A lot of people who identify as furry have a romantic/sexual fantasy world that is so far removed from reality that rarely are humans even involved in their stories and roleplay and artwork. They aren’t out lusting after animals (mostly), they are imagining a world where sapient beings, are free and open with each other and not bound up in human hangups and prejudices and it’s honestly quite nice, I seriously wish all the major fan-fantasy subcultures had a central theme of diversity and love that reaches beyond any physical form.
I think that furry sex stuff can seem very queer in this way. To clarify what I mean, as well as being the Q in LGBTQ+, I’m also invoking queer as in queer theory. For example, prominent queer theorist Eve Sedgwick says that queer can mean “the open mesh of possibilities, gaps…and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone’s gender, of anyone’s sexuality aren’t made (or can’t be made) to signify monolithically”. Another less verbose definition, from Michael Warner (who I’m not familiar with, pulling these words from Wikipedia): “Queer gets a critical edge by defining itself against the normal rather than the heterosexual.” (Source: Wikipedia article for “Queering”)
The way that I think of this is that I’m bisexual because I’m attracted to both people of my gender and not of my gender. I’m queer because as a chronic punk, I relish the chance to leverage my bisexuality to challenge societal norms and assumptions — I got a hell of a lot cooler once I pushed myself out of the closet because it was fear around fitting into moulds that was driving a lot of my internalised homophobia. That’s my personal take on the distinction between gay/bi and queer. Personally, I don’t necessarily think one has to be LGBT+ to be queer, but that’s a somewhat contentious opinion.
This isn’t to say that all furries are queer, though I’m sure some people would argue that. Just that I think I think a lot of furry culture makes more sense if you’re familiar with queer theory and queer culture.
This is all a long winded way of saying that there’s a sense in which furries are punk as fuck, and coming from someone like me, that’s an indication of respect
A lot of people who identify as furry have a romantic/sexual fantasy world that is so far removed from reality that rarely are humans even involved in their stories and roleplay and artwork. They aren’t out lusting after animals (mostly), they are imagining a world where sapient beings, are free and open with each other and not bound up in human hangups and prejudices and it’s honestly quite nice, I seriously wish all the major fan-fantasy subcultures had a central theme of diversity and love that reaches beyond any physical form.
I think that furry sex stuff can seem very queer in this way. To clarify what I mean, as well as being the Q in LGBTQ+, I’m also invoking queer as in queer theory. For example, prominent queer theorist Eve Sedgwick says that queer can mean “the open mesh of possibilities, gaps…and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone’s gender, of anyone’s sexuality aren’t made (or can’t be made) to signify monolithically”. Another less verbose definition, from Michael Warner (who I’m not familiar with, pulling these words from Wikipedia): “Queer gets a critical edge by defining itself against the normal rather than the heterosexual.” (Source: Wikipedia article for “Queering”)
The way that I think of this is that I’m bisexual because I’m attracted to both people of my gender and not of my gender. I’m queer because as a chronic punk, I relish the chance to leverage my bisexuality to challenge societal norms and assumptions — I got a hell of a lot cooler once I pushed myself out of the closet because it was fear around fitting into moulds that was driving a lot of my internalised homophobia. That’s my personal take on the distinction between gay/bi and queer. Personally, I don’t necessarily think one has to be LGBT+ to be queer, but that’s a somewhat contentious opinion.
This isn’t to say that all furries are queer, though I’m sure some people would argue that. Just that I think I think a lot of furry culture makes more sense if you’re familiar with queer theory and queer culture.
This is all a long winded way of saying that there’s a sense in which furries are punk as fuck, and coming from someone like me, that’s an indication of respect
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