Furries in Freak Nation
Just dropped by the local Borders and found this little gem on the shelves: Freak Nation: Outrageous American Subcultures.
So of course, I had take a look and see what they said about furry-dom.
First bad sign: Furries are listed as number #1 in the "Freaky Sexual Subcultures", followed by folks like swingers (didn't AIDs kill that?), Sadomasochists, and polyamorists.
I go and look, and at first everything looks fine. We are told that furries are shy of the media and 'sociologists' because of previous mistreatment, that they are people like everyone else, that deliberate misperceptions are so wrong...
And then they describe Furry as, "people who put on animal costumes and have indiscriminate sex in them at 'Fur Fests'." Oh yes, did you know that our king and god was Bugs Bunny? Because I sure didn't. The words 'weirdoes' and 'creepy' get freely bandied about. I wonder if the author did any research beyond looking at CSI or the like.
Then again, this book lists Historical Re-enactors, Disney fans and workers, Libertarians, the Tea Party, several major religions (save for one or two to-be-expected exceptions), D&Ders (as "Dungeon Masters"?) and basically anything other than "work, go home, plunk down and watch TV all night long" as being "freaky" so I probably shouldn't be surprised.
I'm not steamed, more eye-rolling here, but I do feel sorry for some furs who will not be confronted by employers or relatives or church members with a "Do you go to those fur fests to have kinky sex in your fursuit?" That has happened to some folks on my friend list, sad to say.
Ah, modern popular 'edutainment' strikes again.
So of course, I had take a look and see what they said about furry-dom.
First bad sign: Furries are listed as number #1 in the "Freaky Sexual Subcultures", followed by folks like swingers (didn't AIDs kill that?), Sadomasochists, and polyamorists.
I go and look, and at first everything looks fine. We are told that furries are shy of the media and 'sociologists' because of previous mistreatment, that they are people like everyone else, that deliberate misperceptions are so wrong...
And then they describe Furry as, "people who put on animal costumes and have indiscriminate sex in them at 'Fur Fests'." Oh yes, did you know that our king and god was Bugs Bunny? Because I sure didn't. The words 'weirdoes' and 'creepy' get freely bandied about. I wonder if the author did any research beyond looking at CSI or the like.
Then again, this book lists Historical Re-enactors, Disney fans and workers, Libertarians, the Tea Party, several major religions (save for one or two to-be-expected exceptions), D&Ders (as "Dungeon Masters"?) and basically anything other than "work, go home, plunk down and watch TV all night long" as being "freaky" so I probably shouldn't be surprised.
I'm not steamed, more eye-rolling here, but I do feel sorry for some furs who will not be confronted by employers or relatives or church members with a "Do you go to those fur fests to have kinky sex in your fursuit?" That has happened to some folks on my friend list, sad to say.
Ah, modern popular 'edutainment' strikes again.