Some questions (younger fur, possibly going to con for the first time)
Hi! I have been in the fandom for a while and was thinking of possibly going to my first con when I am done making my partial fursuit. I'm not sure if that would be FurFright, because thats much, much closer, but i would rather go to anthrocon. Either way, I wanted to know: this won't be like, a dude fest, right? I mean, I have nothing against boys, believe me, but I am a 13 year old girl furry and I don't know if my mom would want me diving into a 90% big environment. Will there be younger female fursuiters there? I would be fine with younger male fursuiters- I just wouldn't want to be a really young furry hanging around a bunch of adults and my parents. I want to get out there and socialize. I still have to introduce my mom to the rest of the fandom (started to yesterday) and I need to tell her about the con somehow. She would probably be more comfortable with FurFright since it is in our state. I just need to be able to tell her what a con is like- what is the con like and what do I tell her about it so she will be comfortable going?
Last displayed statistics are for AC 2008.
www.anthrocon.org/history-registration-2008
Over 500 attendees were ages 10-19.
1273 attendees were ages 20-24.
Since attendance #s have gone up each year since then, it's almost certain there's more
of each coming in 2012.
I think more males than females attend, but plenty of females DO attend.
(I once ran a panel that ran almost exactly 50% male, 50% female.)
What to tell parents?
Ok, start here:
www.anthrocon.org/faq/minors
Then move on to some of the many threads on the same subject, mostly in
the First Timers section:
www.anthrocon.org/node/6595/furry-atmosphere-ok-14-year-old
www.anthrocon.org/node/6431/how-put-family-worries-rest
www.anthrocon.org/node/6846/concern-about-parents
www.anthrocon.org/node/6278/telling-family
Somewhere, there's a link to a video of Uncle Kage doing the
"Explaining Furry to the Public" panel. Someone will hopefully
find it and post it.
And that person to find those videos would be me.
Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2DSc8GHl5g
Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPeDc2wdZ9Q
Part three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6azE7IDmTbY
Part four: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1m_vfNFWkM
Part five: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPAmlZpuf-s
Part six: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcTrlMDO7_0
P.S. Hopefully the links work and that these are the videos you're talking about. 
WRT the "dude fest", the answer is sort of yes, but you should be safe,
as implied by these stereotypical comics:
http://comic.deerme.net/2003/11/20031128.html
http://comic.deerme.net/2008/02/20080208.html (my favorite)
http://comic.deerme.net/2011/12/20111111.html
I don't remember whether the age demographics for last year were posted,
but maybe they could also be broken out by both age and sex; I suspect as the
fandom skews younger, the gender ratio will become (slightly) more balanced...
Thank you guys SOOOO much for all of the links and info! I really do appreciate it!
Well, I'll be 18 at the time of the con this year, but I'm very friendly, and I actually have alot of friends that are much younger than me. I'll be going with a few friends who are my age, (and maybe my friend whos about your age? not sure if shes coming yet.)
But I'd be happy to meet up with you there! I'm very friendly, and I've been to Anthrocon and FurFright before. (And going to both of them again this year!) I have a partial suit, and so does one of the friends im going with. (I'm also probably going to let one of my friends borrow my spare tail, since shes not a furry but really wants to come. XD )
(Also, if your parents are really unsure about you meeting up with an 18 year old, I'm willing to meet them and introduce myself, and tell them about the con/fandom...but thats up to you and them. )
Hi! You seem really nice, and I know this is SUPER random but I'd love to meet up with you! I'm a 13 year old female too, and never been to a convention. My parent's have a basic idea of the convention and fandom, but I think they'd be comfortable talking to someone who knows a lot about it, like me. I hope I'm making sence.
There will also be Ponies everywhere.
Of course, that's now the case with every convention, everywhere. Even the "World Widget Convention" is overrun by Pony, I suspect.
I for one welcome our new Pony overlords...
I for one welcome our new Pony overlords...
Would they be "The Knights who say 'Neigh!'"?
![The Knights who say "Ni!"](http://www.anthrocon.org/sites/all/modules/smileys/random_smileys/th_The_Knights_Who_Say_Ni_by_livius.gif "The Knights who say "Ni!"")
I'm pretty sure it'd be a dicneightorship.
What are you, a Neighzi?
I think that is just about enough from all of you neighsayers. 
Neighgatory. THE PUN MUST FLOW.
Awww - but we're all just being neighborly!
Of course, eventually this diversion of off-topicness will reach its neighdir, and die of its own accord.
You really hit the neighl on the head.
HAPPY ONE-MILLIONTH BAD PUN, FURRY FANDOM! It's been a great run, you guys!
I'm a 14 year old fursuitter trying to earn money from 4 jobs in 1 for a fursuit and if it's build I'll be there and I'll look like a fullbody fursuit of the picture of the shisa below. If you see me be sure to say hi! It'll be my first tim there too! A way to introduce her is look up Anthrocon on youtube and look for cool things about it. I got my parents approval by showing them the epic dance contests! Looks like fun! Hope my idea helps!
Sabel Lynn Loki
Loki The Shisa
Saloki~
There's always going to be a few folks that leave a bad taste in the brain, but things are never as weird as people think they'll be. Unless you specifically seek out that weirdness. The point you'll have to make to your parents is that you know better than to get yourself in trouble, and to stay away from anyone who could cause problems. Lots of young people attend, and engage in fursuiting.
I've also heard that FurFright had a much larger number of "get drunk/go crazy around other people" furs than Anthrocon usually has (secondhand info, I didn't actually go there). Either way, you'd be exposing your parents to some kind of odd behavior, so you'll have to play damage control. Make sure they know you're one of the good examples, and you won't have to worry about other people making you look bad for being a fur. Have them talk to some of the gears that make the convention tick, I'm sure they'll have some fun (parent-safe) stories to share. Bring them to some (age-appropriate) workshops on fursuiting, or "So this is your first furry con..." kind of panels.
Being at a convention is like a specialized slice of real life. There's a lot of strangeness if you seek it out, but there's also a lot of fairly normal people, who all have their quirks and personalities. You just hear a lot more about the crazy parts because it's more entertaining than hearing "We sat in the hotel room and drew for five hours".
(Also, I think we need some kind of sticky thread about "I'm a young fur attending Anthrocon for the first time, don't know how to explain it to my parents, what should I expect?" The increase in members is nice, but everyone seems to ask the same questions.)