The business suit is an overt and intentional expression of enslavement: the cufflinks represent handcuffs, the neck tie a shackle.

Wearing such clothing is a symbol of servitude. A proclamation of peonage. A communal confession that one lacks the freedom to be themselves, and must instead bend to the will of others.

It has one very specific, heartbreaking meaning: “I am not free.“

This simple truth is easy to miss, until it is pointed out to you. It then becomes so painfully obvious that you question how it is you never noticed it before. You begin to question every custom and social norm. “Why do I do the things I do?” you ask yourself. “Did I ever want any of this, or am I just doing what’s expected of me?”

Did anyone ever want any of this? Or have generations of mankind blindly followed in the footsteps of their ancestors, never pausing to appreciate what is was they were doing, but only reenacting the examples set before them?

It is at this stage denial kicks in. Refusing to accept their absence of freedom, they invent, in their own minds, excuses for following social norms. They convince themselves with circular-reasoning and logical fallacies why they simply must do what everyone else is expecting… that they really have no choice. The irony is lost on them, that, by their own reasoning, they are proving my point.

Outside of these prison walls — and into the Furry Fandom — we think differently… and have a different kind of suit.

The fur suit: a manifestation of the self-idealization. The crossroads of imagination, creativity, self-discovery, and self-improvement.

Wearing such clothing is an emblem of exemption. An illustration of independence. A deliberate demonstration that one has achieved the freedom to be themselves, and are no longer required to bend to the will of others. The handcuffs have been loosed, the shackles broken.

It has one very specific, enheartening meaning: “I am free.“

The fur suit communicates — to those who are capable of understanding — :

… I can act the way I want to act.

… I can enjoy the things I want to enjoy.

… I can do the things I want to do.

… I don’t care how others act.

… I don’t care what others enjoy.

… I don’t care what others do.

… I alone decide how to live my life.

The fur suit is an overt and intentional expression of freedom.