"In Which Klawz Reveals Whether or Not She's a Furry"
or
"Nope."

Disclaimer: This is not intended to offend, though it might. The rant doesn't exactly stay in PG range. If you're 'new' to the concept of 'furry', I suggest you don't soil your eyes/mind with the concepts you may never have heard of before.
Every fandom has it's 'dark side', but even a "furry" would have to admit that the "furry" fandom's darkside is a lot more.. unusual.. than most.

Okay, I'm not a furry. A lot of people would argue with me, and though I haven't had this exact discussion with people, I've heard of discussions like this. I'll try to refute my "furriness" with this imaginary conversation.

"But Klawz, you draw a lot of furry characters!"
So what? If I drew a lot of cars, would that make me a mechanic? I could be, but it doesn't mean that I am. I do draw anime, video game, and 'high' fantasy artwork; sometimes I'll draw still life pictures and sci-fi art.

"But MOST of your artwork is furry."
Yeah and MOST of your body is water, but I don't see people sticking a straw in your ear and sucking out your brains either.

"Okay, but what about the cheesecake? If you were just drawing cartoony Bugs Bunny characters, I guess that wouldn't make you a furry, but you draw furry chicks in bikinis!"
What of it? Furry cheesecake sells. It's a way to make an honest dollar. Even if I drew straight up hardcore "furry" porn and sold it (which I don't), that still wouldn't mean I was a furry. If you drew a cheescake of a fox or whatever, even once, that wouldn't make you a furry, would it? Do you think if you drew several pictures of the kind (let's say someone held you at gunpoint, or that you were curious what the fuss was about or something - but for whatever reason, you did), that would make you a furry? No? Then that doesn't make me a furry either.

"Okay, whatever... but you like drawing 'cub' art (or 'furry child porn') right?"
Absolutely, positively, completely NO. I left VCL for several months because they (temporarily) allowed it on their servers. The thought makes me ill. And, by the way, most people who do consider themselves "furries" agree with me on this. When I left VCL because of it, there were several people who left with me. Some haven't returned, even though VCL doesn't allow it anymore.

"But you do want to have sex with your dog, though."
In no way do I want to have any sort of relations with any animal you could possibly name (other than a human, smartass). :P 99.9% of people who do consider themselves "furries" don't do that either. Ignore what you read on those websites that troll the internet for the most freakish people possible - there aren't as many people who do it as it seems like. ><; I don't know anyone who does. I don't WANT to know anyone who does.

"But you have a stuffed animal collection, right? ...Do you like.. get it on?"
:P No. I don't care to guess how many people who consider themselves "furries" do or don't. It's not my business.

"What about fursuits?"
Fursuits scare the hell out of me.
I'm serious.
I even skitter away from Mickey Mouse at Disney World, for goodness sakes. This 'fear' of 'suited' people doesn't just stop at fursuiters, team mascots, or theme park characters. I'm afraid of clowns, Santas, and even "Hercules and Xena" at Universal Studios. ><; (Though most anime cosplayers don't bother me...)
The only "Fursuit" I've ever been not-afraid of was the Auburn University mascot, Aubie. I actually was considering trying out to "be" Aubie, until I realized how hot that suit would be during the summer out there on the field, running around...
And no, I have no idea why anyone would wish to have 'relations' while wearing a suit. Or, for that matter, getting married in one, or whatever else you've read up on at internet sites.

"Body painting?"
For Halloween I have occassionally been a catgirl. There's nothing "furry" about that, IMHO. Same way a guy who crossdresses at Halloween is not nessessarily gay or a crossdresser 'normally'.

"So what's your totem animal?"
Okay, look, I don't have a totem animal. I don't think I have an animal spirit (about as close as that gets is my entire family saying I was a cat in a former life), and I don't hate humans and wish I were a furry or at least a wolf or something. I'm quite happy being who I am. I'd actually much rather be something like an elf or fairy than a 'furry'.

"Okay, fine, let's assume that just drawing it doesn't make you "furry", but you participate at several "furry" messageboards!"
Well, yes and no.
Side7.com has furry artwork, but it is not a furry site. Even if it were, it is an art site, so it's about talking about the art.
Yerf is a furry archive, but 99% of the people there, from what I can tell at the newsgroups, do not consider themselves furry either. Strike two (even if it weren't an art site, which it is.)
YNA - not even a strictly furry site. Again, though, it's an art site, so the messageboard generally revolves around the artwork or art related topics.
VCL - furry artwork archive. Perhaps the most 'disreputatble' one, but still, it's an art site. I mostly only reply to topics about or related to artwork, so, still not being a furry!
Furbid - a furry ART auction site. Again, most topics revolve around the ART! Yay.

"But I've seen you get involved in a totally furry topic..."
Are you sure you're not furry? Spending that much time checking up on me? Anyway...
Most likely it was a 'flamewar' or 'flamable' topic. I have a streak of meanness in me: I love watching flamewars. Sometimes I actually throw two cents into the fray. But mostly I just watch.

....

Ugh. I can't think of anything more at the moment, without degenerating into refuting the stereotype that all furries are fat, ugly, 40 year old men, and since I'm no where close to any of the above, we'll let it stand at that.

The reason I made this page is because too many people assume that if you draw 'furry' you 'are' furry. And that means being associated with a lot of negative ideas that I don't want to be associated with.

Some 'furries' say something along the lines of, "Well, if people like you didn't desert the furry fandom because of it, there'd be more people there to visibily outweigh the freaky ones!"

Well, that'd be all fine and dandy if I wanted to be a furry. I don't. There's nothing for me in the furry fandom except the art (which extends to cartoons and comics - I don't really like 'furry movies'). I rpg in a SWAT Kats rpg, but that isn't about me "being a furry", it's me appreciating a cartoon. And I doubt there are very many people who can honestly say that they've never liked a single cartoon where there was a "furry" character (this includes everything from The Lion King, to SWATKats, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny).

I think it's particularly funny that I have people saying, "I'd like your artwork if the chicks didn't all have ears and tails." and from 'furries' I have a lot of people saying, "I like your artwork, but it's not furry enough for me!" - so I have a lot of people from both 'sides' of the issue who dislike my artwork. And, then again, I have a lot of people who also say, "I really don't like furry characters, but I do like yours. I like the more human look."

So, look, I don't MUCK, I don't pin a tail to my butt any time other than Halloween or costume parties, I don't refer to people as "fursons" or say things like "Fursonally..." or "YIFF ME!" or "that'd be purrfect!" or any of those annoying things. (Though I might say "Meowy Katsmas and a Happy Mew Year" on the SWATKats messageboard I help manage - but that's simply tradition.) Unlike most furries (seem), I love anime, I love video games, I don't wish for a life with fur, and I'm at least more or less well-adjusted.

If, after reading this, you still want to call me a furry, you know what? Whatever. I consider myself a 'fantasy' artist.

If you read this and you are a furry, and feel offended - grow up. And that, right there, is probably the rudest thing I said this whole rant.

Okay, go back home now: Nirvana