I’ve briefly touched upon the topic of furries in Muses and in previous Writing Prompt posts, and I wanted to expand upon the subject.

There’s a ton of misconceptions about the furry fandom, including (but not limited to) the idea that furries are into bestiality and zoophilia. These misconceptions are often motivated by hate towards the LGBT community, because a lot of furries are part of the LGBT community, and the conservative, religious right enjoys nothing more than to demonise the LGBT community, so furries cop the abuse by default.

It’s true that some furries enjoy an, ah, sexual component to the fandom, but this is between consenting adults, and it has nothing to do with bestiality. A furry makes use of their fursona, which is an anthropomorphized creature. Think of say, Po from Kung Fu Panda, or Nick Wilde from Zootopia. These characters, these ‘sonas, are not animals, and the people inhabiting the fursonas are not pretending to be animals.

The vast majority of furries are in fact in it for the friendship. The furry community is a welcoming one, where people can get creative with art, music, animation and costume design. The colourful, beautiful creations of furries are absolutely tremendous. The inclusiveness of furries is incredible and wonderful. The willingness to root out bad apples is a trait rarely found elsewhere. Despite all of this, people are still quick to regard the furry fandom as a ‘fetish’. This isn’t always done out of malice, but it is done out of ignorance.

One of the things that surprises a lot of people is that a lot of furry conventions are family-friendly. Sure, some have adults-only events (but that doesn’t have to mean sexual content; it can late-night parties/clubbing etc), but a lot of them are open to everybody. In many ways, being a furry is no different to getting dressed up in the colours of your favourite sports team, or in the uniforms/outfits of your favourite sci-fi/fantasy franchise. The stigmas that come with it are completely wrong, and I hope more and more people come to realise this.