There’s definitely a derogatory vibe when I read “Frickin’ furries” and “God I hate furries.” And, yeah, the word itself conjures up the stereotypical image of the person who dresses up as a Disney-looking fox in order to have sex. That’s absolutely the image that I always had, until I talked to a friend of mine who is unabashedly a furry, and then I realized that it’s a fandom like any other fandom, with good corners and bad.

And I love Mouse Guard, and Usagi Yojimbo, and Omaha the Cat Dancer, and Pogo, and mutant badgers in Gamma World and The Chronicles of Narnia, so who am I to look down on people who like that stuff, too, but also like to dress up?

For me, the distinction is that for a furry, anthropomorphic animals are the whole point. As in, just sitting around in a fox costume or roleplaying a fox -person for the sake of roleplaying a fox-person is reason enough. You know, like how a serious Trekker is happy to just walk around wearing a Starlet uniform, even if they are just having coffee.

I, OTOH, would have lots of fun playing a Trek RPG, but I have no interest in wearing a Starlet uniform to lunch. I also like the idea of ranger-mice who guard the wilderlands, or mutated badgers who scrounge the ruins for survival, and think those would be cool RPG experiences.

Does that make me a furry? I dunno; maybe! My gut says no, though.