As I watch the furries bowl, the words of poet Paul Laurence Dunbar ring in my mind: “We wear the mask that grins and lies.” Furries, by contrast, wear masks in an attempt to reveal who they are or who they wish to be. “The whole point for me to fursuit is to role play as a different person or character,” says fursuit designer K.T., whose fursona is Afry, a wolf-husky mix with a puppy-like appearance. “Even though my fursona is based off me, she still is more playful and more social than I usually am.”
identity questions: “Do you consider yourself to be less than 100% human?” and “If you could be, would you be 0 percent human?” According to the 2006 data, 38 percent of those surveyed were part of the fandom to have fun, and 25 percent did not believe they are entirely human. Twenty-two percent do not consider themselves entirely human but wouldn’t choose to be completely nonhuman, and 15 percent said they believe they are completely human, but would become a non-human entity if possible.
“I’m giving myself permission to focus less on behaving and speaking in a way that mainstream society would deem normal or healthy,” adds Matthew, or Cocobanana, who sits casually by the lanes in street clothes.
Because positive answers to the two key identity questions parallel aspects of gender dysphoria, Gerbasi postulated a new idea tentatively called “species identity disorder.” However, she is still left with more questions than answers, she says, and hopes to one day reveal what it means to be a furry.
WINTER/SPRING 2013
This relaxing of inhibitions is a common theme among furries. “I’m shy, but I can have an outgoing side,” says Courtney Plante, who wears a simple dog collar beneath his neatly trimmed beard. His fursona, Nuka, is a tall, aqua blue cat in a white lab coat. “Wearing a fursuit is just a way of emphasizing that particular part of my personality. Being Nuka is simply my way of saying, ‘Okay, now I’m in my playful mood.’” PLANTE AND GERBASI are part of a team researching what it means to be a furry. They conduct an annual survey at Anthrocon that aims to address some of the stereotypes surrounding the fandom, such as the homosexual male furry typecast. Their research shows that furries evenly split between heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual. Their research also explores furry identity and connections to nonhuman species. The survey asks participants two key
Conway has some doubts about this research and believes there may be some bias in the survey results. “It’s difficult to separate the people who are answering in an honest sense, where they do believe that they are not an actual, full human being, from those who are simply caught up in the enthusiasm of the convention itself,” he says. As both a furry and a researcher, Plante says it’s sometimes hard to remain objective when he encounters negative data. Research shows that the fandom is often harsh toward subgroups such as babyfurs, who enjoy behaving like young or infantile characters. Such discrimination doesn’t speak well of a community that boasts openness and acceptance as part of its identity. “By forcing furries to recognize and confront this hypocrisy, we can hopefully undermine it and change it for the better,” Plante says.
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