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metalwolf
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I seen some surveys that there are some people who have aspergers in the thing. I was diagnosed with aspergers at a early age way way back in 1988
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dochawk
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All in all, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen this many words I don’t know in the same place before–and I read a few pages of a friend’s pharmacology dissertation! 
The only time I’ve ever heard of these furry people was on a CSI episode . . . are they really this common???
Now, I bought furbies for my children decades ago, and boy were they a pain . . .we had to wrap them in blankets and stuff them in a drawer in another room to keep them out up at night!
The only time I’ve ever heard of these furry people was on a CSI episode . . . are they really this common???
Now, I bought furbies for my children decades ago, and boy were they a pain . . .we had to wrap them in blankets and stuff them in a drawer in another room to keep them out up at night!
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Thrstypirate
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I’m a brony I guess (I was a moderator on MLP Forums), so similar, and a few of my friends there are furries. For most part, it’s just a different sort of interest some guys and gals have…I stumbled into it because my daughter liked the show and I’m a voice actor.
Unfortunately, there are rotten eggs that ruin things for everyone, from those obsessed with the sexual perversion side to even pedophiles, which I helped bust a few. Also, unfortunately, the ones trying to normalize that behavior somehow gain traction. I went to one MLP convention, which was family friendly with nothing sexual being sold in the shops that I could see…but like I said, the bad eggs exist and infiltrate…my two cents.
Unfortunately, there are rotten eggs that ruin things for everyone, from those obsessed with the sexual perversion side to even pedophiles, which I helped bust a few. Also, unfortunately, the ones trying to normalize that behavior somehow gain traction. I went to one MLP convention, which was family friendly with nothing sexual being sold in the shops that I could see…but like I said, the bad eggs exist and infiltrate…my two cents.
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ZMystiCat
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Why do you need to get paid? Assuming it isn’t in the middle of summer heat, it sounds like a really fun thing to do with a large group of people. Imagine an army of Pikachus taking over Walmart!
I’ve never really gotten this phrase. Assuming you make it tight enough to actually hang the person, wouldn’t it getting longer be to their benefit, since at the same height it would eventually no longer be able to actually, you know, hang them?
I’ve been to a couple major geek conventions. A lot of the costumes are really interesting, though I haven’t yet gone dressed at favorite character.
One of my friends did used to go with an anti-Trump costume. At one, he even lead a large procession of people through the main showroom chanting “Down with Trump!” (For context: This was before Trump became President. For us, it was just a fun joke, but my friend did get a little tired of all the people who assumed he was a Clinton supporter.)
Couldn’t you just go as your normal bearself?..
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I’ll see myself out now.
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dochawk
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But are you carrying the bear by the scruff of her neck in your jaws?
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PetraG
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Keep in mind that more is spent each year at Halloween on adult costumes than on costumes for children.All in all, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen this many words I don’t know in the same place before–and I read a few pages of a friend’s pharmacology dissertation!
The only time I’ve ever heard of these furry people was on a CSI episode . . . are they really this common???
We live in a time with both a lot of disposable income and a lot of stress among adults. In times when most people did the same work their parents did and never traveled farther from home than 25 miles, there would of course be fewer problems with social anxiety. It isn’t surprising that in our time more people need more help to deal with social anxieties.
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metalwolf
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Yeah. I know some furries who don’t like the adult stuff at all and avoid those who are into the adult stuff. But seems most would whether paint every person in the fandom with a broad brush than realize that there are both good and bad in every group.
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ZMystiCat
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Unfortunately, the size discrepancy is not in my favor.
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VanitasVanitatum
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Nintendo is my favorite.
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VanitasVanitatum
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Blazing Blade’s Nino could be worse.
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leonhardprintz
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I think that’s the exception, even among furries.
What you’re describing is an exception, even within the furry community.
A lot of posters here are certainly implying this very strongly.
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leonhardprintz
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Everytime something comes up that’s out of the norm, or that’s considered in a negative light, the spectre of mental illness is often raised. People here are disgusted by furries, ergo they accuse them of mental illness. You yourself, unprompted, quickly draw comparison to depression, to social anxiety.
You put medication in quote marks.
Medication is a real thing. Even if you mean “medication” as in not antidepressants, or similar pharmacologia, but referring to various acts. That’s still a painting taking medication in a negative light.
Taking medication, if that is the best thing available is a good. And Catholics should have nothing of support of that.
If you meant something else other than medical treatment, I’d suggest (to avoid confusion) that you instead of “medication”, you refer to it as paraphanalia, or fetish, or deviancy (meaning - as psychologists use it, behaviour that is out of the norm), or coping mechanism, or some other terms.
I suspect you mean well, but it doesn’t read easily to people who have had medical treatment for psychological issues. In my case, severe depression.
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ProdglArchitect
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Even Nino looks older than Nowi…
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PetraG
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The story that started the thread includes someone who has social anxiety, though. This is something someone in her position might legitimately enjoy a lot and good way to relax while socializing. That doesn’t make this a treatment for social anxiety. Involvement in the “furry community” isn’t a substitute for finding strategies for interacting with the larger community. The husband of the woman in the story, for instance, wouldn’t be out of place if he wanted to find a social life as a couple that didn’t involve his wife’s fur suit and her alter ego. That would be a legitimate desire on his part, right? That’s all I’m saying.
Again, there is a parallel in alcohol. If there is usually beer at social functions you go to, that’s not some huge problem. If you and your friends can’t socialize unless you’ve had some beer, that is a big problem. Does your wife not like to spend all your time as a couple with your beer buddies or at least not with beer as the center of every gathering? That’s a legitimate expectation.
Someone might legitimately be thrilled with how much easier it is for them to socialize by doing charades from within a fur suit, and there is nothing wrong with finding that fun or relaxing. A lot of people who are so-called “normal” might even profit from doing that once or twice in their lives. It just isn’t a substitute for socializing as your own real self with your real face showing and with people wanting to know what thoughts you have to express with your words.
It’s a hobby. It might even provide some revelations that would be useful in someone figuring out how to navigate social anxiety in their real life. It isn’t a solution for social anxiety. If it is used that way, it could become a problem–that woman’s husband should not be asked to cope with his wife retreating into a mute character in a suit in order to conduct their entire social life as a couple. That’s all I’m saying.
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PetraG
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No, I put the word “medication” in quotation marks because I was referring to the way people use things other than actual medication to “self-medicate.” I wanted the parallel terminology, but I used quotation marks because a fur suit is obviously not a literal medicine. I don’t want to call things that are used to self-medicate as a “fetish” or a “deviancy” because that implies there is something intrinsically wrong with them (or even something inherently sexual about them), and I didn’t want that implication at all. I wanted to imply what I did: instead of seeking professional help, people are trying to administer treatment to themselves. Even self-medication isn’t out of place, when self-treatment is sufficient. We don’t need a clinic visit to decide to take an aspirin. The problem comes when the treatment is relieving symptoms at the expense of treating the underlying problem.
Also, don’t assume that you’re the only person who has had to take actual medication for a mental health issue. One in six Americans (and over one in five white Americans) take some kind of psychiatric medication. In one poll, 16.7% of those polled reported filling at least one prescription for a psychiatric drug within a calendar year. As a comparison, in a typical week less than 18% of Americans were found (by head counts) to actually attend church, synagogue or other house of worship, although about 40% report that they attend weekly.
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VanitasVanitatum
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Nevermind…
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ProdglArchitect
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I didn’t get into FE until Awakening, so the lore of the older games is pretty much a mystery to me. I must have missed the point of your comment, sorry.
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PetraG
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Two points are worth making (I think):
First, the more fun or absorbing something is, the more people are likely to get really “in” to it and the more people who don’t enjoy it are going to see any amount as too much. Whether it is something innocent like a fondness for sports or furry costumes or Brontë novels or even for something good like religious observance or social action, it is like that. The more uncommon that “something” is, the more the “disapproval of the majority” is going to be par for the course.
Second, we need to keep in mind that not everything that is beyond someone’s tolerance is an “illness” and yet not every inability to tolerate something is in the range of"typical." We understand this a little better in the physical realm: that is, that healthy people might still be unable to tolerate certain foods but also certain illnesses can also make certain foods unhealthy or intolerable. In other words: if someone is gluten-intolerant or lactose-intolerant, is that an “illness” or just a place on a spectrum of food tolerance? Obviously, if someone can’t digest nutrients they need in any form, that’s an illness. After that, there gets to be a point where the question is whether the activities of daily life are unduly impacted.
There are some people who are never going to enjoy being in big crowds of strangers. I don’t see that this is automatically an “illness.” When social anxiety keeps someone from carrying out the activities of daily life, though, or keeps them from doing them without sustaining undue strain, that’s something worth treating.
If someone cannot go out in public for a certain amount of social interaction without some kind of cloak of anonymity, even if it is a really cute one, that is something that will impact their relationships with friends and family in a negative way. You may be the best Mickey Mouse ever, but your family still wants to be able to be out in public with you as you. Whether wanting to spend most of one’s free time in costume or behind closed doors at home is an “illness” or an “inordinate attachment” or something else–who knows? It could be any of those. It depends on the situation.
Yes, though, I wouldn’t automatically count wanting to spend a lot of time in costume as automatically a bad thing any more than I’d count a family who wants to be out camping every chance they get as automatically a bad thing. It all depends on whether necessary activities of daily life are getting a short shrift. (You can’t go to funerals dressed like a squirrel or skip funerals of those close to you so you can be out camping…)
Just as most camping enthusiasts are not inordinate in their interest, even though they might objectively sink a lot of time and money into it, it isn’t hard to believe that most costume enthusiasts keep their hobby well within reasonable bounds and deserve to be left alone about it by those with no interest in joining them.
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metalwolf
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The Society for Creative Anachronism has members who have stickers that say, “Reality is a crutch for those who can’t handle the SCA.”
And i think furry is slowly becoming mainstream.
I seen these exact masks at Walmart
And i think furry is slowly becoming mainstream.
I seen these exact masks at Walmart
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PetraG
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OK, but I don’t know any SCA members who have a problem leaving the house to socialize using their real-life persona instead of their SCA persona, either. Maybe there are some–it is a very big organization–but I don’t know any.
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