Three members of the furry fandom and an
elf-girl member of the otherkin community
Opening Remarks
The following material consists of revised extracts from Chapter 5 of Zoophilia, Vol. III of The Treadwell's Papers
(Blind Cupid Press, 2010).
It was originally presented as part of a
series of talks at Treadwell's Bookshop in 2006 and might be said to
have anticipated the direction our culture was heading vis-à-vis
questions of identity, etc.
These questions, however, have mostly been thought
through (and fought over) in terms of sex, gender, and race, rather than our
humanity as such.
Thus, even though in the years since I first
wrote on the subject of becoming-animal and/or becoming-other, there has
been far more academic and media attention given to therians, furries,
and otherkin, most members of the public still remain blissfully
unaware of the term transspeciesism, even whilst obsessively worrying about issues to do with transsexuality and gender fluidity.
The Furry Fandom
I.
Whilst there's a level of crossover with the therian community - which I discussed in a recently published post [1] - the furry fandom is often looked down upon by members of the former, who regard furries as frivolous and lacking in respect for the true nature of the animals they like to dress up as.
On the other paw, however, members of the fandom often accuse therianthropes of taking the idea of metamorphosis too far and themselves too seriously.
I suppose, if one wanted to be unkind and offer a crude stereotype of both parties, one could say that whilst therians are genuinely barking, furries are simply mimicking animal noises.
II.
Essentially, the furry fandom is a movement that celebrates the hybridization of humans and animals in cartoons, comics, and films. It is, therefore, predominantly composed of persons with artistic and literary interests, rather than occult or fetishistic leanings.
That said, many members of the fandom do have a strong attraction to animal cosplay and like to indulge their transformation fantasies - some of which are overtly erotic in character and involve the loss or rippage of human clothing - whilst being suitably attired in a fursuit.
Those who have a particular penchant for furry sex are sometimes labelled as furverts and, whilst these people compose only a small minority of the fandom, they are the ones who - rightly or wrongly - excite most interest from those outside of the fandom [2].
III.
The furry fandom started as a discussion group that met at various science fiction and comic-book conventions in the early 1980s and who were interested in all kinds of anthropomorphic characters, but particularly those covered in fur. By 1987, enough interest had been generated for there to be a furry convention in its own right and these have continued to be held annually in Europe and the US ever since [3].
With the rise and spread of the internet, the furry fandom has also grown rapidly around the world as an on-line community with many of its own specialised sites and virtual meeting places.
Those fans possessing handicraft skills, often like to make their own plush toys, or design elaborate costumes in a wide range of styles and worn either for private pleasure, or when participating at furry events.
Whilst those fans who are more technologically-minded, often create their own anthropomorphic animal avatars called - predictably enough - fursonas (or tiny-bodies), via which they engage in (sometimes kinky) role-playing games with others of their kind in a virtual world.
IV.
As mentioned, for the most part, furries and therians don't usually have much to do with one another and the two phenomena legitimately deserve to be regarded as separate concepts attracting different types of people.
However, there are those - known as furry lifestylers - who blur this distinction by occupying the space between the two categories.
These individuals have beliefs similar to those who practice animal related religions and philosophies, such as shamanism. Thus it is that some lifestylers often claim they have a totem animal that watches over them, or that they are the reincarnation of an animal spirit.
Other lifestylers, meanwhile, are keen to promote the idea that animal instincts exist within humans as part of our genetic code and hope to translate man back into nature, as Nietzsche would say; i.e., to strip away the anthropocentric conceit that has blinded us to our own reality and fooled us into vainly thinking we are of a different origin and higher status to other animals.
That may be, as Nietzsche says, a queer and possibly insane task, but it's certainly a revaluation of values [4].
The Otherkin
I.
The term otherkin is a rather nice neologism, coined in the early-mid-1990s when it
became clear that a distinct new sub-culture was emerging on-line out
of various other communities.
Like therians, members of the otherkin like to think of themselves as essentially non-human, to a lesser or greater degree. But whereas therians believe themselves to be part-animal, the otherkin often regard themselves as being part mythological or legendary creature; such as centaurs, mermaids, or elves, for example.
Some members of the otherkin also identify in terms of fictional characters who have arisen within modern popular culture; and some, albeit far fewer in number, identify as plants, abstract concepts, or natural phenomena, which is philosophically interesting and one wonders if those who think of themselves as a weather system, for example, wish to become-imperceptible - i.e., reach the point at which they can no longer be identified in
human terms, but only acknowledged as a chaos of non-subjectified
effects and impersonal elements that must be mapped
meteorologically ...?
If so, that's kind of cool, speaking as a Deleuzian ...
II.
Whilst almost all otherkin insist that they are neither fantasizing nor role-playing - claiming, for example, that their nonhuman aspect is spiritual in nature and not merely an assumed persona or self-constructed identity - others attribute it to unusual psychology or neurodivergence and do not hold any spiritual beliefs.
Some even suggest that they are biologically other, considering themselves to be directly descended from the species with which they identify via a primeval marriage at some point with mankind. Again, that's very interesting; it reminds one of the fact that stories of humans descending from animals, giants, aliens, or gods are common among tribal peoples all over the world and
very often involve illicit sexual relations.
Others, meanwhile, believe in a multitude of parallel universes, wherein supernatural or sapient non-human beings exist to whom they are psychically attuned or able to visit via a form of astral projection. I don't know if many otherkin speak in terms of possession, but such a concept surely provides an explanation for their altered state of consciousness and associated behaviours that is found in many religions.
But again, just as I understand why furries don't wish to be thought furverts, I understand why members of the otherkin can be a little uncomfortable with being thought part of a weird neo-pagan religion or occultists (despite sharing an obvious interest in the paranormal).
Sadly, there's already a peculiar degree of public fear and suspicion (as well as scorn) directed their way - as there is for others who are perceived as threatening the predominant moral and social order - so no need to also add to this by openly declaring themselves to be devil-worshippers or involved in the dark arts.
Personally, whatever beliefs the otherkin may choose
to hold and however they may choose to modify their physical appearance so as too resemble the being it is they identify with (or as), I wish them
well and would happily fly the Fairy Star flag if asked to do so ... [5]
Notes
[1] See 'Madness and Animality: Notes on Therianthropy' (6 Oct 2023): click here.
[2] It's
perhaps not surprising that the question of sex has at times been a
source of controversy and division within the furry fandom. Some members
strongly object to what they regard as the distasteful and deviant
aspects amongst the community and the term furvert has been
coined to specifically identify a sub-section of the fandom that
deliberately sexualises anthropomorphic animal characters.
Many
outsiders also find the pornification of cute and childish animal imagery troubling. But furverts are quick to stress that they have no
interest in paedophilia - anymore than they do in zoophilia - and that
furvert activity consists primarily of creating, exchanging, and
collecting illustrations of their own particular furry fetish character
online; a genre of erotic image making known as yiffy art; yiff
being a widely used slang term within the furry fandom which, like
fuck, has various meanings, applications, degrees of nuance, and which etymologically derives from an onomatopoeic
representation of the sound made by mating foxes.
Whilst
it's certainly the case that not all furries are furverts, whether the more prudish members of the fandom like it or not, there is an overlap between furverts and
those who enjoy pornography, as well as participants within the world of BDSM and - fairly or unfairly - this has attracted a
fair deal of attention, even inspiring an episode of CSI back in 2003 (S4/E5: 'Fur and Loathing') and a book by Michael Cogliantry in 2009 (Furverts, Chronicle Books) - both of which infuriated many furries.
[3] Click here for a peek at ConFuzzled 2023, held at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole Hotel (26-30 May).
[4] See Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil, VII. 230.
[5] A regular heptagram known as the Elven Star or Fairy Star is used to denote nonhuman identity. It was designed by
the Elf Queen's Daughters and first published in the Green Egg
newsletter in March 1976. The background colour added here is my own and does not (as far as I know) have any significance within otherkin circles.
