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frameacloudTrigger warnings: media attention. The end of the video shows some mild erotic artwork that's not safe for work.
Shown above: the complete episode of “Furries.”
January 3, 2012. The National Geographic TV series Taboo, focused on practices which are forbidden or at least not mainstream, aired an episode called “Furries.” It’s about the furry fandom, a very large community of people who like art, stories, and costumes depicting human-like animals. For many people who consider themselves furry fans, this interest is just a hobby, but some, it does mean something deeper about being animal-like themselves. The Taboo episode leans toward depicting the furry fandom as the latter, calling furry fans “people who love animals so much they want to become them. … people who believe they are part human and part animal.” And so on. The episode mostly presents furry fans in a friendly way, but is this portrayal of furries as animal-people accurate? Flayrah, a furry news blog, pointed out that the episode cites
This is a surprising estimate, because experience in the furry fandom shows that the majority don’t identify as animals. I couldn’t find that particular “85%” statistic in Gerbasi’s work. I listened to the video, and it sounds like the narrator actually says “up to 25% believe they’re not entirely human,” a more reasonable statistic that does appear in Gerbasi’s article “Furries A to Z,” when describing the results of surveying the furry fandom:
Gerbasi’s surveys show that a significant minority (25%) of people within the furry fandom do wish to become animals, so National Geographic’s portrayal is not inaccurate.
- O. Scribner
1. GreenReaper, “Video: National Geographic profiles fursuiters on ‘Taboo.’” Flayrah: Furry food for thought. 2011-12-19. http://www.flayrah.com/3773
2. Kathleen C. Gerbasi, Nicholas Paolone, et al., “Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism).” Society and Animals 16 (2008), page 215.
Shown above: the complete episode of “Furries.”
January 3, 2012. The National Geographic TV series Taboo, focused on practices which are forbidden or at least not mainstream, aired an episode called “Furries.” It’s about the furry fandom, a very large community of people who like art, stories, and costumes depicting human-like animals. For many people who consider themselves furry fans, this interest is just a hobby, but some, it does mean something deeper about being animal-like themselves. The Taboo episode leans toward depicting the furry fandom as the latter, calling furry fans “people who love animals so much they want to become them. … people who believe they are part human and part animal.” And so on. The episode mostly presents furry fans in a friendly way, but is this portrayal of furries as animal-people accurate? Flayrah, a furry news blog, pointed out that the episode cites
“unnamed research to say that ‘up to 85% believe they’re not entirely human’ (presumably that of Nuka’s collaborator, Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, whose team has regularly surveyed Anthrocon in recent years).”1
This is a surprising estimate, because experience in the furry fandom shows that the majority don’t identify as animals. I couldn’t find that particular “85%” statistic in Gerbasi’s work. I listened to the video, and it sounds like the narrator actually says “up to 25% believe they’re not entirely human,” a more reasonable statistic that does appear in Gerbasi’s article “Furries A to Z,” when describing the results of surveying the furry fandom:
“The second largest group was the ‘distorted unattained’ type (n = 51). This furry [fan] considers the self to be less than 100% human and would become 0% human if possible. This type comprised 25% of the furries [furry fans] who answered both key identity questions.”2
Gerbasi’s surveys show that a significant minority (25%) of people within the furry fandom do wish to become animals, so National Geographic’s portrayal is not inaccurate.
- O. Scribner
1. GreenReaper, “Video: National Geographic profiles fursuiters on ‘Taboo.’” Flayrah: Furry food for thought. 2011-12-19. http://www.flayrah.com/3773
2. Kathleen C. Gerbasi, Nicholas Paolone, et al., “Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism).” Society and Animals 16 (2008), page 215.
