this post was submitted on 20 Oct 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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UPDATE: can't help but to notice not ONE of you have answered the question you just keep telling me about furries. I want an answer to why so many people are role playing as aninals

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[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 42 points 2 weeks ago

UPDATE: can't help but to notice not ONE of you have answered the question you just keep telling me about furries. I want an answer to why so many people are role playing as aninals

I think you'll need to be a little clearer about what you think the distinction is here. What is "animal roleplay" to you? Where are you seeing it being done?

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Imma guess, like most things it seems, they always have been, we just see it more thanks to the internet.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This is an interesting point and makes me wonder: are there historical accounts of furries in history? I guess you could count things like werewolf stories, maybe, but that seems like a stretch...? I get the feeling I'm describing an existing field of study and hope there's something to read about it?

[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Egyptians and native Americans dressed up as animals... Or maybe I'm very uneducated and this racist.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

But does that count as "furry?" I guess? If so, then yeah, tons of furries throughout time. I don't know enough about it. I guess I'm realizing I presume that furry is a sexual thing, which I think is probably incorrect? I don't even know enough to be asking about it. I can recall plenty of examples of people looking back at historical figures and being like, "yep, definitely gay," but I can't recall any examples of, "yep, total furry." That's all I'm trying to say. I presume they must be out there.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Lots, this kind of thing goes back deep into pre-history. I mentioned in another comment in this thread that the oldest known sculpture is of a furry and the oldest known cave painted art is furry art. Lots of gods and creatures of myth are human/animal hybrids of various sorts, or straight up animal spirits.

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Linking anthropomorphized animals to furry culture is quite a stretch. Even old tribal cultures where they might wear animal skins/skulls for rituals doesn't even really have much in common with what people are doing in fur suits today.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Furries are a modern example of anthropomorphic animals in culture. It's a convenient shorthand.

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Someone in ancient times carving a piece of art that's a bear-man has virtually nothing to do with this:

Trying to link the two is disingenuous.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago

OP has been singularly unclear about what exactly he means by "role playing as animals" in the first place, so I don't see the problem here.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

True. I feel like there must be a book out there. Because I'm secretly hoping for like...Socrates admitting he dressed as a hung fox or whatever (JUST AN EXAMPLE).

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[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you're not talking about furries, then you're gonna need to use more words to ask your question. Who is role playing animals, under what circumstances. Are you talking about a game? Are you making political commentary? Street Theater? Help us help you.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

OH, are they maybe talking about all of the inflatable animal costumes worn by protesters in the US? There've been a lot of pictures of that recently due to the No Kings protest over the weekend.

@OP If this is what you mean, it's part of a protest movement. It's a symbol, and it's making a mockery of the narrative that the protesters are violent extremists. It was popularized by one individual in a frog costume standing up to riot-geared police, and it took off in a big way last weekend all over the country.

[–] SaltSong@startrek.website 7 points 2 weeks ago

Possible. I'd hardly call that role playing, but I could see it.

OP should take the chance to clear that up for us.

[–] squirrel@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm a squirrel... no further questions

[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 5 points 2 weeks ago
[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Being savvy enough to be on the Internet must mean you have a helluva nut collection!

You buy special nuts from around the globe?

[–] squirrel@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Hmmm, so, you can Pirate the nuts? 😉

[–] squirrel@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 weeks ago

No further questions

[–] chosensilence@pawb.social 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

..? you mean us furries? why are there so many furries? lol

if so, the human fascination with animals is ancient. over time we began attributing human traits to their behaviors and started connecting to them on personal and spiritual levels. then we started making art depicting those anthropomorphic animals on cave walls.

furries simply inhabit a persona (fursona) to express themselves behind the security of the confidence being that character gives them. a lot of us feel like our fursona is an ideal representation of ourselves. it helps us connect to our own personhood, strangely.

it’s also fun and can be sexy if ya want.

[–] stinerman@midwest.social 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I think it is interesting that relatively recently it became possible for furries to wear suits that allow them to express themselves in this manner. How many people throughout human history wished to be able to do this, but couldn't because the "technology" simply wasn't there?

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[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 11 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Um, no idea what you mean. 👉👈😅

The oldest known sculpture is of a furry, and the oldest known cave painted art is furry art. We've been imagining what it's like to not be human for as long as we've been human. Nothing weird about it unless people want to make it weird.

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[–] WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org 10 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Probably because humanity has become so pathetic. /S

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[–] dwemthy@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

Are you not an animal? Be you vegetable or mineral?

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Because the internet is full of furries. Which isn't a bad thing it's just people are judgemental as fuck and think being a furries is childish.

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[–] devolution@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

Appropriate answer: Escapism.

Lemmy answer: people want to fuck animals.

[–] magnetosphere@fedia.io 7 points 2 weeks ago

I’m going to guess that it’s because most animals spend their days eating, sleeping, and fucking. Some of them don’t even “raise” their kids. They don’t have the same responsibilities that humans do. Animals are assumed to be innocent. It’s an idealized life.

[–] remon@ani.social 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I mean, most role playing will be as other humans, and we are animals. So that explains most.

After that I feel it's mostly other mammals. I guess it's easier the more similar the body is to ours?

[–] toomanypancakes@piefed.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Are you spending lots of time in VR chat roleplay servers?

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

Where are ppl doing that?

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 2 weeks ago

Are they? Im partial to elven or half elven druids.

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 weeks ago
[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 4 points 2 weeks ago

Where is this happening?

[–] loomi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

I guess frogs are protesting against ICE. Hope this helps

[–] Satellaview@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 weeks ago

It lets you view modern life from outside.

Which of the things we do every day are truly necessary? When you remove something or add another, what happens to the greater shape of society? What do our relationships to each other look like without cars, without jobs, without money? What might take their place?

What does it mean to be sentient? What does it mean to be human? What’s the shape of the gap between those two things?

I find it philosophically entertaining.

[–] stinky@redlemmy.com 3 points 2 weeks ago

licks you

nuzzle

whine

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

People who have a fetish for domestication or infantilization usually have a desire to relinquish control in a controlled environment.

[–] celeste@kbin.earth 1 points 2 weeks ago

You mean as animals, instead of humans with animal features? I don't know what specifically you're talking about, but usually it springs from a desire to play with traits the animals are assumed to have. The less they're playing at being a human with fur or echolocation or whatever, the more it's about a desire to disconnect from human responsibilities and worries.

Some people who have been abused in a way that resembles how humans treat animals (assumption of stupidity, obedience required with the assumption you're incapable of understanding why you need to do things, etc) will play at it when they're free of it as a way to process the shitty way they were treated in a way they can control.

But it mostly seems to stem from a desire to not think about human concerns for a while, and just exist in your body as we assume animals do.

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Sometimes I roleplay as an adult human animal.

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