Tail Two KU students moonlight as wolves, and they're proud to be hairy. Spin
By Mandalee Meisner, Jayplay writer
Photos: Jeff Brandsted
BELOW: Furries got back: Zach Thompson, Lawrence junior, and Alfred Ledgin, Overland Park junior, show off their tails. BOTTOM: A "Ledgin" in his own time: Alfred Ledgin, or "Frad the Wolf," is a Hashinger Hall celebrity.
Zach Thompson doesn't wear his tail every day — it could get dirty or smelly. But when one of Thompson's classes began discussing the philosopher René Descartes, who argued that a person could not tell if he was dreaming or awake, Thompson took his tail to class. Because there are few students with a gray-and-white fuzzy appendage trailing behind them, Thompson thought he might seem more like a dream than reality.
Thompson, Lawrence junior, who goes by Dire Wolf, is part of a growing group of people who identify with animals and choose to take on their characteristics. Furries, as they call themselves, are sort of extreme animal lovers. They identify with animals so much that they decide they are, in fact, a lot like them. But even though Thompson sees himself as a wolf, he knows his own species can sometimes
be critical of anything unusual — tails, for instance. "I'm always worried that people will get freaked out," Thompson says. "But everyone usually thinks it's cool and fuzzy."
Eric Stevens, a Furry from Omaha, Neb., who goes by the name Snap E. Tiger, defines Furries as fans of anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is giving an animal human characteristics. Furries are known for taking their normal human state and making it more animal-like — adding ears and a tail, for instance, and sometimes putting on a full-body Cursuit, which is more like a mascot costume than a biologically accurate replica. Stevens, who has been involved with the Furry community for six years, says his personal identification with tigers came from an intense love of the animals. As a kid, he would imagine himself as a beautiful, mysterious tiger lurking in the jungle. "Seeing a tiger made me smile, and helped me forget the troubles of the day," Stevens says. "I realized this, and immersed myself in everything 'tiger.'"
Alfred Lèdgin, Overland Park junior, is another local Furry. He lives in Hashinger Hall, where people know him as Fred the Wolf. People call in to the Free For All in The University Daily Kansan quite often to talk about him. He likes most of the attention, but hates it when people think he wears his animal parts just to get a reaction. To Ledgin, the animal parts are an expression of his inner self. "Of course, physically I am human," Ledgin says. "And that is fine. But, at the same time, I'm also a wolf."
To immerse himself, Stevens first started researching tigers scientifically. He wanted to know everything about them. He came upon a Furry Web site in 1999 and discovered he wasn't the only person who felt more animal than human. Now, Stevens owns eight pairs of orange-and-black shoes, a few fursuits and is a well-known Furry both on the Web and in Omaha. He says his mother couldn't be more proud, and calls him her "tiger son."
Ledgin says that not all Furries identify with furry animals. There are traditional Furries (humans who identify with animals such as foxes, wolves, tigers, raccoons and skunks), Scalies (think lizards, snakes and alligators) and Featheries (extreme bird lovers). There are even people who identify with imaginary animals (dragons and gryphons, for instance).
Being a Furry seems complicated, and it is. There is the small matter of wardrobe. It can be difficult to find a good spot to sit when you've got an extra appendage. Thompson, a computer science major, hopes to work in a professional environment someday, and he'll have to
leave his wolf gear at home. "No T-shirts, no jeans, no tail," Thompson says of the probable dress code. But for now, he's content with wearing it out on occasion. He admits he relishes the shock factor that comes with wearing a big fluffy tail to Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, as he is known to do. On one trip to the Nelson-Atkins
Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., he had to have his tail checked by an employee at security.
Thompson may get a hoot — or a howl, rather — out of freaking people out with his tail, but his friend Jacob Sewell, Lawrence resident, says that Dire isn't a typical Furry. Sewell thinks his friend's habits have more to do with his outgoing personality than his lupine persona. "Zach's the kind of person who walks into a room and sits down for five minutes trying to think of the one thing he can say that will freak out the most people," Sewell says. "And then he says it."
But despite Thompson's fun-loving antics, he gets a little upset when he thinks about the way the media has portrayed Furries. Both a MTV special on Furries and a Vanity Fair article focused on the sexual side of Furry culture. Because of this, the term Furry is associated with people in fursuits getting it on doggy, or kitty or even rabbit style at Furry conventions. Eric Stevens is quick to point out that rampant sex is an important part of most subculture conventions, just because it's not every day that you find another person that shares your fascination with an obscure topic. "It's a part of every lifestyle," Stevens says. "Even the trekkies have slip-slappin orgles at their conventions."
Ledgin knows that not everyone will understand his animal instincts. "I know a lot of people who identify themselves as Furries who understand it," Ledgin says. "And I know people who don't understand
it, and don't want to. There's nothing wrong with being human. I'm not one bit sad about being human. But I think it's common for people to wonder what else they can be."
- Mandalee Meisner can be reached at mmiesner@kansan.com.
Furry vocabulary:
1. Furseae: a Furry's idealized self-image or anthropomorphic persona
2. Mundane or hy06man: someone who isn't a Furry.
(Note: all furries use these somewhat derogatory terms)
3. Furcon: a Furry convention, where furries from all over the U.S. and world get together, try on fursuits (see definition), play Furry games, and usually have a Furry good time.
4. Fursuit: a full body-suit made to look like a Furry's fur-sona. Not all furries have fursuits; they can be somewhat expensive.
6. Fandom, or Furry fondom. A generic term for
Furry culture and artwork.
6. Pleshie: a stuffed animals. Furries are known to collect lots of stuffed animals that resemble their particular fursiones.
7. VIR: an expression of joy made by a Furry, or the act of engaging in sexual intercourse with a Furry.
5.13.04 Joyplay
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