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I'm learning about some of my personal biases through this, apparently. I just assume furries/fursonas/furry fandom/whatever it's called is about sex.

some_furry 7y ago
> I just assume furries/fursonas/furry fandom/whatever it's called is about sex. Nope! :3 https://faq.dhol.es/@Soatok/furry-fandom/is-furry-a-sex-thing https://faq.dhol.es/@Soatok/furry-fandom/is-furry-a-sex-thin... It's a common misconception. We're more about community than anything. (That's not saying that sex doesn't happen between adults, but that's not what it's about, for everyone.)
Lammy 7y ago
In my experience, any activity or community enjoyed by humans has a subgroup for “that thing, but also with sex”. It’s more of a reflection of what it means to be human than anything to do with the means of that expression.
GauntletWizard 7y ago
It is mostly about sex. Most furries are spergy enough not to realize that the tingly feeling they get from the baby talk is a sexual pleasure, though.
- rsynnott 7y ago
  This is a pretty weird assumption, especially when you extend it to, say, those people who do faux-medieval re-enactments. One can dress up and get in a character without it being about sex. Don't see the appeal myself, but "it's all about sex" is a weird leap.
  - GauntletWizard 7y ago
    Having been in a ren-faire and had friends in the SCA... Holy crap, have you picked a bad comparison, if you're trying to refute my point. Edit: To provide a bit more context: Mating dances in most bird species are not direct indicators of evolutionary fitness, but they are what is selected for. SCA events, Fursonas, and the like are the postmodern equivalent of mating dances. They are Conspicuous Consumption, Veblen-good displays of "I can spend my time doing this self-defining thing instead of productively". That's fine and dandy. I'm not judging people for making their mating dance some form of roleplay (because most any formal competition displays the same traits).
    - rsynnott 7y ago
      ... That's about sex? I would have thought it would be very uncomfortable, with all the anachronistic chain mail and so on. Edit responding to you edit: Okay, based on that thesis pretty much everything, beyond the bare essentials of life, is about sex. Which doesn't really sound plausible.
      - GauntletWizard 7y ago
        Life is about reproduction, yes. Nearly every non life-sustaining activity is about sex, and that's not even a thesis, that's an axiom. But very specifically: Furry conventions are about sex. The drunken orgy room parties are far better attended (And yes, I have seen hotel contracts that prove this) than the "main event". Nerd conventions are about sex. SCA events are about sex. They are not exclusively, but as social activities, one of their significant motivating factors is mate-shopping, and there is every indicator that the other advantages of social activity (collaboration and trust building, trading, etc) are not significant motivating factors. People don't get jobs from BDSM conventions (Actually, they do, and then those workplaces go under because hiring people because you're fucking them is dumb).
        rsynnott 7y ago
        Ever consider that people might do something for fun?
      - DonHopkins 7y ago
        Chainmail can have Strategically Placed Holes too.
    - Tcepsa 7y ago
      Being in the SCA (though mostly peripherally) and having several friends in the SCA, I think it's safe to say that "it's all about sex" is too broad a generalization. Certainly that is an aspect of it for some people, but from my experience the SCA is not significantly more "about sex" than Sci-fi, Anime, or Video-gaming fandoms--as at least one other person has already pointed out, it's there, but it's not the main focus. Perhaps more to your point, if these are mating dances, why do so many people who already have stable, long-term mates participate?
- some_furry 7y ago
  I flagged your comment, and it seems to have been revived, so I will explain why I flagged it: "Spergy" (which refers to Asperger's Syndrome) is an ableist slur against people on the autism spectrum. That language doesn't belong on HN.

some_furry 7y ago

> I just assume furries/fursonas/furry fandom/whatever it's called is about sex. Nope! :3 https://faq.dhol.es/@Soatok/furry-fandom/is-furry-a-sex-thing https://faq.dhol.es/@Soatok/furry-fandom/is-furry-a-sex-thin... It's a common misconception. We're more about community than anything. (That's not saying that sex doesn't happen between adults, but that's not what it's about, for everyone.)

Lammy 7y ago

In my experience, any activity or community enjoyed by humans has a subgroup for “that thing, but also with sex”. It’s more of a reflection of what it means to be human than anything to do with the means of that expression.

GauntletWizard 7y ago

It is mostly about sex. Most furries are spergy enough not to realize that the tingly feeling they get from the baby talk is a sexual pleasure, though.

rsynnott 7y ago
This is a pretty weird assumption, especially when you extend it to, say, those people who do faux-medieval re-enactments. One can dress up and get in a character without it being about sex. Don't see the appeal myself, but "it's all about sex" is a weird leap.
- GauntletWizard 7y ago
  Having been in a ren-faire and had friends in the SCA... Holy crap, have you picked a bad comparison, if you're trying to refute my point. Edit: To provide a bit more context: Mating dances in most bird species are not direct indicators of evolutionary fitness, but they are what is selected for. SCA events, Fursonas, and the like are the postmodern equivalent of mating dances. They are Conspicuous Consumption, Veblen-good displays of "I can spend my time doing this self-defining thing instead of productively". That's fine and dandy. I'm not judging people for making their mating dance some form of roleplay (because most any formal competition displays the same traits).
  - rsynnott 7y ago
    ... That's about sex? I would have thought it would be very uncomfortable, with all the anachronistic chain mail and so on. Edit responding to you edit: Okay, based on that thesis pretty much everything, beyond the bare essentials of life, is about sex. Which doesn't really sound plausible.
    - GauntletWizard 7y ago
      Life is about reproduction, yes. Nearly every non life-sustaining activity is about sex, and that's not even a thesis, that's an axiom. But very specifically: Furry conventions are about sex. The drunken orgy room parties are far better attended (And yes, I have seen hotel contracts that prove this) than the "main event". Nerd conventions are about sex. SCA events are about sex. They are not exclusively, but as social activities, one of their significant motivating factors is mate-shopping, and there is every indicator that the other advantages of social activity (collaboration and trust building, trading, etc) are not significant motivating factors. People don't get jobs from BDSM conventions (Actually, they do, and then those workplaces go under because hiring people because you're fucking them is dumb).
      - rsynnott 7y ago
        Ever consider that people might do something for fun?
    - DonHopkins 7y ago
      Chainmail can have Strategically Placed Holes too.
  - Tcepsa 7y ago
    Being in the SCA (though mostly peripherally) and having several friends in the SCA, I think it's safe to say that "it's all about sex" is too broad a generalization. Certainly that is an aspect of it for some people, but from my experience the SCA is not significantly more "about sex" than Sci-fi, Anime, or Video-gaming fandoms--as at least one other person has already pointed out, it's there, but it's not the main focus. Perhaps more to your point, if these are mating dances, why do so many people who already have stable, long-term mates participate?
some_furry 7y ago
I flagged your comment, and it seems to have been revived, so I will explain why I flagged it: "Spergy" (which refers to Asperger's Syndrome) is an ableist slur against people on the autism spectrum. That language doesn't belong on HN.