Stripper. Camgirl. Graphic Designer. Nerd.

I think most of us know what furries are, but for those of you that don’t, I’m going to talk about the non-sexual aspects of furrydom before I mention the sexual.

First of all, furries are fictional characters that people generally play on MUCKS and MUSHES. MUCKS and MUSHES are online, text-based roleplaying games where each person plays a character. It’s like D&D, only with furries, sans a room full of smelly nerds. I should know about that last part, by the way. Every character essentially acts like a human, they’re just.. not. They’re whatever animal the person wants them to be, whether it be a gopher, fox, bear, lion.. you get the point. Furries usually don’t speak in costume for several reasons. One, some want to conceal their identity. Two, animals don’t speak, and three, you wouldn’t be able to hear them anyway.

To get to the sexual part, some furries take their roleplaying a few steps further. I’d like to point out that not all people that play text-based roleplaying games are furverts, or people that sexualize furrydom. According to Wikipedia, only about one third have a sexual interest in furrydom. To warn non-furverts of sexual activity in the online community, the term “yiff” is used.

Some furries are only sexually attracted to anthropomorphic animals, but they don’t necessarily go around dressed up in costumes. Just to quash unsubstantiated claims that all furries are into beastiality, a study by David Rust showed that about 2% of furries were interested in sex with an animal. As a side note, I also think it’s important to mention plushophilia here. I want to write a separate Fetish Friday about this, but plushophiliacs are really into stuffed animals. They sometimes get lumped in with furries, and that’s not really correct. More on this later.

So how do furverts get off? I think that’s the big question. Some express affection (and not necessarily sexual affection) by scritching, or lightly scratching another furry between the ears with their fingernails (or claws, if they’re wearing their fursuit). Some fursuits are specially made for sex, with elaborate features meant to make sex easier. Other furries just cut holes where they need them.

There are lots of furry conventions held around the world, but the largest one in the world is held annually in Pittsburgh. So, if you want to see furries in action, you should check out Anthrocon.

I’m throwing this next part in here just because I’m a huge Brewers fan and I think it’s hilarious.

From Wikipedia:

Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster Jim Powell was sharing a hotel with Anthrocon 2007 attendees a day before the convention and reported a negative opinion of the furries.

It’s incredibly vague, but the fact that they mentioned my second favorite Brewers announcer made it worth mentioning.

If anyone has anything they’d like to add to this, please email me at xdominox4@gmail.com! www.dominoxxx.com