What is a furry?: Definitions and misconceptions
Furries are one of the most misunderstood fandoms both in person and online! In this post I will be discussing what a furry is, as well as discussing some common misconception in regards to the fandom!
What is a furry?
In order to dispel misunderstanding, we first need to define what a furry actually is. A furry is a nickname for anyone in the anthropomorphic animal fandom, much like how swiftie is a Taylor swift fan and Trekkie is the nickname for someone who’s a fan of Star Trek! To put it simply: furries are people who find animals who look and behave like humans cool! That all someone need to be a furry. They don’t need to own a fursuit, be an artist, or even have a fursona! All they need is to like the concept of anthropomorphic animals and call themselves a furry!
Some definitions!
Furry: a person in the anthropomorphic animal fandom
Anthropomorphic: giving human characteristics to non-human things
Fursuit: an hand-made costume, either based on the client’s own character or a pre-existing character the designer made (known as a premade suit). Fullsuits are full fursuits, well partials are just some pieces like owning just a head, tail, and paws.
Misconception 1: All furries own fursuits
Although fursuits are a big part of the fandom, they arn’t the main point, and not all furries own or even want a suit!
According to a 2011 survey done by FurScience:
Only around 10-15% own a fullsuit
Only around 25% own a partial suit
A little over 10% have no interest in owning a fursuit
Around 5% have no interest in owning a partial suit.
People with fursuits are more likely to attend conventions, with around 40% owning some sort of fursuit. This is likely part of the reason most people think they’re a much bigger part of the fandom than they are. They’re a lot more noticeable, and people often look at conventions as an accurate representation of the whole, which often isn’t the case as many can not afford to travel and attend conventions.
Misconception 2: Furries believe they are animals (aka the litter box myth)
This misconception likely comes from a mix of two things: media misinformation and getting therian’s and other kin confused.
No, furries do not believe we are animals. It is likely people are confusing us with Therians (those who believe they have some sort of connection to an animal, such as believing they were one in a past life). According to a survey, only around 10% of furries identify as therians. Is their overlap? Absolutely! But not all furries are therians and not all therians are furries.
Furry isn’t an identity. You can’t “identify as a furry”, just like you can’t “identify as a swifty”
When it comes to the whole litter box thing, it’s almost all hearsay from kids. It initially started with one kid telling their mother that they had litter boxes for kids who identified as animals. The mother took her kids word for it, talk about it at a school board meeting, the video blows up, and boom, suddenly kids everywhere are saying it’s happening, and yet despite kids constantly talking about it, I’ve never seen a video or picture of any of the incidents described. Now, schools may have litter in their schools, but these are often for either students who have service animals, schools to have a place for students to pee during a lockdown, and for cleaning up vomit and other accidents kids may have in school
Misconception 3: Furry is a new thing
The furry fandom started as an offset of the sci fi fandom, dating all the way back to the 80s! It’s definitely grown in popularity with the internet, but we’ve been around much longer than you probably expected!
Misconception 4: Furry is LGBT+
Although there are a lot of furries who are LGBT+ in some way, being a furry by itself does not make you a part of the LGBT+ community, and their are plenty of furries who are not a member of the LGBT+ communities. LGBT+ is about romantic/sexual orientation and gender identity, and being a furry is neither of those.
Misconception 5: furry is a kink/fetish
Although their absolutely is a NSFW side of the fandom, it is not the main point of the fandom, and there are plenty of people (like myself) who don’t partake in it at all. Even for those who do partake in the NSFW side of the fandom, they often arn’t their just for that aspect and enjoy the SFW parts of the fandom as well. After all, if it was fully an NSFW fandom, 18+ dealers dens (vender halls at furry cons) and 18+ events at conventions wouldn’t be sectioned off or during after hour times. They’re kept separate for a reason, and that’s because not every member of the fandom is interested in it.
Additionally, most fursuits are actually not made to accommodate NSFW activities, and most fursuiters don’t use their suits for things like that, reporting things such as “they don’t believe it would be comfortable” and that they do not want to ruin an expensive suit.
Additionally, many people confuse pup play (those leather pup masks) with furry. There is absolutely overlap between these two cultures, but again, not every furry is a pup player and not every pup player is a furry.
Let’s not forget how many minors are in the fandom too! Trying to call a fandom that has many young people in it as a sex thing is- very uncomfortable.
Misconception 6: furries are zoophiles
You’re going to get your gross people in every fandom, and unfortunately when you have a fandom centered around animals, it’s going to attract those who have bad intentions with them. That being said, zoos are not welcome in the fandom, and being called out as a zoophile is social suicide in the fandom.
For example, a very popular fursuit maker known as DHC was exposed to be a zoophile and animal abuser. After this was called out, they lost thousands of followers, and anyone who buys a suit from them is ostracized by most of the fandom for supporting someone who hurts animals. Some people even took it too far by harassing those who bought their suits before DHC was exposed, and although I don’t agree with harassing people who had no idea, it is a testament to just how much the fandom hates these people.
When it comes to art, it’s pretty looked down upon too, with being caught making “feral” NSFW art (art when an animal appears like an actual animal with animal anatomy) being a career ender for many artists. The general rule of thumb being that 1. The character has the ability to consent, 2. The character is anthro and 3.The things being sexualized are human characteristics.
Unfortunately, there will always be gross people in every fandom, but just like every other fandom, we shouldn’t generalize it based on the worst of it.
And that’s it!
Feel free to reblog with your own thoughts or things I missed. I’m sick of seeing people, especially kids, being harassed and threatened over things that arnt even true. For more Info as well as to see where I sourced my statistics, check out furscience, a group dedicated to researching the fandom!
Furscience is a multidisciplinary team of real scientists doing real science studying furries and their fandom
