If we want to talk theory, I think there's 3 major aspects of the human psyche represented in furries: our unconscious desire to apply human attributes to non-human things (anthropomorphization), human creativity and the creation of representations of the self, and, of course, the sexual aspect of being creatures that enjoy sex.

People unfortunately hone in almost exclusively on the last one (as evidenced by the other comments in this very post), but as the joke goes, the world's biggest collection of Disney porn is locked up in the Disney Vault. Artists get horny too, and if you could create porn with the power of your mind and a pen and piece of paper, wouldn't you? Years ago, there was a story about how the daughter of the man who created Astro Boy, one of the foundational pieces of anime and manga, had managed to open a locked drawer in her father's work desk long after his death. And what did she find inside? Porn he had drawn of sexy cat women.

We've been adding animal attributes to the human form (and vice versa) since the dawn of mankind. The vast majority of world religions are based on it in some fashion, from the gods of Egypt to the snake in the Garden of Eden to Zeus having sex with anyone and everyone as anything you can imagine, from a bull to a swan to a fucking beam of light if my memory is right.

And the one thing most people forget about furries is that the characters aren't some corporate mascots or media characters - they're often personal. A fursuit is often a representation of the suiter's self in some aspect, not a cosplay of their favorite character from a show or game. The fandom is a place that allows people to explore their own identities, whether that be exploring concepts of gender and sexuality, or styles of fashion and other things that they might be afraid to try in real life.

I also don't have to completely understand their ins and outs and complexities to know they're people who are worthy of respect for being other living people.

💜 Big true.

Simply put: It's a fetish.

It's pretty common to not understand why some people like the things they do in fetishes. Most people don't find feet attractive, but some people become just as aroused seeing feet as others do seeing breasts.

(Some furries will insist up and down that it's not a fetish, and those people are lying. They'll claim it's about a ton of different things, but it's pretty easy to tell. Because the ones who deny it are the ones who like to push their fetish onto others.)

I’m cool with roleplaying as an animal person, wearing a costume, the fetish aspect, whatever. Live your life.

I just don’t understand why they’ve all standardized to using the same terrible art style. It doesn’t look like a human, an animal, or even a sonic character (which I assume is the root), but a fourth thing. You can tell a furry by how they draw a normal human because of how deep set the habits are. Is there any other group as exclusively committed to an art style?

If I spent that kind of money on a wolf costume I’d at least want it to vaguely look like a wolf.

Edit: If you think these don’t heavily share a style (as compared to anthropomorphic characters from non-furry animated series, for example) then I don’t know what to tell you.

I don't get them either.

What I do know, however, is that most of the ones I've met seen like great people. The community seems extremely friendly and welcoming. They also seem to be intelligent and willing to step up to help.

Ultimately, if it makes them happy, and doesn't hurt anyone, have fun! I'm sure others look at me similarly, for my weird hobbies.

The one bit I’ve recognized is that character designs with tails end up leading the eyes to the ass.

I’m no furry, but I recognize I’m an ass man.