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Join the cast for another night of conversation Episode 25 - Waking the shark

That’s the official slogan of Joan Marie, a fine artist we met at WonderCon. She works in a pastel watercolor style, creating works of many animal species (mammals, birds, and more) and fantasy creatures as well.  And, as you can see at her web shop, she offers those works on a variety of items — not only the standard t-shirts , tote bags, and mugs but dresses and pant-suits as well.

image c. 2018 by Joan Marie

Puppets are usually good at music.
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It's kinda cool when people in other fandoms wander over into furry like this. Also, BIRD!
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Guest post by Arrkay from Culturally F’d, the furry youtube channel. See their tag on Dogpatch Press for more.

Furry and Punk have a lot in common, way more than you think! Arrkay discusses the parallels of the two movements, their philosophies, their work ethic and more! We’re really excited for this episode as it’s been on the list of suggestions for over a year!

This episode came together with the help of a lot of different furs! This article is going to look at some of the research we used, and a shoutout for everyone who helped.

Buy Fluff Punk Merch today at http://www.culturallyfd.com

The YCH in the thumbnail is our patreon sponsor Reggie Fox with art by Underbite Dragon. Get your own or some other cool stuff here https://www.patreon.com/culturallyfd

The episode was divided into several sections, the titles only really make sense in the written script and are otherwise lost in the translation to video:

1. Punk Primer
2. DIY Ethics (at about 3:57)
3. Anti-Establishment (about 6:06)
4. Kink as Fashion (about 8:21)
5. No Fascists at this party (about 9:31)
6. Close-out (about 12:59)

DIY:

Also, sending some love to @boilerroo for providing us with lots of punk art and photography. Here's some posters we didn't end up putting in this weeks episode: pic.twitter.com/HDSkI5EL5v

— Culturally F'd! (@CulturallyFd) April 11, 2018

Also shout out to Reggie Fox, who not only has a sweet sponsor spot in the YCH thumbnail, but also helped us track down that punk-pamphlet via twitter:

Apparently a pic of my fursona was used on the cover of a furry anarchist pamphlet back around 2012. #punkrock pic.twitter.com/24fP7w5j9B

— Aiden @ BLFC (@AidenPup) January 5, 2016

We should note that the pamphlet did not directly inspire the video, the script was already drafted when we rediscovered it. It did help us confirm some of our suspicions though. The creator of the pamphlet is still a mystery!

Our research also dug up this limited edition punk art and design book focusing on the sexual elements of the arts movement. NSFW imagery:

Provocative new book explores sex in punk

Additional Research links:
A collection of YouTube posted Documentaries on Punk. They feature nazi-punks a lot though, so heads up: https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/kz8jqx/the-5-best-punk-documentaries-on-youtube

I have a digital copy of Furry Nation by Joe Strike, so I was able to quickly find any instances of the word “Punk” in the manuscript, leading to the quote by Boomer the Dog and his fursuit Papey: http://furrynation.com/

We also used a track by Xephyr, which Underbite Dragon now drums for. Check out their music, which is more prog-rock than punk, but we won’t hold it against them: https://www.youtube.com/user/XephyrRocks

 

NO FASCISTS AT THIS PARTY

Here is an article by GQ that has a series of short anecdotes of punk-rockers having to deal with neo-nazi’s showing up to ruin their shows. It has many examples of how to deal with them nonviolently, and their violent reactions to being shown the door. Open clashes were rare, but there are a few instances of those as mentioned here as well: https://www.gq.com/story/punks-and-nazis-oral-history

Ever hear that Altfurries are just trolls? A real Nazi leader is taking them seriously.

I have one more thing I want to express to alt-furries and anyone sympathizing with neo-nazis. I think one day soon there’s going to be a very furry version of this classic Dead Kennedys track:

 

Like this and want more? Buy Culturally F’d Merch, Support Culturally F’d on Patreon, and subscribe to the Newsletter.

Not the sort of thing I normally post but the Atari 2600 was my first console and I was really taken by this young furs quest. (Yeah, I'm old and I had an Atari in the late 70s and it still has a large part of my being.)
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Another cool item we picked up from Animation World Network: “Newbery Honor-winning author Adam Gidwitz and Mixtape Club founders Jesse Casey and Chris Lenox Smith premiered online the animated debut of The Unicorn Rescue Society, whose adventures continue in a series of books for middle-grade readers from Penguin Random House.” The kids of the Unicorn Rescue Society (along with their companion Jersey, a friendly Jersey Devil) help with the needs of mythical creatures that adults don’t even believe in. “The Unicorn Rescue Society is a secret organization. Its mission is to keep the creatures of myth and legend safe. Dragons, Bigfoot, chupacabras — and maybe even unicorns. Every day, the threats to these rare and wonderful animals grow. They are hunted. Their habitats are destroyed. And the Unicorn Rescue Society is their only hope.” Rather than being adaptations of the books themselves, the animated shorts spread the word about the book series and take a behind-the-scenes look. The AWN article has a link to the first cartoon.

image c. 2018 Mixtape Club

Postcards handed out at Furry Weekend Atlanta

On Kickstarter: an Anthropomorphic Art Magazine is being launched by Zoion Media and its creator Pulsar. (It ends on April 29, so don’t wait to support.)

Our goal is to create a contemporary, well designed, image-driven magazine focusing on clean, evocative, highly artistic, well developed and well executed anthropomorphic art and themes. We want to make something the average furry is proud to show their non-furry friends to give them an idea of what furry art is all about.

Pulsar talked about inspiration for a print magazine to promote furry fandom creators and artists:

“I’ve always been an artist and I read a lot on contemporary fine art. I remember standing in the bookstore browsing Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose and thinking, ‘there needs to be something just like this for furry art’.”

Those names stood out to me. So did the focus on clean art. That sounds smart for professional reasons. If it open-mindedly supports creators who do adult art elsewhere (which includes Pulsar himself), that could make a needed gateway between fandom and the mainstream, where the word “furry” is less sensitive.

Zoion is meant to feature strong curation and professional execution to appeal both inside and outside of fandom. Although it’s visually driven, it can be for more than art, too – like writing about creative process, artist profiles and interviews, themed media reviews, and critical analysis.

Pulsar has a blog piece that talks about rationale for the project. (He’ll share more aspects of design and planning there). He says:

…the fandom has been growing rapidly and has also been getting more mainstream attention. The tone of that attention has shifted as well, from the CSI days of furry being known exclusively as this weird fetishy thing, to more journalists, charities, and internet denizens standing up to defend furries when they come up in threads or news.

…I believe this desire for legitimacy in the furry fandom means it’s right time to launch that idea for an anthro art magazine I had five years ago.

There’s a precedent for mainstream crossover. In 2016, furry artist Onta (of porn site Hardblush.com) featured in mainstream comic anthology Island, from Image Comics. (Read an interview about it with Onta by Bessie, an occasional Dogpatch Press contributor.)

I rarely do headlines about crowdfunding, but publishing is special to me. Last week, that included a furry photo art book project, “At Home With the Furries” by Tom Broadbent. It succeeded with raising over $13,000. It’s a great time for this stuff, with Joe Strike’s Furry Nation being a milestone too. I think investing effort for real, physical media is a step beyond fandom into a movement. That’s why I’m happy to see the term “art movement” explicitly associated with Zoion.

Furry art is one of the first, and quite possibly the largest art movement to exist primarily as new media. This is a big reason we feel a print magazine is a great idea. Here's our take:https://t.co/f6JP2sRWz7

— Zoion (@ZoionMedia) April 3, 2018

Pulsar added:

“I think there’s a real desire in the furry fandom to be able to talk more openly about furry as an interest or a hobby. But pointing friends to a website or Twitter account can be difficult because furries tend to mix styles, types, and levels of maturity in their art,” Pulsar said. “Zoion would provide a way to showcase the best of anthro art in one place, in a way that’s not being done on any other platform.”

Zoion Media is soliciting for artists and creators who want to participate. To be considered, visit zoionmedia.com and find “Submission Info” to submit.

Following Part 1 and Part 2 here’s one more take. (Sorry if it’s beating a dead horse, or pup, but it has to post week-of). Thanks to Jones for submitting. Good boy!

This was a very lively discussion.

Many puppy players ARE furries. @Pup_Leo: “mixing my pup gear with my fursona”

Hello. I’m Devin Jones, your friendly local furry hermit. I’ve been in the fandom for 16 years, both active and periphery, and I’ve been a pup for seven years. This recent incident at FWA has called me to bring my expertise in both spaces to bear on making a decision on how I, personally, should react and handle the overlap between the pup and furry communities.

Jones

I am not under the impression that ‘furry’ is a fetish. Perhaps, for some, that’s the definition of ‘furry’. A kink for anthropomorphic animals of various species, some of them paradoxically not having fur. But I, myself, find that shallow. Furry is more than just wanting to get schtupped by werewolves or wanting to tie the fox-boy down. Furry is a culture all its own. A culture made of artists and aficionados, of kinksters and prudes, of artisans and consumers and people of an age range that is staggering in its broad reach. To claim that furry is merely a fetish is myopic. It does no one any good to cheapen it in such a way. It’s like saying that footwear is merely a fetish.

I don’t shy away from or attempt to whitewash the sexual side of the fandom. It isn’t something that can be ignored. The ‘AD culture’ is just as much a part of it as the fluffier side. Both parts make up the whole, with much overlap in between. The sexual side of the fandom is broad in spectrum, ranging from vanilla, everyday sex to ‘shocking’ fetishes with a touch of weird. It has hooks in everything from BDSM to weight gain. Pup play is not exempt from this broad outreach of interests.

Pups are some of the best people I have come across in my long tenure in the BDSM community. Most are innocuous, friendly and eager to please to a fault like the animals they wish to emulate. They are a good lot, overall, and one that I happily throw my hat in with. There is no shame in being a pup. In my experience, it’s a good way of letting the stress of the world leave you. You are a dog. You don’t have to worry about taxes, money, your job or everyday life. You are there to be A Good Boy. Nothing more, nothing less. Pup mentality asks only for a simple existence as a being. It asks you to be happy in what you are. Be that a service dog or a, well, “service” dog, if you get my meaning, or simply a companion.

Hoods are a mark of honor for most pups. A way of becoming the mask, much like fursuits, hoods can be anything from a simple cover for the face that emulates a dog’s in shape, all the way to a head-encompassing leather or rubber fixture that removes all semblance of being a human being. Some eschew hoods for personal reasons, be that cost efficiency or simple dislike of being confined in one.

What happened at FWA, while it was late at night, was more than a faux pas in the pup community. Regardless of excuse, it endangers the reputation of the pup community and by proxy, the furry community. Open, public play is not an act that is acceptable under all but the most explicit circumstances. There is a difference between a pup meet or a demo at a BDSM gathering, and a true public space like the lobby of a hotel. Random passersby did not consent to being shown this fetish act. This should be clear. Condemnation of TEKpup and Murrlin is the only course of action that is morally acceptable. There is no question in my mind that, had this happened at a public munch or a BDSM con, that the two would be ejected and blacklisted from area meetups.

Forcing someone to witness a sexual act is inherently a transgression on that person of a sexual nature. BDSM, pup play included, is about consent of all involved parties. There’s no argument to be had here.

The periphery question of pup hood being ‘allowed’ in con spaces is one with no clear answer. My heart tells me that pup play, while not always sexual, is a fetish. It has not had the PR and precedent that fursuiting has had to give it an innocuous feeling. This recent incident does not help it in that matter. My opinion is simple; Pup hoods and harnesses are fetish gear, and it’s up to the con to decide if fetish gear is acceptable in public spaces.

Thank you for indulging the ramblings of a hermit.

The good news for folks who are into that is even though furry isn't set up for the scene there are specific conventions and events that are hosted for that specific purpose and those are better adults only spaces for safely and consensually enjoying such activities. pic.twitter.com/JfRIqwpXGS

— Deo (@DeoTasDevil) April 9, 2018

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

An odd little short based on a french poem. Here is the translation: "For a dead leaf's funeral Two snails set off They've blacked up their shells Put black bands on their horns They set off in the evening A lovely autumn eve Alas, when they arrive Spring has already come The leaves, which were dead Have all come back to life And the two snails Are very downhearted But out comes the sun And the sun says to them Take, take the trouble The trouble to sit down Take a glass of beer If that's what you fancy Take, if you'd like to The coach up to Paris It's leaving tonight You'll see the world But don't wear mourning You mark my words It makes you look ugly And blacks out your eyes All this coffin business Is grim and not nice Take back your colours The colours of life And then all the animals Trees and plants too Break out into song And sing loud and true They sing the song of life The song of summer And they all have a drink And their glasses they clink It's a beautiful evening A lovely summer's eve And so our two snails Back for home they leave They leave full of emotion They leave full of joy And they leave full of beer So they stumble and swoon But up in the sky Looking down is the moon"
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Continuing from part 1: Controversy erupted about a video from FWA that appeared to show sex in public, but it didn’t. It was puppy players wrestling (moshing). Pup play is an offshoot of the leather scene that overlaps with furry, but isn’t always welcome. The behavior at FWA was one issue – and then a separate, bigger debate came up about welcoming that interest at furry cons. Here’s a point/counterpoint about it.

nobody clutches their pearls harder than furries pretending to be shocked at pup play

— Hashtag (@HashtagPurr) April 8, 2018

for the record, if you gonna grind on the floor, do it in your room. but fuck this puritanical crusade against the gear scene. sorry their version of the fandom isn’t walking stuffed animals, get over it

— Hashtag (@HashtagPurr) April 8, 2018

I have some words to say to Furry and Pup Twitter over the FWA video. Not because I want attention but because I’ve been a furry since 2010 and a pup for 3 1/2 Years and these last few days have been rough for me.

— David “there’s a gif for everything” Popovich (@Bookworm_Review) April 9, 2018

As for you furries... for a group that spent years trying to say “Blame the person not the fandom” you can at times be hypocritical about that. This was a bad situation but by individuals not a community. So why attack all of us leaves me tired.

— David “there’s a gif for everything” Popovich (@Bookworm_Review) April 9, 2018

Click through above for more from Pup Matthias, a Dogpatch Press staffer who says “Pups are a spectrum of sexual and non sexual like furries, but they haven’t had people whitewash their history”. 

He gave further explanation:

A pup hood is an extension for someone when they are in pup space. Some people misinterpret that you need a hood to be a pup, but you don’t. There is no “gear” requirement to show you’re a pup. What makes someone a pup is what they wish to express a “dog” behavior.

Some are playful. Others are service, as in serving the community by volunteering at events. Others are protectors and others are sexual. The problem I have with the “Pup Hoods in public fur con space” debate is that it’s misguided. If a person was in full fetish gear: hood, harness, jockstrap, butt plug tail, etc. there would be no debate. Most people have common sense for what is and isn’t right to wear at certain events and would call out something like that.

If the person was in hood and wearing a harness with no shirt, I wouldn’t have a problem with that because of the circles I’m in, but I can understand where people come from about kink and fetish. I would expect that at an event like Claw, or LA Hear, over a general furry space.

But just a pup hood alone? While properly dressed? Unless I’m missing details, or the pup in question was being a huge dick, I don’t see that as wrong. When we do that we’re just expressing ourselves in a non sexual way. When I see what’s been discussed on Twitter, I can’t really agree on what people are saying in context of just wearing a hood while being PG. The Pup community is sexual, but there’s a spectrum of people, some I know personally who aren’t. There’s more to the community than what people are saying. I feel the Pup community needs to step up to educate while recognizing the nuances.

I started a group chat with more opinions.

Puppy play in a hotel lobby? They were defensive that it was at 4 AM. It’s still a lobby.

Arrkay:

I like pup masks, they look neat and I think can fit in with furry just fine. But I mean more like kink friendly design/fashion. That doesn’t condone this behavior, they should have done it in private.

Pup Matthias:

I’m a pup and have been for 3 1/2 years. When I discovered it I saw a lot of crossover with furry and my interest with BDSM. I know puppy comes from a sexual background but being in the community I’ve seen that not all pups are sexual. There are some who do it just to role play no different from when furries fursuit. In fact I’ve had 2-3 different encounters with little kids while wearing my hood at public events and they were amazed to see me. But when it comes to criticism of Pups most of it comes not from outside, but from furries. And it’s funny because we have been yelled at by the old guard leather about how we don’t respect pups sexual humiliation origins. While furries say we’re too sexy. I even had one at a fur event yell at my face that I didn’t belong wearing my hood to a furry event. So there is some personal baggage when stuff like this happens.

Arrkay:

Furry origins are dripping in sex and kink, I think it’s hypocritical to reject pups.

Aristide:

They’re not furry, just furry adjacent. There’s also an explicit fetish assumption with pups, whereas furry has minors that can participate safely.

Arrkay:

Lots of cross over in the venn diagram. And you’re right, furry is an all ages thing. So no yiffing in the lobby. But I think it should be fine to don a pup hood with plain clothes, and romp around conspace. FE had a rule that any kink gear like hoods and harnesses could only be in the conspace after 9pm, I think thats a reasonable compromise.

This is a separate convo between “yiffing in the lobby” vs “pups place within furry.”

Tex:

I’m open to learn about anything. I assumed pup hoods were just sexual. I also assumed BDSM is inherently sexual. I’m open to the idea that I’m wrong about this all, I don’t have a lot of experience with it.

Arrkay:

If I had a pup hood it would def be more for fashion than sex. They look heckin neat IMO.

Aristide:

Pup hoods are anti-fashion IMO.

Pup Matthias:

It makes me think of a few months ago when someone saw a puppy with his hood walking in the lobby, and everyone on Twitter, including me had an opinion.

Deo:

I’m cool with harnesses and pup hoods worn around the con at all times. It was the inappropriate public dry humping that I didn’t like. I’d feel that way no matter what they were wearing, plain clothes, fursuits, or pup gear. It’s less about the gear and more about conducting ourselves decently and respectfully in public spaces. Those other people around them didn’t consent to being a part of sexual play as background onlookers. Touchy stuff like that needs to take place in private hotel rooms.

Pup play may originate with BDSM but the roleplay elements and escapism are very close to reasons why some furries fursuit. Pup hoods can be original works of art just like fursuit heads. As long as everyone is fully dressed without genitalia explicitly showing, and as long as they leave people alone who are uncomfortable (same with fursuiters needing to not force interaction), I’m cool with it.

Tempe O’Kun:

I’m not into pup/pony play, but I would also argue that it’s kinda furry – RPing as an animal and all. That said, sometimes we do have to cool it for the sake of having an all ages con (or have more adults-only cons). Furries, the media, hotel staff, and even the family of furries benefit from having clear and simple rules on when/where you can wear obvious kink gear.

Vandell:

I think pups are fine in the fandom. I don’t even have much against the hoods being worn in public (sort of; wait for the chilluns to go to bed first). I think grinding in a public hotel lobby is the frustrating part.

Deo:

It’s not about y’all tho. Forreal.

The furry con doesn’t have to cater to your fetish, they literally have BDSM cons for this stuff. This is so god damn selfish. Embrace public decency and stop dropping inappropriate public behaviors on others.

Get a grip.
Do better. https://t.co/V0b1xXOctQ

— mawther (@inkiiorchid) April 9, 2018

There is a good point that a furry con doesn’t have to cater to individual fetishes and that specific fetish events and conventions exist for the reason of fulfilling that role for people.

I gotta say though some pup hoods are lovely pieces of artwork that really show skill and craft.

Mulefoot Boar made these and I want one.

There’s no reason these can’t be considered art masks.

These are artistic too. All of this is just head wear, not much different than any other mask except for the prejudice/expectation of it being solely sexual.

Pup Matthias:

After digesting this more, I know and understand that what the pups did is wrong, but it reads and feels like those talking about it are using to broadly talk about pups being bad in general. Let’s not forgot what happened when one person complained on Twitter during Arizona Fur Con just about seeing someone in a hood.

It feels hypocritical to see furries do that, but honestly furries have always had an issue with its “image”. It’s like a needy girl who needs total strangers to approve of her.

And the thing about the hoods being works of art can be true. It can also be hurtful to Pups in the community because we always have some who feel they need to get a hood just to be accepted, and you don’t need one to pup. It’s a state of mind. The hood is just fashion to either help get into that space or express yourself. It’s not required.

hi i'm old enough to remember when fursuits were considered fetish gear and lots of furries didn't want ppl wearing them on the floor at conventions. consider that acceptance of smth originally born of sexuality can lead to identity & culture beyond its birthplace

— artdecade (@artdecaderoo) April 8, 2018

ScaleyStaffer:

People forget things like pet auctions existed in the fandom at one point and were major convention events.

Deo:

Sorry, I mentioned the hoods being works of art because they have gotten the bulk of the stigma recently. I know pup is a state of mind, but without the hoods the “romping” would have been attributed to drunk furries, rather than blamed on “BDSM Pups are being publicly kinky in our Furry Fandom”.

Pup Matthias:

That is true, and seeing them as art is an important thing. I’m just bringing up something I’ve seen way too much on the pup side. Hoods can actually be a sore topic for pups, depending.

Tempe O’Kun:

Sort of like how some people feel like they aren’t real furries without suits?

Edward:

I feel the gear is fine as long as there is no nudity involved, especially in open con spaces.

Pup Matthias:

It’s the same language and the same issues. Being noticed, being accepted, and seeing which ones are popular and wanting to be like them.

Edward:

I see some of the people saying pup hoods should be banned are also people that think murrsuits are terrible and should also be banned. Not sure if that stems from personal issues about sex or what, but I feel that as long as things are kept strictly G rated in areas that are not designated for more adult things, it’s fine. Use common sense and better judgement. Drunk people will do dumb things, but judging an entire subculture within a subculture because of the actions of a couple drunks is kinda unfair IMO.

Like artdecade says in that tweet, fursuits were also considered fetish gear. They still are in many circles. It’s not the fursuit or the pup hood that made those two dry hump in a public area. Banning the gear is not going to stop that behavior.

Tempe O’Kun:

Also: collars/leashes. Most places, that would automatically be considered a sex thing. Some furries just wear that stuff as a fashion item.

Edward:

I wore a collar in public years ago, and it was just shrugged off as a ‘goth thing’. It wasn’t at all, but hey, worked in my favor.

Tempe O’Kun:

Right. Context.

I think we need to recognize that the behavior was the problem not what they were wearing. It would be equally wrong no matter what they were wearing- plain clothes, fursuit, or pup. It's less about the gear more about conducting ourselves respectfully in public spaces. pic.twitter.com/W7C8sghQp6

— Deo (@DeoTasDevil) April 9, 2018

Pup Matthias:

I understand there is a lot to learn about and I feel the fandom still has an image issue it needs to both grow from and loosen up in other areas.

Summercat:

I will say that we do a lot of nonfurry stuff at furry cons that furries are interested in. Ham radio, aerospace meetups – heck, most gaming isn’t furry. So to me, saying that pup stuff is BDSM and not furry doesn’t quite wash, even if you ignore the overlap in categorization.

At the same time I dont think gimp suits should be allowed and I’m iffy about the full body latex zentai suits I’ve seen run around.

Deo:

Good point on the furry adjacent hobbies and interests that carry over to be shared a cons between furry fans.

Summercat:

Are cons about Anthropomorphic Media, or are they about Furry Fandom? Are they about the art movement, or upon the culture? I’ve always seen conventions to be like a county fair, where a community or set of communities come together to do trade/business, show off their best works, enter into contests, and socialize. So I guess I’m in the latter of this.

Tex:

A lot less grey area here. I know the discussion for sex positivity in the fandom is all but won.

I know two people who classify themselves as asexual and would like to Disney-ify cons. One proudly kinkshames because she finds it all disgusting and feels like cons are no place for it. The other literally says that everything should be held to a “rated E” standard, and feels like the whole of the con space should be FOR KIDS. The people I’m introducing are the only sex-negative people I know personally.

Some people legit want to give the fandom a bubble bath, and purify it by their own arbitrary sense of shame, and they are NOT silent about this and take incidents like the video to churn up weaponized outrage at kinks and fetishes, and shape the fandom to their will. They’re not very good at it. The ones I know and quietly dislike intensely, but they stand in the way of a sex-positive fandom as I’d like to see it, and I’m sure they’re not alone. They do it under the guise of asexuality too, which just gives aces a bad name.

They’re more or less just disgusted by sex and live in an imaginary Disney land. They don’t have the means to effect that change and I’m glad they don’t.

Closing – a little teaser of news.

I hope you enjoyed this chat that covered a LOT of ground beyond drama about one video.  On the other paw, when Anthro Northwest had their first convention in late 2017, there was a lot of controversy about their family-friendly rules that were attacked with assumptions about religious motivation behind the scenes.  Personally, I was never doubtful that furry should have a place for a family-friendly con.  Fandom is growing and there’s a lot of room for different flavors and approaches. That makes me mention that there’s serious talk of starting an adult-specific furry convention for 2020.

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

Seriously!! Right in front of my Convention!? #FWA18 @Cajuntagious pic.twitter.com/s5ZYsXfEaY

— KoidelCoyote@BLFC (@KoidelCoyote) April 8, 2018

Furry twitter was growling about two puppies wrestling in the middle of a hotel lobby. It was an “OMG! Furs are having sex in public at FWA” thing. It started with one tweet of a video that sort of looks like people having sex – but then the subjects posted a close-up 360 video showing it wasn’t. Even so, online outrage kept getting the video taken down from Youtube (see it on Vimeo).

Changa Lion of the Prancing Skiltaire house, a graymuzzle furry who staffed at ConFurence and tipped me about this, said it resembled plenty of previous “bullshit said about older cons that wasn’t actually true”:

It’s like it becomes self-reinforcing. No matter what is said, it’s now firmly in place in people’s minds that furs were having sex in public at FWA. I almost want a yearly award for the biggest fan outrage of the year that is actually bullshit.

What were they doing?

Puppy Play is a recently rising community rooted in the classic BDSM leather scene. Think hoods and wrestling gear reminiscent of the gimp look, wagging tails and barking – but sex is optional while “primal headspace” is the point, according to them. Playing together in gear is a “mosh”.

Overlap of puppies and furries is especially noticeable with a hot spot like Seattle, where SEAPAH (Seattle Pups and Handlers) throws a monthly mosh at a leather bar that attracts fursuiters. For incentive to mingle, that furry scene seems to need more established night life, like regular dance parties other cities have.

Things don’t always mingle so casually at fur cons, where pups have been accused of making things creepy, yelled at or been told not to wear hoods. That’s not fair, say the pups. Furries can get similar friction about fursuits that they don’t deserve (or they used to.)

When the issue came out at FWA, it was inflamed by baggage and bad attitudes from several sides. Does puppy play belong in furry at all? Is furry actually a fetish itself? Can you call either thing nonsexual? Are furries overreacting to purify parts of themselves? Should they lighten up because the same judgement was thrown at them before? Or do both groups share some ambiguous no-mans-land, with closer ties than they want to admit?

Put your collars on and follow my lead – let’s jump into the fray for a closer look.

Furry ambiguity

I will always say that families and kids belong in furry. But so does the After Dark side. Oddly enough, they coexist even if they aren’t supposed to mingle. I call it a “big tent from Disney to Dirty.” Duality like that is everywhere, because parents have sex to have kids and raise them too. It’s just human, but I think the duality is closer to the surface in this subculture, with more blurry lines. That can make it complicated to decide what’s appropriate and how flexible the lines are. Appropriateness can be very ambiguous when things like “fursuit crushes” are in the eye of the beholder.

For example, this is an innocent kid’s cartoon, except when it isn’t:

remember that time on the Batman cartoon when Batman fought the hot Olympic athlete whose steroids keep turning him into a werewolf

and then they wrestle

i do pic.twitter.com/SmVWMOanuq

— Anthony Oliveira (@meakoopa) April 7, 2018

Here’s an icon that achieved self awareness about it:

I’m all for showing your stripes, feathers, etc. But let’s keep things gr-r-reat – & family-friendly if you could. Cubs could be watching

— Tony the Tiger (@realtonytiger) January 28, 2016

There’s a time and place for everything

Tony The Tiger didn’t object because of being a satirical furry thirst object, it was because lewdness got so public. On the other hand, even boundaries for public lewdness can be more flexible than people think.

Try Folsom Street Fair, the world’s biggest outdoor fetish event.  It’s held in San Francisco every year since 1984, and officially sponsored by the city. It’s 18+ to enter, gated for 13 city blocks, and 400,000 people go. Furries have a popular furmeet there. Fursuiting in the sun with a giant crowd takes a lot of endurance, but it’s unbeatable for excitement. I mean, actually it is beatable. You know what they say, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me…” When every other person is in bondage gear, that becomes plain and usual. What was really special was the time I found someone’s slave chained to a telephone pole, and gave them furry tickle torture while the crowd laughed.

NSFW public lewdness is on video with “Folsom Street Fair” getting 1776 hits on Pornhub. That was the year of American independence, and it’s nobody’s business to judge it, unless you’re rating how good the videos are. Naughty voyeurs should send appreciation to any furry in them you’ve been watching.

Not everyone chooses the right place. I wouldn’t tickle-torture a slave in a hotel lobby.

Fear of repeating Oklacon and Rainfurrest

Rainfurrest fell apart in 2015, and a lot of blame was thrown at a widely-shared photo of a rubber-clad guy wearing a diaper in public space. But the guy was just quickly going to a panel where he was expected. He wasn’t hanging out to show off. Nobody besides furries cared that Furry Twitter was sharing a photo of a weird looking guy. The real harm came from vandalism. Fetishists got unfairly blamed.

So we are clear: Babyfurs and their friends were not responsible for the loss of our previous hotel. Damage to hotel rooms was responsible.

— RainFurrest (@rainfurrest) June 25, 2016

Oklacon also fell apart in 2015 when park rangers were alerted to a sex act that happened outside with 3 intoxicated people. Members discussed a history of tensions with the park including homophobia – and we’re talking about a camp after dark. I’ll bet more people than not have sex outdoors (on a beach, etc), or get drunk while camping. I think they should have given the con a break, but it was still a pretty obvious cause.

The FWA video made drama worse.

The video of puppy play was shot from far away and a few floors up. @Tekpup and @Murrlin posted their close-up video showing a different view of wrestling in puppy play gear, AKA a pup mosh. They explained that there was no sex, and it happened at 4AM with no kids around, and dismissed criticism. But it was still a public lobby, so the defenses didn’t stop the tension between pups and furries.

Part 2 looks closer at this with a point/counterpoint including Pup Matthias, a Dogpatch Press staffer. The main point is that how they were behaving was not OK, but what they were wearing needs to be separated.

Man, that's a shallow take. Kink is great, I organize pup friendly events and plan them differently depending on context and wouldn't support that take. Think a bit harder plz.

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) April 8, 2018

EDIT: For a reminder that things aren’t as clear cut as some might wish, the first fursuit at a furry con in 1989 was a fetish suit. And for a reminder that overreacting can blow up in your face – here was a story about supposed public sex in fursuits that was a harmful hoax.

Like the article? It takes a lot of effort to share these. Please consider supporting Dogpatch Press on Patreon.  You can access exclusive stuff for just $1, or get Con*Tact Caffeine Soap as a reward.  They’re a popular furry business seen in dealer dens. Be an extra-perky patron – or just order direct from Con*Tact.

There just are not enough lemur based steam punk stop motion films.
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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Crafter’s Passion by Kris Schnee.
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, March 2018, trade paperback, $7.99 (247 pages).

This actually shouldn’t be reviewed here because it’s not anthropomorphic. But it’s in Kris Schnee’s Thousand Tales series, and the previous four books all had protagonists who became fantasy animals: a griffin, a squirrel-girl, a coyote-man, and a pegasus. If you’re a Thousand Tales fan, you’ll want to read it despite its protagonist remaining human.

Schnee’s Thousand Tales books aren’t meant to be furry fiction, but science-fiction. Schnee postulates that by 2038, Artificial Intelligences have become so advanced/powerful that when a new one code-named Ludo is put in charge of the Thousand Tales interactive game, and programmed to make sure its players “have fun”, Ludo does everything to ensure that they have fun – including giving them the choice of abandoning their human bodies and living in Thousand Tales permanently, as the creature of their choice.

The process involves the scanning of their brains (an expensive process that results in the death of their human bodies) and the transfer of their minds to Ludo’s control within its Thousand Tales universe. Most governments (much more regimented than today) oppose this. But it involves a person’s free choice, and some experts argue that the process involves the successful transferral of the person into a new body without being killed.

“On a whim he set the two computers down on opposite sides of the room. He said to the Slab, ‘Tell me about Thousand Tales.’

It displayed a list of search results. The first three were about a shadowy tax-cheat corporation encouraging the rich to abandon society through the guise of a video game that ought to be banned. The fourth was something about the game’s AI doing charity work. The fifth was back to negative coverage of why the expensive brain uploading procedure was really just a form of suicide. Stan had grown up knowing how search engines were engineered to ‘guide public opinion’ by arranging the results the right way. He could read between the lines and see that the people doing the guiding hated this game.” (p. 12)

Crafter’s Passion is set in 2038, when Thousand Tales is just getting started. Stan Cooper has recently graduated from high school, and is enrolled in a mandatory Youth Community Center to perform government services, to decide whether he will be allowed to advance to college. He becomes a farmer in California’s Imperial Valley, growing needed food. Stan emphatically does not want to be a farmer. Like most older adolescents, he is addicted to video/interactive games, and the hottest new one is Thousand Tales. Supposedly if you can afford it, you can have your brain transferred into the fantasy world to live in its virtual paradise world permanently. But Stan is penniless. He can only afford to buy a handheld console, to enter the virtual world temporarily in his spare time.

Stan is not interested in becoming a fantasy animal, and is happy to remain human. What he is interested in is creating things; in earning his own way rather than having things given to him, whether it’s the government’s minimum for all citizens or the game’s minimum for players who do not advance themselves:

“He checked his inventory. Besides the garbage and default clothes he had nothing. That was better than being handed a ready-made warrior. ‘How do I get a weapon?’

‘You can ask around for a hand-me-down, or start off with some beach-combing for rocks and sticks. There’s a basic crafting bench outside.’

He didn’t want anybody’s handouts. ‘Thanks, I’ll look around.’” (p. 9)

Stan slowly becomes skilled in wood- and metal-working and similar crafts, both for himself and selling what he makes to others. He can use his skills in both the gaming world and the real world, but his supervisor at the Youth Community Center tries to force him to spend all his time doing what the government orders:

“‘What’s so funny?’ said Hal.

‘It’s not important.’

‘Your thoughts are important. I want to know what was going through your head when you decided to run off for this particular event.’

‘I already said I’d scheduled it in advance. I didn’t know I was being automatically signed up for the blood drive.’ Stan sat up straighter. ‘I didn’t think the Community would start claiming my blood without my formal permission.’

‘You gave permission to the necessary rules by coming to the Youth Community Program.’

‘I never had a choice about doing national service years.’” (p. 131)

In the course of the novel, Stan spends more and more time in Thousand Tales and rises with Ludo’s help. This is at the expense of his duties at the Youth Community Center, and he suffers for it.

In addition to the lack of anthro animals, there are other differences. Ludo spends most of the time appearing to Stan as a man “with spiky hair, cool sunglasses and a cape made of stars,” instead of as a beautiful woman.

And Crafter’s Passion isn’t entirely without any anthro animals:

“The camera went to third-person to show him growing, stretching, until he burst free of the net in a flick of… fins? He was solid grey, a horizontal fluked tail thrashed behind him, and his air meter had expanded. He was a dolphin!” (p. 35)

“‘You’re a myth,’ he said.

The griffin said, ‘Not anymore!’” (p. 119)

“A series of thumps sounded from inside, and a muffled ‘Darn it!’ Something metal crashed and bounced. Stan stepped back from the door just as it opened. He found a harried white rabbit-man with his fur mussed, half-dressed in a steel breastplate and holding a pair of leather gloves with his big teeth. The bunny stood at about Stan’s height (counting ears) and was fumbling to get his armor on.

‘Davis?’ said Stan.

‘Yes, sir, I do believe I am. And what else I am is late. ‘Scuse me.’ He fiddled with some buckles.

‘Can I help?’

‘You know what? Yes.’ He turned around and let Stan help him with the armor. ‘Sorry not to be hospitable, but I am on set in five. Another time?’” (p. 198)

Crafter’s Passion (cover by NextMars) doesn’t have many anthro animals in it, and it’s very heavily into Thousand Tales as an electronic playable interactive video game rather than a fantasy world. But it’s still a Thousand Tales novel. Fans of Schnee’s series will know what to expect.

– Fred Patten

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Our live show at Motor City Con with a stacked show! Special guests are Uncle Kage, Boozy Badger & Path Hyena, as well as old favorites Draggor & Pandez! There's also video if you prefer that --- https://youtu.be/Kr08nSd_o28 www.draggetshow.com Be sure to check our website for all Things Dragget Show! Podcasts, videos, merch and more! Also, don't forget we stream the D&D sessions Sunday at 7pm Central on YouTube! YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/DraggetShow Patreon: www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow 194 - With Uncle Kage, Boozy Badger & Path Hyena! - Our live show at Motor City Con with a stacked sh…

Bored Inc. is the interesting name chosen by an art collective we met at WonderCon. Here’s how they describe themselves on their web site: “We are a mother & daughter design team creating super cute characters on lots of different products. We hope our characters make you happy and encourage you to explore your creativity and imagination!” They are especially adept at fantasy enamel pins, featuring their character “Afro-Cat” and others. Not to mention magnets, buttons, stickers, and other goodies.

image c. 2018 Bored Inc