now, when I say "furry" I don't mean "clean furry" I mean the majority of us here on e621, the "yiffy" furries. now then, since that's all sorted out, my opinion on the matter may sound rather cliche, but I say no, being furry is not a choice, however, being an open furry in the community is. my reason: in the same aspect of gay (you can't control who you're attracted to, that's a chemical reaction in the brain) it also deems true to furry (you can't control what turns you on, it's a chemical reaction as well). that being said, I know I personally was first turned on by furries before I knew what furries were, when I was about eleven or twelve (god that was so long ago...) so that's how I feel about the matter, now whether or not it's something natural or based on how you're raised, I have no idea, but that's another question for you guys. do you think being furry is based on how you were raised, or is it just something that happened to you?

Furry is a fetish.

So yes.

Of course not. Furry is like a cancerous brain tumour. Once it gets you, you're forced to fuck random furfags in murrsuits at cons, commission shitloads of pics of your faggot sparkledog fucking other furry characters to gain internet popularity which causes you to spend more time on the internet than outside your mom's basement, given that "NO-ONE BUT U GUYZ UNDRSTAN ME :(((" which spirals into begging for money from random internet people as your main source of income until you get real fat and your heart gives out from all the cholesterol in ya McDonalds and 'tucky frah.
It's the circle of furry, people.
run while you caaaaaan

(Everything above here is not serious)

As for your other questions... I really dunno. I like the community here more than the porn stuff. But the porn's a bonus to have, sure. :P

Furry is not always a fetish
It's nothing more than an artistic genre that has a wide potential for perversion. Saying it's a fetish is like saying that anthropomorphism is a fetish. Do people use it as a vehicle for expressing sexual deviance? Of course, but people do that with a lot of things. To me, furry means you like anthropomorphic art. Do you have a choice that you like it? Absolutely not. You don't choose to like furry any more than you choose to like Italian food or anime. You can, however, choose to keep it on the hard drive and not go around wearing tails in public or having group sex in loose-fitting sweat-matted fursuits.

Why the hell do people keep asking this?

It's a choice, like everything else.

Done.

Depends.
Sometimes Its like love.You see it,now you love it.
One thing is true.Its big.From mascots to fursuits,from child drawing fox walking on 2 legs to fine art of Kacey,from Baby furs to gore&scat&vore and large parts of Rule 34# to harmless drawings of Fox from Star Fox.
It covers a lot of ground so its not sometimes sure what IT is.
Subculture according to Wiki,to me,I really don't care.I like it,and its what matters most.

Being attracted (sexually, emotionally, socially... -- as in.. more then jsut "I want to fuck that" ... as in.. in the same way you're attracted to your friends, or hobbies, movies, etc.) to furry is not a choice.
What you DO with that attraction is.

Not everything is a choice. people aren't straight by choice. It's caused by our experiences, what we were taught, what were exposed to, and what we chose to expose ourselves to. I grew up when cartoon network was primarily Looney Toons all day and my main games were Gex: Enter the Gecko, Bubsy 3D, and Sonic the Hedgehog.

ExplosiveBlaziken said:
Why the hell do people keep asking this?

It's a choice, like everything else.

Done.

I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE

ippiki_ookami said:
I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU ANYMORE

YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ME BEFORE

GADDAMNIT IPPIKI

ExplosiveBlaziken said:
YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ME BEFORE

GADDAMNIT IPPIKI

No-one ever knew you. You're just a figment of our collective imaginations. What we're in is called the BlazikenMind.
oooeeeeeoooo~

you sound like Axelfox now.

No more than liking vanilla ice cream is a choice

Aurali said:
you sound like Axelfox now.

cookie is Axel? oh god

Aurali said:
you sound like Axelfox now.

Riversyde said:
cookie is Axel? oh god

DX I dun wanna be a creepy!

You people are weird.

Being attracted to something isn't really a choice. What we're attracted to depends on a LOT of factors, but it's almost never really a conscious choice. Actually calling yourself a furry, however, is a conscious choice. Being a furry isn't like being straight or being gay. You can become a furry and you can stop being a furry, neither of which are possible with sexual orientations.

You choose to come to sites like this and look at furry art/porn. You choose to connect with the furry community. You choose to call yourself a furry. If you can't get it up unless your partner is dressed up like an animal it might be a slightly different matter, but otherwise it's 100% your own choice.

What's more, not everything needs to be defined as furry. Cartoons like Loony Tunes are often called furry, but to me that's nonsense. Yes, they heavily feature anthropomorphic animals, but they have no real connection to the furry fandom. So while many furries enjoy Loony Tunes, enjoying Loony Tunes (or other cartoons, or videogames featuring anthros, etc) does not make one a furry.

So yeah, being a furry is something you have to choose. It's essentially a self-applied label. Personally, I visit sites like this and I won't deny that I enjoy furry art and furry porn, but I have never called myself a furry and I never will, because I do not want to define myself by (one of) my kinks.

People generally see "furry" and fail to see that there's two sorts of furry: fans and lifestylers. Furry fans are basically normal people who happen to like stories and art of anthropomorphic animals. Furry lifestylers are those who are heavily into the fandom with fursuits, role playing as non-human animals, fetishes, yiffing, whatever.

However, there is a huge overlap between the two that confuses the matter. They are people who like furry characters a little more than the average fan, but not so much they'd qualify as dedicated lifestylers, even going so far as to deny they're furry just so they can avoid being associated with the lifestylers if only in their own minds.

Think of being a furry as being located on a spectrum rather than a two-sided coin. Those who don't care one way or another are right smack dab in the middle grays. Those who are so into the fandom they're absolutely delusional are black while those who so loathe the fandom that they're just as delusional are white ("white/black equals good/evil" symbolism doesn't apply here; just opposites). The rest of us are scattered between the two extremes, constantly jiggling about like hyperactive gerbils on a caffeine and sugar bender.

To (finally) answer the opening question, is being a furry a choice? Yes and no. It varies from person to person and circumstance to circumstance. Some people can switch their likes and dislikes on and off like a switch. Others end up addicted. Most are some combination of the two.

Furry...choice
its like anime, its also fucking choice :V

Folseh said:
Furry...choice
its like anime, its also fucking choice :V

Sorry, but no. people don't choose what the like to watch, they develop their likes and dislikes. I don't like watching old black and white shows like I Love Lucy, but some people do, and I can't change my tastes to like that sucky show.

having a disposition to anime isn't really a choice, it's what you're exposed to when you're younger that determines your cartoon likes. If it was a choice however, it'd definitely the right choice.

Folseh said:
Furry...choice
its like anime, its also fucking choice :V

I think... this also depends on how you define furry. Furry's DIFFERENT for everyone. Some people just fap to i. some people just made a character or fursona for fun. Others feel a stranger bond with their 'chosen' critter'... and some regard it as a totem or spirit animal, or a part of their soul that is more animalistic.

I remember being young and browsing around for furry art, back in the late 90'sm and finding a guy who had a "list of rules" for dealing with him in real life... and rule number one was to not refer to him as a human because he was a fox. To him, furry was... a lot more then just a thing with art that's fapable. Albeit a very creepy version of it.

For those who feel that a part of their 'self' is animalish, then there isn't really much choice. Though even then, you might not self-ID as furry. I have friends who say their spirit creature is an animal, yet they have an aversion, even, to furry art.

So.. is it a choise to pick a cool animal and say "this is my fursona"? Absolutely. Is it a choice to really like wolves and how they act, and feel a *want* to run with your pack? Not so much.

Ultima_Weapon said:... like I Love Lucy, but some people do, and I can't change my tastes to like that sucky show.

but.. it's lucy. How can you not love Lucy?

SnowWolf said:
but.. it's lucy. How can you not love Lucy?

Because it was terribad. It was an incomplete version of That 70's Show that was set in the wrong time period.

I don't even know what to say to that ._.

SnowWolf said:
I don't even know what to say to that ._.

You don't because you know it's the truth, and inside, you don't want to argue with it because you know it's right. Class dismissed.

It depends on your definition of furry. A lot of people use the term to define something they don't have a word for.

Strictly speaking, being a furry means you're a fan or enthusiast of anthropomorphic animals, in any of the various forms they take. Cartoons, comics, art. Realistic or cartoony. Those that want to say it's impossible to define furry are overcomplicating the matter by trying to include all aspects of the community, when those aspects aren't technically part of the definition. So being a furry in this social sense is sort of a choice. You choose to make that association between yourself, and the furry community, and you can end that association whenever you choose. It is a matter of community, not your interests. Much the way that not all fans of Star Trek are Trekkies, just regular fans.

But then there are others who use furry as a way to define what they are because there is no commonly accepted term for it, as it is with gay, straight, bi, etc. Some folks are genuinely attracted to anthropomorphs the way a man is attracted to a woman (for a typical example). They can't be sexually "classified" into any pre-existing definitions. It's not "just" straight, or "just" bi. But it's also not bestiality or zoophilia.

It doesn't matter that they're pining after imaginary people (furries are not the only fandom to do this, and certainly not the first). The attraction is there, regardless.

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm one such person. I find anthro characters very attractive, moreso than most humans I've seen (except maybe the ones that are made to be unrealisticly beautiful.), and I've felt that way since I was 10 and had no idea what furries and anthros were. After I found out about the fandom, that's what I started calling myself, because it very closely described what I felt I was. I don't feel as strongly about that now, as per my definition of furry above, but it's a place that will in some capacity accept who I am, without the kind of backlash that you could expect from just about anyone not in the fandom. And I'm sure I'll catch a lot of flak for my little admission, but I've come to expect that regardless of how accepting people say they are, they still won't understand and they'll judge you. Harshly.

Anyway, in this regard, I feel that it's just like being gay, or straight, or what have you. You can choose to accept or deny how you feel, and act accordingly, but I don't believe a person can simply choose what they are and aren't attracted to. As 2 put it (speaking to straight parents disowning gay kids), go ahead and choose to be gay for a while. See if you can.

TL;DR - Socially: Yeah, it sort of is. Sexually: Not really, but "sexually" is far too vague a term to encompass everything I just said. :I

He's right, though.

And I agree with Clawstripe.

I grew up around many sorts of animals. Snakes, rats (of the fancy variety might I add thank you very much sir), tarantulas, scorpions, cats, dogs and a skunk named Stinker. And these were just the pets. Do I like anthro stuff, of course! Have I ever dressed in a fursuit? Nope! Do I have a deep affinity and connection with fauna and cringe if i seem them treated badly or suffering? You bet your ass I do.

I remember when my future ex-gf found my stash of furry porn and was pretty disgusted. Hey, I like it. I think the main stigma comes from people being unable to disassociate "Furry" with bestiality.

I had my first sexual fantasies about anthropomorphic characters in TV shows. the first? Remember when April O'Neil from TMNT turned into an anthor cat? that was it.

For those folks that are saying that liking furry is a choice, I want you to do this little exercise for me when you leave the computer:

Go to the supermarket.
Pick out the one type of food that you hate the most (i.e. collar greens, asparagus, cottage cheese and mayo mix, you know what I mean.)
Now, wrap it up, drive it home, and cook it up.
Then, set it down on the table in front of you.
Now, here's the most important part:

I want you to eat it and I want you to like it.
And if that doesn't work, then I want you to choose to like it.

How does that work out for you?

mosh_grizzly said:
For those folks that are saying that liking furry is a choice, I want you to do this little exercise for me when you leave the computer:

Go to the supermarket.
Pick out the one type of food that you hate the most (i.e. collar greens, asparagus, cottage cheese and mayo mix, you know what I mean.)
Now, wrap it up, drive it home, and cook it up.
Then, set it down on the table in front of you.
Now, here's the most important part:

I want you to eat it and I want you to like it.
And if that doesn't work, then I want you to choose to like it.

How does that work out for you?

Ah, the http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=8308624 Dan Savage rebuttal.

ippiki_ookami said:
Furry is not always a fetish
It's nothing more than an artistic genre that has a wide potential for perversion. Saying it's a fetish is like saying that anthropomorphism is a fetish. Do people use it as a vehicle for expressing sexual deviance? Of course, but people do that with a lot of things. To me, furry means you like anthropomorphic art. Do you have a choice that you like it? Absolutely not. You don't choose to like furry any more than you choose to like Italian food or anime. You can, however, choose to keep it on the hard drive and not go around wearing tails in public or having group sex in loose-fitting sweat-matted fursuits.

well put Ippiki well put