This is a development on ideas articulated in 'InQueery (inQ)', a zine independently produced by the InQueery Collective in the summer of 2012.

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Porn-sonas
by Reindeer Roger

Part 1 - Intro
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The furry fandom is rarely written about at all, and on those occasions it is, it is rarely in the form of an opinionated, critical, balanced examination of a specific topic. After having written, and feeling quite satisfied with what I accomplished through a critical examination, attempt to explain, to define, and/or to complicate the definition of fursonas, I'm now going to do a more focused examination of 'Porn-sonas', a word I have invented (but probably am not the first to) for the purpose of defining a particular instance of/ function for many fursonas within the furry fandom.

Since having written my last article, I've felt a need to write an article on porn-sonas, or felt that I should have addressed them in the first place, for a few reasons.

Firstly, and most immediately, is due to an experience (paralleling other experiences) I recently had, helping my boyfriend invent his own fursona. Before becoming introduced to the furry fandom through me, his main encounters with furry artwork had been through furry porn, rather than furry comics, chaste artwork, or furry culture. I think that furry porn serves as an introduction, and draw, to the furry fandom for many people, and potentially to far more people than those drawn to it by other means.

Secondly, and as part of the same process of building details for my boyfriend's fursona, I noticed that he was predominantly concerned with the character being idealized along sexual terms, rather than any attempt at introspection or personal expression. The character he constructed, to highly detailed specifications, quickly became what seemed like a precise replica of the dominant cliché appearance of anthropomorphic characters represented in furry porn. He asked for a wolf, with well-toned but slender muscles, a slim waist, a dominant, protective and affectionate nature, a fun-loving and friendly personality, an interest in videogames, glasses, and a large, uncut dick with the foreskin always visible. When I asked him whether he had any sort-of back story, he seemed confused and disinterested in providing one, and when I asked him about clothes, he said his fursona would not wear clothes.

It's not that the connection between him and the character is absent, or that his fursona has a different sparseness or fixation on details than others in the fandom. More so, I was surprised by how quickly the construction of a fursona, the representation of oneself within the fandom, could become like others I had seen.

Functionally, most aspects of this character seem designed to assure its use in sexual situations the person creating it enjoys. Many of the characters properties make it designed to communicate, or negotiate his sexual interests. But as the character would be released to the Internet, and controlled, by him, the character is also like a sexual reinvention of himself, a vehicle for the purpose of sexual transformation, or for self-discovery.

I addressed in my disambiguation of fursonas that there is no way to fix the way they manifest, which remains true. However, since there are many specific aspects of the fandom that draw people to it – such as My Little Pony, popular webcomics, or furry porn – any article on the furry fandom that insists on maintaining ambiguity, and rejecting the possibility of drawing conclusions, ends up having an effect similar to a disclaimer, or attempt to conceal, the importance and proliferation of sexual materials, discourse, and activity within the fandom. In many senses, a fundamental draw to anthropomorphism is a sexual one. Likewise, it is artists specializing in pornographic illustration or writing who are the most widely viewed, and sexual furry images tend to be the ones that become most widely proliferated.

I'm aware that, despite my own experience concerning the subject matter, it is probably not as much as I think an adequate explanation or exploration of the topic requires. However, since I have not seen any writing on this or a similar topic similar to what I plan to write, I submit my own exploration of furry porn and porn-sonas to the Internet, and perhaps if I have a chance to work it over/ improve what I have written, elsewhere. For the benefit of other furs, people curious about them, and people who I think could benefit from learning something about, or from refamiliarizing themselves with, the furry fandom and subculture. Since furries are so strange, I imagine this could make an entertaining read to anyone who derives enjoyment from reading about unusual things/topics that seem to not be entirely aware of their own strangeness. And lastly, I would love if my writing led to more thought/ writing about the furry fandom, ideally by other people within the fandom. Lastly, I write this with no intention of sounding like a douche bag. I write this with only the least superficial and most personally derived of motivations, and also make myself available to criticism/ scrutiny where due.