Wild Things: at San Francisco’s Citadel club – November 8, 2014 (18+)

Artists and dealers are invited to show and sell your wares.

Info: (Ask me – patch.ofurr at gmail.)

I apologize in advance for humping your leg. It’s that exciting to share news about a unique, gutsy, sexy, creative, WTF happening for consenting adult friends. But first, have a soft intro.

Is furry a “sex thing?” It’s the #1 topic that furries love to hate. Some call it a myth spread by media exploitation. But the internet is bursting with self-generated erotica. Reddit’s r/yiff community has more subscribers than r/furry. The media doesn’t have enough imagination to be that dirty.

Scowlers don’t like it. “Stop destroying the ‘Furry Fandom(TM)’! Think of the children!” Defenders downplay it: “The thing that got me into it was the art.”

Art is a sex thing, if you think about it. So is fashion, politics, dancing, and driving silly cars. The instinct pervades everything around us. It’s better to admit it, than to be oversensitive or get a moral authority-boner. And kinks are built in to being human. People can express them, then drive grandma to church.

Some furries only love clean things. “Anthropomorphic” makes a wide umbrella covering everything from Disney to dirty. It’s a strange mix, but sex can be just an optional ingredient for those who want it. It’s complicated, but plenty of furries accept it. One exception is conventions keeping family-friendly PR. It’s understandable to defuse outside haters. But when boundaries happen, so does boundary-breaking expression.

Porn is art. Robert Mapplethorpe and Madonna put kink in art museums and pop culture. The web put porn in everyone’s living room. Art critic Camille Paglia loves it. It’s a smart topic. (There’s an academic journal for it). The more provocative and naughty it is, the more there is to express. It’s most pure when it’s 100% drawn and invented. I’ve run across Furry porn that provokes more feeling (with humor, hotness, or WTFness) than “avante-garde” things in museums. Isn’t that what art is for? I think John Waters would dig it. Need an example? Oh, OK… have an NSFW link to Dirt Coyote. He’s filthy.

A friend of mine visited a Furry con for the first time, went to the dealer room, and saw Bad Dragon’s sex toys. His reaction cracked me up for a week:

“Take their display case, and put it in a modern art museum. No explanation… just put it out and watch people stand around going ‘hummm.’”

Wild Things is the art and sex party he’s now helping to organize. I don’t think there are any other formal events in the world like it. Does it make you curious?

He told me:

This is an entirely new event. If you’ve been to any really wild convention hotel parties, I’d imagine it being like that. (Minus all the booze, add really fancy bondage equipment.) As one of the organizers, I’ve leaned heavily on Burning Man‘s ten principles. I imagine a very inclusive and participatory sort of event.

It’s a big risk to start. The normal world isn’t friendly to indie porn and kink, and the Furry world is timid about promoting it. There are several sparks starting it. A popular night life event has an overflowing crowd, making opportunity for a new place for them not regulated like a bar. (Wild Things gets to be 18+, and it’s alcohol-free because the venue will allow furries to have sex there.)

The Citadel is a “dungeon” club, seeking to expand it’s crowd beyond a supportive BDSM community. It has to draw a certain turnout to succeed. Mark, a Citadel organizer, believes that there’s a big population of kinky people who are too timid to come out to events. Wild Things is hoped to draw multiple distant communities together, and be friendly and inviting enough for shy people to dare joining.

If Wild Things succeeds, it will continue 4 times a year. Don’t tell grandma, but tell your friends.

“Expect videos, lights and music, performance, fun, and games. It’s an art and performing event, but nothing about it is neutered. What happens on the Discovery Channel can happen in the flesh. It’s a supportive and safe place where your play is as limitless as your imagination.”

Wild Things is the day after a Street fursuiting “crawl” and photography art show – then there’s Frolic party. That’s 4 furry events in a row. Get a hotel!