Furries

The temperature got to 41 F (5 C) yesterday while also fairly sunny so I decided to get a haircut. I knew my mom wanted one also so I offered to take her.

On the drive up she started telling me about a show she'd seen on CNN called "This if Life with Lisa Ling" and an episode Ling had done about furries.

"They said they'd gotten a bad rap because people said they were perverts."

I wasn't surprised. The only way we'd come to know about them was on crime shows where they were portrayed as fetishists.

Mom described the people interviewed, those with debilitating shyness, PTSD, physical ailments and how putting on a costume freed them to assume personas filled with joy.

"You were shy as a kid, you still are," Mom said.

"I'm introverted," I said. "Shyness often gets linked to feelings of embarrassment and that's not it."

"No," Mom agreed.

Looking it up now shy is defined as "being reserved or having or showing nervousness or timidity in the company of other people." (OK, that's fair.)

Some of the people Mom described from the episode couldn't cope with going to the grocery store or out at all really. "You can go to the library," she said.

"Yeah, that kind of stuff doesn't bother me," I said. "But it's not like I haven't gone over in my head a thousand times what I'm going to say to try to describe how I want my hair cut."

"That's different," Mom said, "I'm doing that too."

"Yeah, I guess so."

She described kids who were also getting into being furries and wondered what had made them so withdrawn but got emotional when describing a Dad who was tearing up describing how it had made his daughter so much happier.

The recurring theme was therapeutic transformation. Being furries freed them to be joyful.

"I don't think I have that much creativity," Mom said.

"I love stuffed animals but I've never wanted to be one. I don't think wearing a mask would have the same effect for me."

I just want to be myself. Well, a better version of myself but one that doesn't have to wear anything uncomfortable.


10 years ago on TTaT: Begin anyway