I wish I could sleep for a week.
I'm using "furry" as the subject for my research paper this semester. If anyone can help...
My paper is on "the definition of fear within a discourse community to which I belong." I'm actually excited about this assignment and I want to do it right. Anything at all will help. The sources must be recognized by academic societies as valid. Dr. Fulton has given me a lot of room and freedom to make this paper happen, so entertainment and online news articles, such as Wikipedia, are good. I just have to back up the opinionated, not-so-concrete sources with similar fact-based, rock-hard ones. It's proving to be a LOT of work, but I hope it pays off. A tremendous amount of thanks to anyone who helps out.
I'm using the news footage and the CSI episode to build up to what the general public may think of furry so I can break it down and show what being furry really is. The theme of the paper revolves around why furries fear "fursecution" and how furries cope with it and if any action is taken to combat it. It's very intense and involved and it's really hard to find any sources on furry. I'm not portraying furries as the media did: I'm disproving the social standard that most of us have to painfully endure.
I would also like to generate a discussion here as to what fear means to you as a furry. I would like to use the information here in my paper (as always, any and all sources will be credited or will remain anonymous, whichever is preferred). This paper is due before the 21st of this month and I've already got most of it written, but I need a bit more to expand my word count and mature the explanation of my thesis. Here are my sub-headings:
(According to John Swale's definition of a discourse community)
1) Shared language - lingo, common word usage, community-exclusive terminology
2) Common goals - values, assumptions, and beliefs
3) Membership - how does one become a furry and upon what social device does one gain access to the furry community?
4) Shared practices & behaviors - from all spectrums of the fandom
5) Common communication methods - not focusing on what is talked about but more about how that information is relayed
Also, this rebuttal needs to be addressed:
"Looking past any hopes for retribution, or even at a possible aftermath of a lawsuit against any entity shining an unhealthy light on what is means to be furry, what specifically angers you about foul media coverage of furries, such as CNN? The news has been comprised of incorrect information and the misrepresentation of many groups for centuries: homosexuality, expression of art, animal rights, environmentalists, evolutionists, and polyandry have all suffered deeply. Thanks only to our evolving, postmodernistic society, these topics are now being redefined from "deviant" to "choices" and the members of these walks of life are being considered closer to society's norm, because of their choice not to fear. Instead of pleading for a hypothetical half-cocked motive to pursue multi-faceted legal action against a monument of a television news company (or anyone, for that matter) who is (or might be) more "schooled" in the Bill of Rights and its interpretation than the average furry, I reiterate my thesis: As a furry, what does fear mean to you?"
Yes, it's a lot, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks for any and all help, guys. You rock!
~Kuron Mareil
