There was a big furries convention last week in Pittsburgh. What is a “furry” you might ask? Well, a furry is someone who dresses up as an animal. These people are obsessed with cartoon characters that have human characteristics, what they call anthropomorphic animals. Most cartoon characters are anthropomorphic. They walk on two legs instead of four, they talk like human, and they display human emotions.
Most of the furries adopt one animal and stick with it. You wouldn’t dress up as a tiger one time and an elephant the next. Some of them are actually professionals. They star in movies, Chewbacca from Star Wars for example. Some of them are even sports mascots. I guess that’s where you really take your job home with you.
The fascination extends beyond dressing up as an animal for most of the furries. Most of them have collections of stuffed animals, collect cartoons, art, posters, etc. It all sounds like weird but harmless fun, right?
But there is a darker side for some to being a furry. Sometimes the obsession can extend into a sexual fetish. Some psychiatrists say that it even borders on bestiality, but most furries rarely have sex with real animals. I’m not sure how they accomplish it with all that fur on, I guess there’s an opening somewhere in the costume, but they rub up against each other until they are satisfied.
And most of the time it’s not just two furries going at it. I guess that’s why they have so many conventions so they can get together in groups. Some former furries say that the conventions are just an excuse to have an orgy. I guess this is really a bad thing if you are against orgies, but I think that as sexual fetishes go, it’s pretty mild compared to some. I’d rather dress up in an animal costume and have sex than be hung from the ceiling and whipped like in some forms of extreme bondage.
I think part of the appeal of “furyism” is the anonymity. Rarely do the furries reveal themselves to each other and that mystery is part of the appeal.
So is it normal to dress up like a 300-pound Yogi Bear and have sex? Again, I think it depends on your perspective. I personally don’t care what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms at home, but when it comes out into the public arena, then that’s a different story. I don’t want to be bumping into a couple of horny furries at some hotel. But then maybe I’m overreacting out of ignorance and fear. Maybe a furry is just interested in another furry.
Regardless of what you think of the practice, you have to admit that the costumes are pretty cute, it’s what’s inside that may give you a shock.
Source: www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/07/03/furries.convention.wpxi
