What Are Furries?

Furries are probably one of the most maligned subcultures you'll find today, and for the most part, it's considered socially acceptable to disparage and mock furries and the furry community in general. But what exactly are furries, and do they really deserve all the hate they get?

Put simply, furries are individuals who particularly enjoy or identify with anthropomorphized animal characters. The furry community produces artwork, literature, and other forms of entertainment centered around their interests, and the community is now large enough that furry conventions are an annual event in many places.

Today, we'll be taking an objective look at furries and the furry community as it exists today, as well as the history of the community and some of the more noteworthy events they've been involved in. If you are looking for top rated online sex games, be sure to check our best porn games page, as well as the top rated mobile porn games.

Where Did Furries Come From?

Anthropomorphized animals, in general, have been around for literally thousands of years; the Löwenmesch (Lion-Man) figurine, a sculpture of a man with a lion's head found in a cave in Germany, has been dated as being between 35,000 and 40,000 years old.

Other more famous examples of ancient anthropomorphized animals include several Egyptian gods, such as Bastet, Anubis, and Horus. Even outside of Egyptian mythology, countless religions depicted their gods as animals with human characteristics.

It's clear that humans have always had somewhat of a fascination with anthropomorphized animals; even in the decades leading up to the birth of the furry fandom as we know it, characters like Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Fritz the Cat garnered considerable popularity among the general public. 

Some furries consider the origins of the fandom to be in the '60s and '70s, with works like Richard Adams' Watership Down and Disney's Robin Hood being two of the most-cited examples. Generally, however, most culture historians consider the early '80s to be when the furry fandom really started.

Essentially, the modern furry fandom began with the formation of amateur press associations focused on the creation of “funny animal” art. The “funny animal” genre of art refers to works like the aforementioned Fritz the Cat, which aren't exactly furry art but nonetheless feature anthropomorphic animals living essentially human lives.

The funny animal art genre gained more and more traction, to the point where funny animal enthusiasts organized into groups and began attending conventions. After a few of these conventions in the mid-'80s, the community had grown considerably, and the first convention specifically for furries (named “ConFurence Zero”) was hosted in 1989.

In the years afterwards, the furry community expanded to the internet, with tons of furry-centric online communities popping up between 1990 and 2000. The community and its interests have remained largely the same since then, other than growing in size; currently, there are over 40 annual furry conventions held worldwide, the largest being Midwest FurFest.

What Constitutes a Furry?

The basic definition of a furry is someone with a particular interest in anthropomorphic cartoon animals, although ultimately this description is pretty reductive. By that definition, you could also say that anyone who's a fan of Madagascar, Over the Hedge, or any other similar movie featuring talking animals is a furry, which really isn't the case.

It's ultimately the degree and the nature of interest for anthropomorphic animals that decide whether someone is a furry. While the average person might not feel any particular connection with a humanoid animal character, those who identify as furries often strongly identify with animal characters.

These characters may be from pre-existing media, or they may be a character of the furry's own conception. Furries often create “fursonas”, which are essentially personalized animal characters that represent the furry in some way. You can consider having a fursona as basically being a type of roleplaying.

Some furries also create their own costumes (or “fursuits”) to wear to conventions as a depiction of their fursona. Many people tend to assume that all furries own and wear fursuits, but in truth, only about 20% of furries at the most actually own and wear fursuits. 

What most people seem to know furries for, however, is being sexually attracted to anthropomorphic animals. It's true that there is a prominent sexual aspect to the furry community, particularly when it comes to the artwork that the community produces, but the idea of the hypersexual furry is ultimately somewhat of a stereotype. 

While many furries are primarily involved in the community for the sexual aspects, there are at least as many (if not more) furries that don't view the community as being inherently sexual. In fact, in the early years of the fandom, movements like the Burned Furs were founded within the community with the goal of countering the “pervertedness” of the fandom.

Why Do People Become Furries? 

Perhaps the biggest question you might have about the furry fandom is “why”? What is it about the community that attracts so many people? What do people find so appealing about being a furry?

This is a tricky question to answer accurately, but we can certainly speculate. Many furries, for one reason or another, personally identify with a certain type of animal, and the furry community enables these people to explore their thoughts and feelings regarding this animal.

It's also a fact that the furry community is generally regarded as being very welcoming and open to individuals from all backgrounds. There tends to be relatively little discrimination in the community for any reason, so it may be that the community tends to draw in those who feel outcast or misunderstood in some way and need a space where they can be themselves. 

On the other hand, the fact that the community is so tolerant means that it also attracts a few people who join the community specifically to indulge in their various sexual fetishes. The number of people who become furries for this purpose is low overall, but thanks to their behaviour they often tend to be the more prominent members of the community.

In the end, though, just like almost any other community, the furry fandom is an incredibly diverse and varied group of people, and the community continues to attract new members for a wide variety of reasons.