Due to concerns of exposure, the subject will be attributed as Source F. 

A furry attends White Station. The subject actively participates in the furry community, which is a subculture interested in creating and personifying animal characters with human characteristics. This includes dressing up as their self-made characters, or fursonas, or creating art that depicts their characters. The subject has made hundreds of online drawings of his fursonas and other furry-related content. 

He was introduced to the community when he was in seventh grade. He drew fanart of the video game “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” but when a friend introduced him to furries, it piqued his interest. He has since then become a part of the community and made friends through Instagram, his main platform for showcasing his art. 

“I’m pretty open about it everywhere but school,” Source F said. “Close friends know, and my family doesn’t care … it’s more of a hobby and something I don’t see the need to be very secretive.”

He knows the traction furries have made in other online circles makes it hard to not have preconceived notions about furries, with some alarmed by furries’ hobbies and lifestyle. He believes, however, the community is not very far off from other fandoms and communities. 

“There’s a lot of drama surrounding the community, which can come off as intimidating to some, or the stigmas against furries in general that can scare people off,” Source F said. “Plus, a lot of people don’t like what they can’t understand … not that the furry fandom isn’t just people who like animals that act like humans, but it can come off as weird to people.”

Bently, a tiger, Joshua, a dog, and Anthony, a lion-tiger mix, are just some other fursonas, also known as sonas, the subject has created himself. Each one has different hobbies, personality traits and clothing preferences. 

“I mostly start off with a concept first; most of the time I’ll have a general idea of the thing [like] species, personality … and try to get a concept doodle, usually just a blob shaped like an animal with some different colors,” Source F said. “For my fursonas though, I like to get inspired from nature. When I made my sona Tiki, I was sitting outside in the middle of summer and wanted something based off [of] the general summer vibes.”

He mainly draws and posts his fursonas online, but he has attempted to take his hobby to the next and most notable step: making his very own fursuit. In an Instagram post, the subject hopes to save up for a fursuit of his fursona Lea. 

“I made a huge tail for my kangaroo sona Lea,” Source F said. “It was really difficult … I also tried making a head that didn’t work out … foam work is really hard.”

The subject claims that there are some furries that get carried away with follower accounts and popularity, but having grown up in the community, he has found a more positive group of people. The community, to him, can be extremely accepting and friendly. He attended his first furry convention around 2018 with the hope of meeting some people interested in his hobby and has been to a few more since then.  

“First convention was great. Like I said, I definitely made a group of friends from that,” Source F said. “It’s really cool walking into a convention space for the first time because it’s amazingly busy, and it’s really cool to be surrounded by geek culture.” 

Being a furry is not a popular hobby for many, but this hobby is for him, and through it he has gained friendships, confidence and self expression. He made it clear that he feels more than happy to bring awareness to a more left of center community to show that furries, whether they like it or not, are human like everyone else. 

“I’m just a normal guy [to be honest]; a lot of people have a stereotype of what a furry looks or acts like, but hate to break it to them — but a lot of us are just normal people,” Source F said.