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Dear Papabear,

It's me again, and I feel bad for taking your time with this odd question, but there's this guy I like. He is kind and sweet and we listen and help each other with our problems, I told him about me being gay and he was like "no surprise there, I knew it for a while now", I asked him how he knew and he just said he had a feeling. I thanked him for having the decency to wait until I told him instead of pestering me like my other friends did. Anyway, I really like him, and he is bi, so I was wondering how do I ask him out. Every time I try I get all tongue tied and nervous because he is my first guy crush that I can actually talk to. So sorry about the two questions but how do I ask him out and how do I get over my nerves when even thinking about it gives me butterflies in my stomach?

Yours truly,
Austin

* * *

Hi, Austin,

I suspect you get butterflies because you're thinking too far ahead: that is, thinking to yourself, "What if we end up in bed?" Instead of thinking about that, I would suggest you take it slowly. Just ask him to join you to see a movie or do some other fun activity together, maybe lunch or dinner added to the mix, but don't go so far as to ask him to your bedroom (the old comical line of "Want to see my etchings?" or, perhaps more understandable to your generation, "Wanna come inside and play some video games?") In fact, don't go into either one of your homes.

Once you remove the nerve-wracking thought of sexual romance, you should be able to calm down enough to ask him out because it is a non-threatening "dinner and a movie" proposition. Do this a few times until you feel more comfortable, and then you can consider going to second base.

Good luck!
Papabear

(Sorry: We didn’t come up with that one!) Legend is a new full-color science fiction series from Z2 Comics. “What if a biological terror agent wiped out most of humanity, and our domesticated animals were left in charge? How would our dogs and cats set about ruling and rebuilding the world? Ransom, the leader of the Dog Tribe, has been murdered by a creature known as the Endark. An English Pointer named Legend reluctantly rises to lead in his place, vowing to kill the monster once and for all. From acclaimed novelist Samuel Sattin and award-winning illustrator Chris Koehler comes Legend, where cat technology rules, dogs partner with hawks, and humans may be the most beastly creatures of all. ” According to Bleeding Cool, the first run of issue #1 has already sold out and gone to a second printing. My, people like their post-apocalyptic pets, don’t they? Check out the article for a preview trailer created by Z2 as well.

image c. 2016 Z2 Comics

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Co written by Patch and Fred Patten.

Happy Pride month!  Check out this short animation, Flamingo Pride.  It screened in the 2012 annual Animation Show of Shows, an international touring festival. Read on about why the festival deserves your attention, and what this means to furries.

Ron Diamond, producer of The Animation Show of Shows, contacted Fred Patten:

Dear Fred, I want to thank you for the great write up on The 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows. I was delighted about the kindness you extended to me and the filmmakers in covering an otherwise unorthodox medley of quirky international animated shorts. I’d be grateful if you can share this with your readers, to help build awareness of alternative animation that has a message that pleases and inspires. Warm regards, Ron

The 2016 Animation Show of Shows will be the 18th annual edition.  Fred has previously reviewed it for various animation websites (here’s reviews from 2013 and 2015.) Diamond is president of Acme Filmworks, an animation studio in Los Angeles that produces animated TV commercials in a wide variety of styles. His curation of the Animation Show of Shows is well known. It consists of about a dozen short films, some from big studios like Disney and Pixar, but most by independent animators and students from colleges around the world. Most or all are prize winners at international festivals.  Many have gone on to win next year’s Academy Award Oscar in the Short Film (Animated) category.  They show Diamond’s stellar record for predicting success.

Up to now, Diamond has shown this festival at major animation studios and animation colleges mostly in North America, but also in some other countries with large studios or chapters of ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d’Animation; the International Animator’s Association). Now Diamond is trying to raise enough funding through a Kickstarter campaign to get it into theaters where it can be seen by the public.

What does it have to do with furry fandom?

The Animation Show of Shows has had anthropomorphic animation in the past, such as Flamingo Pride. But none of it can be credited to furry fandom.

Furry is growing. Wikipedia’s “list of subcultures” includes over a hundred such as Furry and Brony fandoms. A common aspect of these subcultures is that they have grown enough to support their own independent movie making.  (There is movie making for punk, hip hop and heavy metal music – sci fi, trekkie, and horror fandoms, among others.)

Furry fandom has made short films for some years now, but in 2016 (“The Year of Furry”) the influence of features has come closer and closer to a fertile mutual relationship.  There was the high-profile embrace of Disney’s Zootopia (which had headlines for publicity outreach to the furry community), and the furry-made production of the Fursonas documentary.  Perhaps a path is being blazed, with works like this fan music video that got over 10 million views:

The maker seems very furry-influenced but might not say so.  However, it was widely furry-supported. It’s success led to her working on Dawgtown, a forthcoming indie 2D-animated feature. It’s under the radar now but I sense potential to break out for mainstream success – and if it does, it’s guaranteed to be embraced by furries. (The director did an interview for Dogpatch Press.)

Can the first furry animated film be far off?  Bronies already have Children of the Night. Furry fandom has produced live-action films as EZ Wolf’s 2012 Merry XXXmas from Room 366 and his 2013 Bitter Lake, RusFURence 2012’s Psc/Fnk, and furry convention music videos like Anthrocon 2014’s Compass. When will furry fandom’s first animated film appear?

Hopefully the trend will continue. Supporting indie animation is a great path to more, and Ron Diamond’s Animation Show of Shows awaits.

More about how fans can help:

The Animation Show of Shows, Inc. is dedicated to the restoration, preservation and promotion of animated short films. It was founded by Ron Diamond in 1999, and in 2015 it was established as a nonprofit organization.  In May, it received a grant from the National Film Preservation Foundation.

 Their Kickstarter campaign has a goal is to bring the best new international animated short films in a theatrical setting to people around the world:

“The 17th Annual Animation Show of Shows was an incredible milestone,” says founder Ron Diamond. “For the first time, the showcase of 11 shorts and four mini portrait documentaries was presented in 47 public theaters in 4 countries, which gave general audiences the chance to see great animated short films on the big screen. With this new campaign, we hope to reach an even wider audience by increasing the number of venues and expanding our publicity to make sure that everyone can share in the magic of the short films in The 18th Annual Animation Show of Shows to be released this September.”

Ordinarily, Dogpatch Press doesn’t share crowdfund appeals.  Fred and Patch feel that this one is something special apart from others.

There’s only a week left.  If you think that furry fans would enjoy and benefit from it, share it to others from their Facebook Launch Post and Launch Tweet.

Hello Everyone!

We open tonight's show with a discussion about what virtual sex might be in the future. Is it possible that the furry fandom might be getting how to roleplay right, or are we doomed to yiff in cyber hell for eternity?

Our main topic is on how to translate online kinks (or kinky fantasies) into real life activity and play. Many furries struggle with finding a healthy balance between play and pretend, and while having fantasies is both incredibly healthy and normal, sometimes it can be difficult to incorporate your kinky fantasies into your everyday sex life.

How can you differentiate between a realistic and unrealistic kink, how can you adapt the more unrealistic kinks (like vore, macro/micro, and inflation), and how can you back away from a kink you mentally enjoy but are turned off by in meatspace?

We close out the show with a listener question about how to handle an odd predicament in their D/s relationship. They have a pet who also has a pet who also happens to be the listener's Master. Confused? So are they, and they want to know if this is acceptable, how to proceed in an ethical fashion, and if this makes them poly. 

For more information, including a list of topics, see our Show Notes for this episode.

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 024 Kink Fantasy vs Reality - Are furries leading the future of virtual sex? How do you translate online kinks to real life play? What happens when the pet of my pet is also my master? All this and more on tonight's episode.

Art by Boilerroo

“What Is Furry Music?”  It’s a topic that Rakuen Growlithe started on Flayrah.  It can be music with furry themes, or music made by (or even popular with) furries, or both.

Rakuen dismissed much of the latter kind for not being furry enough.  I don’t think that’s quite fair.  Consider overlap with rave scenes and gaming.  Music related to those things can carry furry culture or spirit without animal themes built in.  Music has context – it even matters where you go for it (yay for dive bars!)  Some classic electronic/rave music was made with animal sounds for their musical tones. Doesn’t that bring out a little furry spirit?

I’d love to get into this and get responses from Furry music makers about how they personally define it.  This gets very much into “personal taste”, but that’s the fun of it.  Just like tasting different foods, it’s hard to say anything is right or wrong.

Arts, music, furry, and other subcultures have many overlaps.  A while back I covered the super incongruous overlap of furries and industrial music. (Part 1, part 2, part 3.)  I liked contrasting the extremes of cold, robotic and aggressive vs. warm, fuzzy and cute themes.  You could do this for many genres.  How about heavy metal?  It’s often associated with Wolves.

Here’s some personal favorite stuff that came out of 1970’s/80’s classic punk and goth.

I Wish I Woz a Dog, by Alien Sex Fiend.  (It’s easy, be a furry.)

This is like the anthem for an underground sewer club full of feral furry rats and stray mutts.  In the beginning of the song they’re banging on a real trash can.  Then it revs up like a washing machine full of spikes.  The drum machine and no bass/guitar-only sound makes exciting rawness.

With a name like Alien Sex Fiend, you know they have some wicked humor.  It’s refreshing among a tendancy for too much self-seriousness in their gloomy genre.  They’re often grouped into the subgenre of Deathrock, but they also reached out to play with stuff like acid techno.  They’re theatrical and the singer paints their album covers.  It earned them a long lasting cult following.

For fursuiters with attitude:  a goth-punk song about masks.

Who knows The Dark?  They were one of many bands from the era of The Sex Pistols and The Damned that didn’t become legendary.  Their greatest song should be.  It’s a hybrid of styles that doesn’t compare to much else, with the trashy B-movie attitude of the Misfits but the creepy grandeur of Bauhaus. (It would be awesome if either band had done music this perfectly on-point.  It’s almost Goth Oi!)

GG Allin – Livin’ Like An Animal.

Alien Sex Fiend sings about wishing to be a dog.  GG is famous for actually pooping on the stage and flinging it at the audience.  That’s what you need to know if you want to risk your innocence and know anything else about his filthy anti-music.  This is the “radio friendly” version which has a nastier version called “Fuckin’ the Dog” which I’ll hasten to add is a saying for “sitting around and doing nothing”.

The Stooges – I wanna be your dog. They call it the genesis of punk rock but I just call it a great item for this list.

The Ramones – Pet Sematary. For the title alone.

More Punk stuff:

The Damned – Rabid Over You. “You treat me like a dog, Give me a bone to chew, Frothing at the mouth, Frothing all over you, Yeah I get rabid over you”.

The Cramps – Can Your Pussy Do the Dog.  Just a mention, because how much innuendo do you need… See also I Was a Teenage Werewolf.

The Descendants – I wanna be a bear.  See also Doghouse and Dog and Pony Show.

The Misfits – We Bite.  Werewolf songs can make a whole other article. Also try Danzig – Killer Wolf or Pain Is Like an Animal.

The Suicide Machines – Sometimes I don’t mind.  It’s 90’s pop punk, but a love song to a Boston Terrier with a fursuiter in the video is almost the cutest song.

How about more goth/industrial rock.  It’s a jump from that punk stuff, but it connects through ones like Alien Sex Fiend.

Evil Mothers – I Like Fur.  Ooh, it’s eeevil and shameless about the kink theme it shares with some others above.

Nine Inch Nails – Closer. It’s one of the biggest songs ever for industrial music and I probably don’t need to remind you about that chorus.

Ashtrayhead – Good Doggy.  If you’re into this deeper than NIN, the late, great Cubanate is a band you can’t miss.  I think even most fans don’t know this side project of the singer. It’s a nifty obscurity which might suit this article better than other lists I could think to put it on.

The Cure – Burn.  A super classic club filler about a guy who turns into a crow for vengeance. “Every night I burn, Scream the animal scream.” For more weird anthropomorphism: check out the lost project of the director of The Crow, in my interview article.

Front 242 – Animal. This was kind of a weird era for this classic band when they wanted to turn into The Prodigy, but I think it works.

KMFDM – Animal Out. I miss their early-mid 90’s stuff but let’s round out the list with something fairly recent.

I can’t put GG Allin on a “furry music” list without cleansing the grossness away.  After all that not-so-cute stuff, here’s the punkest song of all:

The Wiggles – Brush Your Pet’s Hair.  Someone make a fursuit music video please!

https://www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow?ty=h BIG NEWS!! We've launched a Patreon, and will be giving you way more Dragget Show podcasts & videos powered by our fans! We discuss the launch, as well as answer your questions and all the other silly business. It's time to make Dragget Show great aga*punched* ep. 121 - Patreon Launch for Dragget Show 2.0!! - https://www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow?ty=h BIG …

Some good news coming our way thanks to Cartoon Brew: After initially bowing out of directing the Hotel Transylvania movie series after the second (very successful!) film, Genndy Tartakovsky had a change of heart and will in fact return to direct Part 3. “Acknowledging the surprising turn of events, Tartakovsky said in a statement, ‘I thought I was done exploring the world of Hotel Transylvania after the first two films, but while I was away from the franchise finishing my TV show Samurai Jack, an idea sparked that I got really excited about and made it irresistible to return and helm myself this third adventure.’  Michelle Murdocca will produce the film again, and Adam Sandler will executive produce and return as the voice of Dracula. Michael McCullers (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Boss Baby) is writing the screenplay, and Selena Gomez and Andy Samberg will revive their roles as Mavis and Johnny, respectively. Sony has slated the third installment of Hotel Transylvania for September 21, 2018. ” Maybe then we’ll find out more about the relationship of half-vampire Dennis and all-werewolf Winnie. (They zing’d, after all!). The article at Cartoon Brew also mentions other upcoming Sony Pictures animated projects, including The Star (formerly The Lamb — a faith-based feature that follows a young donkey who helps to bring about the very first Christmas).

image c. 2016 Sony Pictures Animation

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​Dear Papa Bear,

Hello! I’ll get right to the point, I have very recently discovered the furry fandom and it seems like something I would like to get into, but not a super hard core furry. I wouldn’t want an account on any furry related websites, and I’d probably post any furry art I make on my deviant art account (I’d continue to post non-furry art as well). I would design my fursona and draw her a lot but probably not make a full fursuit.

So all this considered, would I still be considered a furry or would I just be someone who likes anthropomorphic art? Also, would I still be considered a furry if I continued posting non-furry art?

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Lot’s of love
-Verity

P.S Sorry if this is a weird question, I couldn't find what I was looking for anywhere else.
 
* * *
 
Hi, Verity,
 
No worries. Papabear enjoys “weird questions.” This isn’t weird, though, believe me; not by a long shot.
 
The fundamental question you are addressing here is “What exactly makes a furry a furry?” The problem arises out of a fundamental human need to categorize, label, and file everything in specific, neat little categories. We do this because we have a desperate desire to understand our world and it makes it easier to do so when we can say “This is This and That is That.”
 
Real life is much more complicated than that, and that includes furry life! Most of the “definitions” you hear about who is a “real furry” and who is not are utter and complete baloney. “All furries wear fursuits” (only about 20% do); “All furries have to have a fursona” (nope, many do not); “All furries are obsessed with sex” (most definitely not); “Furries are all gay boys” (statistics prove otherwise); “Bronies are not furries” (who made you God of furries to tell someone he or she isn’t one?); “Furries all think they have an animal spirit inside them” (again, no, not at all; some do, some don’t).
 
The only thing that ties us together is our love of anthropomorphic animal characters. There is no club to join, no secret handshake, no clandestine meetings where we all don ears and tails and chant while dancing around an effigy of Nick Fox.
 
As to your specific question regarding whether you’re a furry if you also draw human characters. Sure, you can be a furry if you draw non-furry characters. If you want to be considered a furry, then you are a furry. If it will help, Papabear will get out his magic wand, wave it over your head, and announce “I dub thee furry!”
 
Don’t be silly, sweetie. Be furry if you like. Don’t be furry if you don’t like. As long as you’re not hurting anyone, be and do what you want to be and do.
 
Hugs,
Papabear

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

The Art of Finding Dory. Preface by John Lasseter. Foreword by Andrew Stanton. Intro by Steve Pilcher.
San Francisco, CA, Chronicle Books, May 2016, hardcover $40.00 (176 pages), Kindle $17.49.

Here is another “all about” coffee-table art book about the making of a high-profile animated feature: Disney/Pixar’s Finding Dory, the sequel to the studio’s 2003 award-winning Finding Nemo, released on June 17, 2016.

But this is about the art, not the story of the movie. Since the movie takes place almost entirely underwater, there is a tremendous emphasis on the underwater lighting. Steve Pilcher, the production designer, explains how the lighting constantly changes more than out-of-the-water lighting. Not only is there different lighting for the different levels of depth in the ocean; between really deep and among the coral reefs near the surface (there is much more light closer to the surface), there is a big difference between underwater in the ocean and underwater in the tanks of the Marine Life Institute.

Even though there is no formal plot synopsis, you can figure out most of it from what is shown in this book. Dory, the blue tang fish who suffers from short-term memory loss, goes looking for her parents even though she remembers nothing about them. Her mental condition is presented less comically and more sympathetically than in Finding Nemo. Her disappearance from clownfish Nemo’s and his father Marlin’s home sets off a panicked search on their part to find her. Dory is captured by the Marine Life Institute, a research aquarium; and although this is a much friendlier environment than the dentist office fish tank in Finding Nemo, Dory must still escape if she is to find her parents in the ocean.

Ralph Eggleston, Digital painting

The Art of Finding Dory is presented in three acts, plus a long introduction by Pilcher to describe the challenges that the lighting presented. Act One describes Dory’s life around Nemo’s and Marlin’s coral reef community as the assistant to Mr. Ray, the sting ray schoolteacher. She gets separated and is quickly found again, but the experience has awakened dim memories of her parents. She leaves to find them. Act Two, set at the Marine Life Institute in Morro Bay in Northern California, has many of the above-water scenes and most of the new characters, such as Hank the octopus, Destiny the whale shark, Bailey the beluga whale, Becky the loon, and all of the sea lions, otters, hermit crabs – and humans in the film. Dory escapes back into the ocean with the help of her new friends; but Marlin and Nemo, looking for her, are captured by the Institute and destined to be sent off to another aquarium in Cleveland. In Act Three, Dory almost immediately finds her parents. Now they must rescue Marlin and Nemo from being sent far inland to Cleveland, with the aid of all Dory’s new fish and aquatic mammal friends from the Institute.

As usual with these coffee-table art books about animated features, there is an abundance of art by the production staff, from rough character sketches to storyboards to color and lighting guides to clay maquettes. Each piece of art is credited to its artist: Paul Abadilla, Max Brace, Sharon Calahan, Jim Capobianco, Jason Deamer, Greg Dykstra, Tim Evatt, Marceline Gagnon-Tanguay, Tom Gately, Annee Jonjai, Vladimir Kooperman, Rona Liu, Angus MacLane, Kyle MacNaughton, Deanna Marsigliese, Ted Mathot, Daniel López Muñoz, Matt Nolte, Brian Kalin O’Connell, Steve Pilcher, James Robertson, Dale Ruffalo, Don Shank, Andrew Stanton, Shelley Wan, Alex Woo, and more.

The Art of Finding Dory is not a collection of finished full-color stills from the movie. It is a fine behind-the-scenes look at the movie’s production.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon

SCALE is one of my favorite furry artists.  Let me suggest that most furry art deals with somewhat kitschy subject matter – not that there’s anything wrong with that. (If I said there was, it could be like saying that cartoons are just for kids, but they’re not.)  I’m just saying that in the world at large, furry art is considered “low” art.  Scale’s art defies that expectation.

He accomplishes the weird trick of rendering classical figure paintings that manage to be super hot.  It’s a cool, thoughtful style that speaks of Old Master sensibility, but gets hot-blooded beneath the painterly surface.  As a reader said – “that’s some of the most tasteful furry porn I’ve ever seen”.  

Read more: Scale’s paintings push the limits of furry art, with surprising mainstream crossover.

There’s a cool new story on Scale’s ‘Animal Shapes’ blog.  He sent this tip:

“I’ve been invited by a restaurant in my city to show my paintings there for the whole year, and as a little live performance I even finished a painting during the opening. It was very exciting, as it’s been the first time I worked on a furry painting in public (though I have done plein air landscape painting events before). Reception is always good too. I have yet to meet anybody who doesn’t like at least the general idea of what I do. I wonder when we will be seeing actual furry themed pubs and I suspect it won’t be long… what is ordinary stuff for us can be new and pretty exciting for a lot of people.” – (Scale)

Read more on Scale’s blog about his art show in “an Indian/exotic themed lounge of a restaurant”, related to his works like this:

Furry-themed pubs?  That reminds me of one of my favorite half-joking ideas of what the cyberpunk future will bring.  There are gay bars, and bars for all kinds of other subcultures, so when will there be a Furry Bar?  (Check out what’s happening with “Furclubs” starting around the world to see where it will come from.)  I think it will happen even before you can get body mods to have a real tail.

Future-Worm! is a new 2D animated TV series coming to Disney XD this August. According to the Deadline: “Created and executive-produced by Emmy-winning director Ryan Quincy (South Park), Future-Worm! centers on Danny, played by Andy Milonakis, an optimistic 12-year-old who creates a time machine lunch box, and then meets and befriends a fearless worm (James Adomian) from the future (with titanium-enforced abs). The comedy follows Danny and Future Worm as they embark on adventures through space, time, and study hall. The characters were introduced last year in a popular Future-Worm! short-form series …on Disney XD’s YouTube Channel.” Which you can find right here.

Image c. 2016 Disney XD

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this is an old episode that didn't make it to the SoundCloud migration. We will have a new one very soon though! remember to join us in our telegram chat! https://telegram.me/draggetshow Ep. 65 - Shmeckle! - this is an old episode that didn't make it to the…

A show that started off rather slow and picked up as it went on. Down a main camera due to technical difficulties and exhausted from our long weeks, we have many in depth discussions and an extended email segment.

Download MP3

Watch Video News:

• The Biggest Little Fur Con of the West by Sonious
• Ready, teddy, go: The rise of the stuffed animal fetish
• ‘Not crazy’ Kansas anti-abortion group demands lawmakers oppose mythical ‘human-animal hybrids’

Emails:

• Bae – “Furry Question”
• Pulse The Panther – “Quack Question”
• Kat – “Family and Friends”
• Wolfe – “Cons for Cons?”
• Landon – “Not Sure What To Do. Help? Time Sensitive”
• Maxis – “FurCast”
• Lux White – “Art”
• Trevor – “Confusion, Hypocrisy, and Networking”
• Leon Sarambi – “Fursuit Anxiety”

FC-237 Dirty Stuffings - A show that started off rather slow and picked up as it went on. Down a main camera due to technical difficulties and exhausted from our long weeks, we have many in depth discussions and an extended email segment.

A show that started off rather slow and picked up as it went on. Down a main camera due to technical difficulties and exhausted from our long weeks, we have many in depth discussions and an extended email segment.

Download MP3

Watch Video News:

• The Biggest Little Fur Con of the West by Sonious
• Ready, teddy, go: The rise of the stuffed animal fetish
• ‘Not crazy’ Kansas anti-abortion group demands lawmakers oppose mythical ‘human-animal hybrids’

Emails:

• Bae – “Furry Question”
• Pulse The Panther – “Quack Question”
• Kat – “Family and Friends”
• Wolfe – “Cons for Cons?”
• Landon – “Not Sure What To Do. Help? Time Sensitive”
• Maxis – “FurCast”
• Lux White – “Art”
• Trevor – “Confusion, Hypocrisy, and Networking”
• Leon Sarambi – “Fursuit Anxiety”

FC-237 Dirty Stuffings - A show that started off rather slow and picked up as it went on. Down a main camera due to technical difficulties and exhausted from our long weeks, we have many in depth discussions and an extended email segment.

A show that started off rather slow and picked up as it went on. Down a main camera due to technical difficulties and exhausted from our long weeks, we have many in depth discussions and an extended email segment.

Download MP3

News:

• The Biggest Little Fur Con of the West by Sonious
• Ready, teddy, go: The rise of the stuffed animal fetish
• ‘Not crazy’ Kansas anti-abortion group demands lawmakers oppose mythical ‘human-animal hybrids’

Emails:

• Bae – “Furry Question”
• Pulse The Panther – “Quack Question”
• Kat – “Family and Friends”
• Wolfe – “Cons for Cons?”
• Landon – “Not Sure What To Do. Help? Time Sensitive”
• Maxis – “FurCast”
• Lux White – “Art”
• Trevor – “Confusion, Hypocrisy, and Networking”
• Leon Sarambi – “Fursuit Anxiety”

[Live] Dirty Stuffings

Papabear,

I have autism and I'm gay and obviously a furry. I just don't know how to deal with the fact that I'm a living stereotype of all the insults, all the hate. I don't know how to put up with it anymore, and I recently had to come out to my parents because I had just got my first boyfriend and the next day I was texting him and my mom walked in smacked my phone and found out everything about me being a furry gay and about him. My mom made me leave him only after being his for less than 2 days. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Tyler (age 15, Florida)

* * *

Dear Tyler,

As you might imagine, Papabear gets questions like this all the time in various forms. Sometimes I just write the furry an email and don’t post on my website; other times I do. I post on the website because no two situations are exactly the same and also because each time I answer the question “How can I be myself when my family hates all the things I am?” I try to approach it from a different angle. For other versions of this, feel free to browse the “Coming Out Furry” category.

Now to you. I’m going to start with a story. Papabear has a very dear friend named Sam. Sam is an older, gay gentleman who was once married and during that marriage he had two children: a boy and a girl. His son got into some trouble, fathering a child out of wedlock and he did something against the law and was in prison for five years. Through it all, Sam loved and supported his son as best he could.

Yesterday, his son died of a heart attack. He was only 30. Sam is crushed, his heart is broken, and he’s been weeping uncontrollably since he heard the bad news.

Here you have a man, Sam, who came out gay. His son accepted him. Here you have a son who went down the wrong path and ended up in jail. Sam loved him still and tried to help him. They loved each other. They appreciated each other. Therefore, even though their time together was cut short, they didn’t waste their time and found joy even when there was heartache.

On the other hand, here’s another story. It was published in 1995 as a book titled Prayers for Bobby: A Mother's Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son by author Leroy F. Aarons. This true story is about a very religious Christian woman named Mary Griffith, who learns that her son, Robert “Bobby,” is gay. She utterly rejects him for being gay. She tries to “cure” him through prayer. His son, devastated by his own mother’s rejection of who he is, jumps off a bridge at the age of 20 and kills himself. Afterwards, Mary comes to realize that she destroyed her own son and there was really nothing wrong with him. But it’s too late. Griffith has since then become an outspoken advocate for gay rights.

Here you have two parents, both devastated by loss. The difference is that one had a loving relationship with his son and no regrets because he accepted him, while the other, because she was blinded by ignorance, actually caused her son’s death just as surely as if she had shot him with a gun. The message here is that parents should love their children for who they are no matter what, because you never know when there might not be a tomorrow.

Your mother needs an education in the fact that her denying you a relationship with a boy or doing anything else to stop you from being who you are will not work and will, if continued, destroy your relationship. You cannot pray away the gay. On the other hand, you can be gay and be a Christian. Here is a wonderful sight I stumbled across one day for gay furries just like you: Rainbow Ark. I suggest you go there and read through the material. If you like, send me your mailing address and I will send your mother (give me her name to personalize it) a copy of Prayers for Bobby. She could benefit from reading it, even if she isn't a Christian (I'm assuming, sorry).

All that said, you need to start creating a plan for yourself. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, you can expect increasing pressure from your mom and family unless you can turn things around. Here are two courses of action….

Turning Things Around

The optimistic scenario is that there might be hope that you can convince your family that being gay is not the end of the world for you. To try to accomplish this, you need to arm yourself against attacks that the Bible says being gay is wrong. Here is an excellent article by Harvard Professor of Christian Morals Peter J. Gomes that summarizes concisely why this is a fallacy.

Whether or not your family is religious, It is also important for you to take a calm, rational stance on this matter. If you react as angrily as your parents do, then the only thing that will result is a shouting match. You, being autistic and the young teen, are at a disadvantage here because the parents have all the power (financial and legal). Try to see things from your family’s perspective. The underlying cause of their reaction is probably not that they hate you for being gay but, rather, that they are fearful that you will get a disease or some other nonsense that is just as true for straight people as it is for gay people. They might think, too, that because you are gay you’re going to run out the door and have sex with the first guy you find. Also nonsense. Gay people are just as capable of love, monogamy, and, yes, chastity, as straight people. Nevertheless, listen to their arguments. Acknowledge them by repeating what they say after they are done, such as, “I hear what you are saying. You think this and this, but actually this is what I am feeling and this is what is true for me….” The same goes for being furry. Some people think that furries turn people gay. The truth is that many gay people gravitate toward the furry community because they find acceptance here.

That all said, there is no reason why you have to go this alone. Get help from a professional. By this, I mean you have such options ranging from family counseling, finding a government social worker, or (and this might go well with your parents) getting your family together with your minister (hopefully you have a good minister and not a homophobic one; if he or she is antigay, then obviously that is not an option). Go to the Resources page on Rainbow Ark for some helpful links.

Worst Case Scenario

I hope this won’t be the case, but there is the possibility of being rejected by your parents, even kicked out of the house. Before this happens, you need to find some support, somewhere you can go if the worst happens. Do you have any relatives who might offer you a safe haven to live? How about friends? If not, seek out an LGBT youth center. In Florida (not sure exactly where you are) check out The Zebra Coalition. You don’t want to be one of the growing number of statistics of young LGBT people wandering the streets because their parents kicked them out of the house.

Find as much outside support as you can: other family members, friends, nonprofit LGBT organizations, government resources. Start researching on the Internet sooner rather than later. You need a safety net.

There is also the possibility that they won’t kick you out, but they will keep you under strict control at home for a long time. If you think you can do it, you might just want to “lay low” for a couple years until you can find some financial independence and move out of the house. Not a great option, but it might be something you need to do.
 
Get started on the above and let me know how it goes. I know it’s a hard row to hoe, but do the best you can.

Bear Hugs,
​
Papabear

We got this from Animation World Network: “Genius Brands International, Inc. (GBI) announced that Netflix, the world’s leading Internet TV network, will premiere GBI’s new original preschool series, Llama Llama, to members worldwide in 2017. Currently in production on 15 half-hour episodes, Llama Llama, based on the award-winning and bestselling book series by author and illustrator Anna Dewdney, is led by an all-star team of creators, including Oscar-winning director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King), director Saul Blinkoff (Doc McStuffins, Barbie’s Dreamtopia, Winnie the Pooh), Emmy winning writer Joe Purdy(Arthur), legendary Disney art director Ruben Aquino (Frozen, The Lion King, Aladdin, Mulan) and Emmy-award winning producers Jane Startz and Andy Heyward… Llama Llama is an animated series about childhood moments and adventures, as well as the special connections between the lead character, Llama, his parents, grandparents and best friends. Llama Llama tells heart-warming tales of life in a safe, friendly town seen through the eyes of Llama as he interacts with the amazing world around him.” We’ll keep you informed of the exact release date.

image c. 2016 GBI

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Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Spirit Hunters. Book 2: The Open Road, by Paul Kidd. Illustrated.
Raleigh, NC, Lulu.com/Perth, Western Australia, Kitsune Press, May 2016, trade paperback $25.84 (395 pages), Kindle $7.99.

Spirit Hunters. Book 1: The Way of the Fox was published in September 2014, and reviewed here in January 2015. It contains the first three Encounters of about a hundred pages each. I said that, “Spirit Hunters is set in the realm of traditional Japanese mythology, vaguely around 900 or 1000 A.D.” The Spirit Hunters are a quartet who wander throughout medieval mythical Japan hunting yokai — supernatural spirits. Lady Kitsune nō Sura, a fox woman, and her companion Tsunetomo Tonbo, a huge human samurai with “a solid iron staff longer than he was tall. The business end was grimly studded with spikes. It was the weapon of a monster slayer – a thing designed to obliterate helmets, armour and anything organic that might get in its way,” are “itinerant Spirit Hunters, traveling throughout Japan looking for evil Spirits to kill – hopefully for pay.” Asodo Kuno is a young bottom-ranking samurai who hopes that killing demons will gain him a reputation and higher status. Chiri is a shy rat-spirit who Sura persuades to join them. She is accompanied by two little spirits of her own: Daitanishi the rock elemental, and Bifuuko the apparent insect; an air elemental.

Sura and Chiri are the main characters who make this a furry book. Sura is described in the first book as:

“A fox woman lounged upon a fallen log like a reclining Buddha, eating a roasted chicken leg. Beside her, there were the embers of a camp fire and a pair of backpacks ready for travel. The fox woman had a long, clever pointed muzzle, and great, green eyes filled with humour. Her body was human in size and shape – excepting for its lush pelt of fur, her fox head with muzzle and long pointed ears, and her long, elegant red tail. She wore a priestess’ robes decorated with images of peaches – with each peach missing a single bite. The fox called out to Kuno in a loud and merry voice while she wriggled her black-furred toes.” (The Way of the Fox, p. 12) She gets the quartet into their adventures, blithely assuring them, “Trust me – I’m a fox!”

The animal-people can shift among three forms: human except for animal ears and tail; anthropomorphic, looking human but with an animal head, full fur or feathers, and tail; and fully animal but still able to talk.

The Fourth Encounter, “The Lodge of Doves”, pages 9 to 88, is a humorous one. The four Spirit Hunters meet a rival group of three haughty samurai and a crane woman and end up challenging them to a contest to rid the ruined Lodge of Doves of the ghosts haunting it. They can’t understand why the nearby townsfolk think this is so funny.

This shows Sura and Chiri in fine form:

“Sura settled the cap upon her beautifully furred head. She had changed form into something partway between human and animal – covered with fur, and sporting a fine long muzzle with clever whiskers. She tugged her robes in place, then dusted off her black-furred hands.

Beside her, Chiri also changed form. To her elegant pink tail, she now added a delicate, white-furred rat face. Her long white hair gleamed in the slanting sunlight. Sura fussed about setting Chiri to rights – having to fight with Bifuuko, who had definite ideas about the set of Chiri’s hair. With everything in train, Sura tossed her backpack to Tonbo, then led the way towards the mansion gates.” (p. 37)

The Fifth Encounter, “Honour’s Sacrifice”, pages 89 to 188, is more serious. The Spirit Hunters encounter a formless ghost near a town that is celebrating a “rock festival”:

“The monks swung open the heavy gates, revealing a wide, walled yard. A statue of a samurai stood at the centre – a statue apparently cast from solid bronze.

The Raiden samurai immediately stampeded forward, flooding into the yard. They hurled rocks and abuse at the statue. Rocks flew thick as rain, making the bronze statue ring from time to time as it was struck. Monks helped the crowd fan out, keeping them behind ropes and well back from the statue. Those men who scored a hit were overjoyed, braying in triumph to the other samurai.” (p. 108)

The Spirit Hunters learn that the festival is to heap scorn on a nameless, faithless samurai who was contemptuously ordered by his lord to commit seppuku with a wooden sword. Sura feels that nevertheless, the ghost should be exorcised for honour’s sake. But the records of who the samurai was, and what his faithlessness was, are mysteriously incomplete; and they are deliberately hindered with increasing force in their search by the local Lord and Lady. Sura’s and Chiri’s shapeshifting are used prominently here.

The Sixth Encounter, “Friendship’s Sword, pages 189 to 286, starts out as a murder mystery. It seems to be a natural death at first, except for the look of absolute horror on the victim’s face; then the murder means is determined; then there is a four-page ninja attack on the Spirit Hunters:

“The other woodcutters were already flashing weapons out from hiding – short swords, sickles and short spears hidden in the wagon. Kuno drew his sword in a blinding blur of steel, slicing up through one man and down through another. Tonbo slammed his tetsubo down on the up-thrust end of the cart, catapulting the other end upwards, slamming one woodcutter aside and scattering weapons on the ground.

Blow-darts hissed down from the rooftops above, streaking in towards the Spirit Hunters. But the swarm of air elementals shot up from beneath the eaves, smacking darts aside and sending wild eddies of air whipping past the rooves. Two black-clad assassins on one rooftop staggered, pierced by their own comrades’ darts.” (p. 237)

Sura’s and Chiri’s shapeshifting appear again here:

“Before the maid’s astonished eyes, Sura and Chiri both turned into their animal forms. They glided up out of their clothing, shook themselves, and then slipped beneath the basket lid. Sura’s bright fluffy tail draped down outside the basket. Chiri’s little white rat face peeked out, saw the tail, and then she reeled it in out of sight.” (p. 247)

This is the first Encounter which the Spirit Hunters do not entirely win.

In the Seventh Encounter, “The Forest of Lies”, pages 287 to 395, the Spirit Hunters meet a baby who isn’t quite a baby, and spiders. Lots of spiders. Little spiders and giant spiders. Do spiders hiss and screech in bloodlust? These do. Sura hates spiders. But not all spiders are evil.

Spirit Hunters. Book 2 is as enjoyable as Book 1. Those who like Kidd’s mixture of comedy, drama, and action, in a setting of Japanese traditional fantasy, can relax with assurance of excellent entertainment. Bring on Book 3!

There are no art credits, but the three Encounter headings in Book 1 were by Angie Kae (KaeMantis), so I assume that these four for Encounters 4, 5, 6, and 7 are also. The cover art also appears on DeviantArt, where it is titled The Fox and the Giant Peach by R. H. Potter and is captioned “A new book cover commission”.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Buy on Lulu
• Learn more at Paul Kidd’s Website