With conventions closed for COVID-19, how will furries get their kink on?

by Patch O'Furr

Yesterday’s story: With conventions closed for COVID-19, what happens to furries as a community?

Ow My Balls!

The COVID-19 pandemic has postponed Sin City Murr Con. It’s planned to be the furry fandom’s first explicitly adult kink-themed convention.

SCMC also stands out as a con from Corgi Events, who organize GSFC, Aquatifur, DenFur, and PDFC. It’s furry fandom’s first multi-event managing company, with the idea of a paycheck letting the CEO do this full-time. Despite fear that paying someone is the tip of a Bad Dragon-sized capitalist intrusion, advancing a grab-bag of cons could be the foot in the door for the kink one.

This is a hit to fandom expression AND business. Several furries had a group chat about the postponing.

Lux, a furry artist in California, didn’t see such a big issue. She felt like SCMC might not have gone over well due to being “neither part of the kink scene or the local Las Vegas scene. Las Vegas seems like an all right place for a furry convention without the gimmick you know? And a furry track could be slotted into another kink event that happens in Las Vegas, rather than the other way around. Las Vegas hosts adult films expo and sex toy conventions if I’m not mistaken.”

I felt like explicit kink friendliness is a big deal, many furry people ARE kink scene people, and Las Vegas local furries haven’t made the effort for their own con. (They had Elliott’s Live Events, but that was more of a private party.) I saw a bigger issue.

Disneyfication

Hugo The Pink Cat, a Quebec furry artist, agreed. “I’ve made my thoughts clear on the Disneyfication of the fandom in the last decade, and how it feels like there aren’t a lot of places for the kinky side of the fandom to express themselves openly. I’m worried about the increasing pressure to make every furry event family friendly. Cancelation of events that could have catered to the adult side is unfortunate.”

I’d say there are places, but they aren’t all accessible. That can lead to bad exclusion or abusive tendencies. Boundaries are good for safety though. (That’s why there should be more like San Francisco’s Animal Farm party, one of the world’s only openly advertised furry sex parties at a formally licensed club.)

Lux felt that “a lot of backlash about the sexualization of the fandom is either heralded by old school furs who are openly homophobic, or minors who feel left out.”

Hugo replied: “A lot of NEW cons and younger furries are so desperate for approval from outside that they will pretend that their attendees aren’t grown ass adults and will insist on making everything child friendly.” — (And why is our space important?) — “A lot of early event organisers were LGBTQ… A LOT of the “let’s desexify the fandom” is based in LGBTQ phobia. Every single time a finger is pointed at “unacceptable” things, it’s inevitably LGBTQ related in some way.”

Summercat agreed: “It’s just pure ‘coincidence’ that the rise of more LGBT stuff happened with the start of those crusades, yes yes don’t look behind the curtain.” — (But it’s about identity:) — “Furries are no more sexual than any other group, we’re just more open and honest about it. Put a lot of people in one place and sexy times will happen.”

Lux raised more issues: “The knee-jerk response that a lot of normies express is how the furry fandom is some kind of 100% crazy sex thing. Every single convention I’ve ever been to, there’s swinger couples that float around the hotel bars, trying to pick up fursuiters.” — (Furries can be their own worst enemies:) — “There’s also a dedicated hit squad on both Twitter and Tumblr who are dedicated to hunting down murrsuiters like it’s some kind of insane witch hunt.”

Freedom at stake.

Lux: “What I really love about the fandom is that it is about testing your inhibitions. Depending on how deep you go into the furry forest, you’ll find yourself into inflatable pool toys, being engulfed in sentient slime, or walking around a hotel lobby wearing onesie pajamas and holding on to a stuffed animal that you paid $800 for.

It seems like every culture on the planet has major hangups about sex in general. We neglect to educate kids, shame women, deny the existence of LGBTQ folks, etc. I think when the public looks on the furry fandom and sees a group of people dressed as animals, openly embracing each other, and just letting loose, they reflexively think it’s a sex thing because… repressed sexuality is a cork on a champagne bottle filled with all kinds of baggage. Once you come to terms with your own and the fact that a LOT of people in your life won’t get it, then the urge to suppress your own community evaporates.”

Shifting things online empowers corporations to suppress adult content. It was a warning when they purged Tumblr. Now the stakes are rising.

Time out

The pandemic postpones this fight at cons, but the pressure isn’t off.

Personally I like Mr. Rogers style wholesome cartoon fandom as much as the weirder side. There’s room for different events — it’s not a competition. The freedom to have different events comes from organizing them independently.

As explained in yesterday’s story, this isn’t just about a brief postponement, but a long term rollback and loss of freedom. How easy would it be to recapture?

The kink side is more than just some people’s preference. It might where you find the fandom’s vital signs. Let’s see how it keeps itself alive. Not just online, because communication is supposed to lead to more.

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