Ross: Figuring out the Furries (and what we could all stand to learn)

I heard Gee & Ursula discussing the Furry phenomenon – this subculture of mostly young people who dress like animals all the time, sometimes even in school.

There are precedents for this. Our kids dressed as animals for the Christmas pageant. They were sheep. And yet today, they are fully-independent adults.

Of course, Furry Fandom goes way beyond that. It’s a lifestyle with conventions and websites, and it can even be therapeutic for people on the autism spectrum, or who are trying to figure out their gender identity.

The problem is that apparently some people on the outside are frightened by it, that it’s some kind of Disney-worshipping cult, or that their children are being brainwashed into identifying as animals.

But if you look into it, it’s like any affinity group. It has its excesses and egos, but it’s not very organized, and there are internal rivalries.

A Furry influencer who goes by the name BetaEtaDelota has been trying to teach Furries how to get along with each other in a series of videos on YouTube.

“Don’t bring young Furries down or degrade them if they something wrong at a convention,” he says in one. “Kids don’t know better especially if there’s their first time in anything. So in situations like tracing, stealing art, pulling tails, randomly hugging, they’re entirely new to this, so giving a soft reminder is better than scaring, saddening, or even enraging them. Angry kids are not to be messed with — my home address has been leaked four times now.”

And for people on the outside who are worried about Furries, I thought Beta’s conclusion was spot on.

“Overall, the moral of the story is just to be nice and not be terrible to people,” he summarized.

Amen, BetaEta.

I would just add one thing – for Furries who have actual pets of their own, and according to the Furscience website, 13% of furries own at least one cat or one dog. But should not dress up in front of them, because, also according to Furscience, the vast majority of you believe in animal rights, and if you believe, as I do, that animals have feelings – for your cat to see you putting on a plastic cat head with pink fur and attaching a blue tail would not be cool… although it might entertain the dog.

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