Experience of Going to Furcons as an Indian dude

श्री

Whenever I go to furry convention, there are many times I question whether I actually belong in the fandom.

Funnily enough, first time I ever went to FWA, I did 0 research and had 0 context on what the fandom is about. In fact, the only thing I asked Google was whether fursuiting or wearing a costume was mandatory so I would know whether to bring one with me.

When I first got to the convention, I was awstruck by how different the atmosphere felt.

This was basically my first ever large convention I've been to that was related to some pop culture thing because the only conventions I would go to otherwise would be for school, business, or Indian conventions like MMA (Maharashtra Mandal).

So it was such a big culture shock when I first walked into the Mariott Marquis and saw people walking around in cat and dog costumes lol.

And I just loved it so much. It was so different than anything I've seen before. I loved the energy. How chaotic it was. I was addicted.

But as I got more involved with the community, I realized more and more that I'm actually an extremely small minority in the community.

First, I didn't realize that a large percent of the community identified as LGBT+. It took me a while to understand why so many people were wearing pronoun badges and why I was seeing so many pride flags everywhere. After my first time in FWA, I went to Momocon 2 weeks afterwards and noticed that there weren't nearly as many pride flags on display.

I've never had anything against LGBT+ but it definitely was different seeing so many flags on display when in Atlanta, the only time I would see it would be in a shop every now and then and the infamous Klaus rainbow stairs.

More than the LGBT+ and sexuality part (cause to me that's mostly a private thing), what really made me got me more was just how few BIPOC folks I saw. Way before I got involved in the fandom, I would talk to a lot of my multicultural friends about typical geeky interests like anime, comics, gaming. I remember how much I loved talking to my friends about that sort of stuff.

But when it came to furries, I just didn't know any of my close frineds who had remotely any sort of idea what the fandom is about. And the more friends I've made in the community, the more I realized that I'm really an extreme minority in it.

One of my first exposures to furries was SonicFox when he won the Game Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTTQ37JbYME

I was in the call with my high school buddies and they were all cringing when he said "he's gay, black, and a furry so everything a republican hates."

I've also seen other videos of Black people like FinnThePanther (big shout out, helped me really understand furry culture when I was new) explain how "different" it feels to join the fandom as a BIPOC person.

Things have changed and when I go to furcons nowadays, I feel like the community has gotten a lot more racially diverse than it previously has been. In fact, when I go to FWA, I see a ton of Black people which makes sense since African Americans are the biggest demographic in this city.

I've also met a ton of people from other races like East Asian, Indigenous, European, etc. In fact, when I traveled to Korea, I was surprised by how much anthropomorphic art and even mascots for cat cafes there were on the streets.

However, I've yet to meet that many more myself an Indian cishet dude and in many ways, I still feel awkward when I go to furcons because of the lack of South Asian (desi) folks. When I go to anime cons, I've met tons of desi folks there and it helps me relate to them when it comes to culture. But at furcons, I've hardly met any.

And I think the main reason for that is our culture. I did a good amount of research into this and found that India, despite being the largest country by population has barely any conventions. I couldn't find any real big anime or furry convention in India. And the one comic convention there is in each city like Delhi Comic Con is actually pretty small.

So I want to change that. I don't care that I may be 0.1% of the fandoms make-up. I know that I enjoy this community and I belong here. This community has changed me so much as a person. I used to be so shy before. It's really helped me get over my fear of being in public and talking to people.

Cause at the end of the day, I don't want to live my life for other people, but live it for myself.