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5 Common Misconceptions People Have About Furries

26/3/2016

75 Comments

 
Picture
​When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them that, among other things, I study furries. Usually, their reactions fall into one of three categories:
 a) Positive recognition: “Oh yeah, I know about furries! They’re really cool! I loved The Lion King!” It’s always nice to hear this.

b) Confusion: “Wait… what the heck is a furry?” An understandable response – many people have never heard the term “furry”, and I can’t fault them for it since it’s likely irrelevant to their interests.

c) Negative recognition: “Ugh, furries… Yeah, I’ve heard about those freaks… “ 

This article is targeted toward the last category of responses, as it’s often the case that people who hold these beliefs base them on misconceptions derived from inaccurate media representations of furries. A startling number of people base their entire understanding of the furry fandom on a 7-year old episode of The Tyra Banks Show, a 15-year old article in Vanity Fair, or a 13-year old episode of CSI. And, in some respects, I can’t really blame them: if you don’t personally know a furry, or have any reason to look further into the subject, it’s tempting to believe that any information seems better than no information. On these grounds, my hope is that a lot of well-validated data on furries will overturn a lot of these flimsy, largely unsubstantiated misconceptions.

Let’s start with the basics: What is a furry? A furry is a fan, just like any other fan. There are fans of pretty much anything: sports, music groups, television shows, celebrities, science fiction, model trains... the list goes on. So, what exactly are furries fans of? Anthropomorphic animals – a fancy term meaning “animals with human traits”. Examples of anthropomorphic animals abound in our culture: Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are famous examples of such animals, walking and talking like humans. Other examples range from classic stories (Charlotte’s Web, Redwall, Watership Down) to sports mascots (the Toronto Raptor, Benny the Bull of the Chicago Bulls). So, in the same way science fiction fans like stories and artwork that feature science-fiction themes, furries are people who like stories and artwork that feature anthropomorphic characters.

Despite being as simple as “fans of walking, talking animals”, a number of misconceptions exist about furries.       
 
1.“Furries are people who think they’re animals.”
Popular media often struggles when it comes to defining what furries actually are, because anthropomorphic animals are a somewhat unusual thing to be a fan of. Moreover, when you’ve only got a 2-minute segment in a news program or a 300-word article limit, it can be unappealing to spend half of your time explaining what a word like “anthropomorphic” actually means. Instead, people often opt for a simpler, if inaccurate definition of furries as people who wish they were animals, or who actually think they’re animals.

This misconception is largely based on a conflation of the terms “liking”, “longing for”, and “identifying as”. After all, there can often be a correlation between the two: a person may be a football fan because they, themselves, played football in high school. But it doesn’t take long for the absurdity of this equation to become apparent: are Star Wars fans defined as people who believe they are Jedi? Are Harry Potter fans people who believe they are wizards? To be sure, these people may find it fun to entertain fantasies about being a Jedi or being a wizard, but it’s a far cry from saying that their interest is defined by such fantasies. They are, first and foremost, fans of particular content, and that’s exactly what furries are.

That said, there is a group of people who self-identify with animals – that is, they believe that they possess the mind or spirit of a non-human animal “trapped” in a human body. The term for this group is not “furry”, however: they call themselves “therians”. And while 15% of furries would also consider themselves to be therian, the majority of furries do not, and most therians would not consider themselves to be furries.    

2.“Furries are people who wear costumes / suits.”
One of the most visually distinct elements of the furry fandom is the fursuit: a mascot-style suit which can be worn by a person to make them resemble an anthropomorphic animal character. Most media portrayals of furries feature fursuits because they’re often vibrant, eye-catching, and unusual. They visually encapsulate what many people assume a furry ought to look like, based on the definition.

There’s just one problem: fewer than 20% of furries actually own a fursuit.

Again, it’s illustrative to compare furries to other fan cultures. If I were writing a story on Star Wars fans, the first thing I would do is find a picture of fans dressed in robes wielding plastic lightsabers. If I were doing a piece on football fans, I would find pictures of cheering people who were wearing jerseys and who had painted their faces in their team’s colors. Such images epitomize visual elements of their respective fandoms, but it would be inaccurate to define football fans as “people who wear jerseys and paint their faces”, because this is only one of hundreds of ways a person’s interest in football could manifest itself: some fans collect memorabilia, some buy season tickets and attend every game, some participate in fantasy football leagues, and some casually watch a game every Sunday night with their family.

Similarly, a minority of furries manifest their interest by dressing up as their own anthropomorphic character (known in the fandom as a “fursona”). But most show their interest by viewing, commissioning, or creating furry-themed artwork, stories, music, and games. Chances are you’ve walked right past a furry on the street or sat next to one on the bus and had no idea, because, like most fans, their interests lay primarily in the production or consumption of media content, not in playing dress-up. And, even when it does involve dressing up, it’s usually reserved for conventions or other fan gatherings, not day-to-day life. But a picture of average-looking people holding books or pictures from their favorite artists isn’t as eye-catching as a person dressed up in a six-foot tall fuzzy blue cat suit that cost a thousand dollars.    

3.“Furries are people with a fetish.”
People have an innate desire to understand the world around them. When we see something we don’t understand, we naturally try to explain it. And, when it comes to really unusual human behavior, we often fall back on one of two explanations: “it’s a sex thing” or “they’re crazy”.

Given that most people find it unusual to be interested in anthropomorphic animals, they assume that those who are must have some weird kink or fetish. After all, why would a person go to all the effort of wearing a big fuzzy suit if they weren’t getting some sexual gratification out of it? Or why would an adult possibly like stories about walking, talking animals – something kids generally like – if they weren’t tremendous perverts?

It’s informative to ask similar questions about equally unusual hobbies, like model train collecting. Do people who spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars building and collecting model trains do it because they get some sick, perverse pleasure out of doing so? Is it solely for sexual gratification?

Clearly, the argument is an absurd one. But, to be fair, it’s not completely unfounded. After all, furry pornography does exist. However, it’s important to keep two points in mind: fandom-related pornography is not unique to the furry fandom, nor is it a defining feature of the furry fandom. Let me explain.

People are fans of things, and they like sex. As such, people combine their natural fan interests with their sex drives all the time. If you like cars, then you’ll probably enjoy pictures of beautiful-looking, rare or exotic cars. And what’s better than a picture of an awesome-looking car? An awesome-looking car with an attractive model draped across it! What’s better than a football game? A football game with attractive-looking cheerleaders! What’s better than a video game? A video game featuring attractive-looking characters! In all of these cases, we can acknowledge that fans have a naturally-occurring sex drive without assuming that they have a “car/football/video game” fetish, and the same thing goes with furries. If people are fans of something, there will also likely be artwork / stories that infuse sexuality into that fan content, regardless of what it is.

And while pornography is present in all of the fandoms mentioned above, no one would define these fans on the basis of pornography. Video game fans are not defined as “people who are sexually attracted to video game characters”, football fans are not defined as (but may be) “people sexually attracted to cheerleaders”, and car aficionados are not “people who are sexually attracted to cars”. In the same vein, while furry-themed pornography exists, it is not the case that furries are “people with an animal/fursuit fetish”, especially when the data show that furries report “community” and “belongingness” as the biggest draws of the furry fandom, and when fewer than 5% of furries say that sex/pornography is the biggest draw of the furry fandom – something you would not expect if the furry fandom were a fetish.

4.Furries are delusional / dysfunctional people.
If unusual behavior cannot be written off as “a sex thing”, people may turn to a different argument: “they’re just crazy”. To this end, I’m often asked whether furries are delusional or suffer from some form of psychological dysfunction. Despite the prevalence of this belief, the data suggest otherwise: studies of furries suggest that they are no more likely than the average person to suffer from mood disorders (e.g., depression), anxiety disorders, attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder, to be on psychotropic medication, or to suffer from a physical disability. In fact, evidence suggests that there is only one condition in which the prevalence may be higher in furries than in the general population: Asperger’s, or high-functioning autism. That said, it’s worth noting that an increased prevalence of a relatively rare condition is not the same thing as saying that it’s common in the furry fandom: even the most liberal estimates of prevalence rates of Asperger’s syndrome in the furry fandom suggest that, at most, it’s still less than five percent of furries.

To put it simply: a lot of things make the furry fandom the interesting and unique culture that it is – but psychological dysfunction is not one of them. 

5.Furries bring bullying / ridicule upon themselves.
Those who have heard about furries are likely to have learned about them from relatively negative sources: from media or internet sources that ridicule furries. Furries are often viewed as a punching bag for the internet, for the media, and for other fandoms, a group that can be picked on or trivialized with relatively little consequence – a position that, in previous decades, was held by Star Trek fans and, more recently, has been replaced by bronies (adult, largely-male, fans of My Little Pony).

Much of the stigma directed toward furries is based on the belief that furries bring it on themselves: that they actively and openly flaunt their unusual fan interest or seek to make others feel uncomfortable with it, and receive negative responses from the media and from the internet as such. However, it’s worth noting that studies of furries suggest that, even early on in childhood, furries – before they self-identify as furries or even know what the furry fandom is – experience significantly more bullying, on average, than non-furries do. This is, in part, due to the fact that furries, like other fan groups, are largely “geeks” – including interests in other traditionally “geeky” subjects (fantasy, science-fiction, video games, comic books, science, board games, etc.) They experience significant bullying for having geeky interests, as other geeks often report experiencing.

And, like other geek subcultures, furries find validation of their interests and emotional and social support through communities of like-minded others. Most furries report that finding the fandom was a life-changing experience, with some claiming that the community even saved their lives. It’s worth noting one important distinction for furries – unlike other geek communities, the furry fandom remains largely stigmatized. Other traditionally stigmatized “geek” communities have become less stigmatized and more accepted socially in recent years: the recent popularity of the Star Wars, Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings films have made it far more acceptable to be a science-fiction or fantasy fan, and the growing popularity of video games have removed the stigma of the “gamer” identity. But compared to other geek fandoms (e.g., anime fans, fantasy sport fans), furries still say that they fear being “outed” as a furry to their friends, family, and co-workers, and still expect significant social backlash if people discovered that they were a furry. In fact, far from being flamboyantly, in-your-face furry, most furries keep their furry interests a secret for years. It’s this experience of shared stigmatization that draws furries to one another and makes the furry fandom such a tight-knit and interconnected community.      

Conclusion
Hopefully this article has helped to dispel some of the misconceptions you may have held about the furry fandom. Of course, it’s unlikely that a single article will undo years of bad press for the furry fandom – millions of people will continue to mistakenly assume that furries are people who wear fursuits, think they’re animals, or have a weird fetish, and it’s unlikely that the fear of stigma felt by many furries will disappear anytime soon. Still, if this article helps people to recognize these misconceptions when they see them, and cause people to speak up when a friend or relative makes an inaccurate statement about what furries are, it would go a long way toward helping furries dispel the negativity surrounding their fandom. And, in the end, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re a geek, whether you happen to like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars, or board games or computer games. And, as geeks, we’re in this together; we know what it’s like to be picked on for loving the thing we love. There are enough people out there picking on us and propagating misconceptions about who we are. Let’s not help them by throwing our own under the bus.  
 
About the author: Dr. Courtney “Nuka” Plante earned his PhD in social psychology from the University of Waterloo in 2014 and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Iowa State University where he studies the effects of fantasy activities on real-world thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. He is the co-founder of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project – a team of social scientists who have been studying the furry fandom for the past 6 years. He is also a furry.




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75 Comments
Dustinopolis
26/3/2016 02:11:25 pm

I think I have been a furry. It started as a mascot job... it turned into wrestling over break time, and the privilege of wearing a suit that had a fan that still worked. Before long, I was looking for opportunities to wear the costume outside of work... oh the memories

Reply
Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
30/3/2016 09:18:02 am

*laughs* Well, the label of furry is somewhat self-applied, so it's up to you. Though, if it was mostly enjoying wearing the mascot suit, that may not necessarily have been a "furry thing" - costuming / suiting can be its own interest without necessitating an interest in anthropomorphic animals :) However, if you also like stories / writing / other content that involves anthropomorphic animals, then yeah, you may well have had furry interests :)

Reply
Josef schultz
31/3/2016 10:00:00 am

Mr nuka omg hi uh I met you at furry fiesta 2015 that's so awesome I love your work and your panel brought a lot of aspects to life concerning furries and it's awesome to see an article by you your amazing absolutely awesome

Zidders Roofurry
31/3/2016 02:11:36 pm

Nuka! Great article. :)

CODY CHILDERS
2/12/2020 12:12:58 am

Just figured Id let you know I am using some of your articles in my essay. I am a college student attending a city college in an honors English class and I thought id let you know. You seem to be one of the few reputable sources when it comes to furries, very hard to find good sources but im using two of your articles so thank you for being one of the few sources that addresses these issues in an academic way.

Anti Anon
31/7/2018 09:07:58 pm

Are you damn kidding me? This people lure in kids and make them get enslaved to sexual addiction like what happen to me. All furries and bronies can drop of a fucking bridge.

Reply
VP Quinn
1/8/2018 10:57:26 am

That is simply untrue.

Anti Anon
1/8/2018 07:41:14 pm

@VP Quinn Yes it's very much true. I got exposed to furry porn when I was about 14. Fucking 14 years old! Want to know what's also true? Pretty much all you furries make porn and fap to it. Also, you people porn of cartoon characters, those shows are for kids damn it! You ruined a lot of childhoods because of that kind of shit!

VP Quinn
2/8/2018 09:39:53 am

Listen, no one is defending 14 year olds looking at any kind of porn. But in the modern age, 14 year olds look at porn. All kinds, and that's not helpful.

But your generalizations and accusations are not helpful for ongoing dialogue.

I'm just going to say that I want you to tone it down if you want to post here.

You can disagree, and have opinions, but keep it civil.

????unknown???? link
19/9/2018 09:30:23 pm

thats a bad thing too say anti..........not all furrys are bad :(

Zidders Roofurry
23/10/2018 11:11:43 am

While I sympathize with your experience that doesn't make it OK to paint the entire fandom with a broad brush. The fact is you're coming from a place of extreme bias. It's natural to resent people who have hurt you but the fact is the term for what you're doing is called 'bigotry'. It's not different from a white guy being mugged by a black guy and claiming all black people are criminals because one of them happened to be one.

Darkfox
21/11/2018 01:29:01 pm

Okay Anti Anon, one Why the hell were you watching porn at 14.
And two you said "This people" when you should of said:
this person.

Jay_The_Furry
7/2/2020 09:54:23 am

that is LIES!!

Jay_The_Furry
7/2/2020 09:58:54 am

The porn part is lies, non furries make those

Name link
6/1/2021 02:37:44 pm

Not all furries are like that, only SOME of us are, i'm not, nor are many of my friends who are also furries, so what your saying isn't 100% true

ANJANETTE Jones link
9/2/2021 09:06:42 am

the who disagree in the furry thing are just stubborn

ZombieOofyness
29/6/2021 04:21:42 am

NOT TRUE!!! WHY U FURRY HATE!!! NO MORE FURRY HATE!!! MOST, MEANING LIKE 99.9999999999999% OF FURRIES ARE NOT THAT KIND, FURRIES ARE GOOD!!! FURRY HATE MUST BE STOPPED!!!

ZombieOofyness
29/6/2021 04:20:31 pm

This misconception brings an ocean of rage up from inside me. Most, almost all, furries aren't a fetish, and certainly don't make PORN. And if you were exposed to porn you would have had to been looking for it.

Whenilo
2/9/2021 05:05:58 pm

Anti Anon, I myself was introduced to porn at 5 years old and I hate everyone who makes pornography, or the abuse of bodies, however, being a furry was a comfort zone for me. With lots of people who are accepting and care for one another this helped me to control my trauma. Just because you have seen people who claim to be furries and have fucked doesn’t change the rest of the community. And you know what? It’s worse knowing that people think that’s all we are, sick, porn, maniacs who take advantage of children to fuck them. This isn’t accurate. I’ve been told my life & opinions don’t matter because of me being a furry. I have also been asked if I fuck dogs or kids! HELL NO. And what’s even worse is that their are several children at age 7-11 who claim to be furries- hate, and bullying because of something they like can cause ptsd and traumas. Just because you have a trauma doesn’t mean you can cause others to hate themselves because of something that happen to you. It’s just straight out selfish. I do feel sympathetic for you and I get why you hate us but its something you need to get over.
Sorry for being a Karen but please reconsider your opinion on furries. Thank you.

courtney
26/12/2022 02:01:37 pm

you are shit i am an asexsual furry so yea shut up

Anon
30/3/2016 07:42:41 am

"a 9-year old article in Vanity Fair,"

You should probably correct that - the infamous "Pleasures of the Fur" article in Vanity Fair was published in March 2001, so it's 15 years old now.

Reply
Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
30/3/2016 09:09:47 am

I was going by this link right here (http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2001/03/furries200103), where, at the top, it says "October 3, 2007". However, upon further research, it appears you were correct! My mistake, although, if nothing else, it only serves to enhance my point (that people are basing their misunderstandings on old, non-representative representations!)

Thanks for pointing that out! :)

Reply
Jay_The_Furry
7/2/2020 09:57:08 am

When you say "The Pleasures Of The Fur" it sounds like porn, we don't do that.

Reply
mwalimu
30/3/2016 08:57:10 am

There's one other misconception I would have expected to see addressed, which is "All furries are gay." It's not accurate, since there are many straight furries, but there is some truth in it, as the proportion of LGBT furries is higher than the general population. You'd have the numbers since you're on the IARP team.

Reply
Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
30/3/2016 09:15:09 am

You're correct - this is another misconception that many people (furry and non-furry) have about the fandom. And, as you said, the our data show that while the prevalence of homosexuality is 6-7 times higher in the furry fandom than in the general population, 25-35% of furries identify is exclusively or predominantly heterosexual.

(Question #20: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/past-results/anthrocon-2012-iarp-2-year-summary )

This misconception (as well as many others) were not included simply because of length considerations. I've written an entire book chapter dispelling stereotypes about the furry fandom (see "Furries Among Us" by Thurston Howl Publications, http://www.amazon.com/Furries-Among-Us-Prominent-Members/dp/0990890260), but a book chapter is a bit unwieldy for a "quick reading" piece online :)

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The Angry Goblin link
30/3/2016 08:16:45 pm

What an incredible article! I myself did not know I was a 'furry' for many years. I was always drawing and writing stories with animals. I read many stories with animals as lead characters, and I enjoyed animal-related films. When I attended community college, an English professor liked my writing so much that she encouraged me to take creative writing as one of my electives. The professor for this course was so fascinated by my talking dogs story that she urged me to start sending these 'ramblings' to publications. Since 1999-2000, I can proudly say I am a 'furry' author and 'furry' artist. As I told a graduate school mentor, I didn't find this fandom (didn't know it existed before late '90s), this fandom found me. And I am forever grateful and in its debt.

Reply
Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
31/3/2016 08:15:19 am

That's great! And, interestingly enough, your experience is actually reflective of what a LOT of furries say they experience (though, perhaps not quite on the same scale that you've experienced!) On average, furries report an interest in furry-themed content about 1-2 years before they even know that the furry fandom is a thing that exists. In other words, many furries like art / stories that feature anthropomorphic animals, but have no term to describe their interests and, as a result, feel a bit weird for it (e.g., "am I the only one who's interested in this stuff?") It's one of the reasons why discovering the fandom is often such an exciting experience for furries - to discover both a community of like-minded others who share their interests, but also feeling a sense of validation, that they're not the only one :)

Reply
Rod O'Riley link
30/3/2016 09:10:14 pm

Dr. Courtney:

My name is Rod O'Riley, and I helped to set up the very first furry fandom con-parties as well as the first furry-themed fan convention, ConFurence. I wanted to give you kudos on your well thought-out article! Some specific responses...

For one thing, I still (old dude that I am) draw a distinction between "furries" (the object) and "furry fans" (the aficionados). I think the way the terms have become interchangeable mostly reflects the same linguistic laziness that turned "anthropomorphic characters" into "furries" in the first place -- it's simply less syllables.

But anyway...

1) I have joked for years that furry fans aren't people who want to be animals, they're people who want to be cartoon characters! Besides blowing people's minds a bit, it also helps to get them thinking about what's really going on here. To be fair though, there IS a middle-ground between therians and more casual furry fans: Those of us for whom our "fursonas" reflect a spiritual belief in the concept of totems or animal spirit-guides. They give us something outside of our evolved primate-selves to aspire to and respect in nature. But to say we "are" those animals would not be accurate.

2) I have also joked for years that to say furry fandom is "about" fur-suits is like saying that Star Trek fandom is "about" wearing pointy ears or bumpy foreheads. It is ridiculous to define any fandom by its cos-play, however cool said cos-play may be. I've wondered: Given how art-oriented furry fandom is (it evolved out of comic book and animation fandom, after all), why are the fur-suits so noted and the art so often forgotten? Besides the media myopia you mentioned, it may have to do with the way that the fur-suiters come dancing out to meet the cameras while the artists dive under their tables and hide. But then, in my experience, that's what artists tend to do anyway...

3) In my experience, much of the "sexual" miss-interpretation of furry fandom has to do with the difficulty in defining the term "have an interest in". We might even go so far as to say "furry fans find anthropomorphic characters to be attractive", but then we are confronted by the fact that "attractive" is such a big, broad, impossible-to-quantify word.

4) I have heard arguments (sometimes in psychological circles) that furry fandom reflects "an inability to deal with real-world human beings". I will flat-out admit that at my age I do consider many of my fellow human beings and their foibles to be downright boring. But I don't consider this a mental condition. I consider it being old and cranky.

5) The idea of furry fans "flaunting their weirdness" always strikes me as so very odd when "freaking the mundanes" has ALWAYS been a part of EVERY fandom I have been involved in -- from a group of hobbits invading a McDonalds to ballroom dancing in the back of a pickup truck on the freeway to dressing up in costume while sleeping overnight in a parking lot to get in to the first screening of Return of the Jedi, all of which I had done before ever discovering furry fandom. Again, it's not mental illness to note that ordinary people are boring. They pride themselves on it!

Again, thank you for your thoughtful article.

Reply
Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
31/3/2016 08:27:07 am

Wow! Thank you very much for the kind comments, Rod! They mean a lot coming from one who's played such a formative role in shaping what the fandom is today!

I admit, I'd never heard the distinction between "furries" and "furry fans" before, though it's one that makes sense! Although, I suppose it could be argued that language is dynamic and, as it changes, we have to keep up (I feel the same sense of reluctance to accept changes to language as the internet takes its toll on English =P)

You make an EXCELLENT point about why fursuiters seem to be the most visually represented part of the fandom, one I hadn't considered before. But that's exactly right - fursuiters often seem to seek out attention (it's hard to imagine putting on a fursuit and trying to avoid having people look at you). Hmm, now it's making me want to analyze some of our older data and see if there are personality differences between suiters, non-suiters, and artists (e.g., extroversion). But that makes perfect sense!

I'd push back against the argument that furries are people who have an inability to deal with real-world human beings. It could be argued that some furries feel that animals are easier to get along with, or find animals to be more interesting than humans; however, I don't think this is would necessarily be a defining trait of what makes a furry a furry. That said, it is ultimately an empirical question, and I may just have to ask something to that effect in an upcoming study!

I also liked your last point about "freaking the mundanes", and think you're right. People laugh at YouTube videos of "a bunch of ________ showed up at a McDonalds and here's what happened", and I think the same tendency to do something a bit out of the ordinary to break up mundane, everyday life is certainly not unique to furries. But it's always interested me how a proud Star Wars fan or a Lord of the Rings fan who's enthusiastic about their interest is seen as a loyal, passionate, die-hard fan, whereas a furry who shows that same level of enthusiasm may be seen as "obsessive" or "shoving it in your face". And I think what distinguishes one reaction from the other is how socially accepted the fandom is: if the public likes / accepts the fandom (e.g., football), then it's okay to publicly display your interest in it. If it's stigmatized, then you're "obsessed". And this certainly isn't novel to furries (fan researchers have suggested something similar since Henry Jenkins started writing about the Star Trek fandom decades ago).

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Zidders Roofurry
31/3/2016 02:15:31 pm

Rod, thank you SO freaking much for helping get this fandom going. It's brought me a ton of happiness and joy and love. I'm so very, very grateful to folks like you who were there at the start. I wish you tons of happiness, joy, and love.
-Zid

Reply
Rod O'Riley link
31/3/2016 11:22:37 pm

I am blushing as I say: You're welcome. And thank you very much for coming along for the ride. It would have been terribly lonely if people like you had not!

Zidders Roofurry
2/4/2016 06:57:56 pm

^_^ <3

Fred Patten
31/3/2016 05:06:24 am

I was a science-fiction fan since 1950, when I was 9 years old. I can say from personal experience that most people during the 1950s thought that all s-f fans believed that Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were real people, or that if you read Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings, you believed that elves and dragons were real, or that The Lord of the Rings was a flying-saucer book. The 1950s were also a period when most teachers and similar authority figures insisted that novels about space travel were pure fantasy and that scientific traveling to the Moon was impossible.

So when furry fandom developed in the 1980s, and I saw it first ignored by the public, then dismissed as "All furry fans are sex freaks," or "All furry fans believe they're really animals trapped in human bodies." my reaction was, "I've heard that before. Don't worry; that belief will go away after two or three decades."

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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
31/3/2016 08:29:55 am

Hi Fred! It's great to get the perspective of someone who's both been involved in multiple fandoms and who's been around long enough to recognize just how history repeats itself. And I'd definitely agree with you. Even compared to a decade ago, the media's treatment of furries seems to have evolved from "wow, look at these freaks" to a more sympathetic "everyone says these people are freaks, and they are, but it's okay to be a freak". I suspect, a decade from now, furries will go the way of Trekkers and become a bit more socially acceptable.

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Axelthefox
2/10/2017 01:45:46 pm

I can attest to that. I think it's because history repeats itself. I remember growing up during the 80's that people thought Dungeons and dragons was dangerous and some people actually believed that those who played those games believed they were elves or whatever,and believed in places that don't exist. So when people are saying that furries want to be animals,i'm like where have i heard that before. I believe the belief will go away in a few decades or so.

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House of Chimeras link
31/3/2016 05:33:03 am

This is very nice. I've been a member of the therian community for over a decade and a member of the furry fandom for almost as long. I've long become deeply interested in collecting and cataloging as many academic articles and studies looking into or mentioning the otherkin communities (which therian is one of those communities) and to a lesser extent studies into the furry fandom. One thing I always find continuing disheartening is that articles on the furry fandom still often lump therians as a subset of the furry fandom. Its actually far more like a very strong overlap between an identity group and a fandom. I can't fault any researchers for it, because there being such an interesting overlap that has such a long history together plus there has only recently really been any academic research really looking into otherkin, but I still find it disingenuous to both the furry fandom and the otherkin communities to hand wave away their rather fascinating (to me anyway) overlap and yet while still have rather different communities.

I am so excited to see more and more accurate information coming out about the furry fandom (and the otherkin communities), and I'm excited to see what more research comes out next.

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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
31/3/2016 08:36:42 am

I definitely agree with your point regarding furry / therian overlap, and have tried my best, in recent writings, to avoid referring to therians as a "subset" of the furry fandom, which, as you've pointed out, is factually incorrect. There IS an overlap between the two, as about 15% of furries self-identify as therians, but the fact that there are definitely therians who do not consider themselves furries illustrates clearly that therianthropy is not simply a subset of the furry fandom.

You're also correct that there's been very little systematic research of the therian fandom outside descriptive / qualitative / anthropology-style research (a point made quite clear to me yesterday as I was trying to find academic references about therians for a journal article I'm writing up). That said, one of the members of the furry research team, Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, has been studying therians for the past few years, and is dead set on increasing the amount of good academic research being conducted on the therian community :) If you think you'd be able to help in some way, by all means, get in touch with her (you can find her contact information on our research website (https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/researcher-profiles)

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Eric
31/3/2016 02:21:42 pm

I'm no a furry but I appreciate what they do in all and the negatives I've seen and heard they need to walk a mile in their shoes or paws before they judge them enough said if I had the money I'll become a member of the furry community :)

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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
31/3/2016 04:41:43 pm

Thanks for the support for the furry fandom! Though there's not really any cost associated with being a furry, just like you don't have to pay any money to be a fan of Harry Potter, Star Wars, or football! :)

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ZombieOofyness
30/6/2021 04:41:17 am

I'm currently making a partial fursuit out of cardboard I find around the house that my mum and dad haven't thrown away and I'm going to buy faux fur to put on top and make the gloves! Plus you don't need to pay anything to be a furry, and also not all furrys wear fursuits.

Drew
31/3/2016 04:45:55 pm

Hey, ya don't need money to be a part of it. Just be a fan. :)

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Blue Ghost
31/3/2016 04:43:24 pm

I actually remember quite distinctly being in trouble in school for not doing an assignment "correctly". It was maybe Kindergarten or first grade, and we were supposed to draw a portrait of our family, and I drew myself as a tiger. I had trouble articulating as a child that I just preferred to depict myself as a strong, powerful animal than as the tiny, weak little girl that I was. I was small, I was bullied frequently, and I always thought "they wouldn't pick on me if I cold turn into a tiger and eat them."
To me that was the beginnings of my entrance into the fandom, and my fascination with the concept. It's pure escapism for me, and I can say that my psychiatrist actually endorsed my indulgence in the fantasy, especially since the fandom has provided me with such caring and supportive friends. Like, I'm honestly crying just a little right now thinking about how some folks have stayed up with me late into the night just to assure that I would be alright by morning.
Yeah, that line about how the fandom has saved live, I know with 100% certainty that I would be dead if not for some of the wonderful people I have found because of this fandom.

Anyways, fantastic article. It's always good to see more accurate information being written. The only way to combat the ignorance is with knowledge.

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Fred Patten
2/4/2016 05:21:54 am

When I was about 5 years old, my favorite comic-book character who I wanted to grow up to be just like wasn’t a costumed superhero. It was Amster the Hamster, in DC’s funny-animal comics (written & drawn by Sheldon Mayer); not because he was a funny animal, but because he was shorter than all the adults around him (Dizzy Dog, Doodles Duck, I think some funny-animal policemen), and he was a fast-talking con artist who could convince ANYBODY of ANYTHING! At 5 years old, surrounded by tall adults and older children, I considered that a more desirable talent to have than any super-powers.

I’m not sure that, at 5 years old, I really understood the difference between funny animals and humans in comic-book characters, so identifying with a funny animal rather than a human costumed character probably wasn’t really significant.

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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
12/4/2016 08:39:16 am

I'm glad to hear that the fandom's been such a positive force for you!

I think you bring up an interesting point about furry as a way of representing oneself as a "better, bigger, stronger, more awesome" version of their "real" selves. I think this is absolutely true, and our data suggest that, indeed, for many furries, their fursonas represent idealized versions of who they are. And while people may think it silly, most people do something similar when it comes to their Facebook pages, dating website profiles, and video game characters. We're all generally motivated to see ourselves in an ideal fashion - some folks choose to do so through anthropomorphic animal representations (e.g., strong like a tiger).

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Drew
31/3/2016 04:45:03 pm

I saw this earlier today, and waited until I got home to respond. And I usually don't post comments on things. But given the rather.... negative press 'furry' has gotten over the years, this is very refreshing, articulate and thought-out.

It's clear you took the time to do research and study and actually listen to what other furs had to say, versus the typical over-generalization that we tend to get, and are looking at it, it feels, without bias or preconceived notions. It's a rarity.

I agree have to agree with how being a 'furry' is just like being a fan of football, or Star Trek, or Harry Potter, or Marvel comics. It is a part of who one is, but not -all- of who one is. But, like you also discussed, it's very difficult for the non-fan to understand that... so that may be a good way to cross the bridge, if it happens to come up. On that note, however, because of the stigma attached with it, there's very few people I actually tell unless I trust them, or that just happened to already know. No one would look at you and sneer disparagingly going, "Oh there goes that TREKKIE". Not quite the same in the fur side of it.

About the furthest I go, and this is why people just - don't know, is wearing a tail at the local RenFaire or on Halloween. When it's expected. My friends that do know don't -care- and if anything tease me in good ways about it, and love the artwork that I do (I'm actually one of the firs- furry artists to have gotten on the first fur art website, back in '93/'94... there was only one website and 3-4 dozen artists back then).

So, long story short, I guess, a little understanding goes a long way. And this article hopefully can help with that.

*Oh, and ya can't knock the fursuits. They are custom-made works of art, by and large. And let's be honest, we've all seen people dressed crazier at foodball games....*



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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
12/4/2016 08:45:04 am

*laughs* I certainly hope it comes off like I've done the research and gotten the facts - I've been studying the psychology of the furry fandom for 6-7 years by this point! :)

I should point out that while for many furries it is essentially a fandom, there are those for whom it may be better described as a "lifestyle" (though, I wouldn't say that's representative of the average furry). In the same way that there are some who live, eat, and breathe Star Wars, there are absolutely some furries out there who consider it trivializing to say what they do is "just a fandom". But, again, they're unlikely to be the majority of furs. And while I agree with you that people say "ugh, furries" with more condescension than they would say "ugh, Trekkies", that might not have been true, say, twenty years ago, when Trekkies were the "punching bag" of geek culture.

Thanks for your insightful comment - I always love hearing from folks who can speak about the fandom with a longer (time-wise) perspective (and it astounds me how many furries go around without an understanding of the history of their fandom, let alone an appreciation for the fact that it existed for decades longer than the two or three years they've known it!)

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Demona
31/3/2016 05:35:40 pm

I think the furries are adorable. I've always wanted a furry costume, but I have no clue where to get one, nor do I have the skill to make one. :(

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Drew
31/3/2016 06:37:00 pm

Generally speaking, they do cost a bit to do, because most are fitted to the person that wears them and the artists tend to take time to do it, because they tend to be personal. If you've got cash and patience, there are artists out there. Some I could recommend. If you have the time and desire to do it yourself, there's all kinds of websites on how to. But... it's not a quick thing, lol

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Demona
31/3/2016 06:46:32 pm

Thank you. :) I figured they were a bit on the expensive side, they look expensive, but very fun overall. I just can't get over the cuteness of it all.

I might have to look up the DIY sites, or if you know of any, can you direct me to them? :)

Fred Patten
2/4/2016 05:57:43 am

Many furry conventions have panels and workshops on how to make your own fursuit. Check the online programs of major furry conventions like Further Confusion in San Jose, Biggest Little Fur Con in Reno, Furnal Equinox in Toronto, Furry Fiesta in Dallas, Anthrocon in Pittsburgh, Megaplex in Orlando, Rocky Mountain Fur Con in Denver, Midwest FurFest in Chicago, and over a dozen others around Canada and the U.S. Many furry conventions have a fursuit-guest-of-honor who often makes fursuits by commission.

Some fursuit-specialty general websites are:

http://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?topic=9619.0

http://www.thetoptens.com/fursuit-makers/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QKbXFK5FMqDdH75VASbJNFw64OT4sr72xGjUFc55ClI/edit?pref=2&pli=1

and specific websites are:

http://www.clockworkcreature.com/

http://www.fursuiting.com/

http://www.kilcodocostumes.com/

http://fursuit.tanidareal.com/

Note that besides being very expensive, making a good fursuit is such a time-consuming process that many sites frequently announce that they are all booked up for the present and are not taking any new commissions until further notice.

Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
12/4/2016 08:49:27 am

Like Drew & Fred have said, fursuits, while adorable, also generally represent a large investment of time and/or money! It's one of the reasons furries generally bristle when they see the fandom portrayed on tv shows with tacky, painfully-bad "costumes" that look like something bought off the discount rack at a Halloween costume store. They're generally one-of-a-kind (of your unique fursona), and involve all sorts of measurement and adjustments for proper fitting. Some of the more advanced ones include cooling systems, glowing eyes, speaker systems, stilts, and a whole whack of other technology!

There are all sorts of fursuit builders out there who would love the opportunity to create a suit for you, ranging from full-time, professional studios to small, just-starting-out builders. Who you go with is ultimately a product of your budget, location, and preferred style :) And, as was also suggested below, there are all sorts of tutorials to help you if you decide to take on the challenge of building a suit yourself!

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ZombieOofyness
30/6/2021 04:46:01 am

Fursuits are expensive, but you can find them just by looking up fursuits online and buy one from one of the websites that come up (some of that sentence I just didn't know how to word).

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Joejoejoe Shabadoo
6/4/2016 03:03:28 pm

Yeah no...My "Misconceptions" of furries is derived from the multiple furry communities on the internet, trying to "Inject" their "Culture" into other, more broad aspects of social media (Whether it's wanted or not) and from what I've seen, yeah there's a massive sexual part to it. Yes furries want to dress up in fursuits and fuck eachother. I've also had the displeasure of interacting with these ilk in person at various conventions (The Fur-Babies were the cringiest). So yeah, no...Maybe there's a few folks that just get a chuckle out of dressing in mascot costumes, but the vast majority of furries I've interacted with are just deviant fuck-ups.

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VP Quinn link
7/4/2016 08:43:07 am

So I have thought a long time about how best to respond since I saw this comment yesterday, so I am sorry that I didn't do it earlier.

Let me say that unequivocally, you are wrong and full of human excrement, both idiomatically in reference to your opinion as based on the hateful statements contained above, as a human being.

I debated just deleting this post and blocking you from the site, or marking this as spam and quietly moving along. But I thought that that wasn't quite adequate.

I want to encourage people on this site to express a full range of opinions, even unpopular ones. I am very open to everyone getting into passionate and even heated debates. However, I demand that is be handled compassionately and respectfully. You did not achieve even that low bar.

Due to this, any further comments in this manner will be deleted, and you will be blocked. This is your only warning.

Thanks for your time.

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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
12/4/2016 09:12:03 am

Your comment raises some interesting points, and I'll operate on the assumption that the thoughts / feelings expressed in it are genuine, and not an attempt to troll :)

First off, I'll point out that the plural of anecdote is not "data." The points I've raised in the above article are based on data collected from thousands of furries - more than 20,000 from 70+ countries over the past 6 years. In other words, it's the difference between "here's an aggregate estimate based on statistical principles and sound sampling practices" and "here's what I saw this one time". I don't deny the experience(s) you've had with furries, and I can imagine how, if they represent your only encounters with the fandom, they would lead you to the conclusion that you have. If my only exposure to the anime fandom were through a tentacle porn video I saw online, I would probably similarly conclude that anime fans were people who had weird tentacle fetishes.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "inject" their "culture" into other aspects of furry media. If you're saying that furries have an online presence, you're absolutely right - more than 80% of furries primarily interact with other furries online, in part because furries are relatively rare in the population: one estimate suggesting it's around 1 in 5,000 people. And, given that most furries don't openly advertise that they're furries for fear of public ridicule, it's unlikely that furries will just bump into one another on the street. So they rely heavily on the internet and social media for interaction. And while you may dislike the content of the fandom, I can assure you that there is no concerted effort among furries to "inject" themselves into any particular social media platform - they're not invading or trying to take over anything.

I would absolutely agree that there is sex in the furry fandom - as there is sex in nearly any fan group that involves a large number of adolescent / young adult (predominantly male) groups: video games, anime, sports, cars, etc... I don't think I denied anywhere in the article that sex and pornography existed in the fandom. What I argued was that, like with other fandoms, they are not defining features of the fandom: furries aren't defined AS people who have a sexual interest in this stuff (there are plenty of non-furries who are aroused by pictures of attractive people with ears and a tail - see the Playboy bunnies or anime's catgirls for just two examples). Sure, from what you've seen, you may come to this conclusion - but again, the plural of anecdote is not data. Your exposure to furry-themed sexual content does not mean that the fandom is therefore, by definition, only about sex.

Which leads me to wonder how you can so confidently claim that "yes, furries want to dress up in fursuits and fuck each other". Because, as a fursuiter myself, I can assure you that a) my suit lacks the strategically placed holes that would make such an activity possible, b) I, like most people, do not find the idea of dehydrating, overheating, lacking dexterity, lacking peripheral vision, and generally being unable to feel most anything through a few inches of fur to be particularly conducive to a sexual state of mind, and c) even were this the case, I, like many fursuiters, am not a highly-trained athlete, and cannot imagine how difficult it must be to engage in such an act. Granted, I am but one fursuiter. But I can also point out that 80% of furries do NOT own a fursuit, so even in that regard, your statement is also incorrect - it's a conclusion based on exposure to a limited amount of data, and probably based on more than just a few strong preconceived notions. To be sure - there ARE people who have sex in fursuits. I imagine it wouldn't take more than a quick Google search to find videos of it. But to conflate the existence of this with the definition of what motivates ALL furries is fallacious and, frankly, absurd (and makes about as much sense as my saying that my ability to find a tentacle porn video means that all anime fans are really just people who fantasize about sex with alien tentacles).

I'm sorry to hear that your own experience with furries has been such a negative one, and I can certainly understand how it would color your perspective of them, as a group. But I would encourage you, as a (hopefully) rational person, to put the preponderance of the data (and I encourage you to see it for yourself: https://sites.google.com/site/anthropomorphicresearch/) before your own limited experience when it comes to forming your opinion of the group. I like to hope that you, and indeed, most people - are rational enough to know that there exists knowledge in the world beyond what they have personally experienced.

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Setsuna
10/4/2016 07:11:38 pm

One thing I would like to touch on, since I'm unsure if it has been yet, is that I disagree with (and feel exlcuded by) the idea that can be misconstrued from this article that furries are simply and only fans of anthropomorphic animals. This is indeed not the case, furries range a broad spectrum of animal related interests that defines one as a furry. In fact I know several whom aren't interested in the anthropomorphic aspect at all, and even more that prefer the feral aspect (no human-like qualities). There are also some that aren't quite into the art but consider themselves furries simply because they are animal lovers.

I myself identify as a furry predominantly and a therian secondly, and on that note I would also like it remembered that yes while many therians don't identify as furries this was not always the case. They used to be just one of the many different forms of being a furry but broke off and isolated themselves when they felt being associated with the Fandom was demeaning what they truly felt/believed, and with the flak they got from general society in the misconstrued associations. "Oh, you're just one of those furry freaks, stop living in your imaginary world" and the like we're some of the most common from non-furries, and "dude, that's pretty far stretched, you really believe that? That's wierd" and more not-so-easy to take comments were made even from the Fandom itself, which drove them to disassociate themselves from the Fandom and to a greater extent become severely offended when being associated with furries at all. Those were sad years indeed.

This is a good article and I'm glad you are doing your part in helping dispel the stigma, but don't forget us along the way.

Sadly the one definition of furries and who we are that I felt best fit, and included everybody, has long disappeared from the internet. It was on a convention's website and it was a paragraph or two that was removed months later as they prepared the site for the next con. I wish i had saved it or could remember most of it, for I would be distributing it, but sadly I cannot do it justice with what little I remember of it.

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Dr. Courtney "Nuka" Plante link
12/4/2016 09:25:10 am

Fantastic comment, Setsuna!

You make an excellent point, and speak to several oversights on my part. I spoke imprecisely during the article in defining the interest of furries as anthropomorphism of animals. In fact, in our academic papers on the subject, we often use both the terms "anthropomorphism" and "zoomorphism" to refer both to an interest in anthropomorphizing animals, but also to an interest in the more "feral" side of the interest as well - whether it involves conceptualizing humans as animals, or simply appreciating animals as, well, themselves.

I do point out that there are a large number of ways that an interest in furry manifests itself, and the data do suggest that, among these ways, an interest in furry stories and artwork is the most popular. That isn't to say, as you've correctly pointed out, that there aren't other ways as well, and that those ways aren't perfectly valid ways to express one's interest in the subject! There's no "one" or "right" way to be a furry, and we make a point, in our research, of saying that furry is a label people apply to themselves. There's no central furry organization that decides whether or not a person is a furry based on a set of qualifications, so, yes, absolutely, however a person's interest in animals - anthropomorphic or zoomorphic manifests itself, they can absolutely be considered a furry if they want (and, similarly, a person with a strong interest in furry content may nevertheless choose to eschew or not apply the label of furry to themselves).

It becomes difficult to try and speak about the differences / similarities between furries and therians, in part because there is similarly no one singular definition of what constitutes a therian. Were I to say "therians are an offshoot / subset of the furry fandom", there would be a great many therians who would be offended by this statement, and who could point to thousands of years of spiritual beliefs and who would suggest that, if anything, furry "trivializes" their deeply-held beliefs. Conversely, as you've suggested, if I were to say that furries and therians are distinct and different groups, it would ignore the fact that more than 10% of furries self-identify as therian as well.

So I absolutely understand your point, and didn't intend to "forget anyone along the way" or make therians feel left out. Indeed, we've been studying therians alongside furries for the past few years as well, noting both what makes them distinct, but also what makes them comparable to furries. However, it's one of those situations where it seems impossible to precisely define the relationship between furries and therians in a way that everyone can agree with and, as such, we tend to air on the side of caution and say the two are "related, but distinct".

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Zidders Roofurry
13/4/2016 12:52:09 am

What convention was it? You might find it via the internet wayback machine.

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Joshua
15/5/2016 03:40:54 pm

Thanks a ton for creating this article... I'm a furry, a gay one, and it saddens so much how many people practically equate us to people who practice, or fantasize about bestiality, and so-on. :( We really ARE just fans! We're people, and people have interests, desires, etc.

Anyway, thank you for shedding light on something many people thoughtlessly mock...

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✮Maow✮ link
17/6/2016 10:01:13 pm

One of these days, articles on furries won’t have to be on what furries are not and what they don’t do, but on what they are and what they do.

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ocelot
6/7/2016 02:18:50 am

Okay

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ocelot
25/1/2017 01:57:35 am

furries suck

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VP Quinn link
25/1/2017 11:01:02 am

Thanks for taking time for your thought provoking and insightful response.

It is quite an avant garde demonstration of yet another common misconception about furries, while at the same time parodying a 12 year old under-educated parasite oxygen thief whose IP address we now have access to. Bravo!

In the future, however, I should warn that many would not understand this kind of performance art masquerading as a typical internet troll as unprepared for life in the real world as they are with even the basics of punctuation, morphology, and grammar.

Thus, i must say that if comments like this continue, you will be banned and blocked.

Have a great day.

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ZombieOofyness
30/6/2021 04:49:39 am

NO THEY DO NOT! FURRIES ARE AWESOME!!!

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Discord
16/5/2017 02:48:36 pm

I will say thank you for making this blog as I have read it over and over again, Thank you for making this about correcting misconceptions but I would also like to say that this is one of the most diverse cultures I have yet to see. In my personal experience I have contacted people from the Muslim faith, people as far away as the Netherlands, Russia, Alaska, Australia, and England so I am proud to say that I am part of a diverse culture that spreads across all boundaries.

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Tengu
11/12/2017 04:59:46 am

Adults disguising themselfs as cartoonish, cosy creatures with overexageratedly childish personality are concerning, since it shows social complexions that are easy to connect to things like pedophilia. Also f all the furry related art you encounter, there is an enormeous percentage of pornographic stuff, which renders it a fetish. And it usually also features various other fetishes like gay, sm, feet, tickling, inflation etz.
This weren't as bad a thing, if people who identify themselfs as furries weren't as often such obnoxious people, and the porn section so wide spread, openly, even proudly displayed. It is very repulsive, and it is representative. Sorry for those who suffer of unrighteous criticism, but it is way too often justified.

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Turngar the serpent dragon link
22/3/2018 02:06:29 pm

I have been a furry for most of my life, and only this year came out and told my parents. It was a mistake not to tell my family a lot sooner, as I outcasted myself greatly.
My mom doesn't understand but she is extremely supportive.

Almost as soon as I joined and went to my first meet, I made a friend who introduced me to a group that shares my rather odd interest in hypnosis. I now have quite a few friends.

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????unknown????
19/9/2018 09:43:39 pm

furries are misunderstood by basically everyone at my school(in my opinion), so I barely ever talk about myself bieng a furry. . . . . but i think of other furries as normal people just as animals. i just wish society would just stop judging furries....... :(

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ZombieOofyness
30/6/2021 05:02:57 pm

I completely agree!

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Drew
21/11/2018 01:56:26 pm

Dr Plante,

I wanted to let you know that this past Sunday evening on CNN, there was a program "This is Life with Lisa Ling" and the episode was all about furries, and how it helps a lot of people, the community of it all, and just the release. Even Uncle Kage got interviewed at one point.

For once, it was nice to see a positive spin on the furry community. While the 'sexual' stuff was brought up, the consensus was "Yeah, it's there, but it's not who we are and should not be defined by."

If you have a chance, I'd suggest giving it a watch.

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Claudija Tzandrapova
19/9/2019 05:09:58 pm

A very thought-provoking article. I'm both a furry and furry yiff artist (which the majority outside won't get xD) painting for the Sexyfur website. I actually note nobody covered before but my first furry was ThunderCats. I often use it when someone looks at me puzzled when I say well I draw furries and you're right: what's a furry? So I always say either Bugs, Daffy or ThunderCats "It's basically ThunderCats but with a lot of diversity and variety in what people make up" is kinda how I roll.

I did see a disturbing YouTube video that is summed up perfectly in this article about Warhammer 40K vs. Furries. Parts of the video were amusing but the comments underneath are exactly from the toxic hate community against furries which is very sad and a lot of them were talking about killing furries.... let us hope your article at least helps other furs to see they're not alone here

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Norah link
15/1/2021 09:03:54 am

Hi great reading your posst

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i like beans
11/2/2021 11:38:30 am

someone called me a fag for being a furry and i said "well thank you for noticing me! i appreciate that you care :D" and laughed to myself as they said "your welcome fag"

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beth
11/5/2022 01:01:01 pm

get well soon <3

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Kane lives
6/6/2022 09:13:28 am

Thanks for the article. I think I can address the misconception about everything being sexual about furries. There are indeed a lot of kinks people have that do get very extreme
So lets start logically with a person with no specific interests. And let's say they are straight and have the sexual kink of three-somes, naturally they would consume media of any type that fits that. Now let's say they have the specific interest of movies. They would now still consume other media with that kink but the amount of movie style media would be increased proportionate to their interest. Now let's add a more specific interest on top of that say, cg movies like beowulf where all the characters are realistic cg and they have a particular fav character. Now they will consume media that are movie style media, that are full cg, with this particular character affected by there level of interest in each category, movies, full cg movies, and their fav character. This pattern is natural for us. We naturally attach our sexual attraction to what we are interested in, many times the level of sexual attraction is proportionate to our interest. Therefore, whatever kinks we have are naturally transferred to our interest. Of course, it is also common cases our sexual attraction is not transferred but that is because we have so many interests. I could be interested in 20 things but my sexual attraction only attaches to 3. Any media, character, subject, or interest follows this pattern with you easily being able to find vast quantities of sexual content of any kink of any level of extremism for anything. To say that furries are far more extreme ignores this basic factual pattern. If I am able to find vast quantities of extreme sexual content on the subject on command and conquer (one of my fav video game series) does that mean alI command and conquer fans are super horny for it? No, it simply means by following this simple fact of how we attach sexual interest to our interests and our kinks follow there are naturally individuals out there who have done so and made such content for others of the same sexual interest and for themselves.

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