5 Things I Learned Attending A Furry Convention

June 14, 2018 9:54 PM

I recently checked into a hotel while two people in dog costumes nuzzled and pawed at each other behind me, because I had been invited to attend Fur-Eh, an Edmonton-based furry convention. In part because I am a hardworking writer, but mostly because I've heard these conventions are a great place to score drugs, I spent three days hanging with furries. Here's what I learned.

5) Here's what a furry convention is
4) The media has not been kind to furries
3) So here's what the appeal is
2) A furry convention is inevitably full of shenanigans
1) In the end, it's really nothing that remarkable

posted by hippybear (26 comments total)

but mostly because I've heard these conventions are a great place to score drugs

Congratulations! You are part of the problem.

If you want a better idea of what the furry community is really about, and why the media fucks this up constantly, I recommend reading the Boozy Barrister's writings on the subject (short version - lawyer actually sticks up for furries dealing with a sovcit asshole, suddenly finds himself adopted by the community, learns that yeah, they're just like you and me. Oh, and I'm not joking about the adoption part - when Boozy was severely injured, the community pitched in to help him and his family.)
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:18 PM on June 14, 2018 [10 favorites]

Metafilter: If you think that's weird, literally all you have to do is ignore it.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:24 PM on June 14, 2018 [14 favorites]

Syrian Refugees Get Put Up in Same Hotel As Furries. Kids LOVE It.
posted by Artw at 10:49 PM on June 14, 2018 [32 favorites]

At a certain point, a fascination with the sex lives of strangers says more about the people doing the gawking.

QFT
posted by hypersloth at 10:51 PM on June 14, 2018 [25 favorites]

@NoxAeternum, Do you have a link? Sounds interesting!
posted by Quackles at 11:04 PM on June 14, 2018

Here's the post that started it all. Also, it's telling that Google recommended to me "boozy barrister furry".
posted by NoxAeternum at 11:14 PM on June 14, 2018 [2 favorites]

Sigh. Look, I'm not a furry, but all of the bits that make writers so eyerolly are so obviously equally applicable to sports fans. Can't we all just acknowledge that adults are drawn to finding a group that speaks to some aspect of their identity, which inevitably leads to dressing up a bit funny to bond over it?
posted by desuetude at 11:25 PM on June 14, 2018 [27 favorites]

I loved this article when it came out. The bit where they were all playing quiddich and then this happened:

“Then someone leaned out of his window, shouted that we were all "fucking nerds," and flipped us off -- none of which are issues that Harry Potter had to put up with.”

with accompanying picute of someone in a fur suit giving double guns? Reader, I fell out.
posted by supercrayon at 2:14 AM on June 15, 2018 [5 favorites]

> ...mostly because I've heard these conventions are a great place to score drugs, I spent three days hanging with furries

I have no idea (nor, really, opinion) about street drug use in fandom, but it seems to me that once you're onboard for the physical effort and self-image transformation needed for wearing a furry costume in public, drugs seem kind of superfluous.
posted by ardgedee at 2:19 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

But could you think of a better place than a group of supportive people in furry-textured costumes to do MDMA?
posted by Space Coyote at 3:13 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

But could you think of a better place than a group of supportive people in furry-textured costumes to do MDMA?

uh, yes?
posted by thelonius at 4:10 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

Furries IME are extremely friendly and kind people who obtain deep satisfaction from something I don't. The second part is held in common with the vast bulk of humanity, the first is not.

Dear media, plz direct your scorn and otherization towards idk those guys who are really into cosplaying confederate or Nazi troops during war 'reenactments.'
posted by PMdixon at 5:41 AM on June 15, 2018 [26 favorites]

I think we can tear that fucking “geek hierarchy” shit up forever too.

New one is just a big box with furries, cosplayers, fanficers and everyone who is not Nazi in it and then a line to a smaller box marked “nazis”.
posted by Artw at 6:06 AM on June 15, 2018 [12 favorites]

(Okay maybe a * noting Nazi furries, cosplayers etc don’t get to be in the big box)
posted by Artw at 6:07 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

(Okay maybe a * noting Nazi furries, cosplayers etc don’t get to be in the big box)

I think the classic "geek social fallacies" require this part to be highlighted and underlined in red unfortunately.
posted by PMdixon at 6:55 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

The diagram is now one big box which just says “NAZIS FUCK OFF”
posted by Artw at 7:00 AM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]

Fur-Eh is the greatest Con name.
posted by Ruki at 7:32 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

Everyone was willing to tell me all about themselves when asked, and then they would ask about me with complete sincerity.

oh my god what assholes
posted by kate blank at 8:32 AM on June 15, 2018 [4 favorites]

Fur-Meh
posted by y2karl at 8:38 AM on June 15, 2018

There were also general dances that were weird, in that they still cared about "Who Let the Dogs Out"

I did have a chuckle about this.
posted by ShakeyJake at 9:11 AM on June 15, 2018 [3 favorites]

I can't believe that all of the commenters so far have missed the key point of the article:

The convention included a poutine social.

A POUTINE SOCIAL.

That. Sounds. AWESOME!

Talk about buying the lede, Mark Hill.

I am choosing to believe that this takes the form of a self-serve poutine bar, where you start out with the hand-cut fries, then have a choice of like three different gravies and five types of cheese curds plus about a dozen non-traditional poutine toppings.

I have never been particularly interested in furdom before, but now I'm all in.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 9:55 AM on June 15, 2018 [11 favorites]

TBH most of my non-weed drug experiences have been at furry cons. Not that there have been many.
posted by egypturnash at 10:01 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: If you think that's weird, literally all you have to do is ignore it.

"Fur it and move on"
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:10 AM on June 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is the first time I've actually heard an explanation about the actual, non-sexual appeal of being a furry. Considering I've been aware of furries for almost ten years and actively engaged on the internet for about the same period of time, that's an awfully long time to hold huge misconceptions about an interest that basically amounts to cosplaying your own character. Until now, I did think it was just a kink of some sort that people were refusing to acknowledge for respectability's sake.

So thanks for posting, hippybear. I learned something cool today.
posted by scruffy-looking nerfherder at 10:39 AM on June 15, 2018 [7 favorites]

I have some friends who work at a hotel in Rosemont IL where there's an annual furry convention. Longtime workers at the hotel fight over who gets the shifts for the con, because the attendees are overwhelmingly the best convention guests all year. They're polite, tip everyone well, and leave the place cleaner than average convention-goers.
posted by juniperesque at 10:55 AM on June 15, 2018 [8 favorites]

Last summer, I was in Pittsburgh for scientific meetings, which ran right up until the furry con started. When I checked in, the clerk confirmed my room for the week, and then noted that I was switching to a suite for the following week. Apparently, I share a (not uncommon) name with someone in the scene. We got it sorted out fairly easily. As I was waiting on colleagues the morning we were leaving I had a chance to observe several folks in fursuits interacting with the general public in the hotel, as well as with one another. MetaFilter, what I saw in my brief time watching was kind people who just wanted to have fun doing their thing. I’m glad I got to experience even a tiny bit of the group.
posted by wintermind at 12:45 PM on June 16, 2018 [2 favorites]