Has your current friend group not been “understanding” you recently? Looking for a community where you can feel supported? Like to dress up and go out?

Maybe being a furry is for you!

Furries are a cultural phenomenon, sending social media into a frenzy. Society exploits the subculture for laughs and views, without knowing the people or sentiment behind the suit.

Society has the tendency to marginalize furries because of the lack of understanding of the fandom, or only thinking it exists for sexual reasons. In reality, the fandom is a group of individuals from diverse backgrounds coming together for a variety of reasons.

Only referring to each other by fursonas, not government names, ensures privacy between the hobby and real life jobs, for those who may not want to merge the two.

“When you’re walking down the street, you don’t know what the person you’re walking by has gone through,” said Jynx, a fursuit maker who identifies in the fandom as a lion-dragon hybrid. “It’s kind of the same thing. We’re just normal people with a hobby. We have our normal jobs then we go out for a weekend to hang out with our friends, dress up as animals, drink and have fun.”

The fandom originated in 1980 from Steve Gallacci’s Albedo Anthropomorphics comic strip, and has grown into a space for people who don’t feel comfortable in their own skin, and instead feel more comfortable in their fur.

Courtesy: Jynx

It is a popular misconception that the fandom is mainly kink-oriented, but many are not a part of the fandom for kink-related reasons. The fandom includes children and young teens who don’t participate in the sexual side of the furry community.

Though not all furries are in the fandom for sexual reasons, for some the kink aspect is a crucial part of their furry identity.

Altair, whose fursona resembles a sparrow, although not involved in the kink side of the fandom, believes furries should not be kink shamed. He emphasizes that these kink-oriented members do not make the fandom “inherently sexual.”

“As a community that celebrates self-discovery and expression, adult forms of expression are welcomed and space is made to accommodate them,” he said.

Shwahb, whose fursona identifies as a dog with horns, says that the furry fandom is, “just like any other fandom.” “There are going to be a variety of people expressing themselves in different ways,” they said. “It shouldn’t be sanitized.”

One furry, who has chosen to remain anonymous, says that he is involved in the kink side of the fandom because of fantasies he had of sexualized animal cartoon characters. To him, it is a way to fulfill his fantasies “on his own terms.”

“No one is going to fulfill my sexual desires the way I want and not think I’m crazy,” he said. “This way I can do what I want with an anatomically correct, life sized Lola Bunny doll and not feel guilt.”

Another kink-involved furry who also wishes to remain anonymous said, “I will never be able to afford a fursuit but I am able to pretend by hiding behind a sexualized image of an anthropomorphic animal.”

Her biggest reason for participating in the online furry community is that no one is able to see who she is behind the screen, allowing her to portray the “sexiest possible woman and get lots of flirtatious attention that normally isn’t given in real life.”

Many members of the fandom say they have always known they were furry. Space, the name she uses in the fandom, is a furry from San Diego who dresses as a bat-sheep hybrid.

“I didn’t have a name for it until my teen years, but I always knew I liked dressing up and it seemed fun and harmless,” she said.

While many think being a furry is just dressing up in a fursuit, classification is up to interpretation of the individuals who identify as such. At the very general and stereotypical level of identification, furries are individuals who suit up as anthropomorphic animals.

A typical fursuit is a fuzzy and usually brightly colored depiction of a cartoon, anthropomorphic animal. Full fursuits include a head, bodysuit, tail and paws.

“The furry fandom is not the monolith that many people portray it as,” Altair says, “It is a fundamental mischaracterization of the fandom to define it by, or downplay, any single one of those components.”

‘Suiting’ can range from partial to full suiting to wearing street clothing. Partial suiting can mean wearing a head, paws, boots or just one of the items alone.

The biggest misconception about the fandom, is that everyone involved must wear the suits that catch so much media attention. Shwahb said, “not all furries have fursuits. Most actually don’t.” Not being required to wear the suit makes the hobby inclusive for all tax brackets.

So if you don’t have a fursuit, how do you identify as a furry?

“Being a furry is more about wanting to be a part of the community than dressing up,” Shwahb said.

Since there is variability to suiting up, they said no one has to feel left out. Some furries like Altair, opt for a digital depiction of his fursona rather than a physical suit.

Picking a fursona is one of the most integral parts of being a furry. Altair, is an astrophysics major. Coincidentally, his fursona is the name of a star, part of the constellation Aquila.

Furries, like Shwahb, use their internet names that they came up with years ago, and others carefully craft their names to correlate with their fursona over time.

Artists who have an interest in drawing anthropomorphic beings and want to bring their art to life, turn to the furry fandom. Shwahb, who drew their fursona, said they “conceptualized their fursona for years before making it a reality.”

Others said they learned about the community at a young age from online chat groups on platforms such as Discord or a musician in their favorite band. The first “poppy fur,” or popular furry, that came to Space’s mind was Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo. She said, “the band makes music targeted to furries and lots of us support them.”

Space mentions how video games, although not furry in content, are a place where many furry community members come together to socialize.

Having multiple outlets where furries can relate to each other with an assortment of hobbies creates a safe haven and support system. Members of the fandom stress the purpose of their involvement.

“I was really in a dark place when I discovered furries,” Jynx said. “I created a character to make me seem happier online and I would try to be more like this persona online. I think it helped a lot in that time. I think I really needed something like that.”

Bravo, who possesses a wolf fursona and an unofficial deer/goat hybrid fursona, explains how the community has created a space for them.

“People like to see other people express themselves, which can lead to confidence among circles, which is why we end up sticking around,” Bravo said. “It’s literally just an animal person profile picture and art that can lead to eventual friendships as you get to know each other more, as funny as that sounds.”

Organized groups are the most common way for furries to get involved. Some furries join in on activities organized by university clubs like, UCSD Triton Tails, local community groups and furry conventions. These groups host networking events like movie nights, hiking trips and other activities.

One of these groups, the SoCalFurs, frequently hosts meetups and movie nights happening all around Southern California for convenience. Depending on the location and event, fursuits are encouraged or permitted or not “fursuit freeing.” Fursuit freeing means that the wearing of a fursuit is not allowed at the event, usually as per venue rules.

While supportive and diverse in thought, Altair said the fandom is mostly made up of queer, white men. Still, he is “looking forward to seeing an increase in diversity of members in the coming years.”

Altair by: Yourfriendren

For those who are not familiar with the hobby, meeting a furry for the first time can spark a variety of thoughts.

Space says her friends thought her being a furry was “cute” and that they get excited to see her fursuit. She said while most friends are encouraging, she knows of furries in the fandom that have struggled with less-accepting peers.

“Some friends have lost friends because they found out they were furry and didn’t understand.” Space said.

The involvement in the fandom can be shocking for some. A few furries feel as though they have to hide their fursona from their families, in fear of their disapproval. Others, have furry family members that they have grown closer to by being a part of the fandom.

Altair explains how his experience has impacted potential friendships.

“I have found some people distance themselves if they find out I'm a furry, and they'll avoid talking to me in the future,” he said.

Dating is also difficult for furries, who often fear the judgment of non-furries. Rem, who identifies in the fandom as a fox-wolf hybrid, knows this first hand.

“People who judge you off of the bat about anything, not just the furry fandom, are people who you wouldn’t want to date anyway,” Rem said. “Sure, some people may turn away because of it, but why would I want to date someone whose first instinct is to judge without hearing both sides of the story? Also, like I mentioned, being a furry is a hobby. Not an identity. If being a furry is what holds you back from dating, you literally can quit whenever.”

Jynx has a non-furry boyfriend who is completely supportive of her being a furry — he even helps her run her own small business, BecauseFuzz, specializing in costume making.

“My boyfriend helps me out a lot,” she said. “My least favorite part of making a fursuit is cutting the fabric so he does that and I buy him dinner.”

A running joke amongst the furries is that every furry is in STEM, because they are the only ones who can afford it.

“It’s a big furry stereotype that … oh yeah all the furries are making your vaccines and working at NASA,” Shwahb said. “Furries are sending furries into space.”

In an ever-evolving social landscape, it’s no mistake that the fandom still isn’t viewed with the normalcy that many furries would like to see. Rem thinks that is soon to change.

“I see it becoming much more mainstream and commercialized,” Rem says. “Right now, furries are seen in the same light as anime fans were ten years ago. Ten years ago, if you watched anime, you were bullied. However, over time it has become much more popular, and more people have realized they are interested in it. Anime is more [ingrained] in our culture now than it ever has been. I think in ten years it will be similar for the furry fandom. As people realize what we are actually about, more and more people will join.”

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