When one thinks about furries, they imagine a teen or young adult, may be an artist and may or may not own a fursuit. No one would ever suspect a parent of being a furry.
Where do I start? I’m a mother of two teens, a boy and a girl with a nice husband. I’m a freelance artist of advertisement and other ventures. As an artist, I guess l’ve always been interested in drawing anthropomorphic animals. They just didn’t have a term for it when I was a kid. It was a niche thing I liked to draw. I loved animated films with animal characters in them and still do.
Only recently in the past couple years have I found out what furries were. It seems furries are around my kids age, making it seem I’m too old for this. It seem like fun being one though.
I’m considering whether or not I care to tell my family I’m furry. It feels like I’m coming out to my kids, but it’s about being a furry, not being gay. It’s not the same thing. The fursuits I’ve seen look amazing. I’m thinking of getting one. I art drew out many ideas for my fursona. A female tiger by the name of “Julie-Anna” is my favorite so far.
Any advice on how I should come out as a furry? I don’t want my family to think I’ve gotten weird on them. I’ll answer any questions about the confession. (AMA)
Anonymous here…
Okay. Okay. Yes sir. I’ll do it.
I wouldnt share…it’s none of their business.
Plus, they almost certainly don’t want to know.
FURRY IS AN EXPRESSION OF YOUR INNER SELF!!!! DO IT AND ENJOY !!!!!!!
I did do it. My daughter was weirded out by it. My son was okay with it. Julie-Anna is still my fursona’s name. I look cut in my fursuit. We talked about going to the next furry convention.
Hey girl! Just wanted to drop by and let you know that you can do whatever you think is best for you! There’s no obligation to come out if you don’t want to and no need to ID with specific labels either. Just do what makes you feel best! Lots of love and support! <3
Thanks for the love and support. My kids are now always asking me anytime we watch a anthropomorphic show or movie, “Do you think he looks cute?”
I’ve thought about doing this too. As a man of nearly 60 I’m completely invisible to 99% of people. Nobody is interested in whatever I have to offer because I’m “old”.
In a suit, nobody would know I’m old. And I’d likely also just never speak. I wonder what the reactions would be if I took my head off.
I used to have a lot of friends, now since covid nobody ever invites me to anything and few still contact me. I need new friends.
“I don’t want my family to think I’ve gotten weird on them.” But you have. That’s precisely what you’ve done. Had one of my parental figured dropped something like this on me, it would have crushed me. Your parents are supposed to be the ones who are mature, experienced, and dependable. A solid, grounded, reliable source of emotional stability for a developing child who’s desperately trying to gain their footing in a chaotic world that they’re learning to exist within.
If either of my parents had told me that they genuinely had a fursona, it would have thrown me into a state of stress and anxiety. Having a major anchor in your life suddenly dislodge without warning would ruin my ability to trust in both of my parents. After all, if one can suddenly uproot themselves from the inexplicable (at that age) bedrock of adult maturity without warning, who’s to say the other won’t do something equally unpredictable and childish at any moment. I know this because my mom had a nervous break followed by a manic episode. During that few days, she spoke and acted like a young child; a baby, really. It seriously messed me up. To this day, I can’t stand the sound of baby-talk because it takes me right back to that traumatic experience that upended my whole world as a child. I was a fairly confident, fun-loving child up to that point, but once I realized the shaky nature of my parent’s emotional stability, I pretty quickly became a stressed out, anxious child. That child started looking at the world from a new, unsettling context, and inevitably grew into a anxious, stressed out adult.
Also, with the Internet what it is, children these days are going to know about the weird, sexual nature of furries and learning that one of your parents are into that is that’s definitely going to make them uncomfortable.
I’d be interested to hear how your husband feels about all of this. Also, did you ask him how he felt about you telling your kids before informing them?