Hey, things began with a bang on September 23rd when furcast.fm invited me onto their podcast to chat about FN and all things furry for quite a stretch of time.
Then on October 15 The New York Post gave me and the Nation two-thirds of a page, with a large-scale version of Dragonscales’ sophisticated Komos portrait and beneath it a headshot of my real-life face.
Mixed opinions ensued, with most furs feeling the piece was a putdown of furs but a sizeable minority saying either it wasn’t that bad or wasn’t bad at all and allowed me to speak my piece.
I’m about 3/4 with the first group. The writer did quote me substantially, but the editorial dressing around the text left a lot to be desired. In print the article was headlined “Animal attraction” but its subhead was “Inside the weird world of ‘furries,’ where grown adults get their kicks dressing up as beasts.” “Weird…get their kicks;” yeah, thanks, right. The writer waited until the third sentence to throw the “F”-bomb (as in “fetish”) into the article: “…enjoy dressing up as cartoon animals, sometimes as a sexual fetish, but more often as a fun escape.” Well, at least they put it in context, but I wish they prioritized the other “F”word: “fun” instead of “fetish.”
That was the print version: the online version was headlined “Inside the weird world of the ‘furry’ fetish.’ In case you had any doubts where they were coming from, its key words were “costumes/fetishes/sex.” [Insert frustrated scream! here.] With more room to play with online, the article featured Komos’ portrait, the entire headshot showing me holding Komos’s head and a large-size photo of Furry Nation‘s cover. Well, they say any publicity is good publicity. (Judge for yourself, see which one you like best.)
More media coming up, including another podcast, a blog interview, and an actual broadcast appearance on a Chicago TV station’s morning news show! Details and links to come (when there are details to report on and items to link to…)