Here is an article, dated February 26, in The Arbiter, the student newspaper of Boise State University:
http://arbiteronline.com/2015/02/26/boise-furries-find-acceptance-community-within-welcoming-fandom/
On most days, Treasure Valley resident A.C. Arment spends his days like any other average human: working, eating and sleeping. On other days, he puts on a green fur suit and becomes Camochi, the anthropomorphic animal hybrid.
“On any given day, I could be hit by a bus or just eat a few slices of pepperoni pizza, just like anyone else,” Arment said. “Camochi is just a little part
of me.”
Arment is part of the ever-growing furry fandom, a group, mainly consisting of Internet and convention interaction, which shares a common love for the anthropomorphic, whether it be dance, graphic design or even prose.
When making a fur suit or any piece of artwork, furries often draw inspiration from their fursonas, idealized, anthropomorphized versions of themselves.
Camochi has a biohazard sign on his back. According to Arment, this represents several years of bullying from his childhood years.
“I thought I was a plague and that I’d be better off dead,” Arment said. “But then I met wonderful people at conventions and made Camochi.”
In an article entitled “Furries and the Limits of Species Identity Disorder,” Fiona Probyn-Rapsey of the University of Sydney cites a survey done at a furry convention, where researchers found that 46 percent of furry participants identified as less than 100 percent human.
Sophomore English major and member of the furry community Nicholas Walker found that, with many furries, identifying with animals is significantly easier than identifying with humans.
“It’s easier to communicate with animals that won’t talk back or scorn you,” Walker said.
Professor of psychology Matthew Genuchi stressed the importance of finding an accepting community of like-minded people when battling negative emotional effects.
“It can provide you with possible avenues to form deep and meaningful relationships based on those shared interests,” Genuchi said.
According to Walker, the furry fandom offers this community and often helps members battle feelings of exclusion or social anxiety.
But, because the community is so accepting of all possible preferences, Walker finds furries garnering disdain from many.
“There are highbrowed types that really get into the art, but there is also that one person that wants to see two dogs getting it on,” Walker said. “The latter brings out the stigma.”
Arment hopes that people can acknowledge the warm community fostered within the furry fandom instead of “those two dark eggs that ruin the whole bunch.”
He continued to describe the ridiculousness of engaging in fur-related sex.
“I don’t want anyone getting their bodily juices on my $1,000 suit,” Arment said.