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“The Lion King’ is an extraordinarily sexual film”: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries

THE SALON: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries


Furries are adults who assume creative/fantasy identities and dress up in fur suits. They are often ridiculed for their behavior, which is, by and large, assumed to be sexual. The new documentary, “Fursonas,” available on VOD now, attempts to demystify members of this subculture by—ahem—fleshing them out as humans.

Directed by Dominic Rodriguez (himself a furry, a wolf named Video), the film introduces characters like Diezel, who found his inner furry by working as a mascot; Skye, who enjoys the friendship and dance competitions at furry conventions; Freya, a mother who hopes her young daughter will find the same appreciation she does in costume; Bandit, who sees furry-dom as a way to memorialize his dog; and Grix and Quad, a gay couple who are equally comfortable in suit and out.

Then there is Uncle Kage, a chairman at furry conventions, who manages the way furries talk to and are represented by the media. He criticizes Boomer, a furry whose outfit is made of paper, not fur, and who went to the extreme of trying to legally change his name to Boomer the Dog, which is also the name of his favorite TV show/character; Chew Fox, whose appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show” discussed a furry taboo (apparently being a furry is like being in Fight Club); and Varka, who provides sex toys to furries, but is now fursona non grata at conventions.

“Fursonas” gives these men, women and animals an opportunity to express their thoughts about perception, tolerance and rejection. Salon spoke with Rodriguez about his film, his fur fetish and this fascinating subculture.

“Fursonas” attempts to debunk the myths about furries. Why do you think there is such curiosity, or misunderstanding regarding this subculture?

I think that when Uncle Kage was on a panel at a convention (Anthrocon), there was an insightful comment about the media, who came and pried into the underbelly about furry meetings being about sex. Because of defensiveness in the community and that attitude, there is more of a stigma. There’s a reaction from the community that thinks that the media is out to get us. That’s why we have to share all these other sides of furries. Being a furry is a positive beautiful thing in furries’ lives. People who aren’t furries want answers. They don’t understand something that they aren’t a part of.

How did you get the approval to make this documentary?

It was not approved by Anthrocon. The Anthrocon media policy is that if you are going to shoot [footage] there, you have to show the finished film to the board of directors. They recommend changes, and if you don’t make those changes you have to take that Anthrocon footage out. We didn’t, because we disagree with that policy. It’s against the rule, but it’s not against the law. We’re not looking to make the furries or the convention look bad. Scenes of Uncle Kage at the convention are available on YouTube for free. We weren’t sneaking around; we wanted to show what was right in front of our faces.

What were your criteria for the Fursonas you showcase in the film?

At first it was about finding people who would talk to me. I didn’t know anybody in the community. I reached out to people with costumes. Not everyone has a fur suit. I think the costumes are cinematic, and that the furries who wear them are passionate. They invest money and time in their suits and I wanted to talk to passionate people. I sent out 100 emails, half the people responded, and half of them spoke to me. I traveled to meet folks, but Boomer lives 20 minutes from my house. I wanted to get diversity. I didn’t know much about these people and their lives until I met them. People like Chew Fox, Varka and Uncle Kage were more people I sought out because I wanted to tell their story.

What observations do you have about why people become furries? Is it infantilization? Fantasy/role playing by unleashing the inner animal? Is it a mask to increase confidence? Is it a sexual fetish? Or all of the above?

For many people it incorporates all of the above. But for plenty of furries it is one of the above. There is enough of a sexual component to the fandom it can’t be ignored, but I don’t know how many people are into it sexually. That is not something that people are comfortable talking about. Which is totally fair. There is an innocence brought to it because of the silliness of putting on a costume, running around and having adventures. There was never a scene in the film where we explain why this person does it. It’s not about the why, it’s about the who. It was important to get to know the people. I don’t have any definitive answer.

How did you become a furry, and what have your experiences been?

For me, I was interested in this since I was 12. I thought so much about what made me a furry. My experience is just my experience. It’s not reflective of all experiences. I feel like it has something to do with growing up with the Internet and being obsessed with movies and cartoons. “The Lion King” is an extraordinarily sexual film. When I found furry porn, that was it for me. It’s really beautiful. When I think of the question “Can porn be art?” I think furry porn is the answer. You humanize it and bring it into emotion. Videos of people fucking takes the humanity away. For me being a furry started as a fetish. I don’t know why anthropomorphized anatomy does it for me. As I worked on the movie, I got more into the scene and there are so many aspects that I enjoy. I wasn’t into fur suits at first, and then, when I met Grix, he owned that character and made it approachable and fun. There was nothing awkward about that, and that inspired me to get a fur suit.

What can you say about the difficulties of “coming out” as a furry, which is addressed in “Fursonas?”

When you ask, “How do you come out to your parents as a furry?”—you don’t have to. I understand why people want to be honest with themselves. I feel like I didn’t choose this. That’s how deep it runs for me. That’s why people feel the need to come out. It’s so in line with their identity. I’m lucky—I have a really awesome family. They have been supportive of me talking about these things. But not everyone has supportive people around them. I understand how Diezel might feel, keeping his furry life separate from his work life. The movie is important to show people expressing themselves, but also acknowledge the difficulties of that situation.

“I hate to bring this up,” as Uncle Kage says journalists will ask, “but what is all this about sex in fur suits?” Were you tempted to depict sex scenes with furries?

I think that is part of the fun for me as a director and revealing things to the audience that has preconceived notions, and playing with those. Someone says a line and it puts the image in your head. But I didn’t want to hold back, so I needed to show the indulgence of Varka with the cum lube. That’s my money shot.

There has been controversy in the furry community over Chew Fox’s appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show.” She said something that was harmful to the community, but truthful for her. What are your thoughts on what she did?

I think that Chew Fox was not trying to hurt anyone. The most important thing was her being honest about herself. People will say she was trying to throw us under the bus. I don’t agree with that at all. I’ve had to go into the media and now talk about being a furry. I’m now very self-aware. I wouldn’t go on the “Tyra Banks Show.” It’s an exploitative treatment of its subjects. Boomer made a point about that there is no bad media. No matter what it is, there is some truth coming through. So when he goes on “Dr. Phil,” it’s more about him being on the show. “They can do what they want,” he says, “It’s me coming through, there is some truth coming through.” Many furries have responded well, and there’s a difference between how [they and] non-furries respond. A furry who interviewed me thinks Chew Fox was delighting in upsetting furries, and that’s wasn’t obvious to me at all.

How do you think your film will play with furry and non-furry audiences?

I wanted to make something furries and non-furries can get something out of. As far as who is going to accept furries, if you’re going to watch it to laugh at them, I hope you will be moved by these stories. But there are people you will never convince, and that’s fine. I’m more interested in furries’ reactions. It’s played well with non-furry audiences. It’s meant to be about more than this community and where they are right now. I’m interested to see how it will play with furries because we’re all passionate about being furries. I was terrified when I showed the film at a recent furry convention, but so far, all the furry screenings have been extremely positive experiences. It has provoked thoughtful discussion. We’re having conversations, and dialogue is positive.
More Gary M. Kramer.

-Dia

“The Lion King’ is an extraordinarily sexual film”: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries

THE SALON: Inside the fascinating, misunderstood world of furries


Furries are adults who assume creative/fantasy identities and dress up in fur suits. They are often ridiculed for their behavior, which is, by and large, assumed to be sexual. The new documentary, “Fursonas,” available on VOD now, attempts to demystify members of this subculture by—ahem—fleshing them out as humans.

Directed by Dominic Rodriguez (himself a furry, a wolf named Video), the film introduces characters like Diezel, who found his inner furry by working as a mascot; Skye, who enjoys the friendship and dance competitions at furry conventions; Freya, a mother who hopes her young daughter will find the same appreciation she does in costume; Bandit, who sees furry-dom as a way to memorialize his dog; and Grix and Quad, a gay couple who are equally comfortable in suit and out.

Then there is Uncle Kage, a chairman at furry conventions, who manages the way furries talk to and are represented by the media. He criticizes Boomer, a furry whose outfit is made of paper, not fur, and who went to the extreme of trying to legally change his name to Boomer the Dog, which is also the name of his favorite TV show/character; Chew Fox, whose appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show” discussed a furry taboo (apparently being a furry is like being in Fight Club); and Varka, who provides sex toys to furries, but is now fursona non grata at conventions.

“Fursonas” gives these men, women and animals an opportunity to express their thoughts about perception, tolerance and rejection. Salon spoke with Rodriguez about his film, his fur fetish and this fascinating subculture.

“Fursonas” attempts to debunk the myths about furries. Why do you think there is such curiosity, or misunderstanding regarding this subculture?

I think that when Uncle Kage was on a panel at a convention (Anthrocon), there was an insightful comment about the media, who came and pried into the underbelly about furry meetings being about sex. Because of defensiveness in the community and that attitude, there is more of a stigma. There’s a reaction from the community that thinks that the media is out to get us. That’s why we have to share all these other sides of furries. Being a furry is a positive beautiful thing in furries’ lives. People who aren’t furries want answers. They don’t understand something that they aren’t a part of.

How did you get the approval to make this documentary?

It was not approved by Anthrocon. The Anthrocon media policy is that if you are going to shoot [footage] there, you have to show the finished film to the board of directors. They recommend changes, and if you don’t make those changes you have to take that Anthrocon footage out. We didn’t, because we disagree with that policy. It’s against the rule, but it’s not against the law. We’re not looking to make the furries or the convention look bad. Scenes of Uncle Kage at the convention are available on YouTube for free. We weren’t sneaking around; we wanted to show what was right in front of our faces.

What were your criteria for the Fursonas you showcase in the film?

At first it was about finding people who would talk to me. I didn’t know anybody in the community. I reached out to people with costumes. Not everyone has a fur suit. I think the costumes are cinematic, and that the furries who wear them are passionate. They invest money and time in their suits and I wanted to talk to passionate people. I sent out 100 emails, half the people responded, and half of them spoke to me. I traveled to meet folks, but Boomer lives 20 minutes from my house. I wanted to get diversity. I didn’t know much about these people and their lives until I met them. People like Chew Fox, Varka and Uncle Kage were more people I sought out because I wanted to tell their story.

What observations do you have about why people become furries? Is it infantilization? Fantasy/role playing by unleashing the inner animal? Is it a mask to increase confidence? Is it a sexual fetish? Or all of the above?

For many people it incorporates all of the above. But for plenty of furries it is one of the above. There is enough of a sexual component to the fandom it can’t be ignored, but I don’t know how many people are into it sexually. That is not something that people are comfortable talking about. Which is totally fair. There is an innocence brought to it because of the silliness of putting on a costume, running around and having adventures. There was never a scene in the film where we explain why this person does it. It’s not about the why, it’s about the who. It was important to get to know the people. I don’t have any definitive answer.

How did you become a furry, and what have your experiences been?

For me, I was interested in this since I was 12. I thought so much about what made me a furry. My experience is just my experience. It’s not reflective of all experiences. I feel like it has something to do with growing up with the Internet and being obsessed with movies and cartoons. “The Lion King” is an extraordinarily sexual film. When I found furry porn, that was it for me. It’s really beautiful. When I think of the question “Can porn be art?” I think furry porn is the answer. You humanize it and bring it into emotion. Videos of people fucking takes the humanity away. For me being a furry started as a fetish. I don’t know why anthropomorphized anatomy does it for me. As I worked on the movie, I got more into the scene and there are so many aspects that I enjoy. I wasn’t into fur suits at first, and then, when I met Grix, he owned that character and made it approachable and fun. There was nothing awkward about that, and that inspired me to get a fur suit.

What can you say about the difficulties of “coming out” as a furry, which is addressed in “Fursonas?”

When you ask, “How do you come out to your parents as a furry?”—you don’t have to. I understand why people want to be honest with themselves. I feel like I didn’t choose this. That’s how deep it runs for me. That’s why people feel the need to come out. It’s so in line with their identity. I’m lucky—I have a really awesome family. They have been supportive of me talking about these things. But not everyone has supportive people around them. I understand how Diezel might feel, keeping his furry life separate from his work life. The movie is important to show people expressing themselves, but also acknowledge the difficulties of that situation.

“I hate to bring this up,” as Uncle Kage says journalists will ask, “but what is all this about sex in fur suits?” Were you tempted to depict sex scenes with furries?

I think that is part of the fun for me as a director and revealing things to the audience that has preconceived notions, and playing with those. Someone says a line and it puts the image in your head. But I didn’t want to hold back, so I needed to show the indulgence of Varka with the cum lube. That’s my money shot.

There has been controversy in the furry community over Chew Fox’s appearance on “The Tyra Banks Show.” She said something that was harmful to the community, but truthful for her. What are your thoughts on what she did?

I think that Chew Fox was not trying to hurt anyone. The most important thing was her being honest about herself. People will say she was trying to throw us under the bus. I don’t agree with that at all. I’ve had to go into the media and now talk about being a furry. I’m now very self-aware. I wouldn’t go on the “Tyra Banks Show.” It’s an exploitative treatment of its subjects. Boomer made a point about that there is no bad media. No matter what it is, there is some truth coming through. So when he goes on “Dr. Phil,” it’s more about him being on the show. “They can do what they want,” he says, “It’s me coming through, there is some truth coming through.” Many furries have responded well, and there’s a difference between how [they and] non-furries respond. A furry who interviewed me thinks Chew Fox was delighting in upsetting furries, and that’s wasn’t obvious to me at all.

How do you think your film will play with furry and non-furry audiences?

I wanted to make something furries and non-furries can get something out of. As far as who is going to accept furries, if you’re going to watch it to laugh at them, I hope you will be moved by these stories. But there are people you will never convince, and that’s fine. I’m more interested in furries’ reactions. It’s played well with non-furry audiences. It’s meant to be about more than this community and where they are right now. I’m interested to see how it will play with furries because we’re all passionate about being furries. I was terrified when I showed the film at a recent furry convention, but so far, all the furry screenings have been extremely positive experiences. It has provoked thoughtful discussion. We’re having conversations, and dialogue is positive.
More Gary M. Kramer.

-Dia

Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Shia’s morning routine
• Fursuiter in Norway wins home makeover contest
• Fursuiters invited on stage during scottish band’s concert
• Izotope Audio Pro Essentials – What is Sample Rate?
• AshDingo is creating a trans documentary
• Majira’s Furry Puns
• Suspect in baltimore TV Stations bomb situation shot
• Little Skamp causes full minute of dead air on NPR take your child to work day
• New furry convention in Spain
• Zootopia wolf gets name – Larry

News:

• Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries
• Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World’s Most Powerful Particle Collider

Interview:

Fredrek Phox aka Matthew Gafford, creator of “A Fox In Space,” a fan made animated cartoon series about StarFox.

Kotaku: Star Fox Fan Animation Is A Love Letter To Classic Cartoons

Star Fox Animated Series Patreon Preview Video

Episode 1: A Fox in Space – S01E01 – “Don’t Call Me Star Fox”

Patreon: Patreon.com/AFoxInSpace

Twitter: @AFoxInSpaceShow

Picarto – https://picarto.tv/AFoxInSpace

KnowYourMeme: FredrykPhox

Watch Video Email:

• Enzo – “Fursuit Gay”
• Gladwin – “
• Faros Kalin – “Retiring my fursuit for the wrong reasons?”

FC-233 Landing Strippers - Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.

Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

• Shia’s morning routine
• Fursuiter in Norway wins home makeover contest
• Fursuiters invited on stage during scottish band’s concert
• Izotope Audio Pro Essentials – What is Sample Rate?
• AshDingo is creating a trans documentary
• Majira’s Furry Puns
• Suspect in baltimore TV Stations bomb situation shot
• Little Skamp causes full minute of dead air on NPR take your child to work day
• New furry convention in Spain
• Zootopia wolf gets name – Larry

News:

• Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries
• Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World’s Most Powerful Particle Collider

Interview:

Fredrek Phox aka Matthew Gafford, creator of “A Fox In Space,” a fan made animated cartoon series about StarFox.

Kotaku: Star Fox Fan Animation Is A Love Letter To Classic Cartoons

Star Fox Animated Series Patreon Preview Video

Episode 1: A Fox in Space – S01E01 – “Don’t Call Me Star Fox”

Patreon: Patreon.com/AFoxInSpace

Twitter: @AFoxInSpaceShow

Picarto – https://picarto.tv/AFoxInSpace

KnowYourMeme: FredrykPhox

Watch Video Email:

• Enzo – “Fursuit Gay”
• Gladwin – “
• Faros Kalin – “Retiring my fursuit for the wrong reasons?”

FC-233 Landing Strippers - Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.

Quite a packed show this week, filled with lots of links in our roundup, short news, a fantastic interview with one of our favorite furry creators and finally an email segment kicked off by a hysterical fan made animation.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

• Shia’s morning routine
• Fursuiter in Norway wins home makeover contest
• Fursuiters invited on stage during scottish band’s concert
• Izotope Audio Pro Essentials – What is Sample Rate?
• AshDingo is creating a trans documentary
• Majira’s Furry Puns
• Suspect in baltimore TV Stations bomb situation shot
• Little Skamp causes full minute of dead air on NPR take your child to work day
• New furry convention in Spain
• Zootopia wolf gets name – Larry

News:

• Exposing the David Miscavige of Furries
• Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World’s Most Powerful Particle Collider

Interview:

Fredrek Phox aka Matthew Gafford, creator of “A Fox In Space,” a fan made animated cartoon series about StarFox.

Kotaku: Star Fox Fan Animation Is A Love Letter To Classic Cartoons

Star Fox Animated Series Patreon Preview Video

Episode 1: A Fox in Space – S01E01 – “Don’t Call Me Star Fox”

Patreon: Patreon.com/AFoxInSpace

Twitter: @AFoxInSpaceShow

Picarto – https://picarto.tv/AFoxInSpace

KnowYourMeme: FredrykPhox

Email:

• Enzo – “Fursuit Gay”
• Gladwin – “
• Faros Kalin – “Retiring my fursuit for the wrong reasons?”

[Live] Landing Strippers

IDW Publishing have a new full-color Disney comic miniseries coming out later this month: Disney Magic Kingdom Comics. “IDW’s Disneyland 60th anniversary anthology is here… collecting decades of Disney’s park-themed adventure comics! Carl Barks’ Scrooge McDuck travels from the Mark Twain Riverboat to a Beagle Boy battle; then Donald and Mickey investigate the strange disappearance of the Country Bear Jamboree!” Hmm, we’d like to solve that last one ourselves! Featuring works by Carl Barks, Thad Komorowski, Victor Rios, Don R. Christensen, Al Hubbard,  and Massimo Fecchi. Previews has more.

image c. 2016 IDW Publishing

Pic: UltraGor

There was a hunt for a missing giraffe…

Zarafa is a furry superstar lately.  But he didn’t go looking for notoriety.  It happened one night after a show when his treasured purple giraffe fursuit was stolen from his car.  It led to community-wide support, and miraculous recovery of the suit. Now people recognize him on the street.

Credit is due to Neonbunny, the show DJ, for pounding the sidewalk to spread flyers.  How many promoters would do it for one show goer?  Dedication like that built a local scene for furry dance parties.

Finding the suit flipped around the loss to amazing extremes beyond Zarafa and a circle of furry friends.  The support drew notice from local media, and they found it irresistible to share:

• SAN FRANCISCO FURRIES NOW TARGETS FOR ROBBERY.
• Identity Theft: Furry Furious Until Stolen Suit Recovered.

The San Francisco Bay Area Furry scene drew a journalist from New York.

A new surprise came two months later.  Another news article covered Zarafa’s night out and loss of his suit.  The journalist had been on the scene, but not with intentions to write about drama like that.

Whitney Kimball originally contacted me through Dogpatch Press.  She was looking for leads for a story about older people who may have discovered Furry fandom in later life. (I told her the word was “greymuzzle”). I pointed her to Zarafa, Neonbunny, and Spottacus.

After my introductions, they handled the rest.  Whitney learned about Neonbunny’s “Furries vs. Drag Queens” dance party.  Soon she was flying from New York to San Francisco to be there.  (That’s dedication, right?)  I had nothing else to do with the resulting article (although I’m told the main graphic seems to show me in the background. Nice!)  It’s exciting to share it:

How the furry community rallied when Zarafa Giraffe lost his head – by Whitney Kimball.

It’s a kickass article, according to the feedback.  Have you read many others that talk about the “lightning bolts” you get from wearing a fursuit?  (It invited more interest too – Zarafa was then contacted by Zoomin TV, a euro outfit doing video news for niche channels.) Spottacus said:

‘This is wonderful… it sets the right tone, weaves several threads into a great story with exactly the right feeling, and captures the essence of what is going on inside the head inside the fursuit.”

One furry friend (and journalist in real life) had an interesting comment:

@Spottacus @DogpatchPress Also, Patch, this article needs to go in some type of Furry Hall of Fame. Do we have an award for media coverage?

— Zeigler IRL (@ZeiglerJaguar) April 25, 2016

Why don’t we have an award?

The Ursa Major award seems to be all for fiction, even if there’s an “other” category. Fred Patten is a member of the award committee.  He told me: “what to do about non-fiction works with regard to the Ursa Majors is being discussed.”  

Everyfur knows how the furry community regards the dreaded “THE MEDIA”. It starts with supersensitivity, and maybe a hate/hate relationship.  Attention from them seems to cause a defensive crouch with claws out.

But furries are in many ways created by the media. It’s an internet-based subculture of fans. With “The Year of Furry” happening, and furry movies blowing up the box office, I think it’s a good time to stop dancing around this frenemy.

The quality of Whitney’s article makes me want to do more than share. It made me talk about establishing an award because of the story. Whitney liked that:

“WOW, I think that is the most flattering feedback I have ever gotten in 6 years of writing!! Thank you for featuring the story, Patch, I really appreciate it! And I’m happy to hear that the news coverage is improving in general. That Vanity Fair piece was just godawful.”

If “the media” is mostly bad, reward it when it’s good.

If they’ve spread negativity before, it’s part of notoriety that now draws them back.  That’s a monster they helped to create.  Now the more interest grows, the more you have power to say “no” if they ask for access.  Making them work to do better would flip the dynamic.  It would be smart to own that power and award good attention.

Well written articles are coming with growing frequency. It makes me want to start a short list of the best. Here’s a few that I would list for special recognition:

• You Can’t Get Inside – by mouse at The Hooded Utilitarian.
• CSI Fur Fest: The Unsolved Case of the Gas Attack at a Furry Convention – by Jennifer Swann at Vice.
• How the furry community rallied when Zarafa Giraffe lost his head – by Whitney Kimball at The Kernel.
• Fursonas Takes On the Secretive World of Furries—and the Movement’s Furrious Fuhrer – by Matt Coker at OC Weekly.

What do you think about an award name?  How should it be organized?  Who could pitch in? 

Look for a second article here soon about more spotlight on Bay Area Furries.

Just another day in San Francisco! @AlastairGSD, me, @ZantalScalie,& @chairoraccoon #FursuitFriday pic:@LoboLoc0 pic.twitter.com/lITrXqU4Wv

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) April 29, 2016

OMG! @LoboLoc0 does amazing work! A shot from our SF photoshoot last Sun,in front of the Painted Ladies of Alamo Sq. pic.twitter.com/R53FAGZzV4

— Zarafa (@Zarafagiraffe) April 23, 2016

 

 

Would I recommend Anna Sewell’s 1877 classic Black Beauty for inclusion in the furry canon? Yes, but with one qualification: the book’s central conceit is innovatively furry; the rest of the book is not.

I will begin with the furry element of Black Beauty: it is, as its subtitle proclaims, the auto-biography of a horse. More than just the story of a particular, modern horse’s life—not merely as a symbolic or allegorical gesture—it is a horse’s life told in the first person. In his own voice, Beauty guides us through the daily adventures and boredoms of a horse’s life, commenting on his masters’ behavior, his material condition, and his emotive reaction to it all. Though Beauty never vocalizes an English word, he is a talking horse by virtue of the fact that he addresses us.

And I am sorry to say it, but this is the extent of the book’s anthropomorphism. Despite his internal rational faculties, Beauty is definitely a horse. Throughout the entire book, I waited for him to act in some way that would reflect the thoughtfulness of his narration, but no: this is not a fantasy, and Sewell makes sure that Black Beauty’s behavior fits solidly within equine parameters.

In fact, to have anthropomorphized Beauty beyond a narrative voice would have undermined the book’s purpose, which relied on being a unimpeachable record of the sufferings of Victorian-era horses. Despite their prevailing reputation as unfeeling killjoys, Victorians were some the first Westerners who could have mustered the compassion—or, perhaps, the proto-furry sensibility—to produce and appreciate a novel like Black Beauty.

Following Descartes, many Europeans since the Enlightenment had believed that animals–in contrast to humans–were the equivalent of biological machines, possessing no interior life, senses, or pain. They had no memories or thoughts, only instincts, programs set running by God and death terminated. Away from the philosophers, the situation was even easier to explain: animals were appliances. You made an investment in them and discarded them when they could no longer return your investment. Indeed, Black Beauty then may have inspired the same bemused reactions as The Brave Little Toaster today.

Nevertheless, a new social consciousness gradually arose. The likes of Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens depicted, however caricatured, the desperate situation of Europe’s poor. In the United States, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin described the plight of slaves in the American South and kindled the tinder of the Civil War. John Snow discovered that cholera spread not from noxious vapors but from contaminated water—a conclusion he reached from caring about poor Londoners enough to quantify their deaths and illnesses. Movements began to abolish debtors’ prisons and to provide humanitarian aid. Temperance societies arose to raise awareness about the effects of alcohol abuse on families and to persuade men to abandon the devil’s drink1.

With this awareness came a new concern about nonhuman life. Contradicting philosophical and theological justifications for beating and killing animals, some reformers declared that animal pain was an evil to be mitigated just as much as human pain. Members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, founded in the United Kingdom in 1824, became known as “angels for horses” for the work they did to punish unkind owners, provide drinking fountains for thirsty carriage horses, and euthanize horses beyond treatment or relief. Its American affiliate, founded in New York City in 1866, was even granted formal police authority to punish animal abusers.

But while these movements have evolved into “animal rights” today, primary among the reasons they offered for caring about animals was an anthropocentric one that has fallen out of fashion: practicing cruelty toward “dumb brutes” would habituate its (mostly male) practitioners to treat humans, especially women and children, with cruelty. Treating animals with kindness was an integral part of human (again, particularly male—gender featured hugely in these campaigns) moral development.

Having studied the time period, I had a hard time viewing Black Beauty as anything more than a narrativized morality manual. Beauty never has an owner who is not either lauded as a paragon of virtue or criticized as one who indulges in vice. (Regarding gender, note that his best owner is surnamed “Manly”!) He receives an unsightly injury from a master who rode him too hard in a drunken rage; he watches other horses and owners deteriorate due to rock-bottom wages and greedy employers; he witnesses a corrupt stable-owner defraud those whose horses are under his stingy, neglectful care. Beauty himself is sold several times—changing names each time—because of his owners’ economic hardship. While a Londoner might be able to brush off the sale of a horse as one would that of a practical but out-of-style car, Sewell reminds us that the horse has a life after being sold and that, as a horse ages and its physical ability degenerates, his or her life becomes ever more desperate and troubled. Humans, therefore, share some responsibility for their animals’ continued well-being; for someone with a good conscience, out of sight could not mean out of mind.

In this light, Beauty’s ability to talk to horses is revealed less as essential anthropomorphism but as an instrumentally deployed device: Beauty’s conversations with other horses serve almost exclusively to illuminate other fields of equine life Beauty could not himself experience. Ginger shows how poor training can effectively disable a horse for work; Captain gives an insight into the life of a war horse on the front lines of the Crimean War2. Again, these stories are meant to demonstrate the proper care of horses through both positive and negative examples.

Curiously, throughout the entire book Sewell seldom has Beauty himself criticize humans; instead, she gives that duty to human characters Beauty overhears. However, Black Beauty’s acquiescence to the most unreasonable or painful treatment he receives—his perfect loyalty, unwillingness to judge, and unflaggingly obliging temperament—only prove his innocence and pile the sins even deeper on his abusers’ heads.

That Sewell’s purpose is moral is affirmed by when she decides to end the book: not with Beauty’s old age (it would be hard to end an autobiography with death), but with his return to a secure life. “My troubles are over, and I am at home,” he says. The end of life’s vicissitudes—adventures with the potential for moral commentary—is the end of story. And it is not altogether happy: in the book’s final lines, Beauty, solitary, finds himself reminiscing about his unblemished colthood: “often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old friends under the apple-trees.” These friends and vistas he will never see again.

Sewell’s didacticism, in my opinion, has not aged well. Black Beauty’s passivity seldom engages more than the reader’s compassion and pity. This, of course, is the point3. If, however, you want to learn about the plight of the horse in its heyday, Black Beauty is exactly what you should read. As it did in Victorians for their working animals, hopefully Beauty’s minimal anthropomorphism can serve to evoke in modern readers empathy with cattle in feedlots or pigs in gestation crates.

1 Which in the mid-1800s America and Britain was hard liquor, not beer or wine.
2 Notably, the war in which Florence Nightingale pioneered life-saving practices that would become standard medical procedure.
3 I will admit that for me it was refreshing to read an explicitly Christian defense of kindness to animals; so far has the discourse moved toward utilitarianism and “rights”—and so split is society among culture-wars lines—that religious arguments are seldom prominently made in animal ethics.

Follow this link to explore everything we have published on the [adjective][species] Furry Canon project.

The Furry Canon, recommended, at the time of publication:
Redwall

There’s a vast community of writers within the Furry Fandom.  From building community sites like SoFurry, to their own Furry Writers Guild, they come together to explore the anthropomorphic writing arts with novels, comics, and anthologies.  Many anthologies are being made in the fandom, and they’re always looking for new talent.  Keep your ears perked for announcements about anthologies open for submission, and you may find one with a vision that inspires you to get involved.

Did you like Zootopia, and the way Disney brought an anthropomorphic world to life, accounting for all the different sizes and species and their needs?  Did it make you imagine your own society of walking, talking animals? Zootopia was only about mammals, but what about reptiles, birds or insects? Will they all live together, or is one group seen as lesser to another?

If you think about this when you write, The Society Pages is the anthology for you.

The Society Pages is edited by Lily White, known for writing the NSFW webcomic Pierce Me. She founded Scratchpost Press earlier this year to publish a variety of work she found lacking in the fandom. Lily says:

“I’ve always wanted to work in publishing so this seemed like a great way to just dive in.”

Those questions of how an anthro society works inspired this anthology.  Lily says:

“I’m interested to see writers look into how an anthro society would actually function instead of hand-waving of it just functioning. How do you make friends with a species that traditionally eats yours? How does that extrapolate into an entire civilization that somehow manages to get along?

It is something that has always bothered me about the fandom, though it might be I don’t delve deeply enough into the content produced by other artists and writers, that it often feels like this is something that is just sort of ignored. When writing fiction so closely linked to people’s personas there is a tendency towards wish fulfillment and I think that makes these opportunities for drama fall away. I really love exploring this stuff and wanted to see more of it in print.

There have been some that have looked at it in different forms. Comics like Blacksad use anthro animals to represent what role/kind of character they are. While Endtown looks at how well we adapt in a post apocalypse where people are mutated into animals and how much we don’t. And of course Zootopia. There are many examples for writers to get inspired by.

… the first that comes to [my] mind is Fauxlacine’s fantastic series of short stories and illustrations under the title of ‘Dog Eat Dog’. While a bit gory for a lot of people their work explores some of the realities of a furry society under pressure and I think it is a great body of work to look at. Not everything needs to be as gloomy as hers, of course.

Of course you go with the tone that works for you. You want hard hitting drama? Go for it. Absurd comedy? Tragic romance? Horrific horror? Go for it. It’s your world. Have fun with it.”

The Society Pages will be the first book published from Scratchpost, but it’s not planned to be the last.

“I have a few other anthology concepts I would like to produce based on how The Society Pages works out. If it seems like anthologies are a sustainable system to get new work out into the world I will likely continue in that vein, but I am also always keeping an eye out for submissions that are not necessarily for an anthology – I would love to help produce long-form fiction for writers.”

The Society Pages deadline is June 1st, with a projected publishing date sometime around September. Accepted authors will be paid 30 dollars, a contributor’s copy, plus a code for extra discounted copies. Lily shares the submission details:

“The pieces should be 2,000 to 8,000 words and saved in whatever format you are most comfortable with using. I would also prefer that people provide an introduction to themselves and their piece in the initial email. Aside from that, it should be sent to scratchpostpress@gmail.com with the subject line ‘The Society Pages – (Author Name) Query’.

I would prefer to know what I’m going to be reading before I receive it – query before delivery if possible. There isn’t much reason for it, but it does help show the writer knows their own work (and read the submission guidelines). If a writer can break down their story effectively into a pitch it can usually show any major issues from the start.”

To learn more about the submission guidelines please visit Scratchpost’s website.

Well? What are you waiting for? You only have a month. Crack open that Word Doc and bring your society to life.

-Pup Matthias

Last April Norwegian fursuiter Lumo registered for the contest ‘Garantert Oppgradert’ (Guaranteed Upgrade) on the radio channel Radio Metro, which offered as a winning prize the refurbishment of a house room, valued in 90,000 Norwegian Crowns (11,000 US Dollars). The people wishing to take part in the contest were to send an SMS. A selected few would then receive a call from radio host Hege Tepstad, so they could detail their messed-up appliances. Lumo was chosen as one of 20 finalists, and subsequently had to gain enough votes through Facebook to win over the other 19 contestants. He pleaded for votes in FurAffinity and other social networks, and friends, in the best way a fursuiter can – by being all cutesy!

 
Lumo won by 25% of the votes, and his campaign didn’t go unnoticed to the radio host, who was previously unfamiliar with the furry fandom, and pleasantly surprised by the funny tactics.

“Dan Rogers’ hobby has helped him well on his way for votes, both home and abroad. He dresses up in a blue fur costume as a hobby called furry (you can read more about it on Wikipedia.) Through the weekend he shared several funny images in social media asking for votes.” (link⇒)

That same morning, Monday 25th April, Lumo got a call from the radio host announcing the achievement. Lumo’s voice was snoozy, admittedly because he was tired from traveling abroad that same weekend. He’s been tremendously happy after winning, as shown on his FA journals! (link⇒)

The entry Fursuiter Lumo Wins $11,000 Bathroom Refurbishment Thanks to Furry appears first in FurryFandom.es.

May’s Book of the Month, Fellowship of the Ringtails, is by member Angela “LemurKat” Oliver.

The kingdom of Madigaska is in turmoil. The King has died under suspicious circumstances and now his Queen has usurped the throne. The only remnant of the last ruler is an illegitimate orphan. Born many miles away, and raised by a peaceable fishing tribe, she knows little of her heritage, her destiny. But with the fierce Hunter, Noir, on her trail, what hope does she have?

Set in an alternate world Madagascar, where the dominant life forms are lemurs with a level of technology equal to primitive tribes, “Lemurs: A Saga” contains true elements of Malagasy history and culture, intermingled with a heavy dose of pure fantasy. It is, indeed, epic fantasy, with lemurs.

Available from Amazon in paperback and ebook.

Later this month IDW will be premiering a new creator-owned full-color comic book series called Brutal Nature. “A collection of masks transforms the young man known as Ich into innumerable different beasts and monsters. Using this ancient power, he embarks on a battle that pits the indigenous people of Colombia against the encroaching Spanish empire. But can one man hope to beat back the massive forces of the conquering Spaniards? [Writer] Luciano Saracino and [artist] Ariel Olivetti (Venom: Space Knight) bring readers a stunningly illustrated story of beasts and men fighting for the soul of a nation!” Comics Alliance has more information.

image c. 2016 IDW Publishing

Unfurled is back yet again to accost your ears. Come on in and join Vox, Tal, Roland and Adoom as they talk about another toddler with a gun and YouTube with some new policies! Episode -39 - YouTube doing it right...for once

old episode that didn't transfer over for some reason, so re-uploading! 042 - Dirty Bomb - old episode that didn't transfer over for some re…

Hello Everyone!

We begin this week's podcast with a discussion on "ghosting" furry conventions: What exactly is ghosting, what are the ethics of con attendance, and who is ghosting really hurting (spoiler: everyone).

For our main topic this week, we kick off our Mental Health Month by talking about emotional blackmail. We here at Feral Attraction believe that emotional blackmail can be one of the most insidious poisons in a relationship, and as we have mentioned it in the past, we wanted to dedicate an entire episode to it.

Emotional blackmail can take many forms, and everyone is vulnerable to it — whether you are the child of a passive aggressive parent, or the dom in your D/s relationship. The good news is that there are warning signs of emotional blackmail that you can look out for, and ways to de-escalate and resolve these situations without them turning into a relationship cold war. 

We do discuss some topics relating to abuse and self-harm in this episode, so please be advised of this content. We also would like to reiterate that if you find yourself in an abusive relationship, please seek the appropriate level of care and assistance to get you safely out of that situation.

After our main topic, we take a listener question that is in response to our STI Prevention and Risk Mitigation episode, pertaining to anxiety after being informed of a partner's STI status. Though the asker understands the low risk associated with his partner's STI, he is still a bit nervous when it comes to having a full-blown sex life with his partner. What should he do?

Finally, we close the show with some feedback in which a listener shares resources that may be helpful to the non-monogamous community, focusing on one of our favorite books, More Than Two.

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

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 017 Emotional Blackmail - What is Emotional Blackmail and how can you protect against it?

Papabear,
 
I love the idea of walking around, wearing a fursuit, making merriment &c. However, I have read that it is not for everyone due to concerns about overheating and claustrophobia. I would like to make sure they are non-issues before I proceed with any commissioning.

I understand that people are reluctant to loan others their fursuits, so I'm not sure how feasible it would be to try one on. Would you recommend an experiment to help determine whether fursuiting is an option.

Also, I'm fat (183 cm 100 kg). Does this present an issue when fursuiting? I read from your reply to the letter entitled "Fursuiting Tips" that one should act lively (as opposed to standing there), so I am not sure how endurance might come in to play.

I appreciate your insight in to this matter and look forward to your reply.

Diogenes 

* * *

Hi, Diogenes,
 
It’s great you’re getting into the fun :-3  Trying on someone else’s fursuit could be a real problem, though. Not so much because you can’t find a nice person willing to loan you a fursuit, but because each fursuit is custom made to the exact measurements of that person. So, unless you are the exact same size, weight, and even shape as the other fursuit wearer, it’s not going to work for you.
 
Being large isn’t so much an issue as your stamina. Skinny or chubby, you are going to sweat, no question about it. So, if you DO get a custom fursuit some day, there are things you can do to ease the discomfort. My bear fursuit has padding all over it because my fursona, Grubbs Grizzly, is stockier than I am. These things help:
 
1. My fursuit maker, Beastcub, installed a fan in the head. It is battery operated. I use lithium batteries, which last longer. Helps a lot.
2. I wear underarmor. This helps wick sweat away from the torso and also helps keep sweat from the fursuit somewhat. People also wear balaclavas.
3. I wear cooling vests. There are a variety of these you can get online. I put ice packs in them and that lasts a couple hours.
 
With the above, I can fursuit for 2 hours comfortably and have been known to go for as long as 4-5 hours before needing a break.
 
If you’re still not sure about taking this step, there are other things you can do. You can get a partial fursuit, including head, arms, tail, feet, keeping your torso free. If you like to wear costumes, such as a wizard’s outfit or Medieval armor or a samurai outfit, this is actually a better way to go and will look very cool.
 
If you really want to experiment around, try this: buy some long underwear and put that one with snow pants, a down jacket, and several other layers of clothing and a wool cap. Do some physical activity while wearing all this stuff and see how you feel.
 
That all said, if you are having health issues because of your weight, I would definitely talk to your doctor and see if this kind of stuff is okay. You might tell him a white lie and say you have been asked to wear a mascot outfit, if that helps. It’s important to have a healthy heart when you fursuit. Heck, the first time I did it, I wore the fursuit too long at a parade and almost fainted. Oh! And it is a good idea to have a fursuit handler, too, especially for newbies. That is someone who helps you not bump or trip on things, helps keep people from harassing you (e.g. kids pulling on your tail), and so forth.
 
Hope that helps! Good luck!
 
Papabear
​

The Poll is up!  The Poll is up!  Tell all your friends, the poll is up! Check here!

No pressure! (Art by Grey)

That’s right, it’s time once again for the furry survey, the fandom’s largest marketing survey.  Completing the survey helps to give us a more complete picture of the furry fandom, because otherwise, it’s just some critters writing about themselves.  Remember, you can take the survey once per year!  If you’ve got a few minutes to spare, take some time to fill out the 2016 Furry Poll.

The poll is up here!

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

DreamKeepers, volume 4, Descent to the Archives, by David & Liz Lille
Monroe, MI, Vivid Independent Publishing, July 2015, trade paperback $24.99 (117 [+ 11] pages).

“Dreamkeepers is a supernatural fantasy adventure series for teens and up.” (publishers’ advisory)

After two years and an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign, here is DreamKeepers, volume 4, Descent to the Archives, containing Chapters 10 through 12. By now, so much has happened that you have to first read What Has Gone Before; either page-by-page for free on the DreamKeepers website or as albums from Amazon.com.

To rephrase what I have said in my reviews of the first three volumes, “The Dreamworld is a mysterious reality that parallels our own,” inhabited by funny-animal DreamKeepers, one for each person in the world. They guard us from the nightmares that would drive us mad. “Everyone’s DreamKeeper is completely unique – your personality and subconscious influence your DreamKeeper’s appearance and abilities.” Since there are now over seven billion people in the world, that’s a lot of almost-all different funny animals; but David Lillie has shown in large crowd scenes that he can draw that many DreamKeepers. Most DreamKeepers live in “Anduruna, the largest DreamKeeper city in the DreamWorld.”

“The protagonist is Mace, a young puppy (or is he a kitten?) in Grunn’s orphanage, a Dickensian hellhole along Anduruna’s eastern seacoast. Mace, the equivalent of a ten- or eleven-year-old human boy, is always getting in trouble for his practical jokes. He doesn’t care that he makes it easy for the orphanage’s real troublemakers to blame their tricks on him. But when his best friend is brutally murdered and he is blamed, he is forced to flee with Whip, his little blue companion (don’t call him a pet) into Anduruna’s lower-class throngs. There he meets Lilith Calah, a female counterpart from the aristocracy’s elite Sabbaton Towers who has just escaped a murder attempt (with the help of her half-sister, Namah) that apparently is connected to a black magic plot (and believe me; Dave & Liz can draw really gory and frightening black magic!) by the Dark DreamKeepers to overthrow the DreamKeepers and bring the nightmare hordes into the ascendency.”

The first three volumes, especially volume 3, Intentions Entwined, establish the original quartet of Mace, Whip, Lilith, and Namah; Bast, who seems to be Mace’s violent enemy but helps them because he has romantic feelings for Lilith; and the trio of Woods, a deer, Bill, a cat, and Damon, a dog. All four albums are “wall-to-wall full-color gorgeous art (no margins) on glossy paper”, printed in China.

This poster shows (front row, left to right) Mace, Paige (Mace’s best friend – she’s murdered in vol. 1), Whip, (second row) Bast, Randy (a bad guy), Lilith, (third & fourth rows) Grunn, Tinsel, Wisp, Namah, (background) Scuttles.

Chapter 10, “Throat of Stone”, begins with Woods, Bill, and Damon having escaped underground, where they are drafted into the Underground to fight the Nightmares (which they don’t believe in). Viriathus (Vi, shown on the cover) teaches them against their will how to fight guerilla-style. But she tries unsuccessfully to get them excused from any action, feeling that they would only be cannon-fodder. Lilith’s group of herself, Namah, Mace, and Whip, with the tagalong Bast, tries to sneak away from the Underground to go even deeper underground, into the caverns beneath Anduruna to find the lost Archives and its books. Meanwhile the Nightmare Lord Nabonidus orders the turncoat DreamKeeper Tinsel Nanaja to go into the caverns (despite her extreme reluctance) to find and get captured by Lilith’s group and get taken by them to the Archives, as a spy to get whatever they learn.

This synopsis omits several other things that are going on. (What is Operation Guillotine?)

Oh, I didn’t mention that each character in the DreamWorld has a superhero psionic talent (Whip = telekinesis, Lilith = healing, Namah = ‘ether tendrils’, Tinsel = ‘burning hair tendrils’, etc). It is illegal in Anduruna to use these, so they are usually undeveloped. In Chapter 11, “Echoes”, Nabonidus wants his agents to start using their powers. He sends the childlike but evil Wisp to train them. Lilith’s group go down and down into the caverns and eventually reach the Archives, but Bast’s legs are broken. After Lilith finds what she needs to fight the Nightmares, they are ready to return except for Bast’s broken legs. While they argue over abandoning Bast or not – he orders them to; they refuse – Lilith suddenly discovers that there is a level lower than the Archives.

In Chapter 12, “Tomb of the Forsaken God”, everybody fights. The Good Guys seem to win, but is it a real victory or just a breathing spell?

“It appears there’s a distinct probability of life as we know it horribly ending.”

“Well … at least we won’t have to file taxes anymore.”

To be continued.

It’s all terribly confusing, but so beautiful that you won’t care. The colors are so vivid (the publisher’s name has been chosen carefully) that they practically glow. The cavern sequences abound in deep purples and fiery reds. There’s a lot of commando action with plenty of bloodshed among cute funny animals, some of whom are so fluffy with such long, flowing tails that it’s impossible that they could keep from tripping over them or keep them from getting slammed in doors.

– Fred Patten

• Buy on Amazon
• Learn more about Dreamkeepers
• Dreamkeepers Kickstarter
• Fred’s Review of Volume 3 on Flayrah
• Fred’s Review of Volume 2 on Anthrozine
• Fred’s Review of Volume 1 on Anthrozine