This wasn't you with me at the mall a few years ago was it?
Unfortunately not. I want that suit however. Much better than mine...
So...why do you seriously believe you're some kind of "community" any more than anyone else with any other hobby? Is it because you're made fun of relentlessly on the internet? I've read you earlier compare yourself to ethnic minorities, where you serious when you said that? Just because you take yourselves really seriously and form obsessions to your hobbies doesn't make them anything more than a hobby.
The sense of identity really is the major part of it. It's like a religion, sorta.
It's not something you're born with, it's something you say you want to be interested in/believe in, and that forms a core part of your identity. I get offended when someone trolls furries the same reason people get offended when you attack their religion. It's a key part of my identity, even if it doesn't involve any talk of a deity or what he wishes for his followers. Or, failing religion, like a nationality.
I'll restate my belief in the furry community/identity/culture because of the following:
1. We have fabricated our own identity, just like any nationality. We feel a sense of kinship with eachother.
2. We have formed our own slangs, a little mini-dialect.
3. We organise our own websites to communicate with eachother and meet furs with similar interests.
4. From those websites, we have developed our own system of furmeets and furry conventions. It's like being a CFCer(with the meetups and such), but it's far more of an identity issue.
5. We have, as mentioned, established literal communities where furs live together, even if only a few.
What makes us different from a nationality is we have no established authority or geographic group. We're kind of like a nationality whose homeland has been annexed by somebody else, and who haven't really set up a formal government.
I mean I can buy that there are furries out there who aren't in it for the sex. And I can buy that maybe the "sexualised furries" as you call them constitute only one part of the greater furry "community."
That's a pretty good start to understanding us, understanding we're not all raging perverts despite the stereotype. I really don't need to cite the intra-fandom war over perverted stuff again, do I?
But I can't see how it's anything more than a loose collection of people with a similar interest, similar to people who like to build model airplanes, or watch Star Trek, or collect Pokemon cards, or any other hobby that people sometimes take past the point of obsession.
The identity thing. Do people who like Star Trek or Pokemon consider that a KEY part of who they are? I get the feeling that, for the most part, no, they do not, regardless of how much of a fan they are.
I consider my religious/political beliefs, my sexual preference, and my furryness all an integral part of my identity.
Regardless of how much one likes franchise x, by contrast, chances are you don't consider it an integral part of your identity. If I had to think of a key difference between the furry interest and any other interest or hobby, I think that would be it.
