
 
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Simo said:
Nothing turned me into a furry. I was always a furry. When I was 8 y/o, Mother wanted to make for me a "space man" Halloween costume. I insisted I wasn't going out like that, and I'd prefer going as a flying fox (my fursona at that time, though I hadn't heard that term. I had a succession of fursonas while growing up). Big scream fests. Finally, Father settled the argument. Since Mother was the artistic type, Father pointed out that a flying fox outfit would be just as, if not more, creative. So I got my flying fox costume.

As for learning about Furdom, that was 31 October, 2003 -- the night the infamous "Fur and Loathing" episode of CSI was broadcast for the first time. By the time it was half over, I was going: "Let this be true, let this be true..." After the episode, I did some on-line searching, and -- sure enough -- it was for real. Also found out that I was living right in the middle of a furry hot-spot, found a furry forum, and within a couple of days, attended my first furmeet.

As Paul Harvey used to say: "And now you know the rest of the story".
Click to expand...
Grew up listening to the great Mr. Harvey over our radio(s)!
:-)
 
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