Furries: Separating Truth from Fiction

The furry fandom is one of the largest communities in the world. In fact, although it is difficult to get an exact number on how many people are in the furry community it is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of furries in existence. Although, the first furry convention was held at the Holiday Inn Bristol Plaza with a reported attendance of about 65 fandom members. In addition to this number almost anyone can be a furry. It doesn’t matter what their occupation, age, religious affiliation, or anything else is. Anyone can be a a part of the furry community.

But what are furries? The word furry does coincide a bit with some common lgbt slang, such as bear. Of course those types of bears could have their own fursona, when we talk about furries we’re thinking more about anthropomorphic animals. Let’s take some time to look past the suits and see what the furry fandom is all about.

Furries: What are they?

The furry community is a subculture that was believed to have emerged sometime in the 1970’s, with the first furry convention being held in 1989 by the name of Confurence 0 in Costa Mesa, California. This subculture focuses heavily on role playing, costume creation, and 3d design all in an attempt to dress up like their fursonas.

Fursonas are anthropomorphic animals with completely fleshed out personality traits. Rather than thinking of them like you would an animal that just happens to walk on two legs, think of them more like a cartoon character. Some examples of mainstream anthropomorphic animals are Robin Hood (Disney’s Robin Hood), Lucario (Pokemon), Husk (Hazbin Hotel, and Beelzebub (Helluva Boss) just to name a few.

Furries consist of people from all around the world in all age groups and ethnicities. Many believe that furries are exclusively about adult interests, and that there is no form of creativity, networking, or even proper socialism between furries. In fact it’s a lot like being a part of the LGBTQ community. Intimacy, and spiciness do have a place within the community, but it is not what the community is all about.

Misconceptions and Rumors About the Furry Fandom

Overtime, especially with the rise of the internet, furries have developed a lot of fame. However with this fame the furry community is often subject to a lot of misaligned beliefs and rumors.

In fact even if you yourself are a member of the furry community, or you believe you have an open mind, you have probably heard and maybe at least believed some of the more common misconceptions.

“Furries are in love with animals”

“Furries believe they actually are animals”

“Furries are just flaunting their kinks to others”

Of course, like many stereotypes, some of these misconceptions likely hold some kind of truth to them. However that truth can be taken from a multitude of places, as well as skewed and stretched in ways that make them almost completely unrecognizable from the truth. Or taken completely out of context as some might say. As an example, the assumption that “someone who is a furry actually believes they are an animal” could be taken out of context in the following way.

At furry conventions you may see a lot of people wearing fur suits, or costumes. When they are in their fur suit it is best to assume they are “performing”, or “in character”. So if a person with a camera goes up to someone in a fur suit and asks who or what they are they might answer with “I am a dog”. They may even pretend to howl, bark, or do some other kind of animal act for their performance.

All it takes is for that someone to post that video without any context, or with a misleading title and caption and suddenly people are honestly believing that people in the furry fandom actually believe they are animals.

Of course this is just a simplified example of something someone in the furry fandom might have to deal with when they see someone talking badly about the characters they see portrayed online. In fact this irrational “furphobia” also works to create animosity towards people in the lgbtqia+ community. One of the most recent real life examples of this is the litter box hoax from 2022.

In 2022 as a way to fearmonger and spread anti-transgender rhetoric, a claim was widely spread and it stated that schools were going to be supplying litter boxes for students who chose to identify as cats. This claim spread like wildfire and was widely believed, even by well known politicians and television personalities.

This hoax was used to “fight” against the legal recognition of gender variance across the country with the belief that allowing ungendered bathrooms, or other previously gendered spaces, would lead to people claiming to identify as animals.

The hoax has been proven to be false in a multitude of ways, and the closest thing that was found to support it was the potential of using clumping litter or materials similar to it in emergency toilets during natural disasters or lockdowns that would leave children unable to safely leave their classrooms in order to go to the restroom. However there is no denying that this particular rumor used common misinterpretation and fetishization about furries to create even more animosity towards the transgender community.

The Fursona: The Personality Within and Behind the Animal Characters

If there is one thing that ties everyone in the furry community together, that would be the Fursona.

Even if you don’t have a suit, if you are a part of the furry fandom you likely have a fursona, or an animal character that you have curated and designed yourself. A lot of thought goes into the creation of a fursona and everyone in the furry fandom knows this very well. The color, the species, distinctive marks and scars, the backstory, all of it is heavily thought about when creating a fursona.

How do furries create their backstory? Well it really depends on exactly what and how they want to see their creation. Should their backstory be a tragic one filled with moments that would break most peoples spirits where they persevered against all odds? Or should it be one filled with happy memories that leave them confident and sure of themselves as they walk right down the path of success?

But how do furries bring their fursona to life? You can have a fursona even if you don’t have a suit, however the one thing that separates a fursona from characters that just happen to be anthropomorphized animals is the fur suit. Even if you don’t own a suit just yet furries often design their fursona with the intention of creating or purchasing fursuits for that character. Of course, many furries take a more subtle approach at furry conventions.

Rather than pay for and lug around a large heavy mascot suit, someone might opt to wear a partial suit consisting of only the head and gloves. Others may take it a bit further back and just wear ears and a tail. Then there are those who choose not to wear anything related to the costume or suit at all, and may just feel satisfaction with enjoying furry conventions, role playing as their fursona online, and commissioning art based on that fursona.

Furries are considered to be one of the most lucrative subcultures around. With some of the more popular creators making figures of up to $10,000 per month for their creations. In fact, a full fursuit on average could cost a person somewhere between $3000 and $8000. This is because in most cases, fursuits are almost always custom made and fit to the buyer.

If you ever happen to be walking around somewhere where the furry fandom is meeting up and are tempted to make fun of them stop and remember those numbers because even though they are dressed as some kind of dog, cat, or rabbit, that with the cost of the suit they are likely highly successful in their career, or a talented tailor and artist who spent hours creating the suit.

Research Findings Within the Furry Community

Now for the question, who are the furries. Of course we can’t give an exact number, but thanks to the top scientific research group for furries, “The International Anthropomorphic Research Project”, or furscience. We do have some numbers and based on those numbers and combining them with relevant data from other studies we can make some estimates about the furry fandom in general.

• Age: Although there are many furries within all age groups the most active members of the furry community tend to skew towards the younger range. According to a case study done by “Fur Science” nearly 80% of active furry fans claim to be under the age of 30.
• Gender: When it comes to the most common gender, most furries, according to research, are cisgender men. In fact, they absolutely dominate the fandom by making up nearly 72% of the fandom.
• Sexual Orientation: Research suggests that most furries identify as being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. According to a survey conducted in 2020, only about 10% of furries claim to be heterosexual or straight. Although it’s hard to see exactly what percentage of the LGBTQ community that furries represent, according to case studies and surveys that from within the elaborate costumes and characters designs 30% of furries identify as being gay or lesbian, while 40% identify as being bisexual or pan.
• Common Political Affiliations: When it comes to politics many furries report to be more left leaning and often consider themselves to be more liberal. However their religious beliefs and education seem to be all over the place, making it difficult to put them in any particular box.

Of course these are not the numbers on a global scale, as the research group only conducts their studies from within North America, and that their online surveys are only available in English. This unfortunately does lead to skewed results in areas such as ethnicity, or language spoken. So even though results do claim that nearly 80% of furries claim to be white people in who speak English or who live primarily in English speaking countries it is best to take those stats with a grain of salt.

The Natural Habitat of Furries

Where are you most likely to find folks who identify as Furries?

There are furries everywhere around you, but as someone who is not one who dives into a special interest towards cartoon animals with human characteristics, you may not be sure of where to look. However these natural habitats can be split into two categories. Online communities, and in person events.

Online Community Habitats for Furries

For most furries, the online community is often the safest place to go to. Because you can be anonymous many beginner furries are free to be themselves, to roleplay as their fursona, and of course share their artwork, comics, and other talents with the rest of the world as a way to boost their self esteem. However there are some things to be aware of before diving into the world of furry websites and forums.

• Minor Welcoming Spaces vs Adult Only Spaces: The furry community has a lot of adult only content. In fact most furries have partaken in or distributed content that is considered to be unfit and even unsafe for minors. While the stats from earlier reflect the adult members of the community there are furries that are under the age of 18, or furries that happen to be children. Which is why there are spaces that welcome those who are under the age of 18 and spaces that specifically ban those who are under the age of 18.Both kinds of spaces are the same in the sense that they are filled with furry fans. However in one space distribution of adult themes, or themes that are potentially traumatic to younger audiences is strictly prohibited. While in adult only spaces furries in that space must prove to be over the age of 18 years old. Some groups even have an age requirement of 20 or older, and are allowed to share content with adult or potentially traumatizing themes as long as they are properly tagged.
• The Issues With Closed Species: Closed species as a concept reflect an idea in particular for an imaginary species within the furry or original character (OC) community. These have caused quite a few issues within the furry fandom as the ideas for closed species can be extremely creative a lot of creators take that creativity way too far and will claim ownership of very specific aspects of a characters design, and will even claim plagiarism if they see another character that happens to have aspects of that design in their character.There is a lot of debate over whether or not closed species should be allowed to exist, or if people should have the ability to control the basic building blocks of an idea. Ultimately though with billions of people around the world almost every single idea has already been done in some way shape or form. Even if one might be harrassed about their furry identity by a couple of people it’s important to remember that while someone can own their own version of an idea they can’t own each individual piece of the idea.
• The Potential of Content Theft: Most furries who sumerse themslves in online furry culture often share their artwork, comics and other creative outlets with the world. However there is a potential that other members of that website or forum might download ones artwork and claim it as their own. This is why many who choose to showcase their creativity with a signature of animal ears might utilize a watermark on any artwork they post publicly.

In Person Events

Whether they dress in a full body suit that makes them look like a stuffed animal. Or they choose to wear a shirt with their favorite anthropomorphic animal on the front such as bugs bunny, the most well known spot for furries to meet up at in real life is at a convention. Of course they aren’t just strictly limited to furry conventions. Here are some examples of events that may be sponsored or hosted by local groups.

• Science Fiction Conventions: A lot of sci fi media takes inspiration from the idea “What would it be like if a different animal evolved instead of humans”. This leads to many different kinds of characters that are based on animals and humans being blended together. Because anthropomorphizing is so common within science fiction it’s only natural that many furries feel completely at home during a science fiction conventions.
• Anime conventions: Furries are people with a lot of creativity, and drive, and people who attend anime conventions love to see that. In fact, many characters in anime are talking animals with human like features. Because of this most people who sell their creations at anime conventions are no strangers to anthropomorphic art.
• Sports Games: Have you ever noticed that sports mascots and fursuits share a lot of similarities in terms of design? This is because most suits are set on a base design that take the concept of the mascot suit and drastically improve upon them. Because of the affiliation between them, while they may not be wearing their suits at the game furries do enjoy watching sports.
• Ren Faires: Renaissance fairs were once seen as a place to reenact the lives of those who happened to live between the years of 1300 and 1500 CE. Nowadays these festivals take on a more mystical approach, making it feel as if one has entered a magical world set hundreds of years in the past with Faeries, Witches, Goblins, and of course anthro creatures based on real animals, and animals that are not so real. While the sight of a dragon walking around might be a cause for alarm in some places at a Ren Festival, it’s simply business as usual.
• Pride Events: Furries are not exclusively homosexual, and they are definitely not exclusively heterosexual. However as most of them do identify as being in the LGBTQIA+ community or to be in support of it, as well as the fact that they also are subject to many negative stereotypes. Many furries are given spaces and are welcome fursuits and all to many different pride events.
• Events For Children: Many people who wear fursuits often attend and are even invited to events made for children. This is because many kids shows feature animals that talk and walk just like humans. Bluey, My Little Pony, Spongebob Squarepants, Hello Kitty, and Garfield are great examples of childrens based media that have a lot of animals that talk. Children love to interact with with people in fursuits because of this affiliation.

Are the Fursuits Linked to or Used For Certain Intimate Activities?

Despite what is depicted in visual art and media portrayals, furries are people just like everyone else, and while the general population may not be a part of that fandom many members do share the gift of common sense with the rest of the world.

If you have ever had to wear a full suit of fur you would understand that they are definitely not made for that kind of activity. Uncomfortable, sometimes unbearably hot, and of course they are also hard to move in. These aspects combined with an inability to access certain areas make them less than ideal for those types of activities.

Of course as we all know that content is definitely abundant in the community, however the content is usually drawn or animated. Or if the content does feature real people in full suits the act is usually implied rather than actually done.

Conclusion: Why People Join the Fandom

In most cases many people join the furry fandom because they consider themselves to be outcasts in some way or another. Whether they were physically or verbally bullied, have a lack of self esteem, want to have more social interaction, or even just want a way to escape the stress from post secondary education.

Furries may be frowned upon by the general population, with a lot of factors skewing public perception in a negative direction. However life is all about having fun, and no matter what the person under the suit chooses to identify as, they are able to live their life, share their art, and feel free as the person they want to be.