… I met a 20-year-old custodian from Libertyville who was dressed as a fox and said, "There is the professional me, and there is the animal I can't show many people." But more common was 26-year-old tech-support worker David Rosario, who just wore a name tag. Many furries just wear a badge that announces their fursona.
They add furry ears, tails, noses, feet or paws to their street clothing.
Only about 30 percent of LAFF members (and about 20 percent of furries nationally, according to cultural studies and furry-convention organizers) wear full animal costumes to furry events.
That encompasses a wide spectrum, from people who are simply fans of TV shows and video games featuring anthropomorphic animal characters (like Sonic the Hedgehog or Pokémon), to people who develop a highly specific furry character ("fursona") they identify with, to "otherkin" who see themselves as not fully human on a spiritual or mental level.įurries are not always in costume. In the broadest sense, a furry is someone with an interest in anthropomorphized animals - that is, animals who have been given human characteristics, like an ability to talk or walk on their hind legs. Others embrace being a furry as a lifestyle and act out their fursonas in full costume-that is, in their customized fursuit. Some see being a furry as a pastime and may only engage their fursona in online role play or chat, or they may participate in furry meet-ups or conventions wearing only a badge depicting their fursona, and maybe other representative accessories-such as a mask, animal ears, and a tail. Not all furries manifest their fursonas in the same way. Some popular fursona species are the wolf, fox, cat, dog, tiger, lion, rabbit, and horse hybrid mixes are also welcomed into the community. A furry's fursona is drawn from animals in nature or mythology that exhibit certain characteristics that they personally identify with, and they project their personalized fursonas, in appearance and behavior, in social interactions within the furry community in a variety of ways, such as through costume design, interactive role play, artwork, and creative writing. What makes the furry community different from other fan-based ones (such as those of the comic or sci-fi genres) is that typically furries create personalized animal characters which are referred to as a fursona (a portmanteau of the words furry and persona). The fact is people from an early age have always been amused by anthropomorphic animals and evidently for furries the fascination with them burns strong beyond childhood. Perhaps you enjoyed these diversions while eating a bowl of cereal promoted by a talking "silly rabbit" or a tiger named Tony.
A few standout examples are the decades of animated cartoons and movies produced by Walt Disney and Warner Brothers, classic animal stories like Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and video games like Sonic the Hedgehog. Children have been entertained by humanlike animals for generations. You're right, this isn't our natural hair color.Īdult interest in anthropomorphic animal characters isn't as unusual as one might think-actually, it goes back to childhood.