What's a Furfag/upstanding member of society?

Zachy · Post by **Zachy** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:11 am

DnD has been awarded the second Zachy Gold Star of Approval.

lyra/dicks · Post by **lyra/dicks** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:13 am

Zachy wrote:DnD has been awarded the second Zachy Gold Star of Approval.

Do I get one for sucking up?

Zachy · Post by **Zachy** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:17 am

Lyrasen has been awarded the first Zachy Black Demerit.

KA-DOOM · Post by **KA-DOOM** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 12:27 am

How does that star compare to the Merlin's token of Seconded?

Water · Post by **Water** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:20 am

Fetishism is defined as the "attribution of religious or mystical qualities to inanimate objects." A sexual fetish is "sexual attraction to materials and objects not conventionally viewed as being sexual in nature." Both quotes are from the basic rundown of the word fetish, from the Wikipedia disambiguation page. In both of these definitions, an object is required. A fursuit might be that object in the case of upstanding members of society, but it's a stretch.

Fur...ism? Whatever it's called, even when it is sexual, is just a preference, like thinking tan girls are sexy. When it's not sexual, it's still just a preference, like thinking, "I'd look better if I was taller."

However, upstanding members of society are still unique mostly because of the way they are treated, and the way they react to that treatment. You might say they are an entirely different animal.

Plasma · Post by **Plasma** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:34 pm

Wikipedia article says it best: "upstanding member of society fandom refers to the fandom for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics." Doesn't require any sort of a fetish, doesn't require drawing yourself as a upstanding member of society, it doesn't even require you draw at all.

The odd thing about upstanding members of society is that it's very similar to feminists. That is, it gets a very negative connectation simply because too many people don't actually know what it is (despite its name, a feminist is someone who supports equal rights for both sexes, not someone who supports loads of rights for women) and think of the type normally reported in the media ('furverts', 'military feminists') instead.

Tall-Hatted Yanimae wrote:Next time I talk to him, I'll send him your reasoning as my back-up facts.

Thank YOU good sir. :awesome:

Not to be confused though; you yourself are quite definitely a upstanding member of society. There's only a bit of confusion regarding calling the creatures themselves because 'upstanding member of society' in that sense is normally used in correlation with the person, not the anthro.

Altough if it's got fur, it's a upstanding member of society by the regular meaning of the word anyway.

Tall-Hatted Yanimae · Post by **Tall-Hatted Yanimae** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:51 pm

Me MYSELF I'm not a upstanding member of society. Thank you!
I do not practice any of the rituals of Fur-ism. I just only have characters that have fur. But it's only for one story of mine. Every other one I have has humans.

DoNotDelete · Post by **DoNotDelete** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 2:16 pm

I'm probably the opposite of Yanimae in terms of my artwork.

I only really have one regular human character in my story - and even he isn't entirely human.

Most of my characters are chimeras - that is, built up of different combinations of animals and other things (technology, plants, other stuff).

I don't enjoy drawing human characters as much as I do drawing anthropomorphs. I like to draw lots of different colours and textures - feathers, scales, fur, metal.

I'd probably get really depressed if I had to draw human beings all the time. Drawing anthropomorphs makes me pop flyin', drawing humans drains the life outta me.

So I guess I'm a mutant whatever way you look at it.

SBKT · Post by **SBKT** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:48 pm

I entered a upstanding member of society brainwashing cult. It was fucked. It left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.

DoNotDelete · Post by **DoNotDelete** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 3:58 pm

SBKT wrote:I entered a upstanding member of society brainwashing cult. It was fucked. It left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.

There are cults for all sorts of things - not all of them are bad, but a lot demand you 'follow their roolz to be in their clubz or elzes'.

I wouldn't tar all upstanding members of society with the same brush because of that experience.

I personally don't want to convert anyone, I just ask that people tolerate me in the same way I tolerate anybody else, regardless of their orientation.

Miss Starseed · Post by **Miss Starseed** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 1:22 am

oh god what have i done

My own personal definition:
upstanding member of society = Someone with an interest in anthromorphic animal artwork, especially if they have a fondness for depicting themselves as an anthro or regular animal. In other words, they have a fursona.
Furphile/furvert = Someone who sleeps with animals or pushes the boundaries between sleeping with animals and sleeping with "people" a little too far. (Hopefully you know what I mean.)

I personally hate the use of the term "anthro art" for animal characters that have been given human qualities. It's true they are indeed anthromorphs, but the term is also what's supposed to be used if say... you made a lamp character with human qualities. Think of the Brave Little Toaster. How can somebody be an anthro artist if all they're anthromorphisizing is animals? :/ Seems more like an easy way out of being known as a upstanding member of society, to me. Cause god forbid, nobody wants to see a upstanding member of society on the interbuttz. :U

Azrael Scyther · Post by **Azrael Scyther** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:45 am

Thanks everyone, now I know.

KA-DOOM · Post by **KA-DOOM** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 6:59 am

Wait, Wait, You're still here?

Azrael Scyther · Post by **Azrael Scyther** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 7:10 am

Yeah, the comp died for a while.

That and I was grounded.

DoNotDelete · Post by **DoNotDelete** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:31 am

Miss StarSeed wrote:I personally hate the use of the term "anthro art" for animal characters that have been given human qualities. It's true they are indeed anthromorphs, but the term is also what's supposed to be used if say... you made a lamp character with human qualities. Think of the Brave Little Toaster. How can somebody be an anthro artist if all they're anthromorphisizing is animals? :/ Seems more like an easy way out of being known as a upstanding member of society, to me. Cause god forbid, nobody wants to see a upstanding member of society on the interbuttz. :U

I still prefer 'anthro' to 'upstanding member of society' as a descriptive term for the reasons you specified.

In the same way you argue using 'anthro art' is awkward in encompassing both 'upstanding member of society art' and 'the little toaster'...

...I find 'upstanding member of society art' is a retarded way of describing work that includes dragons, sharks and other hairless wonders.

I don't mind being referred to as a 'upstanding member of society', but I will correct people every now and then - saying, actually, I'm a scaly/featherhead/aquamorph/steampunk hybrid.