My issue with the furry conventions/meetups, and I've only been to one or two, is the older (part of the original 90s crowd) furries tend to be the ones with severe objections to anything sexual in the fandom. They also tend to sexually creep on the younger highschool/college aged furs for "platonic cuddles" >____> I hate this fandom sometimes.
I feel like most furry conventions should have age restricted rooms. Maybe make the entire convention 16+ (sort of like the less family-friendly They Might be Giants shows
), but keep an under 25 section and an over 25 section. It'd make the younger crowd feel significantly safer, sort of like the GLBT meetup areas having age divisions.
As a 24-year-old, >:| (but as a TMBG fan,
)
Though, making me think back to my college group meets, we were pretty much all awkward dorks but the only guy who actually came off as creepy was the morbidly obese 40-something that hosted the whole thing.
But I dunno. Is that a generational thing, is that born out of where the community was at the time someone came in, or is it just that the older you get the creepier being a furry is?
I don't think there's a rule about older = creepier, as I've met some genuinely nice older guys (50+) who (can you believe it) actually came for the clean art. They're like old disney fans and stuff.
However, there is some truth to the stereotype of the middle aged furry creep who originated in the 90s. There are unwholesome stories, especially from the west coast, about creepy men settling in the "anthro fandom" because it was the subculture of last resort and it had a lot of inherent appeal to younger people. It also offered, literally, an innocent cartoon face to hide behind.
By the same token, some people from that era do not actually mean ill, but they were folks with no social skills who landed in a group that didn't promote refining them. Now they've gotten older without evolving. I try to have sympathy for them, but do steer well clear.
Ultimately it all could just be a symptom of the fandom starting so small and tucked away in a niche. When you go to the fringes, you tend to find:
1. People there because the fringes are interesting.
2. Harmless outcasts who mean well but don't fit the mainstream.
3. Not so harmless outcasts who make a legitimate case for being ostracized.
Type 2's inadvertently perpetuate nerdy loser stereotypes, and type 3's promote the creep factor.
This is actually one reason why I personally started ignoring the subculture, to be candid... there seem to be a few too many type 3's that are organizers of the community, who have their position due to age and tenure. A few too many people in charge of the events and sites who are, indeed, old creeps...
I kind of feel like "furry-Lucario" is just an internet loon persona of mine, the weirdest parts of me leaking out onto neoGAF so I don't have to act like this in real life and discard any notions of professionalism or high social activity.
Or maybe it's just an attention seeking thing born of a kink. I have no idea. I enjoy it quite a bit, and it's likely a small part of my personality (as well as a nice way to meet likeminded people)....
I forgot what I was getting at.
I suppose the furry community is just so goddamn accepting that some aspies just enjoy the attention and unconditional friendship, regardless of what the community is. I know this doesn't explain all of the older furs at conventions, but it certainly explains some of them.
I always just try to make friends with the older, weirder furs, try to pick their brain and see their thought process a bit, cheer them up. *shrug* I'm really in no place to judge anyone for their social quirks unless they're being manipulative or creepy.
I mean, I'm a motherfucking furry. Glass houses and all that.
The bolded part actually relates to what a lot of people like about the community, in principle at least. A bunch of people way back, perhaps with noble intentions if naive, did want to create a community that would not actually run people through the grinder of "adult life is high school forever and you can't escape".
It let to the creation of the myth - with some truth behind it - of furries being one big happy family where everyone was accepted. And you know what? Some people actually try to live up to that, cynicism be damned.
As a community-wide meme though, it did create exploits that creeps hacked. Furries suffered badly from the geek social fallacies and there was much fear of being an evil "ostracizer" if you merely drew the line between accepting an awkward geek, and turning a blind eye to a creep. As is often the case with subculture politics, many actual creeps even used this against people, setting themselves up as community boosters who made a show of welcoming everyone with open arms.
The reason why I am still in touch with a fair number of furry/former furry folk is because there are circles, here and there, that live up to the more noble idea.
Perhaps new generations of people in the community can simply be a bit more canny, and try to be open while actually having a well developed creep radar (and lack of fear about calling a creep a creep.)
