Reader Submitted: Is There Really That Much Hate On Furries?

 

 From Zada Bury

Lately I was read the article about the hate against Furries. Then there was also the readers submit with the flag. Soft (Linden) was also post something on Twi- I mean X.

I was see while doing a Drive a picture on the wall - Furries are everywhere, in a way. And most time it seems to work smooth. And then telling people about the hate again.

 

But is it such big thing? Somebody was commenting it would take getting around in a not that well known avatar to get the experience. I would say, I am not really known in SL. And I am 90% of the time in a furry-avatar (sometimes also a Neko and rarely a human).

Maybe people insult me on voice ... but I can read and write English and Typonese - understanding spoken English, special in different loudness and in a flood other noises might go wrong (special if then also the TV or radio is on or I check YouTube or edit videos) ... so voice is off ... and "Is an insult an insult, if the addressed one not get it?"

It is (for luck) rare, my club becomes griefed ... and the most (and less) trolls we bore out. But is that "Furry specific", as my club is for all species (as long them match an adult appearance, fit trough the door and aren't e.g. war-robots)?

Now you can maybe claim, I don't interact much. Usual you find me in my club. That one is for all species, even the most are Furries (actual Party: 26 participants, 4 human, 22 furs, all having fun). No problems.

Then I am around shopping. Maybe I am in some shops not long enough in a shop to rezz, in others for sure. I was experience before years once an issue, a mall was eject me about "to high ARC". My rant to the owner of the crappy security-system, you can imagine, the excuse was lame. Also the shop-owner got my complaint, and guess, which mall was have in a couple of weeks a store open for rent, as the shop moved?

But anyway: No specific hate against furs.

Also you find me on Linden-events. Them are anyway open for all kind of avatars. As also a lot of the Lindens use non-human avatars, it would be anyway very weird.

You know me also from the "Drivers of SL Grid Drives", where I am since around two years active. This group is open for all kind of people and the drivers are often even more diverse, than the people in my club.

Also no problem,. or not? Once there was a place (group of private Sims), which was hosting the drive in a part, sponsor it also a little, but demanded on "human avatars only." There the Drivers was enforcing their own rules: "Swallow your pride ... or we wont come." You can guess, who was preferring more to have traffic and promote themselves (even the lag was more of a "stay away from here!" sign).

I can understand, if a place say "Here only Human avatars" (or "only furries") , about their concept (even that is stupid). And I can easy accept it, if the place isn't exclusive. For example: If 1-of-100 hangouts make these limitations, it's stupid, but "okay, that I can handle." If it would be 1-of-5 spots for "The new Unobtanium-Game" (nothing real), or "the only store which sells ZYXXYZ-walking houses," it is "not okay."

But that I don't see as hate against Furries.

Maybe somebody else can write about negative experiences, them was made, and how it was come to happen?

Zada Bury

 

Commentary: Judging on Apperances

By Bixyl Shuftan

In real-life, Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a US holiday named after the noted civil-rights activist famous for his "I have a dream" speech in which he hoped for a day in which all people could ban together regardless of the color of their skin. This is also the week Barack Husein Obama, America's first President from a racial minority, leaves the White House. When he was elected a little over eight years ago, it was seen by many that the United States was entering a "Post-Racial Age." Unfortunately, the highly partisan atmosphere of the country led many to wonder if his most vocal opponents, or supporters, were motivated mainly by ethnic bias, if not outright racism. Ironically, the final days of the United States first black President, some feel black-white relations are at the lowest since the Civil Rights reforms of the 60s, if not even lower.

In Second Life, as it's residents can take on any appearance they want, one would think what they look like wouldn't matter wherever they went. That's not exactly the case. Various historical and sci-fi/Fantasy roleplay areas, such as "The Berlin 1920s Project," have stated unless you look like what someone in the time and place did/does, you can expect to be thrown out (after being given a warning). While this often means nonhuman avatars, human avatars wearing the wrong clothes will get thrown out as well. So the complaints about the RP sims have been minimal.

But what really irritates residents who prefer nonhuman avatars are the stories, if not personal experiences, about the handful of clubs and residential areas, meant not for roleplay but to just relax in, that have policies requiring visitors to be of human appearance only. Anyone who isn't gets thrown out. Grease Coakes would write about his experience with it at a club. I myself would write about the issue as well in 2009 and 2014. In my ten years I've only been asked to leave a place three times because of my appearance and two of them were probably the same location, the second time after someone invited me over to a venue suggesting it might be a great place to do a club review and afterwards never went there again. There were a few times someone handed me a notecard of the sim's dress code and once when a bot whispered to me that nonhuman avatars weren't welcome, but no further action was taken.

I've heard fans of furred avatars use the term "racism" to describe these experiences. I'm not so sure about that as we're not talking about human avatars of a different race, but a kind of appearance that in real life can only be compared to a circus "werewolf man," or the most extreme forms of body modification. Despite that such incidents seem to be rare, the result has been some residents being reluctant to go out into the wider grid, tending to stick around in places where there are other avatars like them, sometimes venturing out only after invited to by friends or if the location advertises itself as "furry friendly" or a similar term. On the other hand, there's no shortage of furs who don't particularly care if a few people have a problem with their appearance, and freely go about on the Grid. So you can pretty much find anthro avatars all over Second Life.

By all means the problem isn't just one way. I've heard of a few instances of furred avatars harassing human ones because of their appearance. The one of which I heard the most details was of a human DJ at a furry club getting insulted by one of the vulpines, calling her a "hairless ape." But the furred staff would have none of it. The offender was thrown out and banned for several weeks. Aside from a few nude beaches and a couple RP areas several years ago, humans are not going to have a problem going about sims that cater to furs. And as many furs prize individuality, I've seen contests at furry clubs in which the winner is the lone human who entered. Plus I've seen mixed couples on the dance floor, as well as an occasional mixed partnership between a human and fur (for some reason though, I've seldom seen human males in these pairings).

As for the issue of avatars and race, it was touched upon early in Second Life's history by Hamet Au when he was in the employ of Linden Lab, him describing an experiment by one normally blonde and fair-skinned lady when she went about in a black skin. The result was a few instances of racial slurs, and a few friends not contacting her for a while. So a few years ago, I decided to do an experiment of my own as part of a Relay for Life avatar challenge by going about as a black human for a while. The results were quite different from described by the girl in Hamlet's article. Only two people made an issue about it, and one was a real life coworker who follows the newsletter. In fact, there were a few people (all human) who asked me if I was going to keep it as my main appearance.

Over time, these articles have gotten a number of responses, some describing their own or a friend's ill treatment. One remarked it was his experience any avatar that stuck out from the rest of those in a sim, whether it was human, furry, or otherwise, was sooner or later going to run into trouble, often because of the fear of griefers.

It's been a while since I've heard details about someone getting thrown out of a place because of his or her avatar's appearance. Though as the retirement of America's first black President in real life has brought up questions about how widespread ethnic bias is, among both his opponents and supporters, it did make me think about the issue in Second Life again. How widespread the problem is, in both real life and Second Life, it seems to be a matter of opinion.

Bixyl Shuftan