The furry community is oftentimes something brought up with a cringe afterward or as a joke, but in reality, the furry community is just like any other community at Iowa State.

“The term furry describes a diverse community of fans, artists, writers, gamers and role players,” according to furscience.com. “Most furries create for themselves an anthropomorphized animal character, called a fursona or sona, with whom they identify and can function as an avatar within the community. Some furries wear elaborate costumes or paraphernalia such as animal ears or tails, or represent themselves as anthropomorphic animals in online communities.”

Also according to furscience.com, more than 75 percent of furries are under the age of 25. Approximately 84 percent of furries identify as male, 13 percent female, and 2.5 percent are transgender. Approximately one-third identify as exclusively heterosexual and furries are about five times more likely to identify as exclusively homosexual than the general population. Nearly 60 percent of the furry fandom reports part-time or full-time enrollment in post-secondary education.

At Iowa State, and in Ames, the furry community is not extremely obvious but has close to 20 members according to Odin Taylor, sophomore in material engineering.

Taylor said the community is heavily online, but they do plan get-togethers, and they usually go out as a group on Halloween. Currently, there is no official student organization for the furry community at Iowa State.

Entering the Community

“My brother is a very avid artist, so when we were younger he would always draw anthropomorphic animals,” said Braeden Winters, junior in meteorology. “I started going online looking into the anthropomorphic art, and I stumbled across the furry community.”

Anthropomorphic art is any art that centers on adding human features to things often not having them; in the case of the furry community this is often animals.

Winters said he explored the community more before deciding to join it around five years ago.

Harley Butler, freshman in civil engineering, said entering the community was slow for him, but having friends already in the community helped him.

“I knew what the community was in middle school and high school by meeting members of the community through online games,” Butler said “As time went on I kinda got into it and then I wrote a story and I was like okay this is me.”

Taylor said that seeing art from the other aspects of the furry community drew him into the rest of the community.

“Bronies are kind of what got me in, they’re very similar except bronies focus on one thing,” Taylor said.

Experience in the community and at ISU

“I started off not too into the community but since then I have found lots of friends both back home and here on campus,” Winters said.

Winters said he has been to two conventions, Central Plains Fur Con and Midwest Furfest, and that they are just like any other conference with panels and speakers except with a lot more time spent chatting and taking pictures of people in fursuits.

“I am pretty open about being a furry and all my friends have been accepting and I feel lucky to not have experienced any negativity on campus,” Winters said.

Butler said though his beginning in the community was largely online and he didn’t know many people, his experience at Iowa State has been great and everyone is friendly.

“There were a lot more people within the community here and it is really nice to have this connection with other people,” Butler said.

Taylor said the number of furries at Iowa State surprised him and that he found the community first online.

“The community is kind of like an escape from real life,” Taylor said.

Backlash and Stereotypes

Taylor said a lot of the reasons for backlash is due to stereotyping around sex and cringe culture.

“I don’t really know any of the history before coming here myself, but we haven’t really experienced anything besides our Reddit post being downvoted heavily,” Taylor said.

Winters said he has only experienced minor backlash online, but it was mostly from people who didn’t know much about the community.

“There is definitely a lot of negativity toward the furry community, but I do think it is getting better,” Winters said.

Butler said he hasn’t had any bad experiences online, only some jokes from his friends when he told them that he was part of the community.

Fursonas

A fursona is not just how a person dresses or looks it is a characterization that a person creates and embodies, similar to cosplay.

“[Fursonas] can be different for different people,” Taylor said. “For some people their sona is essentially them but in an animal form that walks on two legs. Other people have an alter ego as a way to get away from real life and show traits they wish to have. Some people have multiple sonas, where they create different characters that aren’t really similar to themselves.”

Taylor said his fursona, a navy blue and light grey wolf, is similar to him but a bit cooler and without anxiety.

Winters said his fursona’s character is half what he sees in himself and half what he aspires to be, such as personality and looks.

“My sona’s name is Arkenta, or Ark for short, and he’s an Australian Shepherd,” Winters said. “He used to be a wolf but I changed that to be a little bit more unique.”

Butler said his fursona started out as an altered version of a video game character that he had in his original story, that he later evolved and altered into what it is today. His fursona is more a reflection of himself to make it easier for writing.

“My sona is about my height and is kind of an anthropomorphized tuatara, I didn’t want something that was super flashy,” Butler said.

Art in the Community

Winters said he is interested in getting into more drawing but mainly focuses on photography, with opportunities at conventions and with the Ames furry community.

“I’m a bit discouraged doing art because my brother is a really good artist, but I have been doing a lot more in the past year,” Winters said.

Butler said he mainly writes stories and does writing commissions for other members of the community.

“I have an addiction to commissioning art,” Butler said. “I can’t draw or anything so for me it is really satisfying for me to see my sona drawn out by people who are far more talented than I am.”

Taylor said he only commissions art from other people and that it is generally a lucrative opportunity for artists.