Extract– Reysen et al. (2015a) The furry fandom is often the target of significant stigmatization. … Stigmatization of the furry fandom is due, in part, to negative portrayals of the fandom in the media, which has tended to portray furries as sexual deviants. This chapter looks at how perceived stigmatization has affected identity construction and what this has meant for the Furry Fandom. For the IARP, much of their work has focused on highly identified Furries, and as their research has shown, highly identified individuals are often at more risk of suffering from the effects of stigmatization in minority groups. However, as I have stressed a number of times in this book, not all Furries are alike in their experiences and this includes stigmatization. Therefore, I reject the notion from the IARP research that the vast majority of Furries are stigmatized due to the split between hobbyists and lifestylers; hobbyists...