Reader Submitted: Collection of Places That Restrict Furry Avatars

By Lia (Female Winslet)

The sole purpose of this list is to help furries be able to explore Second Life without running into hostile receptions, including bans or being asked to leave because of their avatars. I understand that some owners may feel their restrictions are justified by a desire for historical accuracy, a certain ambience, or other reasons. The reasons for the restrictions are irrelevant and I do not pass judgment on them. I only note that they exist. However, because I do not want to reward these policies or encourage harassment or other bad behavior, I will not provide landmarks to their locations.

I have reviewed the TOS and this list appears to be completely legal. However, I want it to be very clear that this is ***not*** a list to be used for harassment, punishing, or otherwise acting badly. This is a list of places to avoid so that you don't get instantly ejected, banned, asked to leave, etc. No aggressive acts against any of these locations. If that becomes a problem, I will end this list.

The vendor, the list, and the script are copy and trans, but no mod. This way you can distribute copies of the list if you so desire. But the admonishment not to harass cannot be removed.

For questions, corrections, or to report other places that should be on the list, contact Lia (female.winslet). If you are an owner whose location has been erroneously included, please contact me to let me know and I will correct the list.

Adult Tropical LATINO BLUE BEACH RESORT
============================
From the place profile: "No avatars under 60 days aloud [sic], no child avatars, only human avatars."

Aux Bains du Paradis
==============
From the place profile: "Human avatars only."

*BDSM RAINTREE BDSM*
================
From the place profile: "HUMAN AVATARS ONLY*

Berlin 1920
========
Excerpts from the SIM rules:
Our rules;
-1920s clothes only
-Realistic avatars only

-Animals shouldn't talk, walk on 2 legs, be half human, etc. And yes... in Berlin people didn't have wings, pointy ears, claws, vampire teeth, etc, except on stage.

Bogart's Jazz Club
============

This is a part of Frank's Place, which is one of the more well known anti-furry spots. Please see the entry for Frank's Place.

Cage and Cell Club
=============
From the place profile: "Human avatars only."

Club Texas
=======
The rules posted on the community forums include "No Furries."

The Dreamer's Island - Surf
===================
From the place profile: "Human avatars only."

Fairweather Beach
============
From their place profile: "Human avatars only."

Feral Woods Beach and Farm
===================
From their place profile: "Human avatars only."

Frank's Place
=========
Franks The Elites and Franks Place Jazz Club do not allow non-human avatars to use these facilities. You may be ejected and banned if your avatar has any "non-human" features (tails, cat ears, ect.).

Frank's also has a notable reputation for homophobia.

The F**k SPOT - Gangbang and Bukkake Room - Human Avatars Only
==============================================

They put it right in their name. 'Nuff said.

Gianfar Peaks of Pern
==============
Pern roleplay community. Furries are okay as long as th-ey are not engaged in the roleplay at all. But only certain canon feral avatars are permitted to engage in the roleplay.

Golden Sunset Beach
===============
From the place profile: Normal human avatars only[.]

Grandpa's Interracial Warehouse
======================
From the place profile: "human avatars only."

Gregfield 1 and 2
==========
From the place profile: HUMAN AVATARS ONLY!

Hook-Up Hall - "Let's Hook-Up" = %100 Human Only
===================================
From the place profile: %100 Human Avatars Only

House in the Woods
=============
From the place profile: Adult human avatars only.

House of FED
=========
From the place profile: FED Home of human only sadists and victims.

Isla de Amores
==========
From the place profile: Human avatars only. No children or furries.

Libentia
=====
From the place profile: Human avatars only. Exceptions; wings and mermaid and mermen.

~ The Lounge: Jazz By The Bay ~
======================

Cocktail/evening dress only. Quadraped avatars are deemed not compliant with the dress code because quad avatars do not wear clothes, so quad avatars are asked to leave. Anthro furries are allowed. Since there are multiple clubs with similar names, to be clear, this one is a jazz club founded by Xaphyre.Ansar. Xaphyre.Ansar confirmed the policy and called it discrimination.

MacLeod's
=======
From the place profile: Human avatars only.

Manatee Naturist
===========
From the place profile: Human avatars only.

Masters/Mistresses Harem
==================
From the place profile: "Human Avatars only!"

Playa Perdida
=========
According to their place profile "Adult human avatars only[.]"

Pleasures XChange @ Serendipity CMNF
===========================
From the place profile: "Respect and tolerance is expected. Only human avatars."

Ramshackle Gentlemen's Club
====================
From the place profile: "...NO animal Avie or Child Avies Human Avatars Only..."

Ritz New York City
============
Club owner says furries are "a problem" and not welcome at her venue. This is a venue created specially for RFL fund raising and RFL official policy does not tolerate this type of discrimination. Current status is unclear.

*Secret Life Lounge*
==============
From the place profile:

STALLION JAZZ CLUB & HUGH'S BOUTIQUE
============================
From the place profile: "HUMAN AVATARS ONLY."

Tom's Prisoners
===========
From the place profile: "Male human avatars only."

Tranquil Tiki Island
============
From the place profile: "Human avatars only and no weapons allowed."

Turtle Coast Adult Beach
================
Sim rules do not allow furry avatars. Neko is reportedly fine. Apparently sim management may be somewhat lax in enforcing the policy.

U N I F I E D - Adult MEN/MALE AVATARS Only Culture Connections:
==================================
From the place profile: Adult Human Male Avatars Only.

White Horse Hollow
=============
Quote from sim rules:
~~~~ What is not allowed in our sims:
Bronies; Furries; Trolls - not welcome


Lia

* * * * *

Editor's Note: There was a small miscommunication with Lia when she handed me the list, I thinking she intended this for publication. As it turned out, she didn't. But she was okay with it.

News and Commentary: "Fat Shaming" Publicity Stunt By Store Draws Protests, Traffic

By Bixyl Shuftan

Trolls have harassed stores throughout the history of Second Life. But it's not often when it's the store that does the trolling.

The "No Fat Chicks" meme has been around for some decades, both an insult to women of large size and a suggestion that the speaker is both shallow and insensitive. As it's usually men with juvenile streaks in their mentalities that use it, I was surprised to hear about a store that had a sign with the slogan, and an image of a black outline of a large woman with the international "not allowed" red slash sign. Beside the sign was another offering free "No Fat" shirts made for the store's (thin) female avatar.

Looking at the profile of the owner, I found this description:

Fat in your body! Fat in your a**! Fat in your boobs! Fat in your brain! Fat! Fat! Fat!.... OMG!!!!
STOP IT! PLEASE!
Remember that real beautiful girl Is the slender and graceful, and not looks as a fat pig!
Stop to be fat! Back to graceful!

Yours truly has seen a few female avatars in the past several years sporting what could be called a "Kardashian" look, large behinds and thighs. While there are ways to suggest the more extreme forms of this kind of look are less than realistic, this is hardly the way to do so and expect people to listen. On the Second Life Friends Facebook page and New World Notes, there were pictures and descriptions of protests of women avatars, both large and otherwise, at the store. While yours truly came at a time there weren't any, there was someone at the store who told me there had been, "Yesterday there was a protest here, it's a horrible shop. Today I came to see if there were people protesting."

But have the protests backfired? The presence of the women were certainly an increase in traffic, which does get noticed by the inworld Search function. So they may have inadvertently ended up drawing shoppers to the place. There was a sign at the store placed by the owner that appeared to be aimed at the protesters.

Thank you very much for promoting my brand, my store and my products! Before I was need to pay money for to raise a traffic, but you do it for free! Please continue your flash mob! Do not stop! I love you all!

So if one can look however they want to, why would these girls chose to be plump? Yours truly can think of a few reasons. Maybe they don't want to look like everyone else. Maybe they're plump in real life and see wearing a thin avatar as being less than honest. Maybe they're trying to avoid being IMed for sex repeatedly. In any event, it's their avatar, and with a few exceptions such as racial stereotypes, they can look however they want to.

And it's my impression most men would prefer a woman with a few extra pounds and a sweet disposition than a thin woman who's a rhymes-with-witch.



Image Credit: Fia Wycliffe

Bixyl Shuftan

Little Issues: Explaining The "Fox Reporter" Look.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Most of what I write about is at least mildly serious, such as charities, or a location someone spent a great deal and time and effort to make. But occasionally there are certain trivial but amusing, nagging, or both, issues that aren't going away from your mind. Especially when someone keeps reminding you.

As a fan of science-fiction and fantasy, I've had as my look a "furry" avatar from the start of my Second Life experience. Initially, it was the starter "ringtail" that was available as an option for a beginning avatar at the time. But once I had the cash for another, after some thought I chose upon the Luskwood red fox avatar. I had roleplayed a felinoid in a sci-fi game a few years before. But after reading Tiffany Ross' "Cyantian Chronicles" in which the foxfolk in her story universe had one of the more detailed and interesting, sometimes tragic, histories of the peoples there, perhaps it was time for a change. That the red foxes in the Cyantian stories were traditionally soldiers or blue collar workers was the reason for the fur color.

At first, I would wear a green shirt, which was a leftover from my days in the "Runescape" MMO (what I played before "World of Warcraft"), along with clothes similar to what I wore in real life, a brown jacket and slacks. I had to skip the shoes as my feet were just too big. But after I landed a job in James and Dana's Second Life Newspaper, I used my first pay to get myself a white fedora and tan leather overcoat. Since I was a reporter, I wanted to look like one. And so, I went about in the classical 20th Century reporter's look. And with the most popular news channel being Fox News, well, that helped add to it with the "fox reporter" catchphrase.

Over the years, I would get other avatars, from Lusk stripped skunk to Kani bunny to AX hyena, to black human, and many others, which I change to on occasion. But the Luskwood red fox has continued to remain my main avatar. I sometimes change to other clothes while still being foxy, such as the red Victorian era suit I occasionally wear at the Steamlands, or a black jacket and jeans while on a motorbike. But usually I can be found with the fedora and overcoat. Although all of my avatars, aside from the human, are PG nude due to the coat of fur, I always go about with at least a pair of shorts in them, except for the mesh tinies and micro fox, which I have yet to find pants for.

Most people are happy with this look, calling it neatly dressed. But one friend for some time has been nagging me a bit, "Why do you wear clothes?"

Although she on occasion has on a full dress, she prefers going about with very little clothes. If someone had a coat of fur, even a short one, she feels realistically would mean he or she couldn't wear much for long. The overcoat and long slacks, she feels, would realistically lead to me quickly overheating. So she feels the coat and pants have to go.

I disagree. For one, this look was popular even indoors in the days before air conditioning. People just dealt with the heat. And in the colonial era when Europeans went to travel about, or take jobs, in places in the tropics, while a few were "going native," most continued to wear their existing clothes meant for a much colder climate in the hot tropical sun. Even if they didn't see the locals as "savages," it was simply the thing to do.

Tiffany Ross would also say a few things on the matter in her comic forums some years ago. The furry people of her fictional world of Cyantia didn't have a nudity taboo, but most who lived in cities and towns still wore clothes in public. As she saw it, clothes allowed her Cyantians, as well as humans in real life, a chance to distinguish themselves as individuals, even for those who aren't fashion snobs. Plus it helped distinguish themselves from those who went "feral" and abandoned civilization, and their clothes.

And of course, if you're standing upright, your "family jewels" are more exposed to things like low branches and flying rocks. So some kind of cover is needed to prevent what realistically would have you bending over in pain.

So the clothes stay. While you may see me in something other than the coat and fedora on the fox on occasion, or an avatar other than the fox such as the skunk at some Relay events, if anyone sees me stark naked in public, it's from a computer glitch.

As for why always a male avatar, aside from when my friends raise an enormous amount of money for charity, that's an issue I've already discussed in December 2013. As for why I haven't replaced this avatar that's been around for over ten years, that's another story.

Bixyl Shuftan

News and Commentary: Of "Morphological Freedom" in Real Life and Second Life

By Bixyl Shuftan

Valkyrie McGill (also known as Valkyrie Ice), besides being the Sunweaver's resident succubus, is also a writer for online magazines. Earlier this summer, she wrote a commentary that touched on two real-life news events at the time. One was about Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, whom had recently completed a sex change operation. After it was finished, she appeared in a "Vanity Fair" cover shoot. The other news item was about Rachel Dolezal, a former NAACP chapter leader, whom made news as she had been calling herself black but her parents stepped forward to say she was really white. She defended her reasoning by stating she identified as black.

The reaction to Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner's transformation has been on the whole positive, with a number of people praising her. Outright condemnation seems to have been mostly limited to a few religious fanatics whom I wouldn't have heard about if someone on my Facebook feed hadn't posted the stories, and one band of radical feminists who condemned sex changed operations, calling transsexuals gay men who ought to stay gay men. The criticism I heard was of coworkers, family, and a few Facebook friends cracking jokes, such as a picture of a beagle labeled "Bruce Jenner's cat." One local talk show host didn't crack any jokes, but explained he could not understand why a man would have his sex changed, at one point comparing it to a teenager cutting herself, "Did he do something in his past that made him ashamed to be male and he wanted it cut from him?" And at another he was wondering if this was a denial of reality, "how can a man in his sixties see himself as a woman in her thirties?" But in the end, he stated Jenner had every right to go through the operation.

Although the change of appearance made by Dolezal was much less drastic, the reaction to her was much less supportive and much more negative. At best, people expressed reluctant support. More often was confusion or people questioning her judgement. At worst, she was accused of being "deceptive," a "con artist," a "homegirl hoaxer," and of doing a kind of "blackface" only with tanning pills or a spray tan instead of facial makeup. In contrast to Jenner being called a hero, she found herself condemned and vilified. That she might have been influenced by her parents adopting a number of black children was seldom mentioned.

Why the difference in how they were treated? One radio political commentator charged that certain organizations saw that a white person would want to be considered black as a threat to their claims of discrimination. Not being black, I can only speculate. It may be that with racial tensions increasing in the country lately, people from the group Dolezal wants to be a part of are more likely to assume such an unusual move must have some hostile agenda. There's also that although sex-change operations and transsexuals have gotten renewed interest after Jenner, they are not new but have been going on for years.While there have been tales of whites disguising themselves as black as part of a social experiment, to "be in another's shoes" so to speak, and in the past light skinned blacks have passed as whites to better fit in mainstream society when Southerners were still bitter about Reconstruction and Northerners felt those who were different should be in their own separate neighborhoods such as "Little Italy" or "Chinatown," it's pretty rare for a white to change one's racial identity to black.

Valkyrie argued that both Jenner and Dolezal had a right to change what they were, calling it "morphological freedom," and if anyone had a problem with it, they had no right to stand in their way, "Caitlyn is going to be a woman, and Rachel is going to be black, because that is what THEY ARE. You can claim it’s a choice, a mental illness or a fetish, but it’s not going to matter in the end what anyone else thinks ..." She herself had the goal of wanting to look like her Second Life avatar in real life, a succubus with wings and horns. Something that couldn't be done with current technology, but she has been hopeful developments in the near future will make it possible.

In Second Life, "Morphological Freedom" has been more or less with us from the beginning. The first ones coming on could tailor their avatar's height, skin color, sex, and other details as they pleased. And it wasn't long before nonhuman avatars were developed, and sometimes an option for newcomers before they even set foot on the Grid. Here you can be an elf, a demoness, a tiny feline, a huge dragon, a five foot tall anthro fox with opposable thumbs in a fedora and overcoat, and most anything else, limited only to one's talent or the budget to purchase such talent. While there have been stories about some people having issues with appearances, such as a self-described "elite" place considering a furry avatar the equivalent of wearing a T-shirt to an opera, it's my experience most residents don't have a problem. Conservative or liberal, religious or atheist, all have been overwhelmingly accepting of differences in appearance, as well as choosing to be different themselves.

The issue of people choosing to be the opposite sex in the grid has seen no shortage of discussion. While it's most commonly imagined as women in Second Life actually being men in real life, this isn't always the case. While there have been some whom have expressed a problem with or been confused as to the motivations, it's my experience most people are content with such residents listing on their profiles their real-life genders, or give some other kind of warning, to prevent any "accidents" with those looking for a date or admiring appearances of the opposite sex.

The issue of someone wanting to look like a different race than in real life hasn't been touched on as much as wanting to look like a different gender, or even look like one of a race of people from a fantasy or sci-fi story. Still, there have been stories about it. There have been a few tales of residents in black avatars being taunted with racial slurs and real life whites trying a black avatar getting the impression they were treated differently, such as one article in New World Notes in 2006. My own impression when I had on a black human avatar as part of a Relay for Life fundraiser was that I didn't experience much of a difference in how I was treated, and a few people asked if I was considering changing to the dark-skinned avatar for good.

In real life, people can't change appearances as fast as they can in Second Life of course. Tanning pills take many days, weeks, to work. A transsexual's journey to the opposite sex is a series of hormonal treatments, surgeries, and counseling sessions that lasts for years. Changing into a "furry," in real life it can't really be done ... yet. But here have been body modifications, such as that of "Stalking Cat" a few years ago, that are a hint as to what can be developed as technology and techniques improve.

It's doubtful that we will ever be able to change our sex or species as fast as we can in Second Life. Even in Star Trek, surgical alterations took time. But as the possibilities become wider, the time becomes shorter, and the money needed becomes less, it isn't hard to imagine some people, especially science-fiction/fantasy fans, wanting to change to a new look. And if such a change could be easily reversed, there's less to be afraid of, and more people would be more likely to undergo such a change. Just look at how popular tattoos are today.

Second Life might be a guide as to how society might react, most people not usually making a big deal. What would happen to the dating scene? Just as there has been at least one lesbian club on the grid asking that women confirm their gender by going into Voice, might there be singles clubs that demand that they have access to all your medical records to make sure one always was the gender they appear? What would happen to the concept of "race" if people could easily appear dark-skinned, or even blue, green, or other tones seen currently in Second Life. Might some Japanese restaurants offer a bonus for waitresses whom sport cat ears and a tail, or a furry anthro feline with a full coat and muzzle with whiskers?

For now, such questions are of the realm of science-fiction. Unless you're a user of a popular virtual world, in which case such questions are already here.

And you can be "foxy" in more ways than one.

Image Credit: thenet.com, wavenewspapers.com

Bixyl Shuftan