so fucking much of puriteen bullshit is
"oh no you are TOO WEIRD, and if I am linked to people like you I WILL LOOK BAD you should be removed from this fandom because I think fandom dynamics here will work the same as in the media properties I like"
they have to clean up. They have to purify. They have to make it acceptable
internalized because fandom dynamics demand that orthodoxy, and fandom spaces are in
platforms
where acceptability, internal and external are enforced
and it is so much just the aesthetics of things
which is also why there's so much "aestheticization" of queer identities.
The person has to fit the label, the labels are strict prescriptive definitions
why so many hate messy ones
why transphobes and exclusionists hate "queer" so much
they want everything to be cleanly defined. This camp here, that other camp there.
A lot of it is wanting safety, control over spaces. Being uncomfortable at messier people without their exact same categorization hangups
So furry puriteens seem to deal with it as a purely aesthetic aspect.
They like certain types of representation there. Certain "vibes"
So when they get to see others be furry in ways that are not like that
they recoil. They accuse. They attack.
Because they perceive THOSE as being too weird.
And they can fuck RIGHT OFF. I didn’t spend my life being a bullied freak just to let these twerps push me around.
A thing that I think really does differentiate furry from "commercial" fandoms.
Fandoms based on commercial intellectual properties tend to get like, orthodox interpretations, aesthetics.
Meanwhile with furries, in general, there is a lack of that. There is no central canon, there is no central product.
It is people being fans of each other, of each other's expression, based on freedom of self representation. On authentic joy.
And THAT was why it was such an easy target from places like SA and 4chan.
Openly queer and neurodivergent joy cannot be allowed.
Which of course, itself was just affirming social conformity. Forcing others to follow THEIR social norms.
Socially acceptable queer bashing because OF COURSE it was queer bashing.
"Cringe" culture also comes from that. From humiliating those whose joy and expression does not fit those strict limits.
And that not being a centralized aesthetic leads to it being a shock for so many.
Furry is a lot of things for a lot of people. I am happy that i get to be one.
And of course those ideas there are nothing new.
Cannot forget that fucking "geek hierarchy" chart. How some people actually internalized it. How they actually do think of things as a hierarchical structure.
"I am less pathetic than you"
"Oh no we are a clean, pure fandom, not like those degenerates"
of course