Furries in the News

[Panda.Yuki]

I have a BBC News feed at the top of my Mozilla Browser.
I saw the phrase 'Furry Fixation.'
I have a few furry friends and read DMFA all the time.

So after reading it I wanted to hear people's opinions on it, so I figured this might be the best place to see!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8355287.stm

[superluser]

I have a BBC News feed at the top of my Mozilla Browser.
I saw the phrase 'Furry Fixation.'
I have a few furry friends and read DMFA all the time.

So after reading it I wanted to hear people's opinions on it, so I figured this might be the best place to see!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8355287.stm

British furry news website, FurteanTimes.com.

What's next? AnthroEvolution Quarterly?

[Siirenia]

I love this sort of thing, but not because the websites or news articles are ever of any interest.

I more love the "I'm different because..." you get from every furry that doesn't want to be associated with the aforementioned articles and sites.

[ShadesFox]

I think this comment on the article is rather... relevant,

There are a lot more people creating furry art than wearing fursuits in the fandom. The art ranges from really beautiful, detailed portraits of furry characters to humorous cartoons done in all sorts of offbeat personal styles. But 99% of these articles focus almost exclusively on the fursuiters, leading most people to think EVERY furry wears a suit.
Joe Strike, New York NY US

[Brunhidden]

I think this comment on the article is rather... relevant,

There are a lot more people creating furry art than wearing fursuits in the fandom. The art ranges from really beautiful, detailed portraits of furry characters to humorous cartoons done in all sorts of offbeat personal styles. But 99% of these articles focus almost exclusively on the fursuiters, leading most people to think EVERY furry wears a suit.
Joe Strike, New York NY US

show of hands, who all here wears a fursuit?






admitedly ive worn one once, for a commercial..... it was a giant owl

[Sofox]

That must have been a hoot.

[Alondro]

I've taken a different tact!

Furry is my life choice and if you make fun of me I'll sue you for discrimination and have you sent to Tolerance Camp!

I too can manipulate the political correctness machine! 

[Moonchylde]

Never wore a fursuit... I do have a tail, though, that I wear sometimes.

I did use to dress as a giant anthro bee for my old job, does that count? I didn't do it for fun, though, as much as overtime pay and free food...

[Tezkat]

I think this comment on the article is rather... relevant,

There are a lot more people creating furry art than wearing fursuits in the fandom. The art ranges from really beautiful, detailed portraits of furry characters to humorous cartoons done in all sorts of offbeat personal styles. But 99% of these articles focus almost exclusively on the fursuiters, leading most people to think EVERY furry wears a suit.
Joe Strike, New York NY US

Heh. Would you really rather that the media focus on artwork than fursuiting, though? Fursuiting has a kinda exotic human interest angle, and the sensationally dirty things you can do in fursuits at least happen behind closed doors. The artwork is much more in your face; any large repository of furry artwork is virtually guaranteed to contain squickish material only a few clicks away. Imagine if the media appointed Doug Winger as official representative of furry fandom...

[Azlan]

It's not worth dwelling on, it is best to move on. 

[Valynth]

Heh. Would you really rather that the media focus on artwork than fursuiting, though? Fursuiting has a kinda exotic human interest angle, and the sensationally dirty things you can do in fursuits at least happen behind closed doors. The artwork is much more in your face; any large repository of furry artwork is virtually guaranteed to contain squickish material only a few clicks away. Imagine if the media appointed Doug Winger as official representative of furry fandom...

In that regard, Furry art is the same as pretty much any other art....

It's just spread arround a lot more.

[SquirrelWizard]

I once dressed up as an IRS agent for Halloween... does that count, or is it technically a step below?

[lucas marcone]

I think this comment on the article is rather... relevant,

There are a lot more people creating furry art than wearing fursuits in the fandom. The art ranges from really beautiful, detailed portraits of furry characters to humorous cartoons done in all sorts of offbeat personal styles. But 99% of these articles focus almost exclusively on the fursuiters, leading most people to think EVERY furry wears a suit.
Joe Strike, New York NY US

Heh. Would you really rather that the media focus on artwork than fursuiting, though? Fursuiting has a kinda exotic human interest angle, and the sensationally dirty things you can do in fursuits at least happen behind closed doors. The artwork is much more in your face; any large repository of furry artwork is virtually guaranteed to contain squickish material only a few clicks away. Imagine if the media appointed Doug Winger as official representative of furry fandom...

you just made my day......

[Jigsaw Forte]

Heh. Would you really rather that the media focus on artwork than fursuiting, though? Fursuiting has a kinda exotic human interest angle, and the sensationally dirty things you can do in fursuits at least happen behind closed doors. The artwork is much more in your face; any large repository of furry artwork is virtually guaranteed to contain squickish material only a few clicks away. Imagine if the media appointed Doug Winger as official representative of furry fandom...

• The primary producers of "clean" Furry Art -- Disney, Warner Bros., Dreamworks -- are separated from the furry subculture at large.
• As a result, there is very little "corporate" Furry work out there to counteract the Furry fanworks out there -- which does, shall we say, "run the gamut".
• Unless and until a more corporate (and thus defensible) brand of Furry work appears to swamp the rest of the fandom with enough clean art to make the porn a niche item, the YMMV nature of furry art isn't going to go away.

Now, where you're going to find a good candidate for a "Corporate" Furry brand... I'm not sure.

I'd suggest it'd come from one of the webcomics, where a story can be built up around a series of characters and a non-sexualized canon can take place. But you'd also need someone running that comic with a good head for business, enough to make it grow into an empire suitable for public consumption, either by their own hand or through careful selection of the right intermediaries who could take the concept and turn it into an honest "mainstream" enterprise.

It'd take time though -- only one of the two guys who invented Batman lived long enough to see it turned into a movie. Sure, things have sped up now thanks to the internet, but we're still talking several years of work in even the most enterprising hands.