What I Love About the Furry Fandom
An Explanation for "Normal" People
I've been involved with the furry fandom for 23 years. It's not a huge part of my identify...heck, lotsa my friends know nothing about it! They might know me as that dumpster diving, freegan, radical activist, hippy dancing guy. But nestled among all those other gems of joyful weirdness, it’s part of my identity too.
I wrote this article to explain, to all the "normal" people of the world...what’s the deal with furry fandom? Why does it exist? And what draws me to it, personally?
Furry fandom is a big tree, with many branches. It’s roots are the shared enjoyment of art and media with anthropomorphic characters: animals with human characteristics. Zootopia, Lion King, Redwall, Pokemon…all that kind of stuff.
But the heart of furry fandom is creation, not passive consumption. The defining furry act is creating a "fursona"...an anthropomorphic character that represents you. Like with drag, sometimes a fursona lets people express sides of themselves that can’t be shown in normal, straight-laced society. People express their fursona through many ways: art, roleplaying, and of course fursuiting. So you’re not a furry just for liking Pokemon, but if you like imagining yourself as a Pokemon? That’s a good sign.
What do I like about the furry fandom? First of all, I love it’s spirit of radical acceptance. It’s a fandom made up of many outcasts, with a membership disproportionately queer and neurodivergent. Only 20% of furries identify as straight, making it a “majority queer” community (a statistic that still blows my mind). It has heavy trans representation, too. The furry fandom recently stumbled into the broader US culture wars as a dog whistle for hating on trans people, with the BS “litterboxes in schools” story on Fox News.
Around 15% of furries have autism, compared to 1-2% of the general US population. There’s lots of reasons for that…the sensory soothing appeal of fursuits and plushies, the comfort of imaginary cartoon worlds, the accepting nature of the furry community. Many get involved with the furry fandom from feeling "I am weird and strange. No has accepted me for who I am. But these people will."
In the furry fandom, you can be autistic, trans, asexual, whatever you want…no one will judge you. If you identify as a giant pink latex dragon? Bruh, that’s not even the weirdest thing in the room. Furry fandom is a culture of radical authenticity, that encourages you to just embrace the cringe, and be yourself.
Second of all, I love it’s participatory culture of creativity. People see these elaborate fursuits, and ask, "Where did you buy that?" But fursuits aren't bought from a store. Nearly all are created by hand, on commission, from artists in the community. Most furries don’t even have fursuits, but just about all have brought their fursona to life through art, self drawn or commissioned. It keeps that pre-00s, pre-Internet spirit of hand drawn indie comics and photocopied zines alive.
At every furry fandom, you’ll have your typical fixtures: dealer’s den, gaming room, late-night raves. But you’ll also find a broad range of community panels, which give fans a space to share what they’re passionate about, whether it’s obscure Japanese cartoons or vintage synthesizers or hacked abomination Furbies.
It's quite different from other fandoms...anime, Star Wars, sports, what have you. Those are all ultimately fandoms of consumption, brought together by some corporate, trademarked product. But furry is a fandom of creation…weird, cute, fuzzy creations!
The furry fandom has waxed and waned in my life, but these reasons have kept it in my orbit. It’s helped me process my autism. It’s helped me grow as an artist and dancer. And it’s been lots of fun!
Furry conventions are wonderfully weird, and I recommend checking one out, even to non-furries. The spectacle can totally be worth the cost of a day pass. Every year in January, I look forward to Anthro New England, an annual furry convention held in Boston (where all these pictures were taken). And there are tons more across the world!
Furry cons are stuffed to the seams with art, activities, the best people(?) watching in the world, and so much more. Dance is a big draw for me, personally. Each year at Anthro New England, I look forward to raves, dance battles, and the awesome Fursuit Dance Competition. This year I ran a panel on ecstatic dance, which was a great success, and will be back even better next year.
If the whole furry thing has confused you, I hope this article helps a bit. Yes, we are weird, but no, we don’t bite!