Know Thy Enemy

The wookie is coming to my team. Suffice to say, this is not a shocking development. This has been in the works for almost a year now, and I knew that one day it would become a reality. The move is probably about a month or two away.

I dubbed her the wookie because of her hairy appearance. That's really it. It had little to do with her apparent "furry" interests. In fact, I wasn't aware of those interests until after I had given her the nickname. If I'm going to be working with this girl every day soon, I figure that I should at least know what I'm up against here. So, between working and sneezing my head off from this stupid cold that is now in full swing, I took it upon myself to do a bit of research on the term "furry".

The term "furry" refers to a fan base for fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.

Ok. Simple enough.

The term became mainstream in 1983, but could have existed as early as 1965. The first "furry convention" was in 1987, and the first furry IRC channel went up in 1990.

But what do furries do? Well, they write stories about their characters, they draw them, make comic books, and other stuff like that. Some furries craft "plushies", and others create "fursuits" that they will wear to conventions. Most furries do not own a full fursuit, due to the cost. Instead, wearing accessories such as ears and a tail is most popular.

I was shocked to learn that the largest furry convention in the world is the Anthrocon, held right here in my own city of Pittsburgh. Sometimes, I really regret researching things.

But yet, just like you do with a train wreck, I continued to look.

Apparently, there is some debate on what the term furry actually means. Surveys have concluded that a majority of people who consider themselves a furry believe the term simply means "someone interested in socializing with others who share the common interest of anthropomorphic art and costumes". That's not bad, because it means that a majority of these people are pretty normal.

Then it goes on to state that "6% of furries do not consider themselves human at all".

Ooookay.

And now to delve into the area of furries that no one ever talks about. Ah yes, the sexual aspects. Here we go.

So, the most common sexual aspects of furry fandom are erotic art, and furry-themed cyber sex. This doesn't surprise me. I've seen some of the art myself. And look, I learned a new word: "Yiff" is the term used to describe sexual activity within the fandom, or sexual art with a furry theme. Great, I'll add that one to my vocabulary.

I went on to learn that most furries believe these sexual aspects give furries a bad name, and they call these people "furverts". Oh dear God.

According to a combination of surveys, 25% of furries are homosexual, 48% are bisexual, 8% prefer "alternative sexual relationships", 2% show an interest in zoophilia, and less than 1% show an interest in plushophilia.

If you haven't figured it out, zoophilia is another term for beastiality, and plushophilia is having sex with a stuffed animal. Yes, you are quite welcome for those mental scars you've just received.

All that being said, I'm not judgemental of the wookie. I just think she's overly hairy.