To be or not to be...a furry

Fur Suit

Lucario Fursuit

The term furry is a fairly obscure one, kept hidden away in chat rooms and on forums, but the concept is very common. A furry is an anthropomorphic animal like Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse. Everyone likes Mickey Mouse right? Then why is it that the furry fandom is received in such a bad light? The answer lies in the fact that it's a little on the strange side and can have some sexual connotations. The majority of the furry fandom are people who simply like animals and feel a connection with them. Sometimes this connection is expressed through visual media or prose, and sometimes it's expressed through a simple sense of community with others who feel like they do.

If you were to define the term furry as expressed above, you could claim that famous animators like Walt Disney and Chuck Jones and authors like Erin Hunter were/are furries. This defines the majority of the furry fandom and really is the best description, but it's not the art and prose that earned the furry his/her bad name. It's activities like fur suiting. Fur suiting refers to the act of dressing in animal costumes and role playing that your are that animal. Some people choose to fashion their costumes around real life animals and others go for the more mythological aspect. Some even choose to use anime and cartoon characters. I've seen fursuits designed to look like foxes and fursuits designed to look like wolves. I've even seen a fursuit designed around the Pokemon Lucario which, for those of you not well versed in the gaming world, is a character from the Pokemon series of video games and anime television shows.The act of fursuiting is really quite similar to cosplay, a.k.a the act of dressing up as and imitating cartoon characters, and plays a similar role at furry conventions and gatherings. The reason that fur suiting gives the furry world such a bad name is that people don't normally feel comfortable around those who get pleasure out of the act of imitation, unless their actors of course, and that role playing in general has a bad reputation after the unpleasantness that went along with the release of Dungeons and Dragons. The second aspect of the furry fandom that wigs people out is the sexual aspect to furry artwork. Like all other things there are people who choose to add a pornographic aspect to their artwork, and this could be likened to beastiality which really isn't held in the highest respect. Some artists design their art around anthropomorphic animals engaging in intercourse with humans or each other, and others design their art around anime and video game characters engaging in intercourse with humans or each other. Most furries don't deal in the pornographic side of the furry world, and the pornographic side doesn't make being a furry a sexuality. Taken in its basest form, being a furry simply means, as stated above, that you like animals when their drawn anthropomorphized. If reading this has left you interested in the furry fandom and you feel that you might be a furry, there are plenty of safe websites out there where you can meet other
 furries and learn a little more about the fandom. If you curious check out some of the links below.

Fur Affinity

Furry 4 Life

Or check out this awesome free MMOG. Furcadia is a online game full of furries and role players.