The Reality of Furries

The Reality of Furries

I recently saw a post regarding various fetishes. Among the list was furries. Some people knew that "furry" is actually a fandom, but I thought this was a great opportunity to explain the reality of furries.

The Definition

The core premise of furries is that we like anthropomorphic animals (animals with human characteristics such as wearing clothes, walking on two legs, or talking). A lot of this enjoyment of anthro animals can be traced back to characters from movies or cartoons when furries were young such as Disney movies like Robin Hood or Warner Bros' Looney Tunes. Being a furry is seriously only about this though. Everything else is kind of varying degrees of enjoying anthropomorphic animals.

For a more relatable comparison, think of sports fans. Some fans simply watch games weekly, others tailgate for hours before every game, and others use body paint or elaborate costumes to show their team pride. Furries are similar in that some simply attend fur meets or talk to other furries online, some wear a tail and/or ears to meets, and others dress in full costumes.

The Characters

One of the biggest aspects of the furry fandom are the characters. Furries usually create these characters as representations of themselves, as characters they wish they could be, or as characters used in art. When these characters represent a person, it's often known as a fursona. These characters are the features of stories, art or suits made by artists. The artists are often furries themselves, but not necessarily. Some people create this art as paid work regardless of their own affiliation. The suits worn by some furries is very similar to cosplaying as well. The major difference being that furries usually cosplay as a character they created instead of a character from an anime/manga/etc.

Furries in Public

Most people have probably seen furries in public either on the news, in videos, or in person. The most widely known are probably furry conventions (furcons). There are many furcons across the world throughout the year (roughly 50 give or take). Furries also gather for meet-ups (furmeets) in restaurants, parks, bowling alleys, people's homes, or many other locations. Furries can even be seen in events like parades or other conventions.

The only real purposes of these public gatherings for furries are to meet people, talk with friends, and have fun. As a general rule, furries are more than happy if you go up to them. Feel free to talk to them like anyone else. Just be courteous and ask if you're unsure about something. Many fursuiters may be ok with getting a hug, but it's better to ask to be sure. As long as you're respectful of furries, they'll generally respect you as well (though they may get loud out of excitement or due to the large crowd).

Some furries will even hold or participate in events for charity to help people, communities, areas, or animals.

The Misnomers

I almost didn't include this section, but I thought it was important to address some negative press the fandom has received over the years. People may have heard some things about furries that they think are true for all of them. I'll try to address these as best as I can.

Furries think they're animals.
While furries very often create animal characters to represent themselves or be known as the character to most people, most furries are fully aware that they are human. Furries often pretend to be animals, but only because it's fun to do so. It's also easy to be emotionally expressive (it's pretty easy to know if a dog is excited or sad, so a furry could act the same way to show they're excited to see someone or sad about something that happened). There are some furries who feel they are an animal trapped in a human's body (known as therians). Therians make up a small percentage of the furry fandom.

Furries dress up like animals and have sex.
Partial (usually a head, hands and feet) or full animal suits (called fursuits) aren't uncommon among furries, but not every furry wears a fursuit. In fact, the majority of furries will never own a fursuit. Of those who do own one or more fursuits, only a fraction of those will actually have sex while wearing one. Fursuits are also expensive even if made by yourself, difficult to clean, and easily cause overheating. Because of that, it's rarely ideal to use the suits in sexual acts. Overall, only a small percent of furries will have sex while dressed as an animal.

Furries have sex with animals.
Some people think that since furries love animals so much, they have sex with animals. Or someone may have heard of one furry who had sex with an animal and think it applies to all furries. Bestiality is just as taboo to furries as anyone else. Some furries have even been ostracized from the fandom for such acts. While some furries may participate in this or think it's not bad for others to participate, it is still only condoned by a small percentage of people in the fandom.

Closing Thoughts

Furries are generally just people who love animals and want to have fun. Their methods may not be conventional, but they're usually just trying to enjoy life. After a hard week at work or with issues plaguing someone at home, it's fun to go out and have fun with big fuzzy animal people. Hopefully this sheds some light on the fandom and helps people to be more understanding of furries.

Special thanks:
Antnommer: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antnommer/
The Desert Fox: https://www.flickr.com/photos/68182932@N05/

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