The Thinking ‘Kat: How Different Communities Respond (Content Warning)
Not for the first time, I am drawn to the words – and wisdom – of Soatok, of Dhole Moments. His latest post, ‘Furries Need to Learn that Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant‘, is a demonstration of how a community can grow, learn, and tackle the murkier side of its existence. There are those within the furry community who have defended the indefensible, and there are those who are more worried about the damage to image by bringing these miscreants and abusers into the light. This might sound very familiar, because it is. The furry community is often maligned or dismissed as being all about deviancy, and yet, for centuries, a much older group has been complicit in various acts of cruel depravity, and this group has gone out of its way to cover up all sorts of awful crimes.
Fursuit… or Black Collar?
Below are 10 examples of a community embroiled in sexual assault cases, including several against children. Before you click on the links, ask yourself, how many relate to furries, and how many relate to fundamentalist religious leaders?
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
If you do not want to click the links, I’ll save you the trouble: each one of those 10 examples will take you to Bruce Gerencser’s Black Collar Crime series. That’s right, each example relates to a different religious leader, across various parts of the USA, though what they have in common is that they all occupied a position of trust and authority within their communities, and they all violated that trust. They used their standing to commit awful crimes, and in various cases got away with it for years, perhaps decades, because they used their power to control the narrative. They used the respect of their position to cover up their misdeeds.
This is not to say that furries – or indeed any other group – are incapable of similar behaviour. Wherever people have power or authority, there is the risk of abusing it. There have been high-profile scandals involving beloved BBC presenters. The rank and file of big business and high politics have a lot to answer to regarding Jeffrey Epstein, whilst Harvey Weinstein abused his position with the film industry. In all these instances, the rich and powerful have supported the rich and powerful in restricting the flow of information, suppressing victims, and making sure to hide the truth. In the case of the elements of the furry community, there is at least a sign that they are capable of self-policing. The others? Well, possibly, albeit at a glacial pace.
Guilt by Reputation
Furries are often presented as overly sexualised, and there is an element of this to the community, but then again, in the vast majority of occasions it’s all about consensual relationships. People love to make assumptions, but assumptions make an ass out of you and me, and all too often, those pointing the finger of disapproval need to reflect on the behaviour of their own ilk. Society faces more ills from organised religion, institutionalised patriarchal practices, and unchecked greed, than it could ever face from people who dress up as anthropomorphic animals. Alas, the powerful are always looking for scapegoats, and they are keen to distract from their own failures. They seize on the worst examples (some of which aren’t even remotely true), whilst covering up their own horrendous crimes.
You have to wonder who the next scapegoats will be. You also have to wonder if the rich and powerful will ever truly try to clean up their own messes.
