Consider other examples: a furry who wants to be a human/tiger hybrid, rather than an actual wolf, a dragon otherkin, and an elf otherkin. All of those are things that could be a part of society, but aren’t yet.
If one of your co-workers comes to work wearing their dragon mask and a business suit, lives in a basement apartment and sleeps on their collection of coins, will society collapse?
If one of your co-workers begins modifying their body to become a human-tiger hybrid, will society collapse?
If one of your co-workers insists that you share in their belief that they have elven heritage, rather than being from Spokane, will society collapse?
I think that there will be a lot of obstacles to full acceptance of those, primarily because people are primarily wired to understand human faces, and also resist status ploys. Fursuits can be expressive, but not that expressive. Modifying the structure of your face to be less like the human average typically makes you look uglier (though there are a number of modifications that can make it cuter while moving away from the human average). If someone wants to be treated like elves or dragons are in mythological settings, while possessing none of the traits that made elves or dragons treated that way, that’s a recipe for being mocked.
Consider other examples: a furry who wants to be a human/tiger hybrid, rather than an actual wolf, a dragon otherkin, and an elf otherkin. All of those are things that could be a part of society, but aren’t yet.
If one of your co-workers comes to work wearing their dragon mask and a business suit, lives in a basement apartment and sleeps on their collection of coins, will society collapse?
If one of your co-workers begins modifying their body to become a human-tiger hybrid, will society collapse?
If one of your co-workers insists that you share in their belief that they have elven heritage, rather than being from Spokane, will society collapse?
I think that there will be a lot of obstacles to full acceptance of those, primarily because people are primarily wired to understand human faces, and also resist status ploys. Fursuits can be expressive, but not that expressive. Modifying the structure of your face to be less like the human average typically makes you look uglier (though there are a number of modifications that can make it cuter while moving away from the human average). If someone wants to be treated like elves or dragons are in mythological settings, while possessing none of the traits that made elves or dragons treated that way, that’s a recipe for being mocked.