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> Setup a business page for that persona or whatever. Yeah... this doesn't work very well. I'm not transgendered or gay but I have a fairly weird hobby that ha
by epochwolf 12y ago
> Setup a business page for that persona or whatever.
Yeah... this doesn't work very well. I'm not transgendered or gay but I have a fairly weird hobby that has some parallels. I dress up in an animal costume on the weekends.
My primary social identity is Epoch Wolf. Most of my friends (100+ people I'm in regular contact with) know me as such. I actually answer better to "Epoch" than my real name.
Facebook forces me to use my real name. My Epoch Wolf account was banned years ago. Because of this, my family, my church, and my coworkers have seen pictures of me dressed up as a pink lynx at a furry convention.
I don't have the option of not using facebook. If I want to keep in contact with my friends OR MY CHURCH, I need to use it. Church events are only posted on facebook!
The only reason this is tolerable is:
* I have a lot of self-confidence.
* I am a straight, white, cis-gendered male with a college degree working a white collar job.
* I have an excellent relationship with my parents.
* My pastor has been to anime conventions.
* My coworkers are younger people who also have their own weird hobbies.
* I don't partake in the sexual aspects of furry fandom that the media and 4chan like to make a big deal about.
Because me dressing up in animal costumes is the only weird thing I do, I can get away with it. Everyone I know sees me as a normal person with a weird hobby.
Far too many of my friends have been severely judged by their parents or churches for being gay or having a weird hobby. Some of them have been kicked out by their parents and others live with constant emotional abuse and struggle with crippling depression.
Sorry, this got a little rambly. If I had more time I would write a shorter letter, etc. Anyway, it takes a lot of things going for you to be able to openly participate in a sub-culture that's not well looked upon and having that being dismissed so lightly irritates me to no end.
- jonah 12y agoI hear you and agree. I think what rubs me the wrong way[1] about this issue is treating (or appearing to treat) certain classes of people/needs differently. If drag queens can have personas, but furries can't, that's not cool. If the push by the LGBTQ* community to win this accommodation for drag queens and trans* folks relaxes the rules for other groups at the same time, that's a good outcome. [1] Afterwards: Oops, no furry pun intended.