Day: June 15, 2016

By Devon Ashby as originally posted on ranker.com

1 It Isn’t Just About Sex

There is a kinky side to the Furry community, but not everybody participates. Even Furries interested in this side of the fandom aren’t necessarily there for that reason and that reason alone. Furry communities are basically about role play, and they’re also about socializing, so it’s kind of a no-brainer that some members choose to incorporate that into their private lives. It’s just not how the community primarily defines itself.

2 Furries Are Altruistic

Everyone spends so much time focusing on the seedy sexual aspect of the furry subculture that they forget to notice all the genuinely nice stuff furries do. Lots of furries form groups that partner with hospitals to entertain children, or they appear at public events to do the same. Lots of local furry meet-ups even donate a portion of their proceeds to charity organizations.

3 Not All Furries Wear Fursuits

According to the Anthropomorphic Research Project, only about 15% of people who participate in the furry fandom own their own fursuits. Plenty of furries go to conventions wearing minimal costumes (like face paint and fake ears), or they go in street clothes. Some furries stick to writing fiction and making artwork, and don’t dress up as their “fursona” at all.

4 Furry Conventions Are Not “Adult” Meet-Up Events

While Furry meet-ups are certainly attended by adults, what we of course mean to say is that people aren’t going to furry conventions strictly to indulge in “adult” activities – nobody is going to a FurCon anticipating a lost weekend of whippet-addled anthropomorphic fursuit orgies. Fur conventions are social evens, and yes, folks have been known to partner up after hours (just like at any other fandom convention). Most attendees, however, are there to show off their outfits, exchange artwork, dance, get mildly inebriated, and make some new friends.

5 Most Furries Are Basically Hobbyists

Furries typically don’t live out their entire lives dressing and acting as their fursonas. They aren’t even necessarily 100% devoted to the furry fandom. Lots of furries love to geek out about a range of nerdy, subcultural subjects – games, anime, classic science fiction, etc. The furry fandom began as an outgrowth of comic book and sci-fi conventions, and many furries remain as devoted to those communities as they are to furrydom

6 It’s All About Creativity

Though it’s often construed as a community that’s primarily about sex, the furry fandom is actually all about creating stuff. It’s basically a fandom loosely organized around the concept of a world run by anthropomorphic animals. People in the fandom make art, write short fiction, and build elaborate costumes to engage creatively with each other based on that premise – it’s like a giant live-action role playing game.

7 Fursuits Are Expensive (And They’re Usually Handmade)

There’s no warehouse in Temecula that mass-produces fursuits. They’re almost all made by hand, either by fans themselves or by a select few private artisans who create them to exacting specifications. Furries hold workshops – and exchange tips online – sharing the best techniques and often shell out a minimum of $2,000 to $3,000 for one fur costume.

8 Furries Have Been Around Longer Than You Think

Most people think of the furry community as an Internet phenomenon, but it turns out their origins are more obscure than that. The earliest recorded presence of furries in sci-fi convention literature was in 1983, but it’s likely they had been around for at least a few years prior. People in anthropomorphic animal costumes have been a fixture of science fiction events and subcultures for at least the past 35 years.

9 Furries Do Not Believe They’re Really Animals

People who believe that their “real” species or identity is something non-human (like a dragon, a bunny rabbit, or a character from Final Fantasy VII) are known as Otherkin, which isn’t the same thing as being a Furry. Though Otherkin do sometimes create “fursonas” and participate in the Furry subculture, Furries and Otherkin are not interchangeable, and both groups tend to resent being directly conflated with one another.

10 It Isn’t a Sexual Orientation

While it’s true that people in the furry community do sometimes experience bullying and discrimination, and many of them are LGBT as well as being furries, there are several problems with equating being a furry with being LGBT. Many members of the fur community stress that their participation is about community and creativity, not about sexual proclivities or sexual identity.

11 It’s Not Necessarily a “Kink”

Though some furries are vocal about the role of sexual fantasy in their affiliation with the fur community, this isn’t the case for everybody. People attend fur cons, draw furry artwork, and create “fursonas” for a variety of different reasons, and the majority of them are non-sexual.

12 Being a Furry Can Be Dangerous

In December of 2014, Chicago’s Midwest FurFest shut down following a chlorine gas attack at the Chicago Hyatt. Though everything eventually came out okay, 19 convention participants were hospitalized. This is probably the most extreme example of anti-furry violence on record so far, but acts of aggression and bullying against members of the community are pretty common, especially in online communities.

13 Furries Just Want to Be Friends

The entire furry community is about making friends and expressing yourself. If you’re not being a jerk, members of this community are among the most friendly and accepting people you’ll meet, either online or in real life. Lots of them are socially awkward nerds, but some are just genre enthusiasts, people who love cartoons and/or science fiction, or people who enjoy being a little bit weird for fun.

14 The Sadness of Being Blocked by Tony the Tiger

Love for the Frosted Flakes mascot is something of an inside joke among the furry community, but when a couple rogue furries started publicly tweeting their love for Tony the Tiger, the anthropomorphic cereal spokesman took extreme action. Instead of just blocking the specific people who tweeted things like “@realtonytiger gimme cummies daddy,” the people behind the account decided to block all furries, whether or not they had Tweeted at the mascot.

Lucky for jilted furries, they can always turn to Chester Cheetah (of Cheetos’ fame). That tiger seems to embrace his furry fanbase will a little more respect.