If you’ve read our article on how to relieve anxiety as a parent, then you know that raising kids in the era of the internet can be challenging at times. It may feel as though children require endless moderation with unlimited access to the internet, so much so that there seems to be a blurred line that separates being a responsible parent from granting your child some independence. So, if you’ve spent a bit of time on the internet, you may have heard of furries, well, what are they and is it okay if your kid becomes one?
What Are Furries?
When talking about “furries”, it more often than not refers to the underground subculture known as the furry fandom. These are people who are interested in anthropomorphic cartoon animals like that of Lola bunny in Space Jam or Nick Wilde the Fox of Zootropolis fame.
They also have illustrated animal personas known as fursonas which they can either draw themselves or commission a furry artist to make for them. These fursonas are often animals that the creator of the fursona likens themself to in one way or another. You can find a lot of these furry artists on pretty much any freelancing site or alternatively, services like that of Fursonafy orient their site around creating fursonas for furries.
Other things that some furries do includes: fursuiting (dressing up as their fursona in real life), attending furry conventions to meet other furries like themselves in person or joining online furry communities to once again meet other furries if they aren’t able to do so in person.
Were Kids Always Interested In This?
For a lot of you reading this, this might be the first time you’ve ever even heard about furries, and while yes it’s true the fandom has seen a surge in popularity in the last decade, it dates back as far as the early 90s where conventions like Confurence 1 were held. However it is true at this point a very small minority of the fandom were likely children especially considering you could probably count the members on your hands. The age of the internet has definitely made identifying with the furry fandom a lot more accessible than it once was with joining an online community only being a few clicks away.
Kids have always been fascinated by anthropomorphic animals of the cartoons they’ve grown up with, only now they have a means of publicly expressing this interest with thousands of other people who are similarly interested.
Is It Safe For My Kid To Be A Furry?
As a parent, your main question right now is likely, “is this at all dangerous?” and though there is a looming sexual stigma that often givest he fandom a bad rep and likely brought you here, there are very little dangers with your child being a furry. We aren’t denying that there is a side of the fandom which sexualises the idea of being a furry, but there is much worse and more inappropriate material that is readily accessible for your child on the internet and what they are looking at is completely dependent on how you moderate their use of the internet. If you believe your child is responsible enough to use the internet without your supervision, then their access to sexual furry shouldn’t be a worry.
Many people also argue that the furry fandom offers children an unrealistic sense of escapism as, as soon as they are frustrated or dissatisfied with the real world, they can turn to the imaginary world of their imaginary fursona as a coping mechanism instead of developing problem solving skills. While this may be true to some extent, if this seems to be an issue that is weighing on your child, it is important that you have a discussion about how they should tackle challenges in life.
Will They Just Grow Out Of It?
This is a hard question to answer. On the one hand there are thousands of furries who are in their mid 20s / 30s who have been furries since they were teenagers. On the other hand there are many ex-furries who look back on their teenage years as a furry and cringe, as if it were an old boyband, at what they used to be into. It really just varies from person to person and there is no way of telling if it’s just a phase or not.
What Can I Do About It?
The best advice that we can give if your child is a furry or you suspect they are is to simply embrace it. The last thing you want is to completely alienate your child and make them feel like they can’t speak to you about their interests or problems that they are having. Although you may find it uncomfortable, talk to them and try to get a better understanding of what it is they are like about it as it’s better than making them feel like they should hide away and never speak about it.
