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Forgive me for the long text wall and attempt at sociology

I've had this on my mind for a while, wearing tails out in public outside of cons and other specific events. I know this isn't really original, and I've already read many posts on it, but none of them really gave good input. Some characterize those who wear tails as attention seeking idiots, others just try to avoid them because being a furry in public is too "out of the norm" for them. I mean, there are responses like this one and most of the following comments that view furry apparel as stupidly immature, but without any valid reason other than a social taboo of looking silly.

Then there are comments such at this one that give a good discussion about it, but still go back to social stigmas and taboos about appearance in public. They do make a good point in some of them:

Skinny anime chicks? Totally. Chunky white dudes? Not so much. If a chunky white dude's walking around with an animal tail, of course mothers are going to freak out and try to keep this somewhat creepy weirdo away from their kids.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm not overweight, but I could stand to lose some weight since it's all (literally) on my stomach and thighs (luckily my roommate is in the military and I'm in the process of thinning out), and the only reason I'm overly white is because I live on the Texas/Mexico border. But I've seen people as far up as northern Houston wearing the most ridiculous outfits (number of items on par with full on fur-suiting) and claiming that they wear them because of their "culture". Or people with the hipster or goth look. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't was the argument put forth here, and it seems like a good enough answer. But I want more.

Others gave a simple response that summed up their feelings and reasons in a quick sentence, such as this one. I'd like to see a more valid reason, but I suppose it's the opposite spectrum of the first comment I linked to.

Myself? I'm an 18 year old 6'2" chubby around the waist white guy who can't decide on an accent or style because of all the places I've lived and all the books I've read. I like to keep my life interesting, either by doing interesting things such as skateboarding (up until I broke my leg a year ago, mostly why I'm not in shape now) and trying to play Yu-Gi-Oh with people who drop $100 on a deck and actually make part of their income through the game (one my roommates actually...) or by what I wear. I own two pocket watches, one a decent replica of the Masters fob watch from Doctor Who and another a fully mechanical steam-punkish style, the reddit and the 4-bit binary watches from Cadence, a sonic screw-driver that functions as both a toy and a screw driver, a USB 3.0 drive (unique among itself right now) full of original and downloaded minecraft maps and things I've written, prescription glasses with interesting squares printed on the plastic bits, and more crap than I could fill up a post with. Most of which I add to my outfit or keep on my person throughout the day. Even then I'll radically change my physical appearance on a whim. I've grown my hair out for a year only to one day wake up and decide I want it cut, donated most of it (except the part I kept on my head) to whichever charity uses used hair, and since then haven't grown it out. Or taking No-Shave-November and extending it until the new year (a very full beard is what I'm getting at) until I wake up and don't like the beard anymore. Heck, I don't even keep my bedroom in the same layout for more than half a year. I'm always trying to improve or change something. A tail is just one more thing to add to the medley of dumb and interesting things I do every day.

That being said, most of the reactions I've read via reddit about wearing tails in public on any normal day have been negative. As a counter to the examples of "acceptable" places in which to wear tails/ears/what-have-you: I live so far south and am so much involved in my university (work, a very involved major, and I live in an apartment across the street from it) that I don't have the time or money to make my way halfway up the country to go to a weekend or longer convention, so the mindset of "wearing it only at so and so" is out of the question. Not only that, but I think I've seen maybe one or two other people who -may- be sorta kinda furry, but probably just an anime geek, in all of the Rio Grande Valley, and those are just at my university. So get-togethers with like minded friends are out of the question. I think I've personally known one furry, and that was before I even knew that a more or less formal group of generally like minded people existed. As a result of this, I've never really come into contact with stereotypes and the like.

So I did an experiment. About a week ago, after one of the worst couple of months I've had in a while, I was at Hot Topic with a friend and saw some tails on display. It took about five seconds of though until I bought a cheap, 15 or so inch-long grey tail and wore it for this past week. My friends had no idea that I was even vaguely interested in this kind of stuff outside of my preference for Khajiit in Skyrim and similar races in similar games. At first they where a bit surprised, but like I said, I try to keep my life interesting by doing dumb things so they got used to it after a while. At first it was a bit annoying keeping track of it (IE sitting down and bunching it up awkwardly or closing car doors on it) but after I got used to moving around it, the tail was a big improvement on my wardrobe. Bored? Play with tail. Neck cold? Detach and relocate tail. Still bored? Use tail as cat toy to confuse my kitten. At the emergency room because of a nasty cut caused by a dish-washing incident? Make some sick little girls day by joking about the tail being a medical accident.

Most people didn't really care, aside from kids and their parents being really interested in it, nothing really happened. I mean, I felt people staring at me, but it was akin to when I'd go to class in a full suit (complete with a chrome-skull topped cane and a fedora) one day and a torn up Disturbed T-shirt and the jeans I used to skateboard in the next. It could be that I'm a college student and that we're expected to do "dumb" things like this, but no one spoke to me any more or less than normal. Not to mention I'm a math tutor in the best tutoring lab at my uni, and I see and am recognized by probably half the university over the course of a semester. Granted, the winter semester barely ended yesterday and we are just starting the Spring semester Monday, so I'll see how that turns out later on. But I didn't run into anyone that fit any description I've read so far. Nobody gave me a look like I was an attention seeking whore, nobody called me out for being a bestiality prone sex crazed maniac, nobody really cared at all.

I actually want to get a better tail that matches my fursona, just to see what the reaction will be then. It could be my location, it could be because a great deal of people already know me and know that I'm a mostly well adjusted member of society, but the reactions stated above (aside from the third, "positive" example that goes with just about anything out of the norm) just didn't happen.

So my question is, in a civil and detailed manner, what is your opinion of wearing tails in public? Why or why not? Support it with over 5000 characters of examples and half as many in a personal story. Attack my post in the same manner or as you please. If you're asking yourself why? Then why not?

TL;DR I am not nearly clever enough to make this funny nor am I good enough at summarizing to make this short, so skim the post to get the gist of it all

EDIT: So after about a day or so of checking in on this and replying to everyone, I think I've got a good enough answer. As stated in my pathetic attempt at a TL;DR, I suck at summarizing. I'd say the gist of it all is that there is a balance. Older furs are less likely to wear tails or other apparel outside of a specific location, such as a con or planned get together with friends, and us younger furs generally don't care about appearance or opinion and we're more likely to let it out in the open. It's just another balancing act, apparently

submitted by shichigatsu
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Archive-name: furry/faq
Posting-Frequency: Posted on the 8th and 25th of each month.
URL: [link]
Last-Modified: Sat, 18 Jan 2003 00:26:59 -0800 (PST)
Changes: Updated various URLs and MUCK addresses to bring up to date.

an Alt.Fan.Furry Frequently-Asked-Questions Sheet

Fuzzy Notes: B-Sides is where Potoroo flips the disk and plays three additional tracks by artists featured last week, a mini-cast which will happen between full episodes every other Friday. Think of it like the b-side to a single! This week, we hear from Berserker Shark, Scales (aka. Dragontaur Productions) and Martyrs of Apathy! Contact: fuzzynotespodcast@gmail.com Podomatic: http://fuzzynotes.podomatic.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/Potoroo THE MUSIC Berserker Shark - The Run Track: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/9437595/ FurAffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/berserker-shark Scales (aka. Dragontaur Productions) - Alone Track: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/8891146/ FurAffinity: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dragontaur-productions Martyrs of Apathy - Rise of Artificial - Sonata in A Minor (Martyrs' Dubstyle Remix) Track: http://martyrsofapathy.bandcamp.com/track/rise-of-artificial-sonata-in-a-minor-martyrs-dubstyle-remix Bandcamp: http://martyrsofapathy.bandcamp.com/ B-Sides: Episode 4 - Fuzzy Notes: B-Sides is where Potoroo flips the disk and plays three additional tracks by artists...

I've recently started taking an interest in the furry fandom, mostly due to this subreddit. The art and writing is amazing, the people seem so friendly and the NSFW stuff is...

I'm getting off topic. How did you come to see you were a part of the fandom, and what did you do from there?

submitted by huvnaegot1
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submitted by Scraps_wolf
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Author: Fred The WWA Gallery, which featured the “Gag Me With a Toon 4” art exhibition last March & April, has a new exhibition: “Creepy Cute”, from January 12th through February 9th, 2013, featuring seven artists and sixty-six paintings. All the paintings are shown on and may be purchased from the gallery’s website. The majority are [...]

submitted by Riffti
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submitted by Ipatfurries
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Author: GreenReaper MiDFur staff have chosen a new name, ConFurgence, after a month-long selection process – but pre-registration of the chosen domain name suggests a pick made prior to the final poll. ConFurgence’s Flash the Dingo as drawn by Kat Aclysm The event’s growth had become an increasing issue with its December timeslot (the ‘D’ [...]

submitted by w1ldm4n
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submitted by SamuraiSmurfette
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Author: crossaffliction This handheld spinoff of the Epic Mickey games features Mickey Mouse as Mario in an old-school side-scroller with cel-animation style visuals. What he’s doing in a 2D game with 2D visuals on a console with “3D” in its name is a mystery. I’m sorry. That came out a bit grumpy. You see, I [...]

submitted by battgurl
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Papabear,

I'll start saying that I've been living with my grandparents since I was 10 years old (20 years old right now) and they've been always there for me whenever I needed support, love and affection. My relationship with my grandma is very good, she knows that I'm a furry, bisexual and have a foot fetish, which is good for her because she always has been telling me that no matter what choice I make, she'll be supporting me and respect my decisions.

We live and work on a farm. Recently I started to have this attraction for cows and bulls, meaning that sometimes I have fantasies about having sex with them; is there something wrong with me? what should I do? I feel like a freak about it because I really, really feel this sexual attraction for them and I'm afraid that maybe I'm falling into Zoophilia, I can't talk about this with my grandparents because I don't know how they will react if I say it.

Please Papa Bear, help me. 

* * *

Hello, Fellow Furry,

I’m not listing your name here because of the nature of the topic, which is quite controversial. As Papabear’s readers know, I am very nonjudgmental about people’s sexual needs and preferences. I’ve always felt, in a very Wiccan way, that if you aren’t hurting anyone you should be allowed to do what you enjoy doing.

Okay, so, the hot topic of the day is zoophilia: the sexual desire for a species other than your own. As everyone knows, zoophilia is socially unacceptable in most societies, including American society (no duh, right?) Nevertheless, everyone knows it occurs; your living on a farm and desiring to have sex with a cow or bull is, actually, rather cliché, though the running joke is usually of a farmer having sex with a goat, sheep, or pig.

Is desire for another species abnormal? Is it deviant? Well, yes, in the sense that it is uncommon and it is a deviation from the norm. Consider, though, that people used to believe that homosexuality only occurred in Homo sapiens, yet after a little research scientists have discovered that it actually can be found in hundreds of species around the planet.

This led to my next thought: Could interspecies sex also occur in the wild? Thank goodness for the wonders of the Internet. After a little googling, I came across this fascinating article on the National Geographic site (a trusted source; I don’t just quote people who randomly post on the Web as if everything on there is true): http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070314-hybrids.html. The gist of the article is that it has been learned that interspecies sex occurs in nature. This can be seen as one of Nature’s many ways to genetically diversify species and try things out to see if they work. The thing is, however, that while the species discussed are technically different, they are not too distantly related (polar and brown bears, for instance, or two differently species of butterflies). The reason for this is that, at minimal, you will need to have the same number of chromosomes in the two species in order to have a birth.

Well, okay, that’s not really true, either. An example would be mules (mules result from male donkeys breeding with mares) and hinnies (a hinny is the result of a female donkey and male horse). Horses have 64 chromosomes and donkeys have 62; they can mate and create an offspring with 63 chromosomes, but the result is an animal that itself is sterile. It can live a normal life, but it will not reproduce. .... Wrong again! I found this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/h/hybrid.htm which asserts that a female mule can actually be fertile!

When it comes to Nature, humanity’s sense of right and wrong is left at the door. The main goal of Nature, when it comes to plants and animals (interspecies breeding among plants, by the way, is even more common than in animals), is to create creatures that will live and thrive. As the environment changes, so do species change to adjust. The extinction of one species provides an opportunity for another. Life and evolution are in constant flux. Here’s another example: there are now scientists who believe that early Homo sapiens mated with Neanderthals and that our modern species may be the result.

So, what do we make of zoophilia, given the above? If we look at it objectively, it might just be one way for Nature to experiment with genes and see what happens. If a human mates with a cow, probably nothing will happen (although I do suggest a condom for sanitary purposes).

Humans are an interesting step in evolution, as we are actually actively trying to genetically alter plants and animals. This happens all the time in modern horticulture. There are even cases where the genes of an animal species have been inserted into those of a crop plant to help it resist disease and pests. Scientists have interbred carrots and rice so that people living in Asia, where rice is a staple, can get some of the vitamins commonly found in carrots. Furthermore, we have pigs in research facilities growing human organs now! Wow. Who knows, someday, we might actually see humans with genes from other animals, and furries (though they would probably still look very human) would actually come into existence.

This is all a long-winded way of explaining to you, dear writer, that what you are feeling, while not normal by society’s standards, is probably the result of an impulse planted into you at random by Mother Nature. One of Her little experiments, shall we say.

Your grandparents have been amazingly supportive and understanding of you. They have accepted everything else about you, and might even accept this. It’s not like you have actually done anything about it, and I would tell them so if you have that conversation, but you do have these feelings and maybe you would feel about it if you could talk to someone. Maybe show them this letter so they have a bit more understanding of it. It is, indeed, a bit like walking through a mine field, so you need to be careful. I will not judge you one way or another about the “morality” of it (as long as you don’t hurt yourself or an animal in the process) but it is a dicey issue. Quite so.

I hope the above helps. Let me know how it goes.

Hugs,

Papabear

Hi folks! Time for a bit of a meta-post with some neat news.

First of all, thanks to everyone who took the opportunity to fill out the 2012 [adjective][species] Census and Survey!  There’s…a lot to go through, and it’s going to take us a while to write up a full report, but we’ll get one all pulled together soon! The C&S is now closed, but what about a 2013 survey? Well, that’s where the news bit comes into play

The Furry Survey, as run by Alex Osaki/Klisoura, has been going strong since 2007, with 3,267 respondents in 2012 alone. It’s a well-constructed demographic census that drives a lot of the information behind our articles and visualizations. Running a yearly survey, complete with advertising, comment-handling, and pulling together results, however, takes time and effort, and so starting this year, we’re is happy to announce that [adjective][species] will be helping to run the Furry Survey as an [a][s] project right over here on furrypoll.com!

The survey remains much the same as previous years with only a few changes.  Notably, one of the goals is to make the survey more international in its reach.  To that end, we’ve added more international conventions and are aiming to reach out beyond just a few countries to a wider audience.  Alas, the survey remains English language only for now, but if there’s interest (and translators), hopefully that can change in the future.

As for the [a][s] Census and Survey, a long-form survey does have its place in the future, and it will certainly come back with new questions for new folks to answer.  Keep an eye out, as we’ll be sure to make an announcement for that, as well!

With that we’ll set you loose: take the survey, pass it around, and talk it up!

submitted by cheshirecat76453
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submitted by schafer09
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I'd prefer Venu. Because purple lasers, PEW PEW!

submitted by HappyWulf
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