Do you think less of people for wearing real fur?

[Kurska]

Last edited Mon Jul 13, 2015, 12:31 AM - Edit history (1)

Maybe my family is weird, but we really don't like people wearing fur. A person wearing real fur in front of me is an instant way to get me to end the conservation with them and never want to talk to them again. I once broke up with a guy who was short term fling, because I bluntly informed him I wouldn't talk to him anymore if he ever wore fur in front of me again.

Maybe I'm a hypocrite, because I don't have strong feelings about leather. That said, fur mostly comes from non-domesticated animals where they are driven nearly insane by being confined. Plus there is just something visceral about wearing essentially a barely disguised corpse on your body. It is disgusting and I literally can't see the appeal. Fake fur looks great and I think it is cute, but real fur just repulses me.

I'm just curious what y'all think.

If you're interested, a video showing some of the worst parts of the fur industry. It is extremely graphic, fair warning. Animals suffer with untreated infections that sometimes eats to their bones. They receive no veterinary care and are driven insane via their conditions. These are wild animals and do not belong in cages. Imagine where you would be at if you were kept in a closest for 6 months.

15 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	If I knew someone was wearing real fur, I would think less of them.
	12 (80%)
	I don't really care.
	3 (20%)
	I like real fur.
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[uppityperson]

1. I've my mom's 50 yr old fur coat that I wear mid-winter. It has saved me from having to buy a petro

petrochemical coat. It is long and warm, old and better than buying a coat made of oil or being cold.

I'd not buy a new one though as don't like how fur animals are treated.

[Kurska]

3. Thats fair enough, I don't judge you for that.

A 50 year old coat is a lot different than buying new coats to fuel an industry that creates great suffering.

[Warpy]

7. I made my own petrochemical fur coat at the height of the fur coat craze in the 80s

It's realistic enough it gets me dirty looks at the food co-op.

I also inherited a a full mink coat and mink stole from my mother. I have worn the stole indoors from time to time when it's been really cold in here. Otherwise, I think real fur looks best on the original animal.

[BlueJazz]

2. I think of them as encouraging animal abuse.

[Recursion]

4. If the alternative is wearing petroleum-based synthetics...

then I'm not sure I can call fur unethical

[Kurska]

6. Fur industries are more damaging to the environment.

They produce a ton of toxic run off that destroys water sources.

I do strongly believe we have an obligation to be good stewards for our planet. Trapping animals in mental snares and throwing them into tiny steel wired cages and then pumping their toxic shit into our rivers definitely doesn't jive with that.

http://www.infurmation.com/index.php/issues/fur-environment

Fur farming is terrible for the environment, it even uses 3 time more energy to produce a real fur coat than a faux fur coat.

[MADem]

5. The only people I know who wear fur in an urban context with first-world lifestyles

wear what would be called "vintage" fur and do so rarely, mostly as a goof. Grandma Matilda's mink stole, Great Uncle Egbert's college raccoon coat, that kind of thing. Those animals have been dead for a half century or even much longer!

I'm not going to say a word about people who live on remote steppes or mountains and don't have central heating keeping their heads warm in winter with a fur cap, or wearing fur gloves, vests or what-have-you...--I just am not gonna say "Hey, shame on you-- run down to the department store--it's only a thousand miles that-a-way--and buy yourself some Polar Fleece, or something!"

[waddirum]

8. I love fur

but only on a living breathing animal.

[Spider Jerusalem]

9. I don't really have a problem with leather...

because leather comes from animals raised for meat, mostly, anyway. They aren't being slaughtered just for their skins, unlike fur animals. Fur seems immoral because it's wasteful and it's about vanity, not utility.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. I'm okay with fur, with caveats.

I don't like fur farms, and I'm opposed to wearing fur for vanity reasons in places with moderate temperatures. However, in places that are cold, like the arctic, fur is an excellent way to stay warm and is traditional in the cultures of the indigenous people. I have a parka with a fox ruff and otter cuffs that keeps me nice and toasty to -40. My having the parka made provided a livelihood for four small businesses - the trapper, the small trader in Nome who sold us the furs, the Local fabric store that sold us the micro suede and liner for the shell of the coat, and the Native seamstress who sewed it for me. I don't feel guilty when I wear it, I feel warm.

But, as I said, fur farms and mink coats aren't my thing.

[Skittles]

11. I think they are really, really ugly

[LuvNewcastle]

12. I think it's just plain tacky to wear one

here in the Deep South. We have so many options to keep ourselves warm in 30 degree weather. I'm not going to judge people in North Dakota or Alaska who wear fur, though. They have weather up there that I can only imagine. People like to think that morals are universal, but some of them depend upon the conditions under which we live.

[pinboy3niner]

13. I admit I tend to look down on real fur for wearing people

That's just not right!

[pnwmom]

14. How can you tell what's real? I'd be afraid even to buy a fake one, for fear

I could get paint thrown at it!

Fortunately, Seattle doesn't have much fur coat weather.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. Rabbit lined hats and gloves

Quite a few pairs - but they are pelts from rabbits my dad killed . . . No need to waste any part of something you ate.

[bigwillq]

16. I think fur is ugly

but don't think less of someone who chooses to wear it. Folks are free to where what they want.

[Vinca]

17. I hate real fur, but I also realize what a hypocrite I am since

I wear leather shoes and have leather handbags and eat meat.

[gollygee]

18. It seems like I've read that animals are skinned alive in the fur industry.

Horrible. I am disgusted by the whole thing.