Press:

Johnny Manhatten Meets the Furry Muckers Wired, March 1994

Infamous in its time, this was the first ever reported bad press Furry(MUCK) got, but it was not the worst. 98% of the article concerns itself with LambdaMOO, but FurryMUCK gets its first initial 'mainstream' lambasting here -- you'll have to read ahead to about page 6 before you start to get the impression that the reporter didn't quite like the place. It's repeated here for convenience:

"FurryMuckers like to jump into the Truth-or-Dare Hot Tub, where they feel each other's tails and stuff. When I first stumbled into FurryMuck (I was a fish named BigTuna; Wolfoids tried to eat me), I figured it was a very wry college-kid joke thing. It's not. It's quite serious.

The place is at least as big and well-defined as LambdaMOO, with an apartment complex where 190 people live (if you want housing here, there's a waiting list,) many bucolic parks and lakes, a taxi system, and underground caverns. Lots of squirreloids.

It has a huge following, with hundreds of players who occasionally meet in real life for conferences in places like Philadelphia.... It also goes a long way towards explaining the Usenet group, alt.sex.bestiality."

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Furry-Muckity Muck TIME Digital, March 29, 1996

This is a reasonably good overview of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) flap involving FurryMUCK, Furtoonia (another furry MUCK), and Vulpine. It appears to have been written by a furry; note the tagline at the bottom. The story is pretty accurate, and as it indicates, Vulpine was removed for lying about his age after the CDA made it necessary for MUCKs to attempt to keep minors out of adult areas. What it doesn't note is that he not only frequented adult areas, he also ran one or two of his own, which compounded the problem.

The fact that he later filed a public affidavit in the ACLU's case to overturn the law only made things worse; from the MUCK administrators' point of view, they had little choice but to ban him from their systems. With his activities now public knowledge, failing to do so would have left them open to prosecution under the CDA, had it been upheld. Both FurryMUCK and Furtoonia were shoestring operations that ran on donated time and server space, and had no legal budget. Being prosecuted under the CDA would have shut them down, and there was an outside chance someone could have gone to jail. Vulpine's error was in expecting other people to take these risks for a cause he wanted to fight for.

Vulpine has since soured on the fandom and often posts to furry items on Something Awful, billing himself as a "reformed furry."

Creature Comforts Marie Claire, October 1997

Whereas the later Loaded article, "Heavy Petting," fills you with disgust and loathing, "Creature Comforts" seems more filled with a sense of wonder and pity about Furries. It's a lot more fair and balanced, though the image painted still brings some unease. What is interesting to note is this article might have tipped off Loaded to do their expose, as it came from the same magazine publishing house. Both articles have a typically British "look at the weird Americans" undertone.

Animal Instincts WSVN-TV News, October 1997

RealVideo file (4 minutes, approx. 6 megabytes, linked from Yerf.com)
Vivo file (approx. 6.4 megabytes, linked from Yerf.com)

"Tonight, you're going to meet people that really believe in their heart of hearts that they are animals, so they dress like animals. This is no joke."

A long (by TV news standards) segment by WSVN-TV (Channel 7 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.) It includes interviews with several Florida furries, both in and out of costume, and a brief comment by someone from the Dade County American Psychiatric Association.

Heavy Petting Loaded, March 1998

This is perhaps the most infamous and brutal deconstruction of Furry to date. It is cruel, scandalous, and very one-sided, but worst of all there's probably not a single actual lie in it.

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Animal Magnetism San Francisco Bay Guardian, August 26, 1998

This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian on August 26, 1998. It mainly speaks to the online aspect of the fandom, specifically FurryMUCK, but also touches on fursuiting and other parts of the furry lifestyle. More balanced than most articles you'll find here, it's a reasonably good introduction to the furry mind.

It spawned two other pieces that we're aware of. Eric Blumrich wrote an open letter to the SFBG criticizing this article. Additionally, SFBG.com's alt.sex.column contained a brief answer to a reader's question about it.

Science Fiction Beyond Computers (Public Radio International), January 22, 1999

Entire show [no longer available]
Furry-related segment only (16 kbps MP3, 6 minutes, 716K)

An interview of some furries at Further Confusion 1999 that says absolutely nothing negative, because it says almost nothing at all. It offers remarkably little information other than the existence of furries as almost all-male (with occasional gender-bending) costume and fursuit wearers who happen to congregate online at places like FurryMUCK. Brent "Chip Unicorn" Edwards and Adam "Widge the rat" Riggs are interviewed.

Furry Friends Stay Free!, Summer 1999

A brief and somewhat discontinuous interview with furry fan Jan "Porsupah" Paxton, described in the article as "something of an elder statesman within the furry community." Several topics are lightly touched upon, including the fursuit mystique, plush toys, and the interface between furry fandom and anthropomorphics as a whole (with the usual non-committal vagaries). "Skunk", a comic book that portrayed furry fandom in a negative light, is briefly mentioned.

A Hare Piece The Daily Show, September 21, 1999

Quicktime video file (linked from furnation.com; approx. 10.1 megabytes)
audio only, 16 kbps MP3 file (380 kilobytes)

Rapid T. Rabbit might be the first ever Furry (though only a few people would know this was so, since the word was never once mentioned) to make it on a national news program. Unfortunately for him, it was the Daily Show. Known for its "freak-of-the-week" segments, Mr. Rabbit managed to score one for Furrydom's reputation by taking the rope the Daily Show gave him and hanging himself with it.

This segment is priceless for three reasons: His "no-friends" laugh, his strangely disturbing room of wall to wall plushies, and his accident on the "Willard Scott Morning Show," which, interestingly enough, was repeated for the Daily Show's "Moment of Zen" ending.

Eurotrash ConFurence 10 segment Eurotrash, October 1, 1999

Eurotrash, a British TV show, aired a segment that follows a German fursuiter to ConFurence 10. The general tone is a somewhat Daily Show-esque one of moderate ridicule, but with less restraint and much less dignity. There's some explicit artwork displayed (hence the Infohazard; European TV standards are somewhat looser than those in the U.S.) An interview with Mark Merlino is featured.

The segment is, frankly, wince-inducing, though the fursuiter featured in it is apparently proud enough of it to put it on his web page. His 15 minutes of fame, we suppose.

Furries of the Valley Metro, December 9, 1999

A unique article for the fact that it's a very "primer-book" rose-colored glasses view of furry. After the numerous independant assaults on furry by the press previously, one suspects this was somewhat "engineered" as a counterpoint. The fact that the reporter's tagline says "sometimes behaves like a bear" does not lend the impression this article was written by an unbiased outsider.

Venus in Furs New LA Times Online, April 27, 2000

An article about ConFurence 11 that is amazingly astute about the history and meaning of furry. It spans the whole spectrum, from bestiality to squeaky-clean "Christian Furries." Witness the power of dichotomy. Definately a must-read.

Cuddle Time Salon.com, June 19, 2000

"'So, um, how do you have sex with a stuffed animal?' I ask, as my last shred of innocence crawls from my body and storms out of the room."

A sardonically humorous article about plushophiles that is half interview and half interviewer's uneasy reflections. Any furries who are quick to say, "But they don't point out he's a furry in the article!" should notice the link to "FoxWolfie Galen's Webpage," which blends plushophilia and the Yerf Archive together into one big happy furry family.

Ladder Trick Greenwich Village Gazette, August 18, 2000

(Article no longer available.)

"Three Feet High And Falling: Reform Party Self-Destructs, Saves Universe From Stupidity"

Infohazard note: This article is relatively harmless, as long as you don't click on the picture link. You have been warned.

This article is specifically unique because this might be the first time a Burned Fur has ever gotten the (mostly negative) public spotlight. It may also be the first time a Furry has ever run for public office.

Excerpt:

"Then there is Scott Malcomson, who certainly isn't in it for the money. Malcomson was the Arizona candidate for governor in 1998, thanks to there being fewer than 1000 registered Reform voters in that state. He got on the ballot with fewer than 10 signatures, and ran a campaign of sorts that netted him fewer than 8000 votes. Malcomson is more famous on the Internet though, as a member of furry fandom, a subset of people who enjoy playing anthropomorphic animals and drawing pictures of them. On FurryMUCK, an interactive computer environment, Malcomson is Roy, and Roy is a balloonicorn. A whaticorn? A balloonicorn. His player info on Furry reads, in part: "Roy is the last survivor of the Eridani Light Horse's 71st Light Horse Regiment.

Once human, he found himself transformed into a living version of his company's symbolic mascot, and was teleported away to the Past and Future Inn, a multidimensional meeting place near a center of great magical power. He found he had some magical abilities, but due to his upbringing he doesn't use it much. Otherwise, he's yer classic ex-tanker veteran with a taste for fun and alcohol." A ballonicorn is an inflatable unicorn, you see. Malcomson is also an artist, and has furry art up on various places on the Internet, including this piece: http://users.transfur.com/morphy/image/image9.htm, which portrays a bipedal unicorn with human breasts and a vagina inside a giant bubble gum bubble.

In spite of his aesthetic inclinations, Malcomson is also the member of a Furry hate group, the Burned Furs, which wishes to see the "perverts" who are members of fandom go back to the closet. .... Malcomson abandons the real world for a utopian fantasy where just thinking hard enough makes good things happen. [Hyperlink added - Ed.]

Scott Malcomson wrote us a letter in which he attempts to rebut much of what is said in this article, and details his experiences in dealing with its author. Nick Mamatas, the author of the piece, has written a detailed response to Malcomson's letter.

The author of this piece also wrote an essay about the furry fandom for an online column called "disinformation."

To Boldly Gay The Daily Show, October 19, 2000

"It's a guy having anal sex with a fox."

The Daily Show moves closer to Furry, possibly giving the first national exposure to the modern state of the fandom. And boy, is it a doozie. They went to Gaylaxicon 2000, an all gay/lesbian sci-fi convention. (Considering the general open-mindedness of most sci-fi conventions, you have to question why such a thing would even be necessary.) Only a small part of the segment actually deals with anything "furry" related, but that part is fairly disturbing. Interestingly, the word "furry" isn't used at all. Instead, we're treated to the loftier term "anthropomorphic erotica." Are the pornographers now starting to abandon the much-trashed term "furry" and moving on to ruin the other terms that describe the anthropomorphic animal genre? Ominous.

Update: Eric Blumrich has written a "Call to Arms" in response to this piece. He posted it both to alt.fan.furry and, oddly, to Portal of Evil, which is where we've linked it from. It's basically an "I told you so," as well as a list of people who he feels bear the blame for ruining the furry fandom. Written from the perspective of a frustrated idealist, this is an interesting read.

Human Furry Animals The Other Side, UK Channel 4, October 27, 2000

Note: See Slycat's video clips page for Windows Media copies. These are unfortunately the only existing copies we know of in digital form. They're in a highly proprietary format, and you'll need Windows Media Player 7 to play them. (Even then, it seems to only work about half the time.) If anyone knows of copies of these clips in a more common format, please let us know.

Possibly the most in-depth (22 minutes total in two parts) and objective report about the more dedicated elements of Furry fandom, the program consists of interviews with British "lifestylers" (who enjoy acting like a particular animal) and "weres" (who believe they actually are a particular animal in some way.)

The first part of the report suggests the core of Furry Fandom resides most strongly online, and that a dedicated furry fan usually "keys" to a specific species and tries to emulate it in some way or another -- via makeup, behavior, or even "spiritual" confirmation. There is a discussion of "furry openness and acceptance" and how it appeals to shy people.

The second half of the program talks about sensuality as it relates to furries, though the idea of the fandom being sexually based is more or less excused as a misinterprentation of its openness. The segment touches on the abuse of and prejudices against furry fans, possibly provoked by bad press or this misrepresentation. A large part of the second half deals with the trials and tribulations of "weres", who believe that they cycle between being a human and an animal mentally.

Pleasures of the Fur Vanity Fair, March 2001

Update (April 24, 2001): Vanity Fair published five letters in their May 2001 issue related to this story. These letters basically fall into three categories: furries who hated the article, furries who liked the article, and onlookers. The first letter, by Pleasant Gehman, is in the last category, and is pretty interesting -- here's a member of the general public who was amused, not repulsed, by Gurley's glimpse into furry fandom. We suspect this is probably how most people react to exposes of furry fans in the press. They're not against it, exactly, just titillated by it.

The next to last letter is a good example of the inadvertantly hypocritical attitude held by many furry fans. Note the two passages, '...fur fans like myself...', and 'We are just people, and should not be labelled by our hobbies or fetishes.' Who's doing the labelling, here?

- - -

Vanity Fair's George Gurley attends Chicago's "Midwest Furfest" in the hopes of digging up some interesting material. He hits quite the jackpot -- no surprise -- and the resulting article makes up for in near-humorless expose what its lacks in saliciousness. Despite the balanced tone, the nature of the people interviewed and the mainstream character of this magazine in the U.S. makes this probably the second-worst press ever for the furry fandom, trailing only the Loaded article -- which probably didn't get distributed as widely as this one will.

Kenneth "FoxWolfie" Galen returns on his second press foray with a prominant photo, and showing even less dignity than he did in his appearance in Cuddle Time. He treats us to nauseatingly intimate details about his interests, including pointing out the "modifications" to his plushies and fursuits. The list of other furry fans, each with psychological defects (from amusing to severe) that seem to have been rolled off a chart in the back of a mid 80's role-playing game system, is too numerous to recount here. George lets his interview subjects ramble quite a bit, so there are some rather deep -- and embarassing -- glimpses into the furry mind.

One might wonder why these people consent to be interviewed when past experience should tell them it will go badly. The fact is, people like FoxWolfie and Ostrich believe, deep down, that the general public will understand them if only they can explain themselves fully. For that reason they're more than happy to give interviews, and entirely pleased with the results as long as they aren't misquoted. They're happy to evangelize, and simply don't understand the disgust most people will react with.

There's also a brief but interesting discussion with Katherine Gates, a sex researcher who apparently interviewed FoxWolfie for her book on strange sexual fetishes. She talks fairly positively about furry fandom, then launches into a rather disturbing discussion about "crush fetishists" who are turned on by videos of women crushing bugs, worms, and small animals under their feet. This doesn't seem to have anything to do with furry fandom, so we're not sure why it was brought up in the article -- our only guess is that it's some kind of attempt to link this disgusting fetish with furries, most of whom despise it for obvious reasons.

The most unnerving person interviewed in the article, ironically, isn't a furry fan. It's the stereotypical midwesterner interviewed towards the end, with his proud homophobia and comfort in his human superiority through shooting animals and driving snowmobiles. When you take Marshall "Ostrich" Woods' life-affirming, if far-fetched, futurist fantasy of being able to choose a form of his own desire, and compare it to the "dreams" of this anonymous person who may well represent the population at large, one's feelings of disgust towards the furry fans are tempered a bit.

Nightlife ITV, March 30, 2001

Note: See Slycat's video clips page for Windows Media copies. These are unfortunately the only existing copies we know of in digital form. They're in a highly proprietary format, and you'll need Windows Media Player 7 to play them. (Even then, it seems to only work about half the time.) If anyone knows of copies of these clips in a more common format, please let us know.

A five minute segment starts off on the wrong foot by considering the term "furvert" a completely interchangable term with "furry fan" in a sloppy over-generalization. Aside from that, the majority of the segment focuses on the sensual elements of tails, though plushophilia is touched upon far too heavily for this to be balanced program.

Welcome to the Jungle The Montreal Mirror, April 12, 2001

"Montreal's furries and furverts defend their unusual lifestyle"

In the aftermath of the Vanity Fair article, a Canadian reporter interviews an assortment of self-professed furry fans, each with a different take on the what it means to them. This article does an excellent job demonstrating how so many furry fans persist in the delusion that they have some form of cohesive community, in spite of all the individuals with almost totally incompatible views of what it encompasses. Many of the observations are revealing, especially ones regarding upbringings on cartoon funny animals evolving into more "mature" themed Furry interests later, and how "furry perversions" are no more or less strange than "normal" people's. The Burned Furs are also briefly mentioned, showing that they've become one of the more visible features of the fandom to outsiders, but generally not quite in the light they would have hoped. The overall impression given is of a fandom filled with warring factions -- unfortunately, that's not too inaccurate.

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Finding His Inner Tiger Omaha World-Herald, April 23, 2001

In an article inspired by Vanity Fair's "Pleasures of the Fur", Omaha World-Herald reporter Rainbow Rowell interviews local furry Eric "Snap E. Tiger" Stevens. Eric, though he did not appear in the article, wrote a letter to the editor in which he expressed approval but lightly criticized its focus on plushophilia. In this interview, Eric briefly discusses his hobby of fursuiting, and reverses his earlier opinion by expressing unhappiness with Vanity Fair's treatment of the furry fandom.

Note: An earlier version of this entry indicated that Eric was mentioned in the Vanity Fair article. This was not the case and we apologize for the error.

Critter Camp Out PitchWeekly Online, July 5-11, 2001

Update (July 23, 2001): This article inspired a blackly humorous parody on Something Awful.

Based on a visit with Steven "Nikon" Fredrickson to a furry camp-out called "Howl, Growl, and Purr", this is a negative article thinly disguised as an understanding one. It gives the overall impression that furries have strange sexual predilections and no social skills, and the article goes into painful detail about Nikon's own personal insecurities. The reporter lumps in zoophilia as just another wing of the fandom, and every mention of furry art involves spooge or outright pornography. Ironically, while a furry fan complains here that the Vanity Fair article was unfair, this article does little to validate that claim.

Once again a furry fan has made the mistake of opening his soul to a reporter, and suffered the consequences. More furry fans need to realize the predatory nature of the press. Musings on Media Coverage of Furries pointed this out well: "The man or woman who you're talking to doesn't know you, isn't normally interested in forming a close relationship, but is simply smiling as a way of getting to know you in the performance of his job. He or she is friendly in the same way, and for many of the same ends, as a car salesman is friendly."

The PR problem furry fandom has is not due to the unusual fetishes of its members, but the tendency to show them off. Putting them on public display in an attempt to get attention and validation always backfires. This isn't to say there's anything wrong with these fetishes; to use an analogy, while ordinary sex is pretty much universally accepted and goes on all the time, doing it in the middle of the street or inviting a magazine reporter to watch tends to be frowned upon.

Nikon has written us a letter that gives a somewhat different perspective on this article.

Invasion of the Furries The Suburban & Wayne Times, July 26, 2001

This article is probably the best example to date of how the press should be handled by furry fans. Based on an interview with Dr. Sam Conway, the head of the east coast furry convention Anthrocon, it's actually focused more on the general anthropomorphic animal fandom than on furry fandom specifically. In fact, the term "furry" is only mentioned once, somewhat dismissively. The sexual aspects of the furry fandom aren't mentioned, and overall the piece gives a very favorable impression.

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Fur Out! xtra.ca, August 6, 2001

"You could argue that the plushy and furry phenomena is born out of boredom. But it’s more about the limited opportunities for self-expression nowadays. Animal wannabes could be onto something: Maybe changing hair colour or gender is no longer enough. Changing species is the final challenge."

Not exceptionally deep, this article from a gay-oriented Canadian site does touch on the fact that the mostly male furry fandom seems to harbor a large percentage of gay and bisexual men, as well as suggesting that the "constrained society" we live in has unwittingly encouraged the correlation of animal (as opposed to human) symbols to sexual freedoms. The now-ubiquitous Vanity Fair article is mentioned, and Feral, a sort of furry camp-out, is plugged. Most interesting is the commentary from an animal rights activist who is skeptical that all the "animal-worship" in the fandom is anything but pillaging for selfish needs, and suggests furry fans should be doing more to help the real animals they claim to identify with.

Talk to the Animals: A Foray into Furry Fun Clean Sheets Erotica Magazine, August 15, 2001

This could be considered a positive article in the sense that the author not only sympathizes with the furry fandom, but sees a lot of herself in it as well. Our negative rating is based not on her tone, but on the fact that many furry fans won't appreciate the mental images painted by this article. It has a definate beastialistic and sadomasochistic edge that isn't in keeping with how many furry fans like to see the fandom portrayed. Still, the suggestion that an attraction to beings that are part human, part animal is part of the basic human psyche is an interesting one.

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A to Z of Sex -- P is for Plushie The Morning Show, "Triple J" (2JJJ), September 10, 2001

Broadcast on "Triple J", an Australian broadcast network aimed at a youth audience, this short interview segment features conversations with American and Australian plushophiles, as well as Mark Merlino, a furry fan and the organizer of ConFurence. (Mark was also interviewed for the Eurotrash ConFurence 10 segment, back in 1999.)

The interviewees (with the exception of Mark) go into great detail about plushophilia -- this may involve more information than you really wanted to know, if you aren't already familiar with it. The furry fandom is introduced as a larger group that has plushophiles as a subset. Mark describes furry fans as outcasts looking for an identity, which the fandom provides.

One of the "plushies" interviewed does refute the plushophilia-bestiality link when asked, and the show's hosts must have believed him -- in December 7 of the same year, they did a similar segment about zoophilia, and furries were not mentioned.

Unmasked Emotions On Halloween Night Washington Post, October 31, 2001

"On some less discussed level, Halloween is also about grown-ups and sex. It is the most normalized kind of erotic debauchery, a mild sinfulness fit for the suburbs."

This unusual article muses about the adult aspects of Halloween, specifically the sexual attraction of dressing in costumes. It mentions furry fans and the Vanity Fair article in passing. It's interesting that Vanity Fair seems to have provided for the outside world something furry fans never quite managed -- a coherent, authoritative definition of what the furry fandom is about. It's probably not the definition most furry fans would prefer, but even internal attempts to define "what is furry fandom" have lead to much the same sorts of criticisms Vanity Fair's definition has gotten.

The truely interesting thing about this article, though, is that it hints that the world has gotten very dull and mundane to experience as a human, and that people are seeking ways to make it more interesting. This is an attitude that many furry fans will probably readily identify with.

The Fursuit of Happiness London Finanical Times weekend magazine, December 1, 2001

We apologize for the large file size of these scans. If anyone could email us an OCR'd copy of the text from this article, we would appreciate it.

• Magazine cover
• Article page 1
• Article page 2
• Article page 3
• Article page 4

A polite British article that is primarily interested in the obsessive dedication (and related spending habits) of furry fans, specifically the fursuiter crowd. Richard "Rapid T. Rabbit" Concepcion, who made an ill-advised appearance on the Daily Show, makes another, more muted, showing in this article. Lessons learned from past bad press experiences are starting to sink in; the photographer apparently had difficulty getting permission to photograph and interview the fans, having to win their trust first. The article's thesis seems to be that the furry fandom has untapped marketing potential, though this may be overly optimistic considering that a recent study showed a sizable percentage of furry fans are below the poverty level.

Plushies and Furries MTV Sex2k, January 3, 2002

Realvideo files:

Due to file size quotas, the quality of these is poor. If you have a high-bandwidth connection, try the MPEG files below.

• Segment 1 (6 minutes, 859K)
• Segment 2 (7 minutes, 883K)
• Segment 3 (7 minutes, 892K)

MPEG files:

• Promotional clip (2.1 megabytes)
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With a war in Afghanistan, the threat of war between India and Pakistan, and the ongoing threat of terrorist attacks, most networks have more important things to report on than the furry fandom. The exception of course is MTV, who aired this painfully exploitive documentary about the furry fandom.

It's not unlike the Eurotrash piece in spirit. They focus mainly on Mike "Yote" Sano, interviewing him and his bewildered mom and following him to the Midwest FurFest. Midwest FurFest, you'll recall, was also where people were interviewed for the Vanity Fair article. Perhaps they need to tighten up their press control, since they now seem to be preferred over the California conventions as a location for reporters and camera crews.

You can't help but feel embarassed for Yote and sorry for his mom, but the other furry fans who are interviewed should really know better. What can we really say about this problem that we haven't said already?

Update (1/9/2002): An anonymous reader has written us with the information that many of the scenes in this "documentary" were apparently faked.
Additionally, Midwest FurFest chairman Jim Doolittle has written to explain that the MFF footage was filmed in 2000, before the Vanity Fair article was published and before their press control policy went into effect.

Are you fur real? Orlando Weekly, February 7, 2002

A brief fluff article that pokes fun at FoxWolfie Galen's "plush code" and the general concepts of plushophilia and fursuiting. The author seems to have learned everything she knows about the furry fandom from the MTV Sex2k special and from FoxWolfie Galen's webpage.

A 'furry' tale for a foxy college student The Olympian, April 24, 2002

Thanks to Alfador for sending us a scan of this article.

Based on an interview with Brian "Alfador" Fallstrom, this article is about as kind an introduction to the furry fandom as you'll find in the mainstream press. It talks about his habit of wearing a fox tail nearly everywhere he goes, and touches on his online character. It also mentions the Conifur Northwest furry convention. Overall the tone is favorable -- the reader is given an image of furry fans as harmless, friendly eccentrics.

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Anna in Wonderland: The Furries BBC Documentary, July 2002

Realvideo files:

Due to file size quotas, the quality of these is poor. If you have a high-bandwidth connection, try the WMV files below.

• Segment 1 (5 minutes, 735K)
• Segment 2 (6 minutes, 863K)
• Segment 3 (6 minutes, 873K)
• Segment 4 (6 minutes, 801K)
• Segment 5 (5 minutes, 770K)

WMV files (Offsite):

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• Excessive Quality (Mirror) (300 megabytes)

A 30 minute segment about furries that seems to average at least one hug per minute. It is very forgiving, perhaps because the host herself is a sexual-interest minority. Highlights include a fursuiting leash-and-collar commune where free-love is an understatement and the body-sculpted "tiger man", who proves that plastic surgery and tattoos have not quite allowed people to reach the "furry" form yet (at least not attractive ones). Marshall "Ostrich" Woods (who appeared in the infamous Vanity Fair article) makes an appearance as well, acting as Anna's relatively sane guide through the world of furry fandom.

Peculiar to note at one part in the segment is a couple's wall of carefully-framed, commissioned furry pornography: It is exceedingly rare to find anyone who keeps framed pictures of human pornography on their walls, so one has to wonder exactly how this became moderately common practice within furry fandom's quarters.

Breeding in Captivity LA Weekly March 8 - 14, 2002

A short blurb (second article down) about a display of anthropomorphic erotica curated by Rick Castro (responsible for the documentary Plushies and Furries, which should be suitable enough warning for you) at the Le Duex Cafe. Billed as the first furerotica exhibition open to the mainstream, the show included a helpful glossary of Furry terms and plushes for sale, the 'soiled' ones priced at $80. “They look like my cat got to them,” whispered one woman. “My cat’s really cute,” replied her friend, “cuter than those things.”

A wild hobby brings out the beast in them Phillidelphia Inquirer, July 14, 2002

""Nobody around here has been dumb enough to do that," Conway notes. "Why would you want to turn yourself into a freak?" So the majority of furries here are in street clothes with horns strapped discreetly to their heads and tails pinned nonchalantly to their pants."

The Phillidelphia Inquirer serves up a short article about Anthrocon (released in time for the 2002 convention), the tone of the article dismissive at best due to the multitudes of snide jabs inserted within it. Although there is very little actual disturbing material presented within the article's review of the fandom, Dianna Marder leaves little doubt that she considers her subjects as deluded freaks no matter how much they try to downplay themselves. A feeble attempt is made towards the end to suggest that some furries may have socially redeeming traits of charity, but on the whole, the mocking grin never leaves this article's demeanor. Compare to Invasion of the Furries from last year, which covers the same topic without being needlessly sassing about it.

Thanks to a helpful reader, the original newspaper version of this article that had more photos and slightly different text is now availible for comparison to the online version.

Newspaper Pages (.jpg):

• Page 1
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Sign Language Eye - September 12, 2002

The Eye, a Toronto Weekly, like most papers publishes a horoscope column. However, under Sagittarius, there's a ribald poke at the fandom that's small enough to print here:

Furries are people who get off on sex with anthropomorphized animals, usually cartoon characters. I'd never heard of this fetish until their recent exposure in sex columns. Hey, you've got to appreciate someone who gets off on the idea of Barney singing "I luv you, you luv me, fill my purple cavity..." for its comedic potential alone, but also because it makes your own quirky turn-on (mine is sideburns) seem absolutely reasonable by comparison. Can you see where I'm going with this? Instead of toning down your act, find someone who's much more extreme and go stand next to them.

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