2 ms·

I’m having trouble tracking down the source, but one study found that furry communities are abnormally resilient to financial stress (especially during the pand

by gcr 3y ago

I’m having trouble tracking down the source, but one study found that furry communities are abnormally resilient to financial stress (especially during the pandemic) compared to other communities with similar cohesion and structures. The authors postulated that this was because furries and otherkin are more likely to enter into financial transactions with each other, giving and getting in exchange for commissions, ref sheets, profile pics, and other art requests. As a cultural expectation, members of furry communities are also more willing to lean on others in times of need, and are also more likely to help others with their own struggles as resources allow.

jstarfish 3y ago
There has to be a correlation with network size though, and it requires continuous struggle. Fringe cliques (religious movements, homeless, musicians/fans, UFO conspiracy theorists, gays pre-DOMA, etc.) can't tolerate internal shenanigans and necessarily band together for survival. If you're Jewish/gay/homeless, other Jews/gays/homeless will help you out. The network is small enough that cheating gets you blackballed, and your community can't suffer losses because that's one less resource to rely on-- so people will have each other's backs. There just always seems to come a threshold after which point the utility and trust afforded by inclusivity diminishes. If you can host a Pride parade without incident, you've crossed it. Like Catholics, LGBTs are everywhere these days so there's nothing unique about it-- hence the endless push for inclusion of additional subcliques (QIA+). "We're like you, but our rules are different, and don't you dare say we're the same." It's massive enough to have schisms. Welcome to the Gay Reformation. Furry-ism hasn't become mainstream. That community will lose its magic the second they do.

by gcr 3y ago

jstarfish 3y ago

There has to be a correlation with network size though, and it requires continuous struggle. Fringe cliques (religious movements, homeless, musicians/fans, UFO conspiracy theorists, gays pre-DOMA, etc.) can't tolerate internal shenanigans and necessarily band together for survival. If you're Jewish/gay/homeless, other Jews/gays/homeless will help you out. The network is small enough that cheating gets you blackballed, and your community can't suffer losses because that's one less resource to rely on-- so people will have each other's backs. There just always seems to come a threshold after which point the utility and trust afforded by inclusivity diminishes. If you can host a Pride parade without incident, you've crossed it. Like Catholics, LGBTs are everywhere these days so there's nothing unique about it-- hence the endless push for inclusion of additional subcliques (QIA+). "We're like you, but our rules are different, and don't you dare say we're the same." It's massive enough to have schisms. Welcome to the Gay Reformation. Furry-ism hasn't become mainstream. That community will lose its magic the second they do.