I have a new hobby...:)

[Eviecorn]

I learned something too! I thought furry was a sexual thing I didn't realize it was just for anthro fans too.

Most people think this because whenever you see interviews, it's hyper sensational and they only interview the loudest, grossest people they can find for interviews. The vast majority of furry fans are just normal people who happen to like anthropomorphic animals, and you'd never know unless they told you.

How does that saying go? A few bad apples spoil the bunch? yeah.

Exactly this.  I'm a furry myself (I just got back from Anthrocon not even 24 hours ago, haha.) I don't enjoy my fandom being portrayed as a bunch of fetishists and sickos, but it's just like how they find the most exaggerated stereotype of people to put on the news when a tornado blows through a trailer park - not everyone who lives in a trailer park is a toothless obese woman with rollers in her hair who only wears nightgowns.  That's just who they find to talk to for the entertainment value.  The "hide your kids, hide your wife" guy is also an example of this.

But yay on your outing from the fur-lined closet!

[ApertureScience]

I'm kind of a furry too.  Not in an extreme way though.  I just like the anthro characters from Sonic the Hedgehog and Star Fox; I think they're cool.  I especially love anthro cats. 

As for the mature stuff, I hold hentai and yiff in the same regard; if I see it, I'm just like "Okay," and I move on.  I hate how people think all furries are deviants because of the yiff, but they don't think all anime fans are perverts because of the hentai.  Not all furries are yiff-heads; some of them do their best to keep it clean and casual but they still get chewed out by idiots.

[Vintergatan]

Well, if you stray a bit further from nerd culture you can still find a bunch of people for whom anime = hentai (pretty much) but in recent years, anime has become much more popular that most people got informed about it willingly or not. I think the same should happen with furries and that is why I don't think people should hide it. Staying in the closet only reinforces the notion that there is something seedy with the fandom ^^ Kinda same witth MLP collecting really. If you act embarrassed about it, others will keep thinking it´s silly and childish.

[ChocolateStarfire]

Thanks, eviecorn! *waves*

I agree with both of you, aperturescience and vintergatan.

Thanks everypony for being supportive as always.

[skyrocketneko]

Yay, glad to see that mostly everyone is accepting.

I have been drawing anthro animals for years (probably almost 30 now) and have just started working on my first fursuit (if Rarity counts).  I'm not sure if I'm technically a "furry" because I just enjoy drawing certain things and like to sew, but I respect your decision to come out and say it!

[June]

I have been drawing anthro animals for years (probably almost 30 now) (...)

Wow, how old is the trend? I mean is there a specific date when anthro art got its fandom in the todays form?

[Eviecorn]

I have been drawing anthro animals for years (probably almost 30 now) (...)

Wow, how old is the trend? I mean is there a specific date when anthro art got its fandom in the todays form?

Technically, anthros (or "funny animals" if you want to use the OG term) have been around in their modern sense since the early 20th century.  The term "furry" to describe the people with an affinity for anthropomorphic animals originated in 1980 in sci-fi zines.

ETA: That is not to say that people didn't draw or paint anthropomorphic animals before the 1900's.  Look at ancient Egypt. 

[ChocolateStarfire]

^ This.