This week, neither Ben nor I will be posting. I have asked my friend Dillon Lucas to write something about a movement he is working on in a certain subculture. But he can explain it better than I, so without further ado:

What is Furry, anyway?

A Guest Post by Dillon Lucas

Furry is a subculture, a wide group of people who utilize a world of anthropomorphic animals to create different types of artwork. The artwork varies between drawn or painted works, written stories, or even crafts like making mascot suits by oneself, but that’s more of a rarity, despite the publicity that the mascot suits, or “Fursuits” get. “Furries” as they are called, generally hang out in Internet Relay Chatrooms (IRC) or on forums, at which they exchange their works that they’ve created. Some like to roleplay within their respected IRCs or forums as a means to play out their own furry characters that they’ve created, also known as “fursonas”. If Furries get the chance, they love to meet up and hang out together. This is generally because the subculture isn’t all of a big thing, and it’s exciting for them to meet with another Furry, or “Furr” for short, due to how rare it is to see one.

Some Furries are really big cartoon buffs, and gear their artwork more towards a cartoonish style. Others are intrigued by realism in the Furry universe, and incorporate that into their works. Here are examples of some of the artwork:

http://furry.org.ua/pic/bbbasil.jpg, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Anthro_vixen.jpg, http://fc04.deviantart.com/images3/i/2004/142/d/5/sci_fi_rp_tiger_anthro.jpg, http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/509157/Apples-Marten.jpg

I may or may not have given it away with the above links, but Furry art generally utilizes anthropomorphic canines and felines. You normally won’t see a “Furry” turtle or something like that… unless you watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when you were little. Those count.

Here are a couple examples of the fursuits:

http://pics.wildillusions.com/albums/userpics/10003/normal_Fursuit_v1_Comparison.jpg, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Fursuit_TaniDaReal_top.jpg, http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/509157/DSC_0553.jpg

Fursuits take a LONG time to make, months even, and are VERY pricey (800+ to 2000$+). Others are too lazy to express their “Furriness” with suits, so they just make tails or ears, or wear collars (so, it’s not always the Goth kids!). The suits are generally worn at conventions, where a large number of Furries can congregate and show off their work to each other. Never been to one myself, but they generally have lots of fun from what I’ve been told.

Now, there are a very large range of misconceptions about Furries; I’ll rattle off a few.

1.) Furries seriously think that they’re animals. Why else would they wear the suits?

No. People, in general, who believe that they’re animals, or believe that they possess the soul of an animal are known as Therianthropes. Some Therians happen to be Furries, but those are a minority (Wikipedia Therianthropy for more info).

Furries wear Fursuits for a couple of reasons… but generally just for the heck of it. Also, like I said previously, “Fursuiting” isn’t all that big, it just gets a lot of publicity.

2.) Furries have absolutely no life and just waste away online.

Again, no. Some furries do, but I’ve also met my fair share of very successful, and good Christian Furries. One Christian Furry I know works with NASA!

3.) Furries are sick, disgusting perverts who condone and perform zoophilia, or beastiality.

ICK! Sad to say, but there are furries that do this. HOWEVER, they are a minority and are known as “Furverts” within the subculture.

4.) Furries are sexually confused.

No. There are some homosexuals who happen to be Furry, but that’s not what Furry is.

Sadly, the Furries who dance with all these sins get the most publicity, and are also the most bashed by those who know what a Furry is. This causes newcoming Furries to keep their interest in Furry a secret from friends and family, and they find themselves sinning too sometimes, because no one’s holding them accountable. When I say the sinful Furries get the most attention, you’d get that immediately if you played with Google Images for awhile (DON’T. You’ll regret it for the rest of your life).

With all the bad stuff around, it’s hard for a lot of people to see how it could be a good, God-glorifying thing, especially when people are keeping it a secret from people that they care about. When I was still a Furry myself, I was guilty of keeping it a secret too, especially because of a darker past that I struggled with (for more info on that, see my blog and scroll to the very bottom of it: http://oncebound.blogspot.com). I eventually did tell Mom and Dad, but they were less than friendly with it; by now you can see why.

If you look at the Chronicles of Narnia, that would be considered a piece of Furry literature by the subculture. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, but I’m sure there’s other Christian works that happen to utilize the Furry world, and many more could be made… but the problem is, some Christian Furries are keeping their interest in the subculture a secret, because they’re afraid of judgment by their peers, their Church, and their parents. Some of them treat it like a sin because they keep it so hidden, and for others, it becomes one.

This is a terrible, terrible picture folks! Here you have a pretty cool world full of ways in which God-glorifying things could be created, but it’s also in the midst of a subculture that’s looked down upon because the sinners within it get so much publicity. So, what’s my mission? Why am I writing this to you guys?

I’m writing for prayer, for hope. This secret has to be broken! A day has to come when Furries can give all they do to the Lord, and do so without shame! Some I have spoken to have considered starting a new Furry movement, a Christian one, and rebranding the works of art and the interest as a whole. Whether or not that’s the way to go, only God knows. So, I’m begging you guys, be praying that God moves these people, and that the shackles of the sins they don’t want to be accused of are broken.

Here are some Christian Furry forums you can take a peek at!

http://christianfurs.net

http://www.furrsfurchrist.com/forum/

Questions

If you have any questions, you are more than welcome (encouraged, in fact) to post them here, or you can contact Dillon with any of the following:
E-mail: dillon1990@hotmail.com
Skype: kail200x
AIM: kail200x
MSN: bereftofdream20xx@msn.com

I really encourage you to pray for this movement. Pray that:

  1. God would work through Christian Furries to help other Furries who are lost.
  2. God would help Dillon and his comrades to clearly present the gospel in an understandable way.
  3. God would take away the shame felt by many furries and cause them to come out in the open with their interest.