A bit of a weird question… If I want to have fox ears and tail (like, all the time if it was practical and not taboo), some cute noises, but still consider myself mostly human, what does that make me?
I often call myself a fox girl. does the label furry apply according to this community’s standards or is that more for full bodies/paws/suits etc?
thank you! <3
I wouldn’t think it weird if you called yourself furry just for that, IMO all it means is that you like media starring people with animal traits. There’s no requirement to actually want to be or even dress up as said animal people. Some people consider catgirls/kitsune a distinct thing and it’s only “real furry” if the character is covered in fur, but I don’t really agree with that.
I also wouldn’t have issue to someone using the label “fox girl” to mean just fox ears and tail. However, if you were talking in a furry community, my initial “mental image” would probably be something like https://64.media.tumblr.com/dc0d01e696ac8cf93b95426648dc5aa6/4ebf7f28db78d54d-84/s1280x1920/54a5a8f2d31244bfed221d294f6ae8b515b51edb.jpg . But that may just be me, there really is no standard for this kind of thing.
Honestly, as far as I’m concerned you’re a furry if you want to be. I’ve seen many comment threads where people and even artists go to great lengths to try to convince themselves and others that they aren’t “really” a furry, sometimes with an undertone of “I don’t want to be one of those people”. At this point I’ve given up on defining it; you’re a furry if you want to be, and not a furry if you don’t want to be.
KoboldCoterie put it best, we aren’t fans of gatekeeping, and honestly the more friendly people we have in the community, the better. If you want to identify as furry, go for it. If you don’t, but still want to consume furry media, then feel free to do that instead.