Furries… A Blurry World of Lacking Understanding
Neko Heinrich | December 11, 2024
An innocent hobby? A sexual phenomenon? Glorified mascots? Since they have garnered the attention of mainstream media, furries have been a hot topic of discussion, controversy and confusion. This year, the community made itself known to the student body at Warren Wilson College (WWC) when they launched their club by hanging flyers around campus.
Freshman Izzy Ibarra first stumbled upon furries at age eight on the internet and was instantly intrigued; however, she quickly found that people viewed it as weird and jumped on the hate train herself. Still, her love for animals persisted and her hate did not last long.
Ibarra at a furry convention in their first fursuit, 2018.
“When I was little, I used to want to be anything other than human,” Ibarra said. “I would enjoy drawing animals more than humans and talking about animals more than humans… I just thought they were cooler than people.”
She continued exploring her art through her YouTube channel, which can be accessed here.
A decade later, she joined the WWC club and has finally taken on the title of Furry.
Noodle, a red fox/snow leopard mix, is the fursona of freshman Skai Gran. Their journey into the community started with their membership of the brony (My Little Pony) fandom on MySpace. At age 14, they began producing a niche form of hyperpop music called digicore, a popular genre amongst furries.
“Car culture and the furry fandom, that's pretty large,” Gran said. “Big hobbies that take place are art and music, and then there's furries involved in sports and stuff like that.”
That is what enticed Gran into the culture: the ability to connect with people who share common interests. That is what the community is all about — connecting through art, characters and fun.
Being a furry also opens the door to ease of expression for many individuals. A layer of confidence is gained when someone exists behind a mask — something that goes much deeper than just dressing up and having fun.
“It's easier to be yourself and express yourself because people aren't seeing what you look like,” Ibarra said. “I am just drawing and creating. That's all it is. And it also makes it easier for me to socialize, because I have trouble socializing.”
Because of the community’s openness, it attracts more Queer and neurodivergent members. Approximately 15% of the furry community has Autism Spectrum Disorder according to research done by a Pittsburgh-based researcher, and these individuals report feeling more comfortable being themselves while engaging with furry culture.
“It's a really good outlet for people who are neurodivergent,” Ibarra said. “You'll see some videos of people in costume, and they're amazing dancers, performers and super social butterflies. And then as soon as they're outside of it, they're just really different.”
Bringing furry culture to WWC has caused some backlash, including posters being ripped down and people making fun of the community.
“Most of it is just people who don't understand it and think it's weird, and then think weird equals bad,” Gran said. “A lot of people who are judging it have an ignorant viewpoint. I've definitely had debates with people about the fandom and with the majority of it is just people it’s like, ‘ooh, weird.’ That's just not exactly an argument. I think if they were to have actual discussions, or actually sit down and discuss what it is with an actual furry, they would realize that it's just like any old hobby.”
Then there is the sexual stigma. In large, this is the connotation that turns people away from the community nearly instantly; however, this subgroup only makes up a small percentage of furries.
One of the two founders of the WWC furry club, who asked to remain anonymous because they do not want their identity to be only associated with furries, has been in the community for eleven years. Recently, they completed the creation of their fursuit for Fish Sauce, which has been a very cathartic project to complete.
“Not everybody is involved in the parts of the fandom that are more sexual and unsavory to people,” said the club founder. “People in a fandom are very clearly serious about keeping the sexual side of fandom and the Safe Work cyber fandom very separate.”
Ibarra and Gran shared similar sentiments, expressing frustration with these inaccurate assumptions.
“If you want to find the sexual side of the fandom, you can find it,” Gran said. “If you want to find the ‘Safe For Work’ side of the fandom, you can find it. It's really like, what are you looking for?”
The furry community is ultimately like any other; a group of people coming together to share their interests and develop connections. They face significantly more discrimination than other communities, including online harassment, shame and are rarely taken seriously outside of like-minded individuals.
“I don’t want being a furry to be my whole personality,” said the founder. “I don't want people to be like, ‘Oh, that one is a furry,’ and that's all they see me as, because it's not true. I love biology. I love science. I'm here to learn and do crazy cool science and shit. So that's what I want to focus on. Instead of having people associate me with just being a furry, I want them to get to know me.”
The furry community is tired of uneducated people judging them. Each individual expressed the powerful openness they receive from their community and how challenging it is to feel ostracized for it in the outside world. All they want is to be able to enjoy their hobby with security.
