The fandom should absolutely reject any “purification” or sanitization of furry culture. This is thinly veiled puritanical culture that stems from Christofascist ideology and influence. This group of ravenous teenagers, some of which have barely experienced what it’s like to be an adult, are not recognizing the harm they’re pushing onto a mostly queer community that has had to fight for the right to be themselves for longer than they’ve been a twinkle in their parents’ eyes. They need to learn from their LGBTQ+ elders and sit down. We have a clear distinction between regular and adult panels at conventions for a reason.

• How should the furry fandom react? Embrace it? Reject it? And if so, how to deal with the risk of being “called out”?

Personally I do believe we as a community need to reject the puritan idea in all it’s forms.

If anyone is being called out, it could be viewed as online harassment and it should be documented and reported to website administration (if on central network social media like Facebook, deaddit, and dead bird site.)

If you are on any decentralized social media and they are calling you out on your instance, document their attacks and report them to the instance administrator. If that instance administrator will not do anything, leave that instance for a better instance like Yiffit.net if on Lemmy or packmates.org if on Mastodon.

• Is their point valid but are they simply to loud and aggressive?

What they propose over the community is censorship. It is not a valid reason. It is a means of control. If we give in to their demands on this, they will demand another thing be censored and we will have to give in to appease them. Then another, and another, and another till the fandom itself is either dead or a husk of it’s former self because it censored everything out of it on the clean web and drove everyone that was a part of it either into seclusion and never talking about furry fandom or really limiting it down to encrypted matrix chatrooms and onion links on the dark web because puritans destroyed what we had on the clear web.

We should be allowed to freely think and have our own ideas and depict what we want in media we either make ourselves or commission from artists. We shouldn’t be limited by other peoples narrow ideas, views, and beliefs. Whether they are children or adults.

• Or are their methods correct and it’s time that the fandom received a wake-up call?

Their methods are not correct. Again what they are proposing and forcing on us is censorship. The only wake-up call the fandom needs is to realize that these puriteens are fascists trying to shove their fascist ideas down our throats or make our lives miserable if we don’t comply.

And we need to stand up to that. It should be made fully clear that they are not welcomed within the fandom if they want to force us to cowtow to their demands of censorship.

They need to accept the fandom for what it is. Otherwise they need to leave the fandom.

It’s just the Burned Furs all over again. The same sort of puritanical anti-NSFW movement. You might also notice that the puriteens in the furry fandom are often the same people being anti-pride as well and complaining about NSFW events in the LGBT community at large.

Puriteens should be opposed at any and every opportunity. We don’t want or support that religious fundamentalism look-alike behavior. Get over it or get out of the fandom and the LGBT community. They’re working their way to being as bad as the Log Cabin Republicans.

@Wander

I’m Ace, so a ton of the stuff involved in this, I don’t have much of a frame of reference because it’s alien to me, but I grew up in a puritanical Christian environment and actively watched people be stigmatized for consensual adult behavior.

The only thing I ask is people use CWs so folks like me can properly filter out what I don’t want to see. Otherwise, yinz keep being weird and keeping the fandom unmarketable. Puriteens need to mind their business.

@Wander With the derision and shunnning they deserve. If they want to act as muck-rakers, leave them to wallow in their muck and eject them from all venues where they continue to cause problems.

Until they come to the realization that *their* behaviors are the problem, and not the things which they decry, they will continue to thrive off of the moralistic circle-jerk they’ve been indoctrinated into.

@Wander I haven’t taken the time to figure out wtf a Lemmy is, but hoooooooo boy do I have a harsh take on this.

(Especially knowing how many of these fuckers are otherwise abusive themselves and/or actively in bed with the alt-reich)

Simple: Don’t like it? Don’t search it and don’t look at it. I’m not going to tell someone to stop drawing something just because I personally find it uncomfortable. Heck, I’d feel shame if I ever was in such situation. I can just block the person drawing the art and I never have to see any of their art again (outside of re-sharing).

Enjoy your artistic freedom, keep the fandom unmarketable, and if something makes you uncomfortable, filter it out. It’s not on others to cater to your needs all the time. Sometimes you need to be the one to take initiative.

having only been introduced to the topic as of this post, i think it’s an interesting point of view, though overall i might have to disagree with it’s ideology.

i think that, what with all of the hate directed at the furry community primarily for its sexual nature, it’s natural that some furries who are younger and newer to the community would want to distance themselves from that aspect of it. whether that be out of personal disgust or wanting the approval of others i’m sure varies from person to person, but overall i can understand having that perspective when one is younger and both less sure of themselves in regards to their involvement with the community and in general.

overall though, i think that creating divisions in the furry community is not going to help anyone. we should keep out genuine zoophiles, but differentiating between what kind of yiff is acceptable and unacceptable is never going to get us anywhere. and, if these peoples intention is to be one of “the good ones” i don’t think that people who hate on furries aren’t going to spare them just because that person hold this view.

@Wander not me writing a paragraph on this post because i have opinions

I am of the opinion that the anthromorphic species is already “unnatural” and “fantasy”. Adding little bit and pieces shouldn’t be controversial. My opinion is as long as the species is sentient, of age for its species (i.e. not stated or implied as a minor), and provides consent (in that both parties are on board) it is not bestiality. Keep in mind, these are loose general guidelines which are my opinion. Arguments can be held for the semantics, but remember this should be role play or fantasy. NEVER IRL (with anything other than a consenting adult human being).

Outright rejection of puritanism is necessary. The more un-marketable furry spaces are, the more genuine they remain.

This applies to furries who demonize and harass zoosexuals, as well. That’s just another form of baseless moralistic puritanism that accomplishes nothing good whatsoever.