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October 2017 Recognition
8 years ago
Furry Ambassador
October 2017
Dr. Kathy Gerbasi
Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, aka Dr. G, was awarded a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from University of Rochester in 1976. Dr. G is a social psychologist who has conducted studies of the furry community. Since 2006, Dr. G has been conducting surveys at Anthrocon, a large American furry convention, building a research group which became known as the Anthropomorphic Research Project. Her first study of the furry fandom, "Furries From A to Z" was published in Society & Animals volume 16 number 3, in 2008.
Dr. G. learned about furries through her training in Anthrozoology, which is defined as the study of the relationships or interactions between humans and other species of animals. Anthrozoology is also called Human-Animal Studies (HAS). Dr. G was invited to become the moderator for an online HAS discussion group, obligated to answer requests for information which other members left unanswered. One year, a request came through this online group, asking if anyone knew about furries. After no response, Dr. G took to looking for an answer. Finding no useful information within peer-reviewed science literature databases, Dr G went looking on the web and came across the infamous 2001 Vanity Fair furry article. Dr. G was highly skeptical of one person's description of furries, however as a social psychologist and budding anthrozoologist, the study of furries represented the ultimate merging of her two areas of academic interest! The rest is history, still in the making.
Category Contender: Working for Peace
By conducting the first peer reviewed study about furries in 2006 there is finally solid, factual information that can be used in describing the furry fandom for people unbeknownst to this subculture. It has been used in articles, radio interviews and other media occurrences where it has cast a light on what the fandom actually is and can factually disprove misconceptions and stigma that has been plaguing the fandom; like the CSI episode 'Fur and Loathing'.
Her work in the field has broken new ground in research in social psychology and Anthrozoology by using the furry fandom as basis of her research, being the first study of its kind in this regard.
Dr. G has said she is “currently studying people who call themselves furries. As far as I know, my team's first study, Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism) , is the first peer-reviewed journal article to explore the furry culture (fandom) by collecting data from furries. Information from the ongoing Furry Study is placed on LiveJournal. Other general research interests are in social psychological aspects of anthrozoology.”
“I was the Resource Coordinator for the Society and Animals Institute. I have developed and taught a State University of New York Social Science General Education course on the Psychology of Human-Animal Relations. I also teach Introduction to Psychology, The Psychology of Success,Social Psychology and I have taught Developmental Psychology. In 2009 I received a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities. The basis of this award was the furry research.”
Dr. G conducted the first major peer reviewed journal about furries.
Dr. G used over 2,500 participants for her study at a furry convention in 2007. This, among other goals, is to explore characteristics of the furry fandom, test the veracity of stereotypes about furries, and identify how furries see themselves. Dr. G performs the study from a social psychological perspective instead of a sensationalistic media perspective.
This, in my opinion, creates a stable foundation for factual information gathering about the fandom as well as a basis for future studies. Her study has also been a part of forming the FurScience
team, an organization of ... ”a multidisciplinary team of scientists studying the furry fandom. Asking psychological, anthropological, and sociological questions”... and … ”examines furry culture to help both furries and non-furries to better understand the furry community.”
Dr. G is also a media contact resource, and appears frequently in various articles. For example, this article on the BBC in 2009, regarding two defendants in a court case who happened to also be interested in the furry fandom. Since the article is titled “Who are the furries?” It seems like the perfect time for Dr. G to explain the concept of furry as well as explaining the sexual misconceptions about the fandom and also their member's hesitance to be a part of studies. The article describes the fandom at the time as a 'little known world'. It is a shame that the article came to light because of a court case. However we at 'Furry Ambassadors' think that Dr. G's contributions here are important because of providing and presenting the most accurate information about the fandom for the article's integrity to a wide non-furry reader base.
We reached out to IARP researcher Dr. Karlin "Troj" Bruegel for comments about Dr. G:
“My understanding is that she got interested in the fandom thanks to learning about it from some of her students, and then she happened to meet Courtney "Nuka" Plante, who also wanted to research the fandom. I reckon they saw the lack of previous formal knowledge about the fandom as an exciting challenge.”
”I'm very pleased that I've started to see more journalists, researchers, and miscellaneous people actively cite the IARP, and seek out Dr. G, Dr. Nuka, and Dr. Sharon Roberts for soundbites and clarification. It's a major improvement from the "old days," when people would base their knowledge of furries completely off of hearsay, their friends' opinions, their own assumptions, and top Internet search hits.”
”The team's research has provided an essential foundation from which one can make definitive statements about who furries generally are or aren't, and what the fandom generally is or isn't. This has empowered us to debunk and de-fang a lot of rumors and urban legends.”
”I think the team's research has also revealed that there's a lot more to the furry fandom than meets the eye, because I've certainly gained more insight into how people in general forge meaningful connections with one another, and how they construct meaningful identities and a sense of purpose in life. There's a lot the general public can learn from furries, and our research has helped to open the door.”
IARP researcher Dr. Stephen Reysen said “Kathy is a great person to be awarded Furry Ambassador. She published the first empirical paper (that I know of) on furries (Gerbasi et al., 2008). She got Nuka and I on the team about 2010, and a couple years later got Sharon on there. In other words, she brought us all together to form the team. She has shown a consistent commitment to the furry community and has worked to dispel myths and normalize the fandom. She has served as the leader of the IARP team over all those years asking probing questions and being actively engaged in all the projects that are conducted. She also has a keen eye for editing. I can't think of any reason why she wouldn't be a great candidate.”
IARP researcher Dr. Sharon E Roberts said “She is the person who has dedicated more than a decade to correcting the record on the fandom. Pretty much any research you see that makes furries look good was started by her. She's also researching and supporting the therian community. Our approach has always included elements of participatory action.”
In summary:
Is Dr. G's work an important factor in dispelling the stigmatization around the furry community? In our opinion, yes. Dr. G has provided the public her extensive research, using data from real furry individuals from furry conventions. She also uses a scientific approach to a fandom which has preciously only been met with media sensationalism which has created negative misconceptions. Dr. G's research is a much needed breath of fresh air that shows furries and non furries alike what people in the fandom thinks, and also provides facts and information used to resolve myths and fallacies that the fandom has faced over the years.
In her groundbreaking work, Dr. G fulfills the category 'Working for Peace' and therefore qualifies as a Furry Ambassador.
October 2017
Dr. Kathy Gerbasi
Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, aka Dr. G, was awarded a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from University of Rochester in 1976. Dr. G is a social psychologist who has conducted studies of the furry community. Since 2006, Dr. G has been conducting surveys at Anthrocon, a large American furry convention, building a research group which became known as the Anthropomorphic Research Project. Her first study of the furry fandom, "Furries From A to Z" was published in Society & Animals volume 16 number 3, in 2008.
Dr. G. learned about furries through her training in Anthrozoology, which is defined as the study of the relationships or interactions between humans and other species of animals. Anthrozoology is also called Human-Animal Studies (HAS). Dr. G was invited to become the moderator for an online HAS discussion group, obligated to answer requests for information which other members left unanswered. One year, a request came through this online group, asking if anyone knew about furries. After no response, Dr. G took to looking for an answer. Finding no useful information within peer-reviewed science literature databases, Dr G went looking on the web and came across the infamous 2001 Vanity Fair furry article. Dr. G was highly skeptical of one person's description of furries, however as a social psychologist and budding anthrozoologist, the study of furries represented the ultimate merging of her two areas of academic interest! The rest is history, still in the making.
Category Contender: Working for Peace
By conducting the first peer reviewed study about furries in 2006 there is finally solid, factual information that can be used in describing the furry fandom for people unbeknownst to this subculture. It has been used in articles, radio interviews and other media occurrences where it has cast a light on what the fandom actually is and can factually disprove misconceptions and stigma that has been plaguing the fandom; like the CSI episode 'Fur and Loathing'.
Her work in the field has broken new ground in research in social psychology and Anthrozoology by using the furry fandom as basis of her research, being the first study of its kind in this regard.
Dr. G has said she is “currently studying people who call themselves furries. As far as I know, my team's first study, Furries from A to Z (Anthropomorphism to Zoomorphism) , is the first peer-reviewed journal article to explore the furry culture (fandom) by collecting data from furries. Information from the ongoing Furry Study is placed on LiveJournal. Other general research interests are in social psychological aspects of anthrozoology.”
“I was the Resource Coordinator for the Society and Animals Institute. I have developed and taught a State University of New York Social Science General Education course on the Psychology of Human-Animal Relations. I also teach Introduction to Psychology, The Psychology of Success,Social Psychology and I have taught Developmental Psychology. In 2009 I received a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities. The basis of this award was the furry research.”
Dr. G conducted the first major peer reviewed journal about furries.
Dr. G used over 2,500 participants for her study at a furry convention in 2007. This, among other goals, is to explore characteristics of the furry fandom, test the veracity of stereotypes about furries, and identify how furries see themselves. Dr. G performs the study from a social psychological perspective instead of a sensationalistic media perspective.
This, in my opinion, creates a stable foundation for factual information gathering about the fandom as well as a basis for future studies. Her study has also been a part of forming the FurScience
team, an organization of ... ”a multidisciplinary team of scientists studying the furry fandom. Asking psychological, anthropological, and sociological questions”... and … ”examines furry culture to help both furries and non-furries to better understand the furry community.”
Dr. G is also a media contact resource, and appears frequently in various articles. For example, this article on the BBC in 2009, regarding two defendants in a court case who happened to also be interested in the furry fandom. Since the article is titled “Who are the furries?” It seems like the perfect time for Dr. G to explain the concept of furry as well as explaining the sexual misconceptions about the fandom and also their member's hesitance to be a part of studies. The article describes the fandom at the time as a 'little known world'. It is a shame that the article came to light because of a court case. However we at 'Furry Ambassadors' think that Dr. G's contributions here are important because of providing and presenting the most accurate information about the fandom for the article's integrity to a wide non-furry reader base.
We reached out to IARP researcher Dr. Karlin "Troj" Bruegel for comments about Dr. G:
“My understanding is that she got interested in the fandom thanks to learning about it from some of her students, and then she happened to meet Courtney "Nuka" Plante, who also wanted to research the fandom. I reckon they saw the lack of previous formal knowledge about the fandom as an exciting challenge.”
”I'm very pleased that I've started to see more journalists, researchers, and miscellaneous people actively cite the IARP, and seek out Dr. G, Dr. Nuka, and Dr. Sharon Roberts for soundbites and clarification. It's a major improvement from the "old days," when people would base their knowledge of furries completely off of hearsay, their friends' opinions, their own assumptions, and top Internet search hits.”
”The team's research has provided an essential foundation from which one can make definitive statements about who furries generally are or aren't, and what the fandom generally is or isn't. This has empowered us to debunk and de-fang a lot of rumors and urban legends.”
”I think the team's research has also revealed that there's a lot more to the furry fandom than meets the eye, because I've certainly gained more insight into how people in general forge meaningful connections with one another, and how they construct meaningful identities and a sense of purpose in life. There's a lot the general public can learn from furries, and our research has helped to open the door.”
IARP researcher Dr. Stephen Reysen said “Kathy is a great person to be awarded Furry Ambassador. She published the first empirical paper (that I know of) on furries (Gerbasi et al., 2008). She got Nuka and I on the team about 2010, and a couple years later got Sharon on there. In other words, she brought us all together to form the team. She has shown a consistent commitment to the furry community and has worked to dispel myths and normalize the fandom. She has served as the leader of the IARP team over all those years asking probing questions and being actively engaged in all the projects that are conducted. She also has a keen eye for editing. I can't think of any reason why she wouldn't be a great candidate.”
IARP researcher Dr. Sharon E Roberts said “She is the person who has dedicated more than a decade to correcting the record on the fandom. Pretty much any research you see that makes furries look good was started by her. She's also researching and supporting the therian community. Our approach has always included elements of participatory action.”
In summary:
Is Dr. G's work an important factor in dispelling the stigmatization around the furry community? In our opinion, yes. Dr. G has provided the public her extensive research, using data from real furry individuals from furry conventions. She also uses a scientific approach to a fandom which has preciously only been met with media sensationalism which has created negative misconceptions. Dr. G's research is a much needed breath of fresh air that shows furries and non furries alike what people in the fandom thinks, and also provides facts and information used to resolve myths and fallacies that the fandom has faced over the years.
In her groundbreaking work, Dr. G fulfills the category 'Working for Peace' and therefore qualifies as a Furry Ambassador.
