D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
February
2009
Furry Friends
Page: 2As Kenny bites into the hearty sandwich he's ordered for dinner, he mumbles something about animals having sharper teeth.
"Anyway, my interest never went away," Kenny continues. "I kept picking up on animals that had human characteristics — foxes, wolves, hippos, even Sphinx."
Brae and Kenny add more things they like about the furry world — romance and action/adventure, such as that created in anthropomorphic cartoons. The conversation continues on about movies that inspire furries to be furries, such as The Lion King and Balto and, most recently, The Tale of Despereaux and Bolt, a new animated talking dog movie. Kenny has brought some DVDs from his collection.
"There are three levels of anthropomorphic animals," Kenny explains. "The first are those who talk and interact like people (Balto, Lion King, perhaps Bolt). The intermediate level is that of funny animals, that walk and talk but who are not dressed like people (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck), and the third is full level, where the animals walk, talk and wear clothes as necessary." Kenny notes that the Disney character of Goofy is one of these.
But Brae's furry life always swings back to feeling that a world populated with people who had more animal traits would be a much better place. He suggests, "It could be a more utopian culture- one that is better than this, more idealistic, since animals are better than people."
Brae is still struggling with the idea that, at least in these parts, a furry lifestyle is often a taboo subject. He says, "People that don't have similar likes can be very hurtful."
Kenny has been part of furriedom longer than the younger Brae, so he is the one to ask about furries who go one step further and dress up in actual fur suits, like the one the mascot for your favorite sport team might use. These were the sort of furries featured on "CSI:," of course.
"Less than 10 percent of furries do 'furry,'" Kenny replies. But, yes, he is one of that minority.
"Most people just use a set of ears and a tail, but I bought the material and had someone else make it for me. It cost $1,400, and 'fur' years before that, I just wore a tail that hooked onto a belt loop. It's been 10 to 12 years since I truly recognized that I was a furry and wanted to associate with other furries."
That's when Kenny started seeking out and attending furry conventions. "Mostly they are in large cities that have bigger groups of furries, and they are worldwide. There is a big one called 'Further Confusion' in San Jose at the end of January."
Kenny wears his suit only at such gatherings, and he might be at the Furry Fiesta in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as you read this article.
"It is someplace north of Dallas, and this gathering is a really big one," Kenny enthuses. "The annual Anthro Con (a different event) can draw 2,500 to 3,000 people, and attendance at Further Confusion was probably 3,000 to 3,500 people. We just go to meet people like ourselves."
According to the WikiFur website, more than 50 furry gatherings are already planned to take place around the world in 2009.
Kenny estimates that the gender breakdown in furriedom is 70 percent male, and only 30 percent female. "Girls play guys and vice versa. It's a chance to explore every side of your character."
I neglect to ask if he means a furry "character" or one's inner character, but it is certainly a combo of both.
We continue on to why it seems so many people give furries a bad rap — viewing them as losers or nutcases rather than just allowing these good folks to do what pleases them. Then there's the sex thing.
Both Brae and Kenny make very clear that they are not into the alleged sexual aspect of the furry lifestyle, wherein furries are seen as a bunch of sexual fetishists in, well, fur suits.
"Not true," the two men echo.
An article in Vanity Fair in 2001 was one of the first to cast a disparaging light upon furries. The author quickly dispensed with the opening of the article, which was his coverage of a furry convention. Instead, for almost half of the piece, he latched onto one man whose lifestyle does indeed have an unusual sexual aspect to it. But this man is actually much more into "plushies" — stuffed animals, as opposed to furries. (Fodder for still another subculture story. . .)
Frowning, Kenny says, "That Vanity Fair article is full of stereotypes and has no critical viewpoint. It is a generalization and sees us as a bunch of homosexual deviants who are under-bathed and overweight — all a bunch of perverts. It was all negative."
Indeed, like almost everything else in life, there is sex involved for some furry lifestylers, and there probably isn't an object on the planet that doesn't have some human using it as a sexual fetish.
But that's not of interest to these two gentle men.
"We hope to get rid of the stereotypes and have these get-togethers offer an accepting atmosphere," says Kenny.
"Fellowship," says Brae.
I like exploring the unusual aspects of our culture and talking with people whose lives are much different than mine. After visiting with Brae and Kenny, I have a much better understanding of what being a "furry" means to them and to others, and can appreciate what they do and why they do it.
While I was preparing for this article, several people asked me what I was working on. When I told them about this piece and offered a brief description to the puzzled, I was often met with gentle snickering from those who know only what they want to know.
After correcting, them I concluded I would much rather sit at the Village Inn in El Paso with Kenny and Brae than next to a 300-pound shirtless man with "GO STEELERS" painted across his man boobs at a football game in Pittsburgh in the middle of January.
But who am I to judge?
To be invited to the El Paso Furries group, which is interested in expanding into southwest New Mexico, you can contact Kenny through www.meetup.com/elpfurry
Senior writer Jeff Berg lives in Las Cruces,
where he wishes
he had more hair on his head.