#Adventures of @DustyCPollyD: Furry Fandom

#TalkNerdyToMeLover’s Polly Dixon

OMG. New word, new term, new EVERYTHING. Wait for it….wait for it….

The Background: While out and about with @JenFriel this weekend, I had the opportunity to rock — for the first time ever – a SpiritHood, which was AWESOME in and of itself. (1) It kept me warm; (2) I’m pretty sure I looked amazing in it; (3) I could latch my pink glasses into them so I wouldn’t lose them and (4) It drew fabulous attention from hotties. A YUMMY.

The Story: Anyways, as my nights typically go, I ended up at the bar, hitting on a cute bartender (I tend to fall in love with them very easily). Bartender Boy’s eyes lit up when he saw me, comes over and leans in to ask this question:

The Question: “ARE YOU A FURRY?”

I had no clue what he was talking about. I think I mumbled/stammered some type of response about my hood being furry but recognized immediately by the glint in his eye that he was not talking about anything that I knew. Back in the day, I would have awkwardly just walked away but I demanded to know what the smirk on his face was. To which he replied, that a FURRY was someone who liked to have SEX dressed as an ANIMAL and/or essentially had some type of ANIMAL SEX FETISH. ahahah. What!? So basically, all those boys at the bar were not looking at me like I was a cute little red wolf but were looking at me like I wanted to get down and dirty dressed as an animal!?!? Well, wait. Don’t get me wrong. I would for sure rock the SpiritHood anytime, anywhere – bedroom included. But seriously, when I learn about something I never knew of before…I have to know all there is about it. To the point that I’m sure it gets annoying. All weekend I kept asking everyone if they knew what a FURRY was and randomly Google-ing FURRY just to see what was out there.

The Details: PEOPLE. Turns out, it’s this whole thing that I never knew about!!! It’s fascinating. I can’t believe there was this entire subculture that I never knew about.

Turns out it’s not all just sex related. In fact, there is a huge misconception out there about furry fandom. The media has portrayed it as a sexual fetish. (It is…but come on, there are sexual fetishes for everything). What it really is, is people – artists, animators, writers, costumers, etc. — just fascinated with anthropomorphics, which are humanlike animal characters. One of the biggest conventions in the country (Anthrocon) appropriately recognizes that anthromorphized animals are all around us – representing political parties, sports mascots, cartoons, etc. And really all these conventions are, are people talking about and drawing animals as comic-book characters! Or rather, just like the sci-fi fanatics out – the furry fan thinks about things outside of the box and imagines other worlds.

Apparently, this has been around since the 80s and also has been seen on Entourage, 30 Rock, CSI, and ER. But I had no idea. So yay for me (and maybe for some of you!!) for learning about new things/new concepts/new cultures. Love it.

Note: As an FYI – – If you are dressed as an animal, and you hear someone yell “Yiff” or “Yip” or “Yaff”, it means, in furry jargon, they are inquiring whether you desire to do the dirty.