- What's a Furry? -
What is the Furry Fandom?
If you are just hearing of the Furry Fandom for the first time, you may be sorting through a lot of information and varying opinions about the source, purpose, and motivation behind this strange and sometimes uncanny phenomenon. Simply put, this fandom exists to celebrate fictional characters through creative means - including art, costuming, storytelling, and boundless forms of media. A majority of these characters are anthropomorphic animals, known colloquially as "furries".
Why do people join the fandom?
While anthropomorphism (the giving of human-like qualities to animals or objects) has been part of the human imagination for as long as time can tell, the seed of the modern Furry Fandom can be attributed greatly to cartoons, movies and comics featuring human-like animals. Today, people make their own anthropomorphic characters - sometimes representing themselves, a partial identity, or an idealized character that can inspire or comfort them. People of diverse age groups find joy in sharing artwork of, costuming as, and living vicariously through their personal furry mascots.
Who joins the fandom?
The fandom is made up of people from every distant walk of life, and contains many talents and opportunities to make friends, develop socially, and find people who share like interests. This is a major draw of attending a furry convention- such as AnthroExpo- where the fear of judgment is null and most everyone rallies under one basic rule: everyone deserves to be accepted.
Further Reading
The International Anthropomorphic Research Project (IARP) offers a plethora of information gathered through various surveys and studies at conventions across the globe about the many whats, whys and whos of the furry fandom. Parents, guardians, or anyone seeking research-driven data on the fandom and its participants can visit their website for more information: https://furscience.com/
In addition, there are a handful of informational and insightful documentaries on the Furry Fandom for free online. You can view the official AnEx 2020 mini-documentary which details AnthroExpo's inaugural year below: