Furry Writers' Guild Forum

My Furry Childhood

Miscellany
#1

My wife gave birth to our first child a little less than a month ago, and that one fact has sparked my creativity in so many ways.

One of the things I’ve been thinking about is, well, how furry everything we have for the baby is. Books, obviously, but even crib stuff, and especially clothes. It got me thinking what is it about our culture that we saturate our children’s world with furry, and then many people think furry adults are somehow weird?

How many people’s first “fursuit” was a sleeper they wore as an infant?

Not sure how coherent this is (learning to live on limited sleep LOL), but I would be really interested in hearing other people on why we saturate our children with furry only to have culture look down on furry later on…

#2

It is a very interesting quandary for sure.

We had a friend who was a fursuit maker (until he quit doing it because of his wife) and he made a skunk fursuit for his 8 year old. It was adorable to see, but also a lot more dangerous as apparently kids don’t know how to self regulate like adults do, so a strictly enforced pattern for rest/fursuit time was needed.

My brother and his wife have two daughters and Yannarra and I constantly get them ‘furry’ things, like Zootopia books and the like. We always joke that we are turning the girls into furries (which, honestly we do cause it mortifies my sister-in-law who has severe issues with furries based off of… of all things… CSI).

Anyway, that’s my ramble to match your ramble. :stuck_out_tongue:

#3

I once wrote an article fairly closely related to this subject. It’s a speculative piece on how we furries are created. I believe it’s very likely in infancy/early childhood.

http://www.adjectivespecies.com/2016/02/26/that-whole-furry-thing/

#4

Very good essay, Rabbit.

I think it leaves unanswered a fundamental question: If furry is so rooted in fundamental childhood experiences, why is “adult” culture indifferent to furry at best and hostile towards it at worst?

That may be putting the opinion of the non-furry majority culture too strongly, but I think it’s an interesting question. I don’t feel that my childhood was substantially different from a typical white suburban childhood of a kid in my era. Pro stuffed animals and onsies with anthropomorphic animals. I’ve fursuited at least twice in my life, only I would have called them Halloween costumes at the time. Children’s television is chock full of furry. And that’s way before you get to pre-teen things like Thundercats or Biker Mice from Mars.

I don’t think I’m the exception to children in my socioeconomic group. So why aren’t more people in that group, if not furries, then at least furry-friendly/furry-adjacent?

#5

Maybe there’s an innate factor some sort? A limit as to how wide-angled one’s self-identity lens can be? Or perhaps one’s developing “mental tumblers” have to click open in a certain less-common order or manner to unlock one’s furriness, even with adequate exposure?

Good question! I’ll have to ponder on it for a few years…

And thanks for the kind words, as well!

#6

My mum actually said to me recently “You used to love your onesie, you called it your furry suit…OH MY GOD!”

And congratulations!! Hope everyone is sleeping better soon.

#7

Thank you, Husky! And what a great story about your mom.

I’ll let everyone know about the sleeping part. LOL