• JackDark@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Because people didn’t dress up as mermaids and go to cons and express how deep down inside they truly are a mermaid, and have a high likelihood of fucking someone else who also felt the same way.

  • mycodesucks@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    To be fair, I think people looked at the folks who were into mermaids as outlandish too. “Been around for a long time” doesn’t mean the same thing as “totally accepted socially”.

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I mean, the point of a mermaid isn’t that it’s a sexy looking fish, it’s that other than its tail, it looks like beautiful human women. In some stories, sailors don’t even realize they’re taking to mermaids because their tails are underwater. Also, mermaids were generally considered bad omens or malicious entities, and when they did seduce humans, it was usually to kill them, so it’s not like the folklore was very pro-mermaid sex.

  • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    My brother in Christ, werewolves existed for at least 150 years and shape shifting goes back hundreds more. A beast that becomes a person… What could that possibly be for? A person becoming a beast is easy and the not weird part of folk history that didn’t upset any kind of established morals. Violence is a part of life. Hot wolf dick that escapes into the night after making sweaty sheets? More difficult to keep as an oral tradition. Well, in stories at least.

    • Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Nope, different nerd culture entirely. Seriously, they have their own conventions, instead of fursuits they do custom silicone tails and train to swim in them, have contests and pagents and things. There’s basically no overlap between the two communities. Scaleys are folk in the fursuit community who do dragon and lizard personas.

      I have odd connections. Being in the film industry I have friends through props depts who do furry cons and one of my coworkers does underwater photography for people in the Mermaid subculture.

  • menemen@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    I personally don’t really care that much, but I guess this is mostly about “living stuff out openly” vs. “keeping your fetish in non-public spaces”.

    Yes, there are public mermaid events, but I don’t think those are perceived as less weird.

  • makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    I would say that if anyone is upset about an older furry, then that person is living proof that furry is a sexualised fetish. Why else would it upset them?

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      …TIL furries have any relation to gay people (except I don’t actually believe they do)

      • webadict@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        There is a significantly higher proportion of LGBTQ+ representation within the furry community than the general populace, and it makes sense why. Fursonas are another way to explore sexual and gender identities in a safe way, and furry communities tend to be pretty accepting places.

        This is just my opinion, but I see kink in the furry community criticized the same way I see kink at Pride events criticized.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          I don’t know what you mean using “kink” this way, but the general population is not aware of this connection and thus it would only be a coincidence if what you’re saying is true. I mean, furries are kinda weird but I don’t get why they’re even a topic. I’ve never met one and I doubt I will. Being gay is probably ten times more common.

          • webadict@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            You are right, but a lot of the roots of furry criticism do tend to be queerphobic in origin. It’s just something to recognize.

            I’m using kink in a pretty generic way because a lot of the criticisms of furries relate to sex (e.g. beastiality or pedophilia), and thus any depiction of kink (like bondage gear) is used to demonize them that it’s a fetish (and one that is coming for your children.)

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              That might be fair in some contexts but I think most people would only make any connection to beastiality, which is probably fair, no? The whole thing is dressing up like an animal and it’s confusing for most people who don’t do it.

              • webadict@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                A furry is someone that identifies with anthropomorphic animal characters (or sometimes just animal characteristics). No dressing up required. Now, a lot of the people that go to cons tend to have more money, so you will see more fursuits and such, but most furries do not dress up.

                • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  TIL. I first heard of furries like 10 years ago and hadn’t ever known this. I thought the entire thing was dressing up.

      • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        You do know that being gay and being furry ain’t mutually exclusive right, but I guess whatever justification you can find for letting your true feelings out.

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Might wanna practice reading more carefully. I just said they are two separate and unrelated things. And here you are acting like I said they are one and the same and in a homophobic way or something. Bizarre.

          • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            I don’t think it’s forbidden knowledge that a large portion of furries are LGBT. Don’t know why you’re calling them unrelated.

            • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              At no point did I say anything insulting. Claiming that two groups aren’t one and the same isn’t hateful, and it’s frankly weird you’re trying to twist my words into that. Whoever hurt you is not me.

              • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                Claiming that two groups aren’t one and the same isn’t hateful,

                Kinda is though. Trying to remove the LGBT aspect from a group largely consisting of LGBT.