The Furry Sociological Survey: Closing soon, OMG

[Gabi]

I assumed the currency to be US dollars, and therefore I marked below 10000.

[Stygian]

That part of the survey probably becomes a bit of a hassle, as one USD is about 7.5 Swedish Crowns. Thus my answer becomes a bit indefinite.
   Anyhow, on the gender question I am quite a bit of a traditionalist, so I consider gender as something that means either male, female, or abnormality. The modern definition of gender as having anything to do with roles I see as just more inconvenient stereotyping or illogical thinking by people who easily fall into the "feminist" or "radical" folds. Gender is thesame as sex to me, but not gender role, why I keep having trouble with all these different definitions.
   To simplify, I should say that I think that one should not answer that sort of question based upon what gender they wish they belonged to, but rather be truthful and simply state to which sex they belong. If they have had a sex change, then it would be proper to state their current sex, and that they have gone through the procedure. People currently undergoing sex change or those born with abnormalities are the only ones who should answer "undefined".

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hm.  There are a few currencies that would cause some trouble.  The British Pound is currently something like 1.5 euro, meaning that someone making £70,000 is going to place himself in the 50-75,000 category instead of the Above 100,000 category.

(And let's not get into the Venezuelan Bolivar)

... or what Gabi earns, the Argentinian Peso, which, last I heard, was something obscene like 6 to the GBP... which is, actually, 1.9 USD. Man, the USD has slumped since last I saw it... Given, say, my earning power, which at present is either 40k or 243k, depending on currency. I'm sure I could find a worse number for you.... :-)

[Gabi]

Why do you call my currency obscene? There are bigger exchange rates in the world.

Anyway, I insist that cultural groups shouldn't be put on the same list as physical divisions, as every person belongs to at least one of each.

[superluser]

... or what Gabi earns, the Argentinian Peso, which, last I heard, was something obscene like 6 to the GBP... which is, actually, 1.9 USD. Man, the USD has slumped since last I saw it... Given, say, my earning power, which at present is either 40k or 243k, depending on currency. I'm sure I could find a worse number for you.... :-)

Except that the Argentinian Peso is pretty close to the value of the Brazilian Real and Peruvian Nuevo Sol, which would tend to mean that if the researcher used a continental currency, it would be similar enough for Argentina.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Ok, looks like I've got a few questions to answer and things to clarify.

First, currency:

For the question regarding yearly income, participants are expected to answer in their own national currency. Afterwards, I look at on what continent they resided and convert their national currency into United States dollars. Because the answer options are divided into $10,000 integers, variations in currency values within a continent would be negligible. That said, it would have been better to have either stated that participants should answer in their own national currency, or let participants perform that currency conversion themselves and answer in United State dollars.
So bottom line is, just answer in your own national currency.

Second, gender:
The 'other' catagory generally assumes the participant is a hermaphrodite, it may also include persons who have had a sex change. I used the term 'other' to be all inclusive of persons with genders which were neither clearly male nor female. Even though hermaphrodites and people have had sex change operations are in a minority, does not make them any less important to the survey. In fact, I personally am very interested in knowing just how many furries out there don't fit into the standard male or female catagories.

FYI, Stygian, Furry answer this one...

AS for Gender, I know we had the debate before on another thread... So, here a sample gage....

SEX- male or female, or other <2% mostly is Biology but that is not what is asked.

Gender- should be Female or male and choose the one role you feel you are closest to.  mmm Maybe if you have a problem with this one just answer "other"---which seem to include anyone who is both or neither...

The questions I'm not sure I am getting is

What is your sexual inclination?   What or why do you worried over single or multible partners? and is that at the same time? or one at a time?

Being Bi, this is a little problematic, Do you have one partner, which you love enough to give up the sex, which you like or need?  Or do you try to find another open loving person?  And cheating is out.  That shows no respect of either partner or yourself.

Is your interest in furry of a sexual or non-sexual nature?  This is one is a little insulting, but not as insulty as the zoophile.  Some non-furries may like Amber's stories and something similiar but would never date a real furson.  I like my stories that are well rounded and sexual/love stories is part of that.  I would not like just Furry pron.  Still, a "friend" of mine has stated that If you put five people together it is almost certain that one of them is a prevert.  I am just not one of them.

Maybe the problem is What is a furry or how much of a furry are you?

• Do you just like stories with talking fur-covered people?
  
• Do you have a virtual Furson , you like to play as?
• Do you dress-up or coplay as your furson in a fursuit?
• DO you think you really are a anthropomorphic spirit trapped in a human body?   

Good luck with your survey

PBH

[Tapewolf]

I agree with PBH - the survey should really have some indicator of how furry someone is.  It's not exactly a yes/no thing.

[superluser]

Do you have a virtual Furson , you like to play as?

I gotta agree with this.  There are many other variants that would be very interesting to explore.

For example, I use the username superluser.  That's not what mommy named me.  I identify with it, but I consider my online persona very different from who I am.

I used to play D&D.  I had a halfling character named Telamon there.  I pretended to be him, but he wasn't me.

I'm writing a story that features a furry protagonist that includes some elements of my personality (often taken to hyperbolic levels).  I don't identify with the character, and I don't consider myself a furry.

These are all questions ripe for exploration.

(As to how an author of furry fiction can be not furry, I'm primarily interested in stories, and the story is set in the DMFA universe, which means that it has to be furry.  If Amber's rich stories were set in a universe where everybody shoveled sh**, the protagonist, too would have shoveled)

[Prof B Hunnydew]

I hate to say it but Just liking "funny animal stories", makes you a furry... But 90% of the public, who loves Disney movies or Bugs Bunny and the Loony Tunes would disagree with us...

PBH

[Reese Tora]

I hate to say it but Just liking "funny animal stories", makes you a furry... But 90% of the public, who loves Disney movies or Bugs Bunny and the Loony Tunes would disagree with us...

PBH

I think that there's an extra step there.

That's like saying someone who likes the Star Trek movies is a trekie... you have to take the mental leap of being a fan, IMO, before you would clasify as a member of the sub-culture.  (Also, one might like Loony Toons because it's funny, not because it contains anthropomorphic animals.)

[Prof B Hunnydew]

Oh Well what is it, then?

Is It

• having a furry alias?
• having a Plushy?
• or just wanting to cuddle/hug complete strangers(without being under the effects of drink/drugs)?

PBH

[Amber Williams]

I agree with Reese personally.  Its probably one of my bigger pet peeves about the fandom when people go on "Well you liked Looney Toons and that is furry so you are a furry" as it sounds more like people desperately grasping onto straws.  Sort of like people who claim Chewbacca is a furry and those who are Chewie fans are furries.

There is a big difference between enjoying a cartoon that happens to have anthromorphic characters and enjoying a cartoon because it happens to have anthromorphic characters.  People who enjoyed watching Disney's Treasure Planet doesnt automatically mean they are fans of sci-fi or steampunk due to the cartoons use of those features.

Star Trek is unfortunately a bad comparison for this since even Star Trek fans don't attempt to leech into other fandoms. Yeah, fans of Star Trek might also be fans of Firefly, Farscape, and other space-faring series, but it doesn't necessarily mean they are going to asume Firefly and Farscape are somehow in a Trek-centered universe.(unless they are way out there)

[Prof B Hunnydew]

I agree, but also I am just hoping for a better definition of a furry?  People define and redefine themselves all the time, but a general line should be agreed upon somewhere on this. 

Well, Ms Williams, If we take you as an example, Would we have to said that Amber is no longer a furry.?  You, yourself, have said that you are a furry?  But maybe you can define what one is?

PBH

[Darkmoon]

(quietly moves this to Off Topic, since it isn't DMFA related)

[Netami]

Sort of like people who claim Chewbacca is a furry and those who are Chewie fans are furries.

CHEWIE IS AN ALIEN, NOT A FURRY! HE IS NOT A FURRY!

[superluser]

I agree, but also I am just hoping for a better definition of a furry?  People define and redefine themselves all the time, but a general line should be agreed upon somewhere on this.

I think there are some general guidelines.  I think the concept here is that furry refers to animals that fill human social roles.  In other terms that will probably get me in trouble, their sexes are bestial and they retain some of their bestial identity, but their genders are human, and their physical appearance is not metaphorical or allegorical.

I think it's probably best to give some examples.

Æsop wrote fables around 500 BC.  They featured highly anthropomorpized characters (see the frogs who wanted a king, or the town mouse and the country mouse).  I don't consider these furry.  They use animals as metaphors for other attributes--the tortoise is slow, and that's why he's used--not because tortoises are ninjas.

I'm drawing a 2300 year blank, but around 1894, we get The Jungle Book.  Again, highly anthropomorphized characters.  Again, animals are used as metaphors.

In 1945, we have Animal Farm.  Now, not only do the animals have human emotions and human societies, but also wear human clothing and walk erect.  They're still used as metaphors.  Not furry.

In the early 1920's, we have Looney Tunes and Walt Disney.  The animal characters in Looney Tunes are anthropomorphized, and they're not metaphors for anything.  But in Looney Tunes, they are still fully animal--they talk, like Garfield, for dramatic convenience, and they don't usually take part in human society (a notable exception being Baby Buggy Bunny).

In Walt Disney cartoons, the characters are effectively human.  I don't remember any reference ever being made to Mickey Mouse actually being a mouse.

And now here's where I start drawing the line.  Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, King Leonardo and His Short Subjects, and the others in that genre all have characters that are anthropomorphized animals.  They're not metaphorical, they are part of human society (Bullwinkle went to Wossamotta U, got commendations from the President, Peabody has argued in courts of law), and despite all of that, they're still animals.  I think that makes them furry.

That's pretty much how I see it.  Oh, and:

[Amber Williams]

I agree, but also I am just hoping for a better definition of a furry?  People define and redefine themselves all the time, but a general line should be agreed upon somewhere on this. 

Well, Ms Williams, If we take you as an example, Would we have to said that Amber is no longer a furry.?  You, yourself, have said that you are a furry?  But maybe you can define what one is?

PBH

I think the problem lies in that people keep trying to find a "better definition", when it is something that often lies within the individual to decide.  If you watch Spirited Away and enjoy it, does that make you an anime fan?  Would you be considered one if you went out and got another dvd from the same creator (lets say Princess Mononoke)?  Anime is often defined by its artstyle...but does someone who watches Toonami really make them an anime fan if they watch equal or greater amounts of other cartoons?

The definition ultimately lies in what the individual classifies themselves as.  Only when they take an active step and say "yeah. I'm a fan of this. Probably moreso than the average viewer"  From then out it's a matter of defining what kind of fan one is.

I don't see how furry or anthromorphic is any different.  People can be involved in the furry subculture and not consider themselves furry at all while others who do consider themselves furry avoid the subculture to begin with.

Personally? I don't see myself as a furry...and I don't recall anytime I particularly said I was. I draw furries yes, and I like anthromorphic artwork. I socialize with the furry community...but I don't necessarily see myself as a furry anymore than I see myself as an otaku.  I often find the problem lies in that its other people who make the decision for others or try to come up with an all-encompassing blanket for the term.  You'd have just about as much luck trying to define video games and violence.

[bill]

By being a fan of DMFA you're already removed from the "non-furry" denomination.  ^_-

DMFA is the gateway drug to furry.

Feh, doubtful. 

I'm already suckered in too deep by being a motorsport fan to be seduced by something else. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'm already suckered in too deep by being a motorsport fan to be seduced by something else. 

... It's not just a river in Egypt....

[bill]

Did I ask you, you guitar noob?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You posted here. That's an implicit ask, if ever I saw one... :-]

[Darkmoon]

I'm not a furry. Of course, if Amber didn't draw DMFA, I wouldn't have read it.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

So well, We are back to this question How much of a furry are you?

• Do you just like stories with talking fur-covered people?
  
• Do you have a virtual Furson , you like to play as?
• Do you dress-up or coplay as your furson in a fursuit?
• DO you think you really are a anthropomorphic spirit trapped in a human body?   

The real answer is AS MUCH AS you feel comfortable being.


Thanks Amber and Good Night everyone.
PBH

Maybe we need a poll/survey for DMFA...

[Darkmoon]

DO you think you really are a anthropomorphic spirit trapped in a human body?

Oh bloody hell, if THAT discussion starts here, I'm locking the thread. The last thing I need is people talking about how they are really cute woodland creatures trapped in their hy-ooman bodies.

[Aridas]

I think it's a mental issue, actually. I rarely see those kinds of people, but I really can't avoid that smack-my-forehead moment when I hear one going on about it.. I don't even care if it's true or not, it's insane. Like those people who think they're jesus/god/god-jesus. It's a real smack-my-forehead moment whenever I hear someone talk about how crappy they feel because they can't shed their pathetic human shell, blah blah... It's almost always the same story.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Oh bloody hell, if THAT discussion starts here, I'm locking the thread. The last thing I need is people talking about how they are really cute woodland creatures trapped in their hy-ooman bodies.

Only if I don't get there first. Abuse and misery, ahoy.

Of course, it's perfectly acceptable to claim that I'm a lesbian trapped in a man's body....


(note: these are the yolks, folks...)

[Darkmoon]

I understand your pain, man. I am one, too. I loev me the womens.

[Alondro]

I could claim that I'm a human trapped in a lioness' body...

http://www.furaffinity.net/full/250342/



*could not resist* 

[Netami]

DO you think you really are a anthropomorphic spirit trapped in a human body?

Oh bloody hell, if THAT discussion starts here, I'm locking the thread. The last thing I need is people talking about how they are really cute woodland creatures trapped in their hy-ooman bodies.

EXCUSE ME, I am not some mere woodland creature, hunam! I am a mighty ICE DRAGON, sent here from the EARTH MOTHER to save everyone from global warming! Don't cross me or else I'll transform into my true body, which I conveniently got on furbid...

[superluser]

For the record I am an animal trapped in a man's body.  That animal is a man, and he's quite glad to be trapped here.

...in before the lock!