In Vancouver a teenage boy is sitting in his room browsing the internet. He is about to discover something that will change his life. He is innocently searching for pictures of dragons when he stumbles across something else. Not surprisingly he has found pornography ... but not pornography as we know it.
Matt had discovered drawings of characters from such films as The Lion King and Robin Hood in sexual poses. Strange as it may seem, he was aroused by these images. He had found himself in the land of the furries.
Furries are a community of people who enjoy anthropomorphic animals (animals that are given human characteristics). Furs enjoy these animals a bit more than your average person. As a result of his flounder into furries Matt is now exclusively into fur pornography and has been for more than 15 years. He says that he is, "not at all attracted to the human form." If there is no furry aspect to a sexual encounter, he does not become aroused.
"Furry makes up a huge portion of my sexual identity. I've managed to bring sex into real life through the use of fursuits. I have a separate furry body that I made myself that I use for that," says Matt candidly. "I still don't like penetrative sex, but I do really enjoy sensual play when I'm in my fursuit." Sensual play involves the use of silk scarves, feathers, ice and massage oils to get a physical sexual response without any actual intercourse.
Matt, 31 (in the pink dragon suit) with his partner at a furry convention.
According to Matt surveys have shown that around 70 per cent of furries are into furry porn, "There's likely hundreds of artists that make their living mainly by commissions for porn of various furs' characters." Large parts of the furry community attend conventions where everyone can get together and enjoy the culture with like minded individuals. "Conventions for me are about half fursuit adventures and half hosting room parties for the more sensual/sexual side of the furry community." Matt has created his own room parties over the years to which members of the furry community turn up to enjoy sexual relations. Apparently these parties are completely packed with people every night.
One furry who is very much into the online porn side of things is Thomas, 19, of Missouri whose fursona is a confident husky named Jessy. "For the most part, my participation in the furry community is porn and some kinky roleplay shit." Thomas discovered the fandom at a young age and has enjoyed delving deeper into the sexual side with his girlfriend. A study carried out by the Anthropomorphic Research Group revealed 66 per cent of furries are male with 67 per cent of all furries residing in the USA. The study also looked into their sexual orientation.
"Porn can mean anything. The best part is, because it's 99 per cent drawn anything can happen. There's tentacle furry porn, for example, or furry characters with crazily modified genitalia. Some of it is very tame, some is a bit more intense, then it starts getting weird, and then it starts getting kinky," explains Thomas unabashedly.
"Breeding is a huge fetish of mine — mating pits and all sorts of stuff. Inter species, and anything with a horse's erection."
Many members of the community, however, wish to stress that furry porn is not for everyone. Jack, 19, of England is part of the online side of the community and says the sexual aspect of the furry community is separate from the majority of the fandom. "The best description for it would be to just consider how any person would go about with their sexual life. Apart from the fur, feathers, scales and other things, it's dealt with similarly." Jack's fursona is a vampire bat called Jackie Pistrelle.
The furry fandom is vast. It is a massively diverse group with possibly the most contrasting personalities within it. Where some people choose to buy suits and become anthropomorphic others just enjoy the art of drawing their 'fursonas', "For me, my 'fursona' is not a character at all, just a representation of myself, my avatar in the community rather than a separate entity," writes Zoe, 22, of Washington DC.
"People often assume that the furry fandom is fundamentally/significantly sexual in nature. This is true for many, but by no means all, furries. I have no sexual interest in non-human characters," says Zoe with apparent discomfort. There seems to be a little tension between the unabashedly sexual furries and the ones who, like Zoe, are fine with the fact that others enjoy erotic art but wish that it could be kept more separate for the sake of the rest of everyones reputations.
Dana Hill, 30, an avid fursuiter from Seattle says, "Fursuiting is one of the most exhilarating hobbies I have. Building my own character's physical form feels like an accomplishment in itself." Dana spends most of her spare time in her fur suit. "Being able to embody that creation and make people smile is not only rewarding, but downright magical."
Kris. H, 28, a fursuiter from Hawaii who joined the US navy in 2009 fell on hard financial times after having to leave the Navy for medical reasons and had to sell most of his fursuits. He did manage to save two husky suits that are known as the Borne twins. "I found fursuits and started buying those, partially because I liked costuming, and partially because I wanted to outdo my friends with their silly animal costumes." Kris' time in the Navy allowed him to travel all over. According to him Japan has a large furry community where he was able to dress in his suit and walk around without judgement.
Julian Metzler, 21, of Germany has a Eurasian Lynx type fursuit called Cato. Whilst in the character of Cato, Julian meows and purrs when someone hugs him. "I just feel like I can do things I wouldn't do without my suit, like approaching random people and seeing how they react — of course if their reaction is more on the negative side, I won't bother them any further." Julian says that he is not a completely different character though. He is still himself but he tries to be more extrovert and interact more than he would ordinarily.
Back in Vancouver Matt and his partner are hosting sensual room parties at their hotel as often as possible. They set up cuddle rooms with wall to wall cushions, fabric coverings on the walls and ceilings and "trippy lighting and music" to create the ultimate furry experience.
