# "The Psychology of Fursuiting" research paper



## Jasper_Shiba (Jan 16, 2018)

G'day! Jasper here.

    Though a little later than hoped, I'm pleased to be able to offer a follow-up to my thread in late November regarding a small study about the psychology of fursuiting. ( forums.furaffinity.net: Survey Regarding the Psychology of Fursuiting ) This survey received over 75 responses total from this forum, Twitter, Discord, and Reddit; less than I initially hoped for, but it's on me for not pushing it more actively. The numbers I did get, while insufficient for the study to be published, were more than ample for the research paper I was working on.

    This research paper itself is what I'm here to provide today, as promised. This was written for the final assignment for my WACT (writing as critical thinking) class; written from the perspective of a normie to normies, seeing as my prof had never even heard of a furry before this paper, I aimed to paint us in a positive light, _without_ misrepresenting any of the data I received. Thankfully, that wasn't too difficult, considering the massive amount of positivity and heartwarming stories in the survey responses. Considering the weight this had on my grade, and is directly responsible for the strong A I got in that class, I just gotta thank everyone who participated, on all platforms; couldn't have possibly created this without all your help. I must also extend a special paw of thanks to the staff of AnthroNW for not just signing off on my use of their con photo, but also requesting to share it with interested parties on my behalf. I'm very grateful for the networking the kind gesture provides me.


    So, what's next?
    Well, first and foremost, this isn't a one-off deal. The study I did for this paper was small. It provided what I needed to support my thesis for a WACT paper. That ain't the end of this, however. I've got plans to refine this survey, and more aggressively promote it during the next distribution. If possible, I'd like to hand it out amongst con-goers as well as across the internet's many furry outlets. This next study won't be tied to a research paper, but instead I'm hoping to get it peer-reviewed and possibly published in a proper medical/psychological journal. That's my endgame, for the time being. As it stands, I've not got an ETA on this revision, but I'm hoping to at least start by the 2018 Fall / 2019 Spring semester(s).

Thanks again to all who participated - couldn't have done this without y'all! Cheers!


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## Yakamaru (Jan 16, 2018)

Ooo, nice. I will give it a read afterwards!


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## Deleted member 82554 (Jan 16, 2018)

Pretty sure fursuiting is not an offshoot of mascot performance, might want to correct that.

Also, oh murr.


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## reptile logic (Jan 16, 2018)

Read it. Thank you for posting. Though personally I argue against the close knit community statement. Among those who actively and regularly go to the meets and such, this quite possibly could be the case. I wouldn't know.


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## Troj (Jan 16, 2018)

Nice work! Well done.  Thanks for citing the IARP research.

Minor thing: That the age range of your sample differs from the IARP's is likely due to the fact that the IARP has not been allowed to study people under 18. IRBs are strict and twitchy about that sort of thing. Unless you mentioned it and I missed it, that might be something to mention in your next draft.

Also, I may have caught some very minor typos in a couple of spots, if you ever do edits.


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## Jasper_Shiba (Jan 18, 2018)

Mr. Fox said:


> Pretty sure fursuiting is not an offshoot of mascot performance, might want to correct that.
> 
> Also, oh murr.


If memory serves correct, (which, frankly, I'm not sure it does after two months,) I believe at least one of the linked sources mentions fursuiting's ties to mascot performance; it was either Furry Nation or the historical document I linked. I'd need to double-check my citations. 




reptile logic said:


> Read it. Thank you for posting. Though personally I argue against the close knit community statement. Among those who actively and regularly go to the meets and such, this quite possibly could be the case. I wouldn't know.


If I might ask, what part of the furry fandom contradicts this, excluding the two political fringes? I'm genuinely curious. As far as I've experienced, the fandom is quite a cohesive unit, which I assume is a side-effect of the stigma it's faced over the years. Creates a strong ingroup bias, I'd imagine. Still, I've only been active in furry circles outside of close friends for a year or two, so I'm certainly open to my stance being challenged. 




Troj said:


> Nice work! Well done.  Thanks for citing the IARP research.
> 
> Minor thing: That the age range of your sample differs from the IARP's is likely due to the fact that the IARP has not been allowed to study people under 18. IRBs are strict and twitchy about that sort of thing. Unless you mentioned it and I missed it, that might be something to mention in your next draft.
> 
> Also, I may have caught some very minor typos in a couple of spots, if you ever do edits.



I mentioned that discrepancy to my professor in my proposal, so I chose to leave it off the final paper, as he'd have marked that as redundant otherwise. If I ever do revise this, I'll certainly add that! It'll absolutely be mentioned when and if I redo the study and get it peer-reviewed. Also, where might those typos be? I'll be glad to clean those up and update the PDF.


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## Troj (Jan 18, 2018)

As for typos:

It should be "tight-knit" as opposed to "tight-knitted."

I think I saw a misplaced comma, but I'm not seeing it now.  Sorry! I'll look again. You could certainly shoot me a copy sometime and I could mark it up.


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## reptile logic (Jan 19, 2018)

Quoted myself, for reader clarity: Read it. Thank you for posting. Though personally I argue against the close knit community statement. Among those who actively and regularly go to the meets and such, this quite possibly could be the case. I wouldn't know.



Jasper_Shiba said:


> ... If I might ask, what part of the furry fandom contradicts this, excluding the two political fringes? I'm genuinely curious. As far as I've experienced, the fandom is quite a cohesive unit, which I assume is a side-effect of the stigma it's faced over the years. Creates a strong ingroup bias, I'd imagine. Still, I've only been active in furry circles outside of close friends for a year or two, so I'm certainly open to my stance being challenged.



It is just my opinion, based on my own experience. To clarify; among the regular attendees, those who actively go to meets and wear suits, may very well have established a close-knit community. Having not participated in these meets, I would not know. I would say that the fandom in general is no more close-knit than the average group of Facebook friends. The individuals may not have ever met in person and may never meet.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but my belief is that people who have never met, never been within physical reach of the other, can at best only be familiar acquaintances. I can only extend courtesy toward those who exist to me only as words and pictures. I cannot establish an emotional bond with them. No emotional tie, no friendship. That's my take on this subject. I hope that this clarifies things a little.


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## Troj (Jan 19, 2018)

I'd argue it's all relative.  Furry conventions certainly come across as much more social affairs than, say, ComicCon, where many people show up purely to buy shit, look at shit, attend panels, and hang out with people they already know.


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## Vincent_Perri (Jan 20, 2018)

Wow, this actually looks quite interesting. Will be giving this a read  Nice job, mate.


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## KiokuChan (Jun 7, 2020)

Good luck! For your followup work I suggest maybe reaching out and seeing if any well known furry Youtubers would be willing to make a video on your project and link the survey. Also various furry reddits and like r/Furry and r/Fursuits! are good places. Furry Aminos may also be a good place.


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## VX666 (Jun 14, 2020)

I've always seen furries as "animal clowning ", though the clowning part done wrong most of the time.

However it's not entirely clowning, it could be letting more primal personalities out, like how ancient native Americans and Egyptians portrayed animal spirits.

I don't see "furry" as something new. 

It's just the costumes and technology we have now, like led eyes, is newer


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