More FurCon Press!
Wanderer
Furry friends flock together
By Dan Reed and Truong Phuoc Khánh
Mercury News
Ever want to get in touch with your inner goat? Or tiger? Or raccoon?
Then San Jose is the place for you -- at least through Monday.
Further Confusion is holding its largest ever convention of ``furries'' --
otherwise normal people who identify with animals and sometimes dress up as
them.
And this is serious stuff. You don't just put on a wool sweater and call
yourself a sheep here.
Howard Whitcomb can tell you that. He was prowling the lobby at the
Doubletree Hotel as a blue coastal fox -- outfitted head to toe, blue fur,
big fox head, tail, the works.
He wasn't alone, either. Walking through the hotel lobby was a menagerie of
uncaged animals -- grown-up humans with hairy tails, ears and whatnot.
And it brings to mind a question. Are they nuts?
``I'll answer you bluntly,'' said Lee Strom, one of the founders of Further
Confusion, better known as FurCon. ``Yes, it's weird. It's strange to a lot
of people. We're definitely not of the mainstream, everyday-type people. But
just because it's weird, it's still perfectly normal to the people involved
in it.''
It is, and there are 1,700 of them right now in San Jose.
The phenomenon has been booming over the past few years, spurred by the
Internet, where the furries, often using their animal nicknames, chat. Other
furry communities that hold annual conventions include Conifur and
Anthrocon.
``A lot of people enjoy relating themselves to an animal persona, so they
develop an animal character for themselves, '' explained Strom, 36, of San
Leandro. The convention offers furries workshops on such things as puppetry,
costume making, writing about mythical creatures and ``furry anatomy.''
Speaking of which, there's the whole furry mating thing. There are rules
about it -- not in the privacy of one's own wild kingdom, but in public
areas. ``Kissing and holding hands, regardless of sexual orientation, is
fine,'' the convention's Web site reads. ``Groping, tongue battles and
nudity, regardless of sexual orientation, is not. While collars and leashes
may be worn discreetly, blatant displays of bondage'' or sadomasochism in
public can get you booted.
Some furries are a little sensitive about the mating thing, because a couple
of television shows, including ``CSI,'' have focused on furries in heat,
without explaining their more nuanced, less carnal interests.
But, yes San Jose, some furries are into cross-species dating.
``It's about 5 percent'' of us, said conventioneer Dhugal McCardy, in from
Pahrump, Nev.
Again Strom, who, by the way, dresses as a raccoon: ``There is a small group
of fans who are a little more outspoken and enjoy adult activities related
to anthropomorphics.''
The fox prancing through the lobby had a thought on this. She's Katie
Matthew, 20, of Santa Cruz. ``I've heard of stuff like that,'' she said,
smiling through her whiskers. ``There are pocket groups that do anything in
any community. It's not a pocket I intend to pursue.''
She just likes the fun of dressing up and escaping into her made-up animal
character, which she calls Shadow and has written about in stories.
``It allows me to be someone I'm not,' she explained. ``It allows me to step
out of everything.''
Not all the furries wear full costumes, maybe 20 percent one estimated, but
almost all at least paste on a tail or some fuzzy ears.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the lobby, a raccoon was biting the leg of a
leopard.
``I guess someone didn't feed him,'' cracked another furry.
BR
> The convention offers furries workshops on such things as puppetry,
> costume making, writing about mythical creatures and ``furry anatomy.''
Furry anatomy? :)
BTW Wander. Did you get those links I sent you?
Dan Skunk
"Dennis Lee Bieber" <wulf...@dm.net> wrote in message
news:sjd2v0tgcffo5frf2...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:01:36 -0500, BR <brodr...@comcast.net> (BR) left
> the following spoor in alt.fan.furry:
>
> >
> > Furry anatomy? :)
> >
> As in "Anatomy for the Artist"; joints, muscle masses, fur
> direction...
That's what I thought.
Wanderer
news:E9oId.218$E45...@fe51.usenetserver.com...
<naive look> Well, of course. It couldn't be anything else, could it?
<grin>
Yours wolfishly,
The humorous,
Wanderer
wand...@ticnet.com
"Where am I going? I don't quite know.
What does it matter *where* people go?
Down to the woods where the bluebells grow!
Anywhere! Anywhere! *I* don't know!"
-- a. a. milne
Wanderer
news:pan.2005.01.21....@comcast.net...
Apparently not. Please try again...
Yours wolfishly,
The message-missing,
joestr...@hotmail.com
years...) A fairly balanced article overall. I don't think there'll
ever be a mainstream article that doesn't touch on the s-e-x-ual
aspects of the scene, but this writer took pains to put it in context.
I liked the 'someone didn't feed him' joke at the end - shows we can
make fun of ourselves. My only quibble: I'd disagree that 'almost all
at least paste on a tail or some fuzzy ears;' I'd say about half,
myself.
I keep wondering - and I wonder if there's any fur out there who can
say this happened to them - if someone out in the mundane world with a
furry mindset but didn't know the scene existed, found out about us via
mainstream coverage (articles like this or CSI.) Not everyone has the
internet, you know.
Kory Anders
wrote:
>"Dan Skunk" <dans...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:E9oId.218$E45...@fe51.usenetserver.com...
>>
>> "Dennis Lee Bieber" <wulf...@dm.net> wrote in message
>> news:sjd2v0tgcffo5frf2...@4ax.com...
>>> On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 11:01:36 -0500, BR <brodr...@comcast.net> (BR) left
>>> the following spoor in alt.fan.furry:
>>>
>>> >
>>> > Furry anatomy? :)
>>> >
>>> As in "Anatomy for the Artist"; joints, muscle masses, fur
>>> direction...
>>
>> That's what I thought.
>>
>
><naive look> Well, of course. It couldn't be anything else, could it?
Considering some of the guys I've known who draw, it could be Anatomy
of the Artist, focusing on the back, the arms, the legs, but all too
often not the top of the head. ;)
Timmy Ramone
Yep--even made the front page of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS (the
same paper that broke the story of CIA drug-dealing in Central
America during the Reagan Administration). Along with a very
cute picture of Shadow the Fox.
--
Visit the "Usual Suspects" weblog:
http://www.browncross.com/usualsuspects/
"Bowl a strike, not a spare -- revolution everywhere!" -RABL motto
Snow Leopard
>
> >
> > <naive look> Well, of course. It couldn't be anything else, could it?
> >
> Reproductive Anatomy" course would be a source of improvement...
>
I think a crash course in evolution might be handy too. I'd like to know why
intelligence evolved in so many different bipedal species. (There is an
assumption in this statement that intelligence DID evolve in said bipedal
species.)
*mrow*
L. Parker
> I think a crash course in evolution might be handy too. I'd like to know why
> intelligence evolved in so many different bipedal species. (There is an
> assumption in this statement that intelligence DID evolve in said bipedal
> species.)
>
> *mrow*
>
>
Furries didn't evolve; they were created (by us! ;).
- LP
Snow Leopard
"L. Parker" <anon...@example.net> wrote in message
news:ct04tf$12d3$1...@velox.critter.net...
That assumes that the "defective creator" theory applies then.
*mrowls*
L. Parker
> That assumes that the "defective creator" theory applies then.
>
> *mrowls*
So, you're saying that humans are defective? You don't expect me to
disagree, do you? ;)
- LP
Snow Leopard
> Snow Leopard wrote:
>
> > That assumes that the "defective creator" theory applies then.
> >
> > *mrowls*
>
> So, you're saying that humans are defective?
Apparently I am.
>You don't expect me to
> disagree, do you? ;)
It hadn't crossed my mind.
*murr!*
Wanderer
> Furries didn't evolve; they were created (by us! ;).
>
It depends on the continuity. In most science-fiction settings, what you
say is true. In others, certain species just happen to resemble species
with which we're familiar... the "parallel evolution" argument. In fantasy,
of course, not knowing how it happens is quite all right... just look at the
"Spellsinger" books.
Yours completely,
The ever-reading,