Is Furry A Sexuality?
This is a tough question to answer. It’s easy to just go “no, it’s not” because you don’t see them being celebrated during pride month but there are so many intricacies to this community that it’s hard to so bluntly answer. There are loads of twists and turns and exceptions when navigating this question so we’re going to try our best to break this down into several smaller questions to arrive at a more general and calculated conclusion.
What Does It Mean To Be A Furry?
Although we have a whole article dedicated to explaining this, it seems to be a point that needs to be reiterated time and time again. Despite extremely common misconception there is no sexual implication tied to being a furry. Furries are just people who are enthusiastic about cartoon animals. Yes, a lot of the anthropomorphic characters from your childhood have probably been fetishised in more ways than your mind could possibly imagine, potentially ruining your childhood completely, but, this is not an accurate depiction of the furry fandom. If you want a more accurate gauge of what the fandom is like check out furry discord servers or furry subreddits because those are actual furries interacting with other actual furries, rather than some episode of 30 Rock. Rather than being stigmatized as some weird kink, being a furry is a hobby, something that people can do in their free time, whether it be sharing their own furry art, going to conventions and showing off a new fursuit or watching the latest season of Beastars (just kidding).
Furry In A Fursuit
Image by New York Post via New York Post
Is Being A Furry Just A Fetish?
That last section may have come off as a bit ranty so let’s clear some things up. The fethishisation of furries is not an accurate representation of the furry community: true. However, this is not to imply that furry fetishes do not exist. There is a large sub-community within the furry fandom who are especially interested in furry sex, or more popularly furry porn or furry hentai.
What is a Furry Fetish?
When talking about a furry fetish, more often than not, this is in reference to people who dress up in fursuits as a kink or people who have sex in fursuits. There are even particular types of suits known as mursuits that are designed specifically for furries to perform this kink equipped with easy access to say the least. However if you want to argue this as irrefutable evidence of furry being a sexuality, there’s already a few holes in this argument. For one, mursuiters only make up about 6% of the fursuiting community let alone the entire furry community and two: sexual kinks aren’t necessarily synonymous with sexual preference or orientation but they definitely have some value in arguing that furry is a sexuality.
Taken From A Vice Video About How Not All Furries Are Fetishists
Image by Vice via Vice
Zoophilia vs Furry Fetish
Now you may read that and say, “well I raise you people who are sexually attracted to actual animals”. Surely this must have some bearing on a person’s sexuality if they have not interest in human attraction and are instead sexually attracted to animals. To put it as bluntly as possible: yes, but that is now what a furry fetish is. Sexual attraction to actual animals is what is known as zoophilia and practicing it is actually illegal in most countries, so as you could imagine, furries don’t really identify with zoohphiles regardless of their fetish. Drawing a connection between the two is exactly why the furry community has such a bad reputation, so there’s the difference.
Safe For Work Furry Drawing
Image by Metriaus via Reddit
Do Furries Think They’re Animals?
Okay, but what if the furries actually identified as animals, that must imply something about their sexual orientation. We know that roughly one in three furries claim that they don’t feel 100% human with around 14% of these people meaning they physically do not feel 100% human, not just mentally or spiritually. I’ll be the first to admit that this is where things begin to get complicated. Does this mean fursonas are simply a physical manifestation of a furry’s desire to be part animal or is it just something they make for fun? The simple answer is probably both. People make fursonas for a variety of different reasons whether it be because they want to fulfill their desire to be part animal or because they just want to have a bit of fun and make a piece of art that they can share with their friends. After all, the prior stat only applies to one in three furries meaning that a majority of the community do not identify as an animal in any way shape or form. So do furries think they’re animals? ⅓ of the time yes, partly, but for the most part no, furries do not actually believe that they are part animal.
Are Furries Only Attracted To Other Furries?
No, furries are not only attracted to other furries. Some furries may only be interested in dating other furries simply because it’s a pretty niche common interest, but being a furry doesn’t mean that you are now bound to only dating other furries, that would be a kind of regressive.
Furry Pride Shirt Design
Image by Haphizard’s Artist Shop via Haphizard
What Qualifies As A Sexuality?
Now for what is probably the most important question when trying to answer this question, what makes a sexuality a sexuality. In its most basic form, sexuality is what determines whom a person feels a sexual or romantic attraction towards. However, romantic attraction can also differ from sexual attraction meaning a person could be aromantic (lacking romantic attraction towards anyone) but not be asexual (people who are typically disinterested in sexual relationships). There is even a fursexual sexuality which describes people who are sexually attracted to anthropomorphic animals which is further specified with heterofursexual and homofursexual. This is not recognised as an actual sexuality as of the publication of this article but this may change in the future. However, this is not the same as being a furry regardless, as there are not sexual implications of being a furry.
So, Is Furry A Sexuality?
With all things considered, I think it would be unfair to deem furry a sexuality. It’s true that there are many furries who feel a sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals or other furries. Or even furries who identify partly as animals, but this is not representative of what it means to be a furry and are instead sub-communities within the broader furry community. Being a furry just means to be interested (not sexually) in anthropomorphic animals and this therefore doesn’t necessarily have any bearing on a person’s sexuality or who they feel romantically attracted towards.
