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Fur Balls - some ‘professional’ bollocks about the Furry Fandom that really got my goat…

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Posted in Challenge Alix, Furry Fandom, Furries on June 1, 2008 at 11:03 pm

…and you all know it’s never good when someone gets Foxy’s goat. My goat is my sole mode of transport. How the hell am I supposed to get around without my trusty steed? Guess I’ll have to stay put and grumble about this article by The Times Online’s Doctor Thomas Stuttaford which suggests that folk who like to dress up in costumes or indulge in other fetishes have a ‘problem’ which should be ‘treated’ with therapy and drugs. Jeez, I’m glad this guy isn’t my local practicioner, or I’d have had my personality pulled out with pincers and every last drop of difference doped away by now…

As you’ll be aware if you’ve got your mitts on the latest issue of Bizarre (number 137, with Viktoria on the front - she may only have one leg, but she makes most men instantaneously look as though they have three), I investigated the Furry Fandom in this month’s Challenge Alix. I stumbled across this grim column during my research, and was astounded at Dr Stuttaford’s closed-minded attitude and dismissiveness when asked for advice by a gent who likes to dress as Yogi Bear. Although not the case for all furries, this chap’s enthusiasm for the fluffy stuff also applied to his sex life, and he wanted tips on how to tell his new partner that wearing a fur suit in the bedroom was what made his John Thomas harder than Chuck Norris. Sadly, the Doc gave him about as much support as a blancmange brassiere.* Instead of reassuring him that, whilst his girlfriend might not initially find his fetish to be her cup of char, talking honestly about what turned them on could only be a step forward and that they could surely have fun discovering ways to play that pleased them both, Doctor Dictator tells unrelated sensationalist tales of mental patients and suggests Yogi should get his poor paws on some medication which will kill his non-standard urges and drag him back into homogenous ‘normality’.

I find this such a dangerous opinion for a trusted professional to express in a widely-read, respected publication. Considering the heartache, depression and even suicidal thoughts which can occur when a person believes that they are alone in the way they feel and will never find their place in society, that there is something wrong with the way they think or the unusual-but-harmless things they desire, this complete failure to sympathise with Yogi’s situation and suggestion that people should stamp out their kinks with chemicals and conditioning strikes me as highly irresponsible. When people we feel we should respect make ignorant comments like this, it can exacerbate insecurities, fuel misunderstanding and encourage discrimination…everything Bizarre and our ‘Proud To Be Different’ Campaign stand against.

 Yogi might be dressed as a bear, but Dr Stuttaford is pigheaded.

*Calm down, Sploshers.