Furry Fever
story by May Borges and Lilly Montgomery, photos by Gracen Bayer, design by Lizeth Valdes
If you have spent any time on the internet in recent years, it is likely that you have encountered the concept of ‘furries’ before. Pop culture often pokes fun at this niche of individuals, but it’s time to let the people behind the masks speak. To learn more and dispel some common stereotypes, PULSE spoke with two individuals who engage with the furry community.
What exactly is a furry, and why do they do what they do? According to Joshua Mudd, a self-identified furry, it can be defined as “someone who takes an interest in the art of anthropomorphic animals, so animals that could talk, would walk on two legs, anything they could do like a human can.”
One of the first steps in becoming a furry is creating what is known in the community as a “fursona,” a kind of character (usually resembling a human-like version of a real or mythical animal) that encompasses all that the individual wishes their furry identity to be. These can be animal versions of the person themselves, or completely independent of who they identify as in real life.
Stepping Out
Levels of engagement in the furry community can look completely different from person to person. Some people choose to simply draw or commission these characters and leave their activity at that, while others take it a step further. For Mudd, his first introduction to the hobby was through a video game YouTuber who recorded content in something called a “fursuit,” a wearable costume created to resemble an individual’s fursona. This eventually led to Mudd creating his own fursona and acquiring a partial fursuit that lets him transform into Kawaffles, a silver fox.
For Noah Lux, a third-year film major at CWU, participating in the furry community looks completely different. “I don’t really self identify heavily as a furry just because the community is very interesting to me,” Lux says. “It doesn’t connect to me in the same way that others do. I do enjoy it for different reasons. “
Lux shares that although he does not personally identify with the furry community, he is still able to engage with the concept of anthropomorphized animal characters. “I do have a mascot… He’s a white-bellied sea eagle named Tori.” Although this mascot is not a version of himself, as some furries may view their fursonas, Lux still has a personal connection with Tori. “For me, it’s less of a mirror of who I am and more of an extension of me,” Lux says.
Lux’s interactions with the furry community are largely business-motivated. “I run a business within the fandom,” Lux says. “I sell and make fursuits and art and all sorts of stuff.” This market that Lux has been able to tap into is lucrative, and the intense process of creating art and suits for buyers coupled with high demand can make price tags skyrocket.
“Prices can range from $5,000 to even $45,000 depending on the artist who makes it,” says Lux. Projects can take months or even years to complete, and can be made from a variety of different materials. “I like the high-density project foam as opposed to Walmart, because Walmart foam can tear,” Lux says, adding that poor quality materials are “not optimal if you're trying to sell a suit for a lot of money.”
“Isn’t that, like… A sex thing?”
Despite the support that the community shows for its fellow members, prejudice and false negative assumptions still run amok. From verbal harassment on campus to assumptions that their activities are inherently sexual, the furry community experiences a significant amount of prejudice and judgment. Although there are some people who choose to engage with the community in a sexual way, Mudd says that those individuals are a “very loud minority” and do not make up a large portion of the community as a whole.
According to Lux, another common assumption made is that he and other furries believe themselves to actually be animals. “I am just a guy in a suit,” Lux says. “It is perpetuated in this idea that it is sexual, and just assuming all these things. Many furries are anti-zoophilic, it is not a fetish.”
Em-paw-erment
Despite negative stigma and assumptions continuing to be made about its members, the furry community stands strong and proud. It is a source of passion, happiness and safety for many, and a few adverse opinions will not deter this group from engaging with that which they love.
Mudd shares that one of the biggest appeals of creating fursonsas and donning fursuits is the anonymity that comes with it. “A lot of people in the fandom are shy. It’s hard for them to portray themselves as themselves, you know? So this gives them an open space to do so.” By adopting these secondary identities, individuals are able to step out into new spaces online or in person with heightened comfort and confidence.
“Everyone should be able to like what they want, and there is no reason to judge people for their likes,” Lux says. “No person will make me give up my happiness because it is weird.”
