Papabear on the "Furry Lifestyle"

Hello, Everyfur,

Papabear's inbox is once more running on empty, so I thought I'd chat about something important to me. Recently, I received an email from Chion Wolf, producer of "The Colin McEnroe" show, which is broadcast on WNPR in Connecticut. They are doing a show about the "furry lifestyle" before FurFright. As she writes:

Hi there! 
I'm a producer for the Colin McEnroe Show on WNPR in Connecticut, and we're doing a radio show on Furry culture before a Furry event at the end of October - We'd love to get some more voices on the show to tell our audience about the Furry lifestyle. There was a library here in Connecticut that recently said that Furries aren't welcome! We wanted to take that opportunity to do a show and educate some folks. Are you available to call in? Or know of someone else, or anyone in Connecticut? We're still waiting to hear back from the people organizing FurFright 2012.
Thanks in advance! 

I wrote back that I would be happy to talk on the show because I strongly believe that we should not hide from the media. Principally, what I wish to emphasize to Ms. Wolf (with a name like that, she should be a furry!) is that there is no such thing as a "furry lifestyle." That furries are a diverse group and do not share a "lifestyle" of any sort. You know and I know what Ms. Wolf is referring to when she labels the community this way, and I find it offensive.

No two furries are alike. The only thing we ALL share is our interest in anthropomorphic characters. After that, we are a mixed bag--young, greymuzzle, gay, straight, religious, atheist, male, female, fursuiters, nonfursuiters, artists, nonartists, etc. etc.

Of course, we'll have to address the whole furporn thing to which my response is that the furry community is comprised of sexually active people who enjoy sex like anyone else. Next question. 

I'm really sick of the outside community--mundanes, if you will--always try to label us and pigeonhole us into something that will be titillating so that they can have a story that gets them viewers or listeners.

I'm not sure if Ms. Wolf will still invite me to her panel or not, but if she does, let me know what things you would like me to talk about with her. Write me at [email protected].

--Papabear