The kids are alright: Furry well-being and mental health (original) (raw)
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Furscience: A Decade of Psychological Research on the Furry Fandom
2023
Ever wonder what makes furries tick? Those weird and wonderful folks with their colorful ears, paws, and tails? The people who draw comics, watch cartoons, and write stories about walking, talking animals? Yeah, what’s that all about? Join the Furscience team as we take you on a journey through more than a decade worth of data on the furry fandom. Learn who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Dig into the myths that surround this misunderstood community and let the data do the talking. Whether you’re new to the community or a greymuzzle yourself, know a friend or family member who’s a furry, or simply curious about one of the most interesting fandoms on the planet, you’re sure to learn something new! Because it’s not just science—it’s Furscience!
Being furry: Fanship versus fandom
Furscience: A Decade of Psychological Research on the Furry Fandom, 2023
In the present chapter, we delve into the implications of a social identity approach for studying fans. Next, we make an important theoretical distinction by splitting the concept of fan identity into two parts, fanship, and fandom. Lastly, we illustrate the importance of thinking about fanship and fandom as separate facets of fan identity by showing how they differently predict important beliefs and behaviors for the furries in our studies. Reysen, S., & Plante, C. N. (2023). Being furry: Fanship versus fandom. In Plante, C. N., Reysen, S., Adams, C., Roberts, S. E., & Gerbasi, K. C. (Eds.), Furscience: A decade of psychological research on the furry fandom (pp. 131-155). International Anthropomorphic Research Project.
Ears, Tails and Video Games: How do furry identity and furry video games interconnect?
Masters Thesis, 2021
In this study, it is my aim to enquire into the games that the furry fandom play, and whether they see the characters from these games as explorations or projections of their identity, especially if the video games contain furry characters. Furthermore, it seeks to examine whether the video games, and the characters therein, form the basis of their main fursona identity. Through this study, I attempt to answer several key questions about the furry fandom using video games as my conduit for this exploration. Firstly, do furries prefer to play games with anthropomorphic animal characters? If they do prefer these characters, why? Secondly, do they feel that they can relate more to characters with animal traits, or animals in games more generally? Finally, and most importantly, it aims to explore the idea of how the playing of both furry and non-furry video games interconnects with the creation and representation of furry identity. In my previous studies of furries and video games in other academic works, there was a disparity between the perceptions of the furry fandom through their representations in video games, and the internal experience of the fandom by furries themselves (Mount, 2021). This research echoed the findings of other works in furry studies, with a similar disparity being noted between the views the fandom holds of itself and the public perception of them, particularly with regards to the depiction of furries in media (Roberts, et al., 2015; Crandall, 2007). However, as there is little-to-no literature looking specifically at video games as a mode of representation, my previous works in this area and this study seek to continue the drive to shift this perception of the furry fandom through this cultural medium, and to use video games to examine the creation and development of furry identity. Specifically, I found in my previous study that a large proportion of the popular games on Steam that had the furry tag in their descriptions contained not safe for work (NSFW) content, which stands in opposition to the views that furries hold of themselves according to the FurScience study (2019), and briefly questioned this disparity. However, as this previous study was confined to a smaller scope than would be necessary to tackle such a large topic, it left questions unanswered of which some have formed the basis of this work before you. Firstly, whether video games containing furry characters are seen as representations of the furry fandom on both an individual and community level. Secondly, the looming question of what deems a “good” furry video game, or even a furry video game for that matter, something that even this study may struggle to pin down. In this study, I begin by collating and examining the core frameworks required to begin this research. Firstly, I will need to define what is meant by “identity” in this work, or rather which of the myriad theories on identity form the basis of my approach to my research question. Secondly, this theoretical framework will then be applied to two separate perspectives: the identity of the furries themselves, what constitutes being a furry, and ideas of identity projection in this group; and then used to explore the idea of identity in the relationship between the gamer and the avatar in video games in the context of contemporary studies. Finally, I discuss the findings from my data, using previous studies in the field from the FurScience and other studies such as Hsu and Bailey’s 2019 work on the fandom to inform and supplement my own cultural perspective. This will aid me in extrapolating my own frameworks, keeping this study within the confines of a cultural examination, whilst employing a similarly multi-disciplinary approach to that of my contemporaries in the field of furry studies. Next, I discuss the methods that will be used to complete this study, acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of these methods in the context of this research. I continue to describe previous methods that were considered for this research, explaining the drawbacks of these methods but also the reasoning for their consideration with this work.
Makin’ stuff, takin’ stuff: Furry content
Furscience: A Decade of Psychological Research on the Furry Fandom, 2023
In the present chapter, we dive into some research to better understand both what furries consume (and how much of it they consume relative to other fan groups) and what predicts their fan-related consumption habits. First, we review the various fan activities that furries engage in—including consuming fan-related artifacts—to see how much particular types of consumption make up the bulk of furries’ engagement with their interest in media featuring anthropomorphic characters. Next, we look at where furries seek out content and interaction with other furries in online spaces and how this is related to their felt connection to the furry fandom—do the same furries who go online to view furry content also go online to interact with other furries, or do they pursue furry as a solitary activity? This is followed by a look at what types of furry media furries tend to prefer. We then observe spending behaviors, looking at furry engagement in terms of actual dollars and cents, for those who are curious about the business of furry fanship. Lastly, we flip the script and look at furries not just as consumers of furry-themed content, but also as producers of it. Reysen, S., & Plante, C. N. (2023). Makin’ stuff, takin’ stuff: Furry content. In Plante, C. N., Reysen, S., Adams, C., Roberts, S. E., & Gerbasi, K. C. (Eds.), Furscience: A decade of psychological research on the furry fandom (pp. 231-258). International Anthropomorphic Research Project.
We examined the prevalence rates of mental and neurodevelopmental illness among members of three different fandoms: anime, My Little Pony (brony), and furry. In total, nearly 2,600 fans across these groups self-reported whether or not they had ever been diagnosed with a psychological and/or neurodevelopmental illness. Data revealed that anime fans, bronies, and furries all show higher rates of diagnoses on the autism spectrum than rates observed in studies of the general population. Rates of mood and anxiety disorders were lower than that of the general population. Rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were lower in anime and brony fandoms, but were not different from the general population for furry fans. Taken together, the results provide an exploratory look at mental health issues in fan communities and suggest both commonalities across fan groups and idiosyncrasies within particular fandoms.
Haters gonna hate: Furry stigma
Furscience: A Decade of Psychological Research on the Furry Fandom, 2023
In this chapter, we focus our attention on what it means for furries to be stigmatized. We begin by laying out evidence—beyond anecdotes from headlines and violent rhetoric from online forums—showing that furries are stigmatized and recognize this stigma. Next, we describe research showing some of the reasons why furries are stigmatized as well as the consequences of this stigma for furries, including research showing that furries experience a significant amount of bullying. Finally, we discuss three ways that furries cope with this stigma—selective disclosure, denial of personal discrimination, and identification with the stigmatized group. Reysen, S., & Plante, C. N. (2023). Haters gonna hate: Furry stigma. In Plante, C. N., Reysen, S., Adams, C., Roberts, S. E., & Gerbasi, K. C. (Eds.), Furscience: A decade of psychological research on the furry fandom (pp. 657-681). International Anthropomorphic Research Project.
The furry fandom can be classified as an art community centered around anthropomorphic creatures and zoomorphic humans. The contemporary cultural movement of furries in the United States is situated within the politics of technological development and the re-thinking of folk culture. Research on furries has mostly centered on the psychological and demographic aspects of community members or has strongly emphasized empowerment through membership in the community through costuming and identity formation. However, little academic literature has been done on how mainstream culture has informed socialization in the community and media perception of the identity of the community. By conducting in-depth interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation with community members, I investigated how the community both resists and reflects (or reproduces) larger cultural movements. In this thesis, I will demonstrate how neoliberal and postmodern cultural assemblages can be found throughout the furry community, but the community’s existence as visual counterculture creates an ambiguous relationship to these larger movements. Research on the furry community, a mostly online Western community founded on openness and tolerance, reveals how people across generations are engaging in hobbies and developing new identities within the context of a continued accumulation of capital in the Global North.
The International Anthropomorphic Research Project is a group of social scientists conducting research to gain a better understanding of the furry fandom. In the present book we present the main findings from a variety of studies, including more than 10,000 furry participants, over the past five years. The book seeks to answer questions often asked about furries, such as what is a furry? Do furries really think they’re animals? Is it true that all furries where fursuits? Whether you’ve never heard of furries before or you’ve been a furry for decades, you’re sure to learn something from this book.