Jay the Poll-er Bear: Have you always been a furry?

[Jay]

Hello, everyone! I've had this idea running through my head for a little while now about making polls and discussions about various questions. I got the idea when reading through this: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/past-results/international-online-furry-survey-2011 as I was intrigued by some of the questions and statistics, and it got me wondering about how furries would respond to all sorts of questions.

Apparently there was a poll section on the forum years ago, which I unfortunately never got to be a part of. I like the idea of gathering statistics and learning more about the fandom, and I'm hoping that there are a few others out there who feel the same.

So this is my experimental first poll. If people like the idea I already have multiple questions planed, mostly to do with furries, though I have a few more general questions as well. I've always wanted to be an active member of the community rather than the lurker I currently am, and the only thing that's been stopping me from creating threads is social anxiety and a fear of rejection, which I desperately want to overcome.

With all that said, today's question is "Have you always been a furry, or was it something that you became later in life?" I would say, though I obviously found the fandom later on, that I have always loved the idea of anthropomorphic animals, and discovering that there were so many others out there like me was one of the greatest feelings I've ever experienced. I know, however, that not everyone feels this way, and I'm curious to see how common it is among members of the fandom.

Feel free to share your thoughts on the question, as well as what you think of the idea of more polls. Have a great day, everyone!

[Lance]

You already know my answer, hun *nuzzle* but I will explain it for everyone else on here =)

I voted for 'always been a furry' as I have, for as long as I can remember, been interested in anthropomorphic animals and ideas. I loved to watch TV shows and cartoons with puppets and characters when I was very little, and when I got older I always seemed to gravitate towards shows, movies and games that were anthro related. Knowledge of the furry fandom was unknown to me until I was 25 or 26 years old and people mentioned "furries" in a forum post, but the interest and love of anthro characters has always been prevalent in my life. Finding the fandom was merely finding a name for that part of myself.

Being a furry means more to me than simply being part of an accepting and loving community and art appreciation, but it has deep roots in my emotional and spiritual life. I was, and always will be, a furry =)

[Hekith-Roo]

I've always wanted to be an active member of the community rather than the lurker I currently am, and the only thing that's been stopping me from creating threads is social anxiety and a fear of rejection, which I desperately want to overcome.

That is exactly my same issue  :(

As for the poll.. I feel like I have been a furry forever. I just did not embrace it until recently, but it's always been dormant in me. I was oblivious to the signs.. I have always loved animated films with anthropomorphic animals, fascinated by artwork that features them and my heart just melts.

[Jay]

That is exactly my same issue  :(

As for the poll.. I feel like I have been a furry forever. I just did not embrace it until recently, but it's always been dormant in me. I was oblivious to the signs.. I have always loved animated films with anthropomorphic animals, fascinated by artwork that features them and my heart just melts.

Thanks for the comment! It's nice to have someone other than my boyfriend reply, heh. Also nice to know I'm not the only one scared to post.

Glad you are embracing your furriness! Feels good to embrace and accept who and what you are. My favorite cartoons and TV shows as a kid always involved anthros, and I watched a few shows well into my teens, despite them being for younger audiences. Furry art evokes such strong emotions in me, to the point where a simple scene can mean so much, so I know what you mean about your heart melting.

[Hekith-Roo]

Thanks for the comment! It's nice to have someone other than my boyfriend reply, heh. Also nice to know I'm not the only one scared to post.

Glad you are embracing your furriness! Feels good to embrace and accept who and what you are. My favorite cartoons and TV shows as a kid always involved anthros, and I watched a few shows well into my teens, despite them being for younger audiences. Furry art evokes such strong emotions in me, to the point where a simple scene can mean so much, so I know what you mean about your heart melting.

D'aww you two are together?  That's awesome. ^^

Yep yep I feel the same way though about things. I never stopped watching animated shows, cartoons and all that though. :p

[Cass-cougar]

While I would like to say that I've been a Furry my entire life, it wouldn't be true. I have been one since 2011 though, and haven't looked back since. A more in-depth explanation can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/7461853/

[nonamecat]

I always grew up watching anthro - TV shows, seeing anthro characters here and there. I was into it before I knew of the existence of the word furry. I thought they were just animal characters. 
I was just indulged into disney movies, web comics and adult (+13) side of furry fandom from internet since young age. I even started to draw myself as a cat in journals since I was 14 too. Only did I realize the existence of the fandom through reading a webcomic called Housepets and being active in the forum.
Then I made FA account, Drew, made new friends, started to meet them IRL, then go to meets, and cons, then I became a furry trash.
Perhaps I need to focus more on establishing more "real life" connection but I just feel more attached to the community and am hesitant to walk out of it again. *sighs* It just feels easier to get to know people. But at the same time, deep connection that one gets from circumstantial friendship is rare-er I found.

I suppose younger people nowdays will find out the fandom in the future through their love for the movie "zootopia"
that is yet to happen but I'm sure it will happen.

[Lexa Fayte]

I've always been a furry at heart, I just didn't know that's what it was called.
I mean, I'd literally run around on all fours around the house when I was young, barking when the door bell went off; my parents friends would be like "did you guys get a dog?" haha
So it's not that I knew what it was, but I knew I felt it. Then when my good friend in high school mentioned he was a furry and explained it, everything made sense - always been who I am, always will be.

As for more polls? I think that would be a great idea! I enjoy answering questions :)

[Drake Wingfire]

This is gonna come off kinda, nit picky but I always found the "I was always a furry" thing to be a bit of a jump in logic, virtually all of us grew up watching the same cartoons having the same kinda pets, and we all loved it. But does that alone really convey an identity or being active in a community? Cause if so that means a lot of mundanes out there in the normal world are secret furries and don't know they are. XD

This is kind of the loophole of the question though cause it does leave wide holes and a vast majority of it up to interpretation and various shades of reasoning. With someone like myself I could say "always, my entire life, from the second I was born, a dragon!" simply because many years ago my animal identity started and was based in a more spiritual notion of who and what I am and because its something I feel and say is in my very soul it implies that it was a part of me before I even could comprehend what it was or that it was even there. but I feel this unfairly cheats and slants the question through technicality.

So answering more directly about being in this fandom and actually saying I am a furry. I found the furry fandom in 2003 and realized I had a lot in common with it, even though I had been identifying as a dragon for years prior.

[Nyro]

I can say that I've basically been a furry my entire life, even though obviously I never even knew that being a furry was actually a thing until like, the beginning of my high school years. I started drawing at a very young age (like 2 at least) and I drew cats a lot. My first character was a dog named Rex who was based off my favourite stuffed animal, and I wrote weird stories about him and his friends. (Even though I couldn't even write at the time so I had to get my mom or brother to write stuff). At one point when I was in my imaginary friends stage, all of them were animals and I would switch every month which of them I wanted to "be" (it's kind of hard to explain). I even remember pretending to be a fox at dinner when we ate chicken . . . Growing up I never really care about drawing humans and always drew animal characters, mainly dogs as I grew older, but I think I expanded on my species by grade 8. (Even though then after that I was in my stupid Sonic phase where I drew everything in the dreaded Sonic style). I had a couple "fursonas" before I ever knew about furries or fursonas being a thing, like in grade 7 I drew myself as a great dane. Today I still draw and make anthropomorphic animal characters so it's safe to say I've basically been a furry my whole life.

[Sif]

I've always found myself attracted to the furry fandom. But have only recently mustered the courage to make a fursona and actually experience the fandom from the inside.

[ChapterAquila92]

Nope. Even with the amount of anthropomorphic animals that were thrown my way before I hit puberty, and as much as my fascination with various animals had been (courtesy of Steven Spielberg and the Kratt brothers, among others), the idea of anthropomorphism as a theme meant nothing to me. Such characters may as well have been human in my eyes anyway at the time, with the occasional break in which they served as acceptable targets for slapstick.

It honestly took becoming fixated on a faction from a tabletop war game for me to even start venturing down that path.