potentially controversial furry fandom discourse
It kinda annoys me when (not explicitly NSFW) furry spaces decide they’re going to be 18+ only.
If the reason is because you regularly deal in explicit imagery or roleplay then you should probably be segmenting that to a separate area anyway. Not everyone over 18 wants to have other people’s horny blasted at them all the time.
If your concern is minors being groomed, then that’s a problem with the people in your community (and you should probably be ejecting those people regardless of whether you host minors or not.)
potentially controversial furry fandom discourse
I entered the furry fandom when I was 15, via a kink-related (but not explicit) forum. I made friends, gained skills, gained respect and maturity, helped organise communities and founded communities of my own all before I was 18. It helped me find support in an incredibly turbulent and lonely time of my life. It let me develop a curiosity into a passion into a job.
Had that initial forum just shut the door I probably wouldn’t be here today. It seems thoughtless to strip away that potential when it’s not necessary to do so.
potentially controversial furry fandom discourse
Basically:
- Unless your community exclusively deals with sexually explicit materials, consider pushing those to their own channel/sub forum/whatever and allowing teens to join.
- Don’t assume that everyone over 18 is happy to see porn all the time either (they’re not).
- Don’t assume that because something is kinky that it’s inappropriate for minors. Hell, they probably got the kink from watching cartoons in the first place.
potentially controversial furry fandom discourse
On that rather specific note too, how in the hell is someone just coming to sexual maturity and realising they’re attracted to this very-weird-specific-thing supposed to therapise or make sense of it if every related community refuses to let them in?!