Furry Fandom: Mainstream or a cultural curiosity?

[Renton Whitetail]

I saw this topic being discussed in a Telegram chat once, and I thought it’d be nice to bring it up here for discussion.

Could the fandom be seen as mainstream (considering the amount of media that feature anthropomorphic animals nowadays) or simply a cultural curiosity?

Personally, I see it as more of a cultural curiosity, as it seems that many non-furries are probably aware of the fandom’s existence but don’t know much about it. After all, the concept of anthropomorphic animals has been around since the beginning of time, yet many people might not be fully aware that there is a fandom fully dedicated to it.

Feel free to leave your own comments on this topic. 🙂

[Aerak]

Renton Whitetail wrote:

I saw this topic being discussed in a Telegram chat once, and I thought it’d be nice to bring it up here for discussion. Could the fandom be seen as mainstream (considering the amount of media that feature anthropomorphic animals nowadays) or simply a cultural curiosity? Personally, I see it as more of a cultural curiosity, as it seems that many non-furries are probably aware of the fandom’s existence but don’t know much about it. After all, the concept of anthropomorphic animals has been around since the beginning of time, yet many people might not be fully aware that there is a fandom fully dedicated to it. Feel free to leave your own comments on this topic.

When I look back 14 years ago to when I first was getting involved in the furry fandom, I remember a time when there were only a handful of conventions and attendance was in triple digits. The only huge furry convention was Anthrocon and that was only a couple thousand people at that time. There were not many furry organizations out there – furries were fair game for anyone in the media looking to sensationalize it.

I think the path that the furry fandom is taking is very similar to the road that anime and science fiction fandoms have already gone through. Anime and D&D for instance both had a time period where they were thought of as nefarious and taboo.

I don’t know if Furry will ever be fully mainstream, but I’ve already heard fursuiters lamenting the time when they could show up at parks and no one had ever heard of furries, so it would be a surprise and in their view more whimsical. I think there lacks reliable census data to show just how many of us are out there. Furry Amino for instance claims to have over 100,000 users. Furaffinity at any given point will show well over 10,000 users actively using the website. Whether the numbers are actual people and whether or not they have been inflated is anyone’s guess. We can however take an educated guess based on the active number of people attending furry events. I have a hard time subscribing to the idea that world wide there are more than a quarter million of us, and even that number is probably much higher than the actual number. Even if there are that many furries, it’s just a fraction of a percent of the world population – In other words, there just isn’t the critical mass needed for an idea to reach main stream.

I do however believe that many more people are aware of the existence of the fandom and that it’s growing exponentially. I believe there are many factors, from experienced individuals setting up nonprofit and for profit organizations to run furry events and coordinate with other fandoms, to the evolution of the internet and social media, to Zootopia – yes, Zootopia has introduced a younger generation to the idea of anthropomorphic animals. Just look at MNFurs – we are launching year round youth programming starting this June… all because the population of kids and their parents in our fandom has skyrocketed.

Furry isn’t mainstream, but mainstream is geeky. Furry happens to be pretty geeky as well. So I think it’s a great time to be involved in the fandom because even though we aren’t mainstream, it’s very easy to explain Furry to the mainstream.

[Kurst Hyperyote]

Renton Whitetail wrote:

I saw this topic being discussed in a Telegram chat once, and I thought it’d be nice to bring it up here for discussion.

Could the fandom be seen as mainstream (considering the amount of media that feature anthropomorphic animals nowadays) or simply a cultural curiosity?

It’s an interesting topic as much as what is “mainstream means” If you talk to someone 20 years ago what they describe as mainstream the furry fandom is that today.

I don’t think for one bit the overall growth of the fandom will stop, I don’t think one minute the definition of what is the furry fandom will stop evolving.

But will it become mainstream. I think it will, and part of that will make it more commercial. You will see less conventions being done as non profits and more for profit. You will see a return to more characters own by companies being involved in the fandom. This fandom does have that chance of becoming main stream and I see it happening.

Member of Minnesota Furs a 501c3 Non Profit, former Convention Chairman for Furry Migration, volunteer, and always doings lots of other stuff.

Feel free to ask questions because I'm here for you!
Kurst "YipYap" Hyperyote

[Procyon]

Not a cultural curiosity, but also not mainstream (thank God).  However, Furry is also no doing what it did best 40-20 years ago.  Maybe one day it will find its feet, eh, paws again.  The fact that Furry forgot that it is not based in culture, but counter culture, is the reason why Furry currently fails to be significant.   Please ignore the ramblings of a greymuzzle.

 

[Aerak]

Procyon wrote:

Not a cultural curiosity, but also not mainstream (thank God). However, Furry is also no doing what it did best 40-20 years ago. Maybe one day it will find its feet, eh, paws again. The fact that Furry forgot that it is not based in culture, but counter culture, is the reason why Furry currently fails to be significant. Please ignore the ramblings of a greymuzzle.

I would argue about it failing to be significant. I think if you look at what it is now and just isolate that without looking at prior generations of furry for contrast, you would see there is significance. I can’t help but see that when I’m invited to attend high school concerts for the girl I mentor – this girl last year was so shy, had so little self esteem and was being picked on in school. While I’m talking to her after her concerts, I have to watch out because she’ll get tackle hugged by so many of her peers. Everyone at her school knows she’s part of this fandom (she’s even gotten a handful to attend our events and they are now regulars), everyone calls her by her furry name, she has so much charisma now. I’m so proud of her.

I think for her, Furry is a bit like the parable of the old man and the starfish. I don’t know if Furry is going to be significant in the way you are looking for, Flip, but it’s certainly significant to her.

[Neon Foxxy]

I don’t know but there have been a whole heck of a lot of anthro animal inspired costumes in the halloween stores the last few years- more so than any other time I can recall. Wal-mart even sells those heads year round now. If that’s not main stream- I don’t know what is.

[defunct]

I was actually about to record a podcast episode about this, gonna be looking through this thread!

[Peter the Bear]

i would say furries mainstream by now. there’s enough things out there with furries in it that I would say it’s mainstream

[GMZilla]

Peter the Bear wrote:

i would say furries mainstream by now. there’s enough things out there with furries in it that I would say it’s mainstream

I would agree. The problem is that there is a huge negative view of furry as a whole. It doesn’t help that there are incidences like Rainfurrest 2015 and other bad seeds casting a bad image for us.

I also was remind how a lot of none-furries view furries recently. This last year I actually watched one of my roommates evolve from being disgusted with furries due to dealing with weird art commissions to identifying as a furry. Twas a wild ride to say the least.

[Peter the Bear]

yeah austin, there is a lot of negatives with the fandom itself, but furry as a whole is becoming more mainstream

[Rascal Mischief]

I don’t have any of these complicated opinons like most folks… I’m a simple squirrel. I’d say it’s somewhere in the middle, still leaning a little towards the “oddity” side and leave it at that. on a scale of -10 to 10, with 10 beng full mainstream, I’d say it’s at -3.

Equality, not superiority

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