"Furry" A blogger tries to understand
I happened to catch this article from The Sun. The Sun is a tabloid paper from the UK, so I was prepared to take what I saw with a grain of salt. The gist of the article is that the furry subculture is getting traction in Britten. The pictures in the article were supposed to be proof, but I tend to have my doubts that these are the costumes that are lighting up the bedrooms of British households.
Furry, is just one more of those subcultures I don't understand like Scientology, Filipinos, Evangelical Christian Republicans, or The JCs. I figure I can't be alone here so I went out and educated myself and I'm willing to share my new found knowledge with you.
Wikipedia to the rescue! So what I learned was that these people enjoy dressing up in plush animal costumes looking for all the world like cartoon characters. That doesn't seem so bad. I have been looking at the pictures from the conventions and it is clear that the costumes are elaborate, expensive, time consuming to make and possible uncomfortable to wear. But they are plush, and they come in many colors. They are also organized enough to have their own Wiki, which they call WikiFur. These costumes are inspired by cartoons, comics, and the fertile imaginations of people who have looked at an animal and seen a piece of themselves. It boils down to having an animal themed costume party.
But there is something weird going on. I have to admit, I was really intrigued by all the pictures of the costumes that I have seen. That takes talent folks. These are not costumes picked up from the costume shop. These are cool. So being a follower of the interwebs, I did what anyone else would do if I wanted to see more pictures of people in their furry costumes. I did a Google image search for furry. DO NOT DO THIS.
DO NOT EVER DO THIS.
Apparently, there are two sides to everything. There are the really cool costumes and the conventions on one side and on the other is an infinite amount of cartoon animal human hybrids having sex. Its weird... The costumes in the photo's are all plush and kid friendly and stuff. The art is all tight fitting and... anatomically correct...it is like there are two different sides of the Furry Force out there, one side sews and the other side draws, the only thing they have in common is a love of animals and a talent with their hands.
Based on what I have learned today I have no desire to go find stuff out for a while. Who knows what horribly scaring thing I might learn about evangelical Christian republicans. I don't think I can go there right now. Curiosity has made this cat crawl under a table and rock.
