The Bizarre World of Online Communities: The Furry Fandom (Jonathan Castella's Blog Post #10)


Social media has created a world in which just about anyone can find a community of like-minded individuals with similar interests. No matter how niche or bizarre your interest, there is a community for you somewhere. Whether it be on Reddit, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, or anywhere else, there is somewhere for everyone. One of the most bizarre of these online communities is that of the furry community. A furry, to put it as simply as possible, is someone who likes anthropomorphic (human-like) animals and calls themselves a furry. If you have not spent a lot of time online this may not sound very bizarre. However, if you have, you are either a furry yourself or have made/heard a joke at the expense of this community. Oftentimes members of this community have a “fursona.” A fursona is an avatar based on an animal or mythical creature meant to represent oneself. Sometimes they will dress up as their fursona wearing a “fursuit” at conventions called furrycons. Due to how odd many of these things come across to the community's outsiders it is no wonder they have fostered such an online community. The term "terminally online” applies very well to the furry fandom. It should be noted that members of the furry community have a high proportion of members of the LGBTQ+ community. According to one summer 2020 survey of a total of 559, it was found that nearly 90% of furries identified their sexuality with something other than heterosexual. In addition, this survey found that nearly 40% of them identified with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. Many members of the LGBTQ+ community are viewed as a sort of out-group. Online communities often offer safety to outgroups, fostering a sense of safety and acceptance. This is a clear positive on online communities, but what happens when online thought goes too far? Still looking at the furry community, we can see this in an offshoot of the fandom who call themselves "Furry Raiders." The Furry Raiders are a far-right white supremacist community who self-identify as furries. Even the Furry Raider's logo (depicted bellow) bares an eerie resemblance to the flag of the Nazi Party. They make up an extremely small number of the furry fandom but they do exist. This kind of extreme right wing thought is fostered by extremely online communities. Members of the Furry Raiders are oftentimes hated by the majority of the furry community since it is meant to be a space for acceptance. How and why this kind of thought happens in online communities goes a bit beyond the scope of this blog post, it is however still worth mentioning. With all this in mind it is made clear that for better or for worse the furry fandom is a very diverse online community. Online communities truly are some of the oddest places on the internet, but at least there is a home for everyone online.       

(Furry Raiders Logo)


Source for the summer 2020 survey: 

Summer 2020 survey. Furscience. (2021, April 18). https://furscience.com/research-findings/appendix-1-previous-research/summer-2020/

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