I’m coming out. I can’t stand hiding this anymore. I can’t stand having this bottled up inside of me, with no outlet in which I can express myself — my desires. It’s not right! It’s not fair! I — Okay.

Deep breath, Sophie. Calm down.

I love furries.

There. I said it, okay? Are you happy now? I love furries!

Whew. Man, that feels good to let out. I know, I know, I just scared the hell out of a good chunk of you and confused the rest.

I suppose I should explain just what a furry is, huh? Well, a furry is an anthropomorphic representation of an animal, real or imagined. Dragons, unicorns, dogs, bears … any of these animals and more can be transformed into a furry representation.

Anthropomorphization is the process of essentially “human-izing” something. The talking doorknob in the Disney version of Alice in Wonderland is an example of a non-organic subject being anthropomorphized.

In the case of furries then, it is the animal kingdom that becomes more human-like. Many artistic representations of these creatures place animal heads onto fur-covered human forms, often with paws and a tail. If applicable.

The history of the “furry fandom” goes back to a science convention in 1980, where author Steve Gallacci’s book Albedo Anthropomorphics spurred a discussion of the characters, who were furries.

Furries themselves however, came long before then. When Disney and others first began to delve into the realm of cartoon animation, their most often employed characters, like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, fit the description of a furry.

The fandom can even go to extremes, where people will attempt to become furries themselves, zipping themselves into elaborate, mascot-like costumes. These are called fursuiters, and no, I’m not one.

Yet, even as the fandom has grown in the past few decades, it has not done so unopposed. The Anti-Furry Coalition’s Web site describes the organization as one of “ordinary citizens with a common goal: to educate the general public about the furries, and the effect that they could have on your home and family.”

To the immediate right of this description is a “NO FURRY ZONE — Thank you” door knob hanger and a yellow-tinted photograph of fursuiters.

It reminds me of a collection of crime scene photos, and I suppose rightly so. The Web site has a FAQ which ends with, “What can we do against the fur menace?”

The fur menace? Wasn’t there a Star Wars movie released awhile back called that? Or … something similar?

The free downloadable resources include, among other things, a brochure entitled, “Are Furries Corrupting Your Children,” a colorless version of the door knob hanger intended to be colored by children, and my favorite, the “Escape From The Furry Maze: A great way to teach children the dangers of these creatures in a fun, appropriate way.”

The biggest problem that the AFC and others like them seem to have is that a decent share of furry artwork — which is my draw to the fandom — is pornographic in nature. Such artwork is called yiff, so make sure to avoid that keyword when perusing the interwebs/blogosphere/series of tubes if that’s not really your thing.

Although I can’t deny I’ve seen my share of yiff — hey, I’m a big girl, it’s totally legal — it’s not what I prefer. It’s not what I’m drawn to. I’ve always felt a connection to most creatures, and tried to treat them as I would any other living being, my philosophy being that humans are animals too, y’know.

I suppose this is why I like furries, even though a lot of people dislike them. A lot of people think that furry fans are perverts that engage in bestiality. This is simply not true. A majority of people involved in the fandom are people who find healthy ways to incorporate their hobby into their normal lives.

And, truth be told, there are a lot more furry fans out there than you think. Some people may be furry fans without even realizing it.

Few pet-owners would deny their animals have their own personalities, and I’ve heard plenty of owners “talk” to their pets. Well, guess what? If you really believe that you’re conversing with the animal, you’ve just made yourself part of the furry fandom, because you’ve anthropomorphized your dog, cat, what-have-you.

I suppose the big point to all of this is that there’s a lot of weird stuff out in the world. Some people like to be tied up during sex, some people obsess over feet. To quote the webcomic xkcd, “If you can imagine it, there is porn of it.”

But maybe, if some of us can come to accept the “weird” things that we secretly like, we would be happier and better off for it. It might be strange to a lot of you, but no one’s forcing you into anything.

Just accept and appreciate the fact that some people are a little bit different than you.

And some people — like yours truly — are a lot different.

— Sophie Prell is a junior in pre-journalism and mass communication from Aurelia.