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We open tonight's show with a discussion of whether or not you should go on witch hunts to expose underaged furries. What potential ethical and legal issues might arise if you dox an underage fur, and what responsibility do you have when you discover an underaged fur is posting or consuming adult content? As always, we are not lawyers and this does not constitute legal advice!

Our main topic concerns how to negotiate power exchange relationships. What exactly is a power exchange dynamic, should you ever rush into one, what should your relationship terms look like, and what should you expect from each party in such a relationship?

We close out the episode with a question about how to negotiate with a monogamous partner when you are polyamorous and also in existing power exchange relationships.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 022 Negotiating Power Exchange Relationships - What is a power exchange relationship and how should you set yourself up for such a dynamic? Also, should you dox underaged kids on the internet? (The answer is no)

Categories: Podcasts

Hippo in a Hat

In-Fur-Nation - Fri 10 Jun 2016 - 13:52

First Second Books have a new full-color graphic novel for young readers: It’s called Hippopotamister, written and illustrated by John Patrick Green. According to a review over at GeekDad, “Hippopotamister is the tale of (you guessed it) a hippo and his friend, Red Panda. Tired of living in the rundown city zoo, they run away and seek jobs in the human world, where Hippo must become ‘Hippopotamister’ to get by. Hippo excels at each job, but Red Panda keeps getting them fired. Longing for his home, Hippo goes back to the zoo and discovers he can return the place to its former glory using his newfound skills. But can he do it without his friend Red Panda?” The article includes several sample pages from this hardcover book.

image c. 2016 by John Green

Categories: News

[adjective][species] Philosophy Survey

[adjective][species] - Fri 10 Jun 2016 - 13:00

The [adjective][species] Philosophy Survey is an investigation into what furries think of the world, morality, and knowledge, amongst other things. No prior knowledge of philosophy is needed to complete the survey, and most of the questions will be ones that most people have thought of in their spare time anyway. What we are particularly interested in is if the answers given have any correlation, both with one another, and with the fandom’s demographics: Do older furries tend to hold different views than others? Does one species lean more towards scientific explanation than others? This survey hopes to give insight on these questions.

Overall, the survey will likely take about five minutes or less, though participants are encouraged to think about each question as they go. The results will be anonymous, and used in visualizations. Various comparisons with the general views of society will also help to understand if furries have any majorly varying ideas to the general public. Additionally, where applicable, the results will also be contrasted with David Chalmers “What Do Philosophers Believe?” survey, which gathered the beliefs of professional philosophers from across the world. The survey will run for 2 months, after which, after some time for analysis, the results will be made public (though no personal information will be given, and all results will forever be anonymous).

Thank you for your time. This is an area of furry that many of us wish to explore deeper, and the data from this survey will go a long way to analyzing the community at a deeper level.

You can take the survey here.

Guest post from Kyell Gold: “Deciding which scenes to keep”

Furry Writers' Guild - Fri 10 Jun 2016 - 11:57

When you write a first draft, you shouldn’t be thinking about scene-level editing. There are times when you might think, “oh, I want to write this scene but I probably won’t use it,” but go ahead and write it. At the worst, it’s an exercise in writing. It might reveal something about your character that doesn’t come up elsewhere, but that you’ll know. At best, you might find a place for it in the story and it might add new depth.

But how do you know? You won’t know until you know what your story’s about, what the character journey is and what you want to convey to the reader. Then every scene in your story should advance character or plot (ideally both). In science fiction and fantasy (and furry stories sometimes) you can get away with a scene that is mostly worldbuilding, but it’s best to work the worldbuilding into plot or character advancement.

A great way to figure this out is to summarize each of your scenes in a sentence: “Lee discusses his future job prospects with his former boss.” Then figure out how each of the scenes connects to the others. Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park use that method, and they say that in every case, the word connecting your scenes should be either “therefore” or “but.” If you can only connect the scenes with “and then,” that means that the previous scene isn’t flowing into the next one, and you’re going to lose some of the story’s energy.

For example:

“Lee discusses his future job prospects with his former boss.”

THEREFORE

“Lee contacts some people but gets a lot of rejections.”

THEREFORE

“Lee goes to see his boyfriend to cheer himself up.”

BUT THEN

“Lee’s boyfriend is unsympathetic because he’s preoccupied with his own problems.”

Those scenes all flow nicely into each other and connect well. You can then look at the overall theme: is this story about Lee’s job or his relationship? If it’s more about the job, then maybe going back to his boyfriend and going down that road isn’t the right way to go; it’s putting too much weight on the boyfriend. At that point maybe you’d want Lee to talk to another co-worker instead, or maybe visit something else related to his job. Maybe you could have him discover that he has worth beyond his job, or find another way to do his job. Whatever your story’s about, every scene should play into that somehow.

So how do you decide whether the scene is important to the character or the plot? Well, every scene should start with your character wanting something, having a goal that’s important either to the plot or to the character development. At the end of the scene, the reader should know if they reached that goal or not. For example, in the above scenes, Lee wants to get a new job. So in the first scene, he gets some contacts from his former boss. In the second, he wants interviews, so he calls a bunch of people, but doesn’t get any interviews. In the third, he wants to feel better about himself, so he goes to look for external validation from his boyfriend. Now, you can look at the wants in those scenes and say, “Is this the way I want the story to go?” For example, if we want the story to be more about Lee’s relationship to his job rather than his boyfriend, we could say, “wanting validation from his boyfriend isn’t important to the story I’m telling right now.”

(It’s also possible to have multiple storylines going on, and so a scene might follow directly from one a few scenes ago. That’s okay as long as each scene has one of those causal relationships to a previous scene. Readers can keep multiple stories in their head, but cluttered stories with scenes that go nowhere make it harder to care about them.)

Ideally you want all your scenes to advance both the plot and the character journey. In the above example, you might decide that actually showing Lee getting a bunch of rejections isn’t necessary to the plot. Then you could skip directly from the conversation with his former boss to going to visit his boyfriend, and drop the information about the rejections into his conversation. “Well, my boss gave me three names and I’ve got three rejections. How was your day?” (for example).

Or you might use the rejections to show Lee’s shift in mood, where he starts the first one happy and upbeat and has gotten beaten down by the last one. This could explain why he’s more snappy than usual when he visits his boyfriend. Maybe one of the people he calls says something prejudiced about foxes that sets him on edge. You have to decide what is most important to the character and the story.

Editing isn’t an easy process, and often you’ll find yourself having to toss out scenes you like a lot. Post them on your site as a deleted scene and explain why you cut them, or just keep them for future reference on your drive. It’s important that they not remain in your story if they’re getting in the way of the story, though. I will say that in general you should err on the side of cutting out scenes, because you are already biased toward keeping all your precious words. Also, your beta readers (beta readers are very important) are much more likely to tell you that something is missing and needs to be added back in than that a scene is unnecessary and needs to be cut.

So examine each scene, ask what it does to advance your plot and character, and if the answer is “not much,” consider cutting the scene and delivering whatever information it provides within another scene. This might be very hard at first, but the more you do it, the more you’ll find your stories are engaging from beginning to end, packed only with scenes that make the reader want to go on to the next one.

An earlier version of this column appeared in Kyell’s April 2016 newsletter.

Categories: News

ep 119 - Weeeoooeeeooo - 4th week in a row! Lots to talk about, including…

The Dragget Show - Fri 10 Jun 2016 - 01:16

4th week in a row! Lots to talk about, including sexual harassment work seminars & gay fire departments. Join our telegram chat, and don't forget to come to our live recording at Anthrocon! https://telegram.me/draggetshow ep 119 - Weeeoooeeeooo - 4th week in a row! Lots to talk about, including…

Categories: Podcasts

Episode 318 - Delete Your Account

Southpaws - Fri 10 Jun 2016 - 00:22

This week on KnotCast, Savrin and Fuzz talk about their convention adventures, Zootopia on Blu-ray, people mistaking being vanilla for non-sexual, and people taking bizarre ownership of characters in art or fiction. Also Savrin links a poll. Want to help support the show? Hit up our Patreon - patreon.com/knotcast - That’d be awesome~ Episode 318 - Delete Your Account

Categories: Podcasts

Timbuktu: A Novel, by Paul Auster – Book Review by Fred Patten

Dogpatch Press - Thu 9 Jun 2016 - 10:53

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

Timbuktu; A Novel, by Paul Auster.
NYC, Henry Holt and Co., May 1999, hardcover $22.00 (181 pages).

It can be argued that Timbuktu is the opposite of an anthropomorphic novella. It is about a dog, Mr. Bones, whose beloved human companion, the pseudonymous Willy B. Christmas, a homeless East Coast “street poet” is dying. Timbuktu does an excellent job of portraying the despairing thoughts of a mostly unanthropomorphized but exaggeratedly intelligent and loyal dog. He understands “Ingloosh” more than most dogs, but still from a canine viewpoint.

“Mr. Bones knew that Willy wasn’t long for this world. The cough had been inside him for over six months, and by now there wasn’t a chance in hell that he would ever get rid of it. Slowly and inexorably, without once taking a turn for the better, the thing had assumed a life of its own, advancing from a faint, phlegm-filled rattle in the lungs on February third to the wheezy sputum-jigs and gobby convulsions of high summer.” (p. 3)

“What was a poor dog to do? Mr. Bones had been with Willy since his earliest days as a pup, and by now it was next to impossible for him to imagine a world that did not have his master in it. Every thought, every memory, every particle of the earth and air was saturated with Willy’s presence. Habits die hard, and no doubt there’s some truth to the adage about old dogs and new tricks, but it was more than just love or devotion that caused Mr. Bones to dread what was coming. It was pure ontological terror. Subtract Willy from the world, and the odds were that the world itself would cease to exist.” (p. 4)

Willy is aware that he is dying. As he and Mr. Bones wander the streets of Baltimore, Willy tries to prepare the dog for life after him. He rambles to him about “how to avoid the dogcatchers and constables, the paddy wagons and unmarked cars, the hypocrites from the so-called humane societies. No matter how sweetly they talked to you, the word shelter meant trouble.” Mr. Bones is a sweet but ugly, smelly, adult mongrel. “No one was going to want to rescue him. As the homeless bard was fond of putting it, the outcome was written in stone. Unless Mr. Bones found another master in one quick hurry, he was a pooch primed for oblivion.” (p. 5)

But Mr. Bones isn’t sure that he wants to survive with a new master after Willy. He is aware that Willy is searching for his old high school English teacher, now retired, whom he hopes will take Mr. Bones in. Unplanned things happen and Mr. Bones goes on the run. Is he looking for a new human master, or for a life without humans? He doesn’t know himself. In Mr. Bones’ dreams, he has long conversations with the now-dead Willy, and they both talk in Ingloosh:

“‘I was desperate. How could I know his father would turn out to be such a louse?’

‘Because I warned you about such places, didn’t I? The moment you saw what you were getting yourself into, you should have cashed in your chips and run.’

‘I did run. And when I wake up tomorrow morning, I’m going to start running again. That’s my life now, Willy. I run, and I’m going to keep running until I drop.’

‘Don’t give up on men, Bonesy. You’ve had some hard knocks, but you’ve got to tough it out and give it another try.’” (p. 118)

Before his death, Willy had rambled to Mr. Bones about his sometimes-unorthodox ideas of Heaven, which he called Timbuktu. Mr. Bones wonders whether he will be reunited with Willy in Timbuktu after his own death – or if dogs are allowed in Timbuktu.

“If there was any justice in the world, if the dog god had any influence on what happened to his creatures, then man’s best friend would stay by the side of man after said man and said best friend had both kicked the bucket. More than that, in Timbuktu dogs would be able to speak man’s language and converse with him as an equal. That was what logic dictated, but who knew if justice or logic had any more impact on the next world than they did on this one?” (p. 49)

Paul Auster is a respected author who has won over twenty literary awards and who has been translated into many languages. Timbuktu was adapted into a puppet play in Zagreb in 2008. Timbuktu exhibits his mastery of wordplay and his skill at mixing existentialism with mundane themes, seen here in showing a small portion of modern American society from a dog’s perspective He keeps the reader guessing until the end whether Mr. Bones will find a happy fate, or what a happy fate means in this case.

The first edition of Timbuktu reviewed here is long out of print, but there are several current hardcover, paperback, Kindle, and audio editions. There was an illustrated abridgement by Julia Goschke in September 2008.

– Fred Patten

Categories: News

Vroom Vroom

In-Fur-Nation - Thu 9 Jun 2016 - 01:58

Back from CaliFur, and there’s lots to talk about! Over at Cartoon Brew they have an article about the first trailer for the upcoming live-action film Monster Trucks. “The film, based on Hasbro’s Monster Trucks toy line, has been covered here on Cartoon Brew because it is the live-action directorial debut of Ice Age director and Blue Sky co-founder Chris Wedge. Wedge directs from a story by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Trolls) and Matthew Robinson (The Invention of Lying), and screenplay by Derek Connolly (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World).” The story follows a high-school boy named Trip who discovers a gelatinous, tentacled, very toothy — yet very friendly monster. Said monster (Trip calls him “Creech”) has the strange ability to meld himself (itself?) with Trip’s pick-up truck — hence the film’s title. Adventures and hi jinks ensue. The film has been delayed several times in its production history: Originally set for release in May of 2015, Paramount is now hoping to have it out in January of 2017.

image c. 2016 Paramount Pictures

Categories: News

Suit Up Saturday – Minnesota’s Furry Club night gives a Q&A for the Furclub Survey.

Dogpatch Press - Wed 8 Jun 2016 - 10:46

Furclubbing: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.” It’s a New Thing that’s been spreading since the late 2000’s. This kind of dance party is independent from cons. This builds on the growth of cons, and takes things farther. It’s more ambitious than events that happen once, house parties, or informal meets. Those can stay inner-focused for friends who already know each other. This brings partnership with new kinds of venues, and new supportive interest in the kind of events they host. It crosses a line to public space. A stranger may walk in off the street to discover their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood, and crossover to other scenes. It makes subculture thrive. It’s a movement!

See the list of parties at The Furclub survey. Any party that gives a Q&A will get a featured article. Featured here is a new event in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It’s yet another one inspired by Frolic in San Francisco, the seed for many new ones across the USA. Organizer Rachel introduces the party:

Suit Up Saturday (2016) ____________________

Website: www.suitupsaturday.com
Twitter: @suitupsaturday – “Minnesota’s First and Only FURRY Club Night”
Facebook: fan page
See also MNFurs on Facebook

My name is Rachel, that’s my real name and furry name too. I’ve been a furry for about 15 years now, and I recently moved back to Minnesota from San Francisco, where I lived for 10 years and went to college. When in San Francisco I frequently went to FROLIC, which is run by some friends of mine, and I began to miss it.

While Minnesota has an amazing team running all the PG, all ages events (mnfurs.org, and DRAKE in particular)… There was nothing serving the adult, kink or 18+ community. Up until that point, any kinky or adult events were held in private homes or we would loosely organize a bar event. Even so, events were sporadic and lightly attended, as there wasn’t even a good way for kinky furs to even connect with each other in this state.

At my current job I do club promotions and events occasionally, so I had a few contacts. I picked a bar that most reminded me of the STUD in San Francisco (where Frolic happens every month), a bar called the EagleBolt here in Minneapolis. I spoke with the owner and manager and they allowed us to throw a trial basis party on January 31st. If that went well, they would be willing to host us every 5th saturday, or more.

The run up to the party was nerve wracking. I decided immediately that I didn’t want to do it alone so I brought Cam, DJ, Mau and AJ on as partners. The five of us consist of Suit Up Saturday. They were a huge amount of help as they consist of graphic designers, web designers and a logo designer, as well as people that have deep roots in the kink and fur community.

I also got help from K0mplex, the guys at Frolic, and the Disaster Dogs in Seattle before they disbanded. We had DJ Caz and Dj Othenio spin, two local furry DJs.

Furs around the country have been really nice about giving me advice and helping this event come together. We got a website and twitter account up, added a facebook event and fan page, and printed fliers. We handed out fliers at fur meets, told EVERYONE we know and posted about our event on every furry page we could find. We also put an ad up on FurAffinity. We basically did everything we could to get the word out.

We also talked to some local and some far away people for sponsorship, and we regularly raffle off fur and kink items. Some of our best sponsors have been Bondesque, Leather and Latte, and our favorite, the Dogs BolloxX in London. They sent us a giant box of swag to give away at events. Its’s been a fun way to connect with other furs and furry businesses.

For our first party, people were excited, but also hesitant. There were some local furs who were upset with the idea that we were throwing an adult party. People were saying that we would ‘ruin’ furry by making it adult, and that the local scene had tried really hard to make fur not a ‘fetish’ and were trying to be mainstream.

Well, we disagreed. We wanted just ONE space where furs could come and be ANY type of fur they wanted. There was a huge misconception- people assumed that because we were kink friendly that it was going to be some kind of crazy, sex fueled naked BDSM party. I wish! Nope, we were just a club event, with normal club rules. Some people came in fetishwear, but most people came in fursuits. Plenty of people came in regular clubwear. Our point was, anything you wanted to be was fine. We have no judgements. We got some of the local pup boys from the local kennel club to show up and they loved us! They were so happy to meet a different kind of ‘pup’ and that made me ridiculously happy, At our last party we even had the local leather sir show up. My goal was to bring different types of people together with furs- and it worked.

The fur community can become so insulated from the rest of the world- but I wanted to show furries that plenty of people like our vibe and want to party with us, and we should let them!

The vibe, as the bar owner described it, was ‘high energy’ and happy. Lots of dancing, a bit of drinking, and people meeting new people left and right. We filled the bar to 3/4 capacity, which exceed our goals. After the first party the kennel club decided they loved us, so now we have a decent mix of pup boys, rubber pups, and kinksters who join us for our parties. It’s still mostly furries, but it’s maybe the only event in MN that specifically invites other groups to furry events.

Some furs, of course, have told me they will ‘never’ come to a bar, never come to something even loosely related to kink, and they haven’t, even though they might dance the hardest at a con dance. That’s ok. I’m not trying to push anything on anyone, and if you don’t want to expand your mind that’s too bad for you. Suit Up Saturday has been an awesome adult experience and we’ve had people drive in regularly from several states away. We are clearly filling a need in the fur community, and we plan on continuing the party for as long as people will have us.

As far as profit, we’re not really concerned with it. We of course, do charge a little bit at the door ($5 in fursuit or fetishwear, $7 everyone else) but we have to get flyers printed, pay our DJs, and stuff like that. Our last two events were profitable, but if you split it 5 ways we’d probably make about $2 an hour for the work we did. We’ve decided not to ‘pay’ ourselves, but to keep the money in a pot, so we can use it in the near future for a bigger and better event.

We are tentatively considering doing a furry camping event, and we’re also trying to find a venue that will let us keep the kink but have an 18+ crowd instead of a 21+ crowd . We’ve already branched out to other types of events with a Zootopia showing. Our goal is to expand the frequency and types of events we do. We get some help from some from the guys at MNFURS which has been great. Our Zootopia showing was done in conjunction with them and it went great.

The next party is on July 31st, and it’s set to be even better than the last. We’ve got a 5 screen video bar, a list of DJs who want to spin, furry drink specials, giveaways, photo booths, and more! If you like to party and want to let your furry freak flag fly, you should definitely come by.

Credits for pics go to CAM and Rachel.

And if I can recommend, check out www.thedogsbolloxX.co.uk. They have a great story right now about their owner FELIX being banned from local fur meets because people there don’t think the kink community should mix with furs.

– Rachel

Since Rachel sent this introduction, Suit Up Saturday gained a new 18+ venue for their next party on July 23.

13094359_10154284102484063_2588052904065857539_n

Categories: News

The Fastest Growing Furry Convention in America June 5, 2016

Furries In The Media - Tue 7 Jun 2016 - 18:53

Yep, its growing fast!

http://www.vice.com/read/photos-of-the-fastest-growing-furry-convention-in-america

The stigmatization of furries, the online taunting and trolling, is something that's plagued the community (known as the furry fandom) since it began popping up in mainstream media and on TV shows like CSI, ER, and Entourage in a consistently ruthless "look at these perverted freaks" sort of way. But, in reality, furries are some of the nicest, fun-loving, and respectful people—people who just happen to feel more like themselves when roleplaying as anthropomorphic woodland creature in custom-made fursuits.

As with most underground social groups, the best place to see all your like-minded friends is the convention scene, and Biggest Little Fur Con (BLFC) in Reno, Nevada was no exception. Every year, nearly 50 furry conventions take place across the US, and BLFC is the fastest growing con on the circuit, tripling its attendance in just three years. This year, from May 12 through 15, approximately 3,500 members of the furry fandom attended BLFC, making it the third-largest furry convention in the US. According to the organizers, some estimate that the four-day event brings in upwards of $3.5 million to the city. Nervous and excited, I hopped on a plane to America's biggest little city to meet up with Martin Freehugz, a furry friend who got me more interested in the subculture, for my first ever furry convention.

Upon arrival to the resort, I was greeted with a wave of fursuiters strutting on patterned casino carpets, together representing species that spanned the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. If you can think of it, you can fursuit as it. Dragons, lizards, deer, wolfs, foxes (lots of foxes), eagles, and even some original animals the furries have made up, like the Dutch Angel Dragon and other adorable fairytale creatures come to life.

At BLFC, the emphasis on fun, cuteness, and creativity was everywhere. There was life-size Yahtzee, go-karting, video games, board games, and copious amounts of dancing. At night, a series of fandom fave DJs blasted the crowd with EDM and trance. Getting lost in the lights and lasers among a crowd of fuzzy, wide-eyed animals on two feet was an overwhelming experience. I found myself dazed and half-crying, but also overjoyed in a way I hadn't expected.

I roamed the halls with Martin/Freehugz in his blue wolf suit, who seemed to know everyone. In fact, everyone seemed to know everyone—you couldn't go 20 feet without seeing an attendee gleefully stop a fursuiter for a hug and a picture. It became apparent that the fursuiters were the local celebrities of the scene, and certain suiters were extra famous, with huge online followings.

The other celebrities of the con were the artists, the people who draw your chosen furry charterer's representation, or fursona, in a variety of mediums and scenarios, such as homemade accessories, badges, comics, and more. Free of corporate sponsorship, the "dealer's den" hosted artists and makers selling their wares to a crowd more than ready to spend. The organizers of the event even told me the dealer's, collectively, were expected to make somewhere in the $100,000-200,000 range.

After a night of dubstep, hugs (furries love hugs), and spiked chocolate milk, it was time for the highly anticipated Fursuit Festival. While most fur cons have a parade of fursuiters, BLFC opted for a Festival of Fur, where nearly 1,500 fursuiters gathered for a giant group photo before breaking out into dancing, games, and a plethora of organized photoshoots. An announcer could be heard over the loudspeakers saying things like "Predators vs Prey photo shoot at station four, Blue Fursuiters at station one, Malamutes on five." Two parents and their fuzzy little offspring, all in fursuit, skipped by me and my heart grew two sizes. I watched as they disappeared into a sea of neon fur. See more photos from the convention below.

Visit Zak's website here to see more of his photo work.

Categories: News

The Fastest Growing Furry Convention in America June 5, 2016

Furries In The Media - Tue 7 Jun 2016 - 18:53

Yep, its growing fast!

http://www.vice.com/read/photos-of-the-fastest-growing-furry-convention-in-america

The stigmatization of furries, the online taunting and trolling, is something that's plagued the community (known as the furry fandom) since it began popping up in mainstream media and on TV shows like CSI, ER, and Entourage in a consistently ruthless "look at these perverted freaks" sort of way. But, in reality, furries are some of the nicest, fun-loving, and respectful people—people who just happen to feel more like themselves when roleplaying as anthropomorphic woodland creature in custom-made fursuits.

As with most underground social groups, the best place to see all your like-minded friends is the convention scene, and Biggest Little Fur Con (BLFC) in Reno, Nevada was no exception. Every year, nearly 50 furry conventions take place across the US, and BLFC is the fastest growing con on the circuit, tripling its attendance in just three years. This year, from May 12 through 15, approximately 3,500 members of the furry fandom attended BLFC, making it the third-largest furry convention in the US. According to the organizers, some estimate that the four-day event brings in upwards of $3.5 million to the city. Nervous and excited, I hopped on a plane to America's biggest little city to meet up with Martin Freehugz, a furry friend who got me more interested in the subculture, for my first ever furry convention.

Upon arrival to the resort, I was greeted with a wave of fursuiters strutting on patterned casino carpets, together representing species that spanned the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom. If you can think of it, you can fursuit as it. Dragons, lizards, deer, wolfs, foxes (lots of foxes), eagles, and even some original animals the furries have made up, like the Dutch Angel Dragon and other adorable fairytale creatures come to life.

At BLFC, the emphasis on fun, cuteness, and creativity was everywhere. There was life-size Yahtzee, go-karting, video games, board games, and copious amounts of dancing. At night, a series of fandom fave DJs blasted the crowd with EDM and trance. Getting lost in the lights and lasers among a crowd of fuzzy, wide-eyed animals on two feet was an overwhelming experience. I found myself dazed and half-crying, but also overjoyed in a way I hadn't expected.

I roamed the halls with Martin/Freehugz in his blue wolf suit, who seemed to know everyone. In fact, everyone seemed to know everyone—you couldn't go 20 feet without seeing an attendee gleefully stop a fursuiter for a hug and a picture. It became apparent that the fursuiters were the local celebrities of the scene, and certain suiters were extra famous, with huge online followings.

The other celebrities of the con were the artists, the people who draw your chosen furry charterer's representation, or fursona, in a variety of mediums and scenarios, such as homemade accessories, badges, comics, and more. Free of corporate sponsorship, the "dealer's den" hosted artists and makers selling their wares to a crowd more than ready to spend. The organizers of the event even told me the dealer's, collectively, were expected to make somewhere in the $100,000-200,000 range.

After a night of dubstep, hugs (furries love hugs), and spiked chocolate milk, it was time for the highly anticipated Fursuit Festival. While most fur cons have a parade of fursuiters, BLFC opted for a Festival of Fur, where nearly 1,500 fursuiters gathered for a giant group photo before breaking out into dancing, games, and a plethora of organized photoshoots. An announcer could be heard over the loudspeakers saying things like "Predators vs Prey photo shoot at station four, Blue Fursuiters at station one, Malamutes on five." Two parents and their fuzzy little offspring, all in fursuit, skipped by me and my heart grew two sizes. I watched as they disappeared into a sea of neon fur. See more photos from the convention below.

Visit Zak's website here to see more of his photo work.

Categories: News

The Meaning of Furry

[adjective][species] - Tue 7 Jun 2016 - 13:00

Up until this point, there has been a lot of discussion around furry; on what it means to be a furry, how the identity interacts with the way we see the world, etc… However, it is often beneficial to reflect upon the things we have said, and the way in which we use words. I believe, and will attempt to show in this essay, that we hold an incomplete grasp of words within the context of furry.

I’d like to start by saying that I shall be adopting a metaphysical Externalist perspective. To begin with, I believe it is important to clarify what that means.

A metaphysical Externalist holds that for something to be a thought, it must in some way be connected and formed through an outside object. Traditionally, thought is painted in a “mental images” sort of way, but the Externalist argues against this. For example, if you want to think of a tree, then it would not be enough to simply have the image of a tree within your own mind. Instead, that image would have to come from an actual experience with trees, from which, the thought forms.

Hilary Putnam gave one such argument for this. In his essay Brains in Vats, he asks us to imagine an unlikely scenario. Imagine an ant is walking along the sand, leaving a line behind it as it goes. As it continues to walk across the sand, that line intersects with another, and another, until the ant has eventually left a perfect semblance of Winston Churchill in the sand. This image has complete likeness to the historical figure, down to the smallest detail. However, that does not mean that it is a representation of Winston Churchill.

The reason for this seems obvious; the ant has no idea who Winston Churchill is. By accident, it simply left those impressions in the sand. In order for something to be a representation as opposed to a resemblance, there must be intentionality behind it. If we draw a picture, in order for that picture to carry meaning, we must be able to grasp what it is that we are drawing in order for it to represent anything. The way in which we acquire such a grasp, however, is through experience with an external object. This is the difference between the ant scraping a resemblance in the sand, and somebody who is aware that a real Winston Churchill existed and has drawn a picture of him; one has intentionality due to knowing about Winston Churchill, and is thus able to represent him. The other does not. This same principle applies to words, too. In order for our words to mean something, they must also be about something. If I were to say “tree”, that word carries meaning due to the fact that it is able to represent the trees which I have experienced existing externally to me.

To further this point about words, there is no difference between a word written on paper or spoken, and a word in our head. Somebody could know how to respond in Japanese, for example, to other Japanese speakers, yet have no idea what the words which they say mean. They could have no clue as to how the words they said connected to the external world, and thus they would not be able to represent anything in Japanese, despite seeming to be fluent in the language. The words themselves may make sense to somebody external to the speaker, but that would not mean the speaker themselves would be aware of it. For our words to have meaning, they must connect in some way to things which are external to us.

Lets apply this to furry. When we use certain words within furry, I do not think we know what it is we are grasping at times. We may have some idea in some cases, but in many, I doubt that we have a hold of anything external.

I will say that some words do definitely hold meaning in furry, before I move onto talking about how others don’t. “Fursuit” is a very good example of a meaningful word. We know what it is, we have mental imagery, we have experienced fursuits existing external to us (if even just through pictures), and we can quite easily define what they are. Thus, such a word has meaning. Oddly enough, the word “yiff” is actually one of the more meaningful words furries have; we all know what it means, and can all grasp what it represents.

However, we can then move on to more complex words. “Fursona” is particularly hard to define. We definitely know that “fursonas” exists external to us, and we have experience with something, yet it is almost impossible to put out fingers on what that is. The word “fursona” can only carry limited meaning, due to the fact that it is not clear what it represents, outside of a very broad framework. That is, not until we know what the external object we are representing with the word is.

We then move on to words that I believe are so elusive, and so difficult to define or grasp externally, they do not represent anything at all. Though controversial, “postfurry” will be my example in this article. My question to any postfurries, before they carry on with whatever they have to say, would be to explain how exactly they have been able to experience such a thing existing outside of themselves. Can anything be pointed to and have people say “that is what post-furry represents?” My argument here is not that postfurry does not exist, but that in its current state, it is not a real thought and carries no solid representation. In order to make the word mean something, then I would say that the postfurry community needs to work more on grasping what exactly it is referring to, and what it is externally.

I am not picking on postfurries, either. I believe that many words used in furry discourse suffer from not being able to grasp exactly what they are referring to.

An objection to this may be to argue that terms such as postfurry, community, etc., are subjective, and dependent upon each individual. Such a word, though, would be meaningless. Wittgenstein’s private language argument can be used here to show why.

The private language argument says that, if a word has no public use, then we cannot know if we are applying it properly. If there were a word than only one individual knew, and had no known correspondence with reality, then how could we know that such a word was used correctly? The issue is that if the word has no public use, and it is used once, we need to know that when it is used again, it refers to the same thing. If that word has no rules, and no way for it to be wrong, then it can never be used in the right way either. If a word has nothing that it represents, then it becomes a meaningless word.

If we want the word “furry” to carry meaning, we must accept that there is a correct use for it, and an incorrect use for it. Just because some people may think that it means something different, that does not mean a definition is under threat, somebody may just be wrong about it. Meaning comes from words being able to publicly represent things, if a word can mean anything, then it cannot be of any use.

Overall, I believe that this criticism can be applied to much of what has been said about furry. We, as a community, do not know what we are referring to. Many of our words carry little meaning or are vague. If the community is to have meaningful discussion and thoughts, then those discussions must use words that represent real things, and those thoughts must be actual thoughts, not just buzz words that we get into the habit of saying without understanding. This may be a large task, but it is my belief that a better grasp of our own terms – and understanding how furry actually exists – is essential if sites, such as this one, are to string together letters in such a way that they communicate representational content. This is, of course, the entire goal of our words.

SOSDD

Ask Papabear - Tue 7 Jun 2016 - 12:26

hello papa bear. my names Red the shapeshifting wolf knight

well befour I ask my question I need to let you ( and the readers) know that my wrighting and spelling is a bit off so im very sorry about that

well I need some help and a bit of advice I join the fandom in 2012 I first learn about it by watching videos on youtube and artworks on deviantart so I been enjoying it and enjoying other things besides just furries.

I wanted to tell my family about me being a furry but I always been very shy and worred about thare reactions and worried about what they think of it and not accept me.

one day my younger sister found out about it on her own and by telling me this she shown me an episoad on my "my strange addiction furry episode" and told me furries wear thare fursuites 24/7 and been quitet about it until 2016 when last tusday she was upset and told me furries like sex and are perverting people.

as my older brother also found out while in an anime convetion that I was not around but told me furries are into sex and porn and also told me "your not a furry! you have to have an fursuite to officialy be a furry" and "furries are shy people they rater act normal in sute thin they are as a human"

and my dad I told him and was sore of ok with it but freaking out about fursuites thinking they are creepy and worred if someone was inside they try to kill me or worse.

but my older brother and sister said they are both trying to protect me from the fandom.

im asexuall and im not into the adult side of the fandom just enjoy artworks and ideas and meeting new people but everytime I try to explain that they just ignore it.

I have told my mom but dose not know half of it and I want to explan it befour dose not accept me.

so at this point I don't know what to do and I need some advice and what should I do?

please reply soon: Red

* * *

Hi, Red,

Okay, let me pass along some quick information here:

Only 20% of furries have a fursuit or partial fursuit. Most do not for several reasons: it's expensive, it is very hot and uncomfortable to wear, and for many it just is not something they are interested in.
It is literally impossible to wear fursuits all the time. The temperature in a fursuit can be 120 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter. You would literally die of heat stroke if you wore one too long. Just ask anyone who has ever worn a mascot outfit.
Furries are no more or less into sex than anyone else. In fact, do you know who watches the most porn? Including gay porn? People who live in the Bible Belt.
Furries are not out to kill you or have sex with you. We are very nice people, but your family won't know that unless they actually meet furries in person.
Many furries are, like you, not at all into the adult side of furry.
Many furries have Christian and other religious beliefs.
It is not even a requirement to have a fursona to be a furry.
This is not a club; you don't need a membership; you don't pay dues.
Furry is, pure and simple, the enjoyment of art and fiction featuring anthropomorphised animal characters.
Furtopia has earned $1 BILLION dollars so far, and DVDs and BlueRay aren't even out yet, so this indicates that many many many people love anthro animals, not just furries.
Anthropomorphic characters have been in mythology and religion since early human history; they are nothing new.
Your family is not trying to protect you; they are trying to control your life and who you are. This is because they are ignorant and fearful of anything that is not deemed "normal," which is how most people in the world live their lives. Don't buy it.

So, what do you need to do? Nothing. Just be yourself and don't let others, especially your family or peers at school, tell you who you are. There is only one rule you need to know, and it comes from the Bible. It is called the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you. In other words, be kind to people because you would want them to be kind to you.

You are now in a part of your life that is quite hazardous. It is a time of life where you can either give in to family and peer pressure, do what society says is "normal" and live your life pretending to be something you are not, OR you can take the path to discovering who you really are. To do this, you must disregard what others tell you you have to do or be (other than don't do things that hurt other people; see the Golden Rule above). The people who are the happiest in life are the ones who define their own lives and who know who they really are.

Know thyself.

Hugs,
Papabear

Special Feature, by Charles V DeVet – Book Review by Fred Patten

Dogpatch Press - Tue 7 Jun 2016 - 10:48

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

Special Feature, by Charles V. DeVet.
NYC, Avon Books, June 1975, paperback 95¢ (176 pages)

Special Feature is a terrible s-f novel about terrible characters. It is hard to tell which are the more unlikable, the humans or the cat-people. But taken as a noir thriller in which the reader is gradually brought to sympathize with some seriously flawed characters, or as a funky “how many things can you find wrong with this s-f scenario?” quiz, Special Feature is an unusual and fascinating page-turner.

Pentizel, a cat-women from the banned planet Paarae, has stolen a spaceship and flown to Earth. Due to the icy climate of Paarae, she chooses St. Paul, Minnesota in winter in which to secretly hide.

Although her goal is pointedly kept mysterious (except for being given away in the cover blurb), she is immediately identified as arrogant, cruel, and contemptuous of humanity:

“Once inside her room [in a slum hotel], she locked the door, drew in a deep breath and let it out. Her whole body relaxed with the expelled breath. A world lay within her eager grasp, a world in which to lose herself. And a billion decadent weaklings to be maneuvered in any way that suited her.” (p. 8)

Unknown to Pentizel, St. Paul is completely covered by surveillance cameras, in seemingly every street and almost every room of every building. Howard Benidt, manager of TV station RBC, sees the cat-woman’s assault and stealing of a pedestrian’s clothes, and her checking into the flophouse in disguise. Benidt decides to make a “Special Feature” out of this alien invasion of Earth, to boost his channel’s ratings and his own prestige among its management:

“The room was getting warm. Benidt took off his coat and hung it on the back of his chair. ‘Now I want a top-grade build-up on this. Play up strong the potentiality of violence: assault, murder, blood. Make it good. Start cutting in immediately — on whatever program’s running on the channel now – with tantalizers. Don’t tell them exactly what the feature will be. Let them use their imagination. Build up their curiosity – and impatience – for the start of the biggest, live thrill show in the annals of video.” (p. 15)

If you are wondering how Benidt can get away with this, keep wondering. It is not until page 60 that the commissioner of police tries to claim authority to stop the TV special and capture or kill Pentizel because:

“‘Killing that salesman outside the Holiday Inn was too much. As you are well aware. The old plastic surgeon was an ex-felon with demerits a yard long – and with no relatives to complain. We let that pass. But when you allow a reputable citizen to be killed, it has to stop.’”

Benidt quickly phones an RBC executive with political pull, who is very pleased that, “‘We’ve topped all previous ratings – on any network.’” He gets a reprieve for the program, and the cat’s gory continued freedom, to go on. Other questions such as how or why a TV station has been able (both technically and socially) to install cameras throughout the city to rival those in Orwell’s 1984; or how Earth has acquired colony planets around several stars to which one- and two-man spaceships can fly in just a week, while St. Paul seems unchanged (except for the omnipresent TV cameras) since the 1970s (there are references to “Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing”; how long has it been since anyone called that company by its full name instead of “3M”?), go equally unanswered.

The serious questions are what Pentizel and, later, her mate Marror are up to in St. Paul; whether they can accomplish their goal while having been turned without their knowledge into a TV spectacle by Benidt; and, after they find out and vow vengeance against him in particular, whether Benidt can escape:

“Benidt had no illusions now. His life – melodramatic as the expression may sound – hung in the balance. Unless he could outmaneuver the cat female and do it soon, she would kill him. He had to do what he could to defend himself, without waste of time.” (p. 114)

Special Feature is what is known as an idiot-plot novel. If any of the characters exhibited any common sense (including the background characters such as the security forces who operate compounds surrounded by high fences with tree branches conveniently overhanging them), the story would fall apart. But despite knowing this, DeVet has written a gripping suspense story that will hold the reader to find out what happens next.

Pentizel and Marror talk and plan strategy in several scenes, but they are not anthropomorphized as much as portrayed as super-intelligent felines with an instinct to toy with their adversary before killing him. Whether this will give the increasingly desperate Benidt the chance to survive is for the reader to find out.

Special Feature is unusual in having a cover by George Wilson, best-known for hundreds of painted covers for Gold Key comic books and covers of paperback novelizations of such newspaper comic strips as Flash Gordon and The Phantom, but not for original novels.

– Fred Patten

Buy on Amazon

Categories: News

Episode -34 - Monkeying around

Unfurled - Tue 7 Jun 2016 - 05:57

Tonight on UnFurled join Vox, Tal and Adoom in discussing zoo happenings and some problems with TeamViewer Episode -34 - Monkeying around

Categories: Podcasts