2.10 Furry Motivation

For the most part, furries agree that the furry fandom fulfills a need to belonging to a group larger than oneself, a very important social need.² In fact, the figure at right suggests that belongingness is a stronger motivator of fandom participation for furries than for members of other fandoms. ³

Whether the fandom fulfills a need to appreciate beauty seems to be contentious; about 50% of furries agree that being a furry provides a sense of beauty and aesthetic to their lives (most likely in reference to the art, writing or other creative works of the fandom). The spike on the left side of the figure, however, suggests that 10-20% of furries disagree vehemently with this idea. This may represent therians or others for whom artwork is not the main draw of the community, but who are instead drawn to by the opportunity to be with like-minded individuals.⁴

Similarly, there is a lot of disagreement about whether the fandom’s relationship to their self-esteem is a motivator for their participation. For many furries, participation in a community seems to be motivated, in part, by its association with their self-esteem (presumably improving it). However, for almost as many furries the opposite is true—that participation in the furry community is not at all motivated by their self-esteem. It’s possible that the stigma associated with being a furry⁵ may make it difficult for the fandom to positively contribute to some furries’ self-esteem.⁶

Most furries agree that their fandom participation is motivated, at least in part, by the fact that it allows them the chance to escape the routine, possibly “boring” nature of day-to-day life.⁷

There is little disagreement from furries about the fact that the fandom’s recreational nature is a significant motivator for participation.⁸ These findings are comparable to other recreational fandoms, although furries are slightly less motivated by the fandoms entertainment value than anime fans.⁹

Some stereotypes of furries claim that they are people who crave attention. The figure at right suggests, however, that this is not necessarily the case. Furries tend to disagree about whether or not getting /seeking attention is an important motivator of their furry interests, with nearly 30% of furries claiming quite vehemently that attention has nothing to do with why they are a furry, while 25% say just the opposite, that attention is an important part.¹⁰

While stereotypes often portray furries as people with a fetish, the data suggest otherwise; while one-quarter of the fandom states that sexual attraction has nothing to do with their furry interests, one-third of furries say that sexual attraction to furry content is a motivator of their participation.¹¹ The figure at lower right illustrates that, compared to the other fandoms, furries are more likely to be motivated by sex.¹² However, two caveats should be noted: first, the importance of sex is below the midpoint of the scale (less than 4 out of 7), suggesting that “more important” is not the same as being “very important.” Second, and perhaps more importantly, sex, as a motivator, was far lower for furries than either belongingness or entertainment was, suggesting that, while certainly a motivator for some furries, it is not the primary motivating factor for most furries. This is also why it is factually incorrect to define the furry fandom as a “fetish”—were this the case, one would expect sex to be a primary motivator of furry interests.

In this first figure, we see that many furries, when asked to report what the biggest factors underlying their entering and continuing to participate in the fandom were, provided reasons similar to those listed above: a sense of community, interest in the artwork, encouragement from friends, related fandoms, and an interest in anthropomorphism emerged as the most prevalent motivators. And, as described above, while sex and pornography were a motivator for some furries, they are certainly not the most prominent or central motivation for most furries.