BREAKING DOWN STEREOTYPES: A LOOK AT THE PERFORMANCE OF SELF- IDENTITY WITHIN THE FURRY COMMUNITY THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of ARTS by Sherry A. Jeansonne, B.S. San Marcos, Texas December 2012 BREAKING DOWN STEREOTYPES: A LOOK AT THE PERFORMANCE OF SELF-IDENTITY WITHIN THE FURRY COMMUNITY Committee Members Approved: ________________________ Joseph A. Kotarba, Chair _________________________ Deborah Harris _________________________ Emily Brunson Approved: _______________________________ J. Michael Willoughby Dean of the Graduate College COPYRIGHT by Sherry Anne Jeansonne 2012 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgment. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Sherry Jeansonne, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Kotarba, for all of his advice, time and effort, and for seeing me through this crazy ‘furry’ process. Without all of your help I would truly be lost. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Harris and Dr. Brunson, for their thoughts, edits and time. I cannot forget to thank my friend, Brittani, who accompanied me on all of my observations and my husband, Steven, who had to deal with me while I was writing this. Lastly, I want to thank all of my friends, family members and Texas State University-San Marcos for allowing me to share my love of sociology. This manuscript was submitted on November 13, 2012. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. ix LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................1 Types of Furries ............................................................................................2 Cartoon and Art Interest.................................................................. 3 Spiritual Connection ........................................................................3 Dressing the Part ..............................................................................4 Anti-Furry Community ....................................................................6 Mass Media Coverage of Furries .................................................................6 Television .........................................................................................7 Print Media.......................................................................................8 Online Media ..................................................................................9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................11 Human and Animal Relationships .............................................................11 Self-Identity ...................................................................................11 The Presentation of Self ................................................................12 An Existential Approach to Understanding Furries ...................................13 Social Sciences...........................................................................................15 Sociology of Furries .......................................................................15 Critique ..............................................................................19 Psychology of Furries ....................................................................20 Critique ..............................................................................21 Anthropomorphism ........................................................................22 vi III. METHODS ......................................................................................................24 Current Study .............................................................................................24 Ethnographic Description ..............................................................25 Typology ........................................................................................26 Process Model ...............................................................................26 IV. HOW TO BECOME A FURRY......................................................................28 Becoming a Member ..................................................................................28 Interest/Research Begins ................................................................29 Join Website/Local Group .............................................................29 Begin to Develop A Fursona..........................................................30 Obtain Artist’s Rendition ...............................................................31 Develop Partial Fursuit ..................................................................32 Obtain Full Fursuit .........................................................................33 Openly a Furry ..............................................................................33 Summary .......................................................................................34 V. ACCOMPLISHING MEETINGS ....................................................................35 Furry Meetings ...........................................................................................35 Arriving at the Meeting ..................................................................36 Hanging Out/Interacting ................................................................36 Cooking ..........................................................................................37 Announcements .............................................................................38 Summary .......................................................................................41 VI. FURRY AND SELF-INDETITY ....................................................................42 Persona Verses Fursona .............................................................................42 Outgoing Furries in Contrast to Shy ..............................................42 No Fears While in their Fursona ....................................................44 Multi-Personality ...........................................................................44 Performance of Front and Back Stage .......................................................47 One Stage Performance..................................................................47 Front and Back Stage Performances ..............................................48 Center Stage Performance .............................................................48 Types of Furry Identity .............................................................................49 Different Breeds, Gender, and Amount of Involvement................50 Characteristics of Fursona ..............................................................52 Reasons for Choosing the Animal .................................................55 Similar Personalities ......................................................................56 Interest and Engagement in Furries by Gender ..........................................57 More Males Use the Internet ..........................................................57 vii Number of Males is Intimidating for Women................................58 Similar to Certain Gendered Job Industries ...................................58 Expectations by Society .................................................................59 Summary .......................................................................................60 VII. THE EVERYDAY LIFE OF A FURRY ......................................................62 What Problems Do Furries Face ................................................................63 Stigma From the Media .................................................................63 Something Weird ...........................................................................64 Drama Within Group .....................................................................65 Family Non-Understanding ...........................................................66 Balancing a Double Life ................................................................66 Difficulty Associating with Other Humans ...................................67 No Problems...................................................................................67 How to Handle Critics ..............................................................................68 Educating Critics ............................................................................68 Avoid..............................................................................................69