http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2734854/Cats-wearing-stockings-bears-satin-corsets-2-000-adults-dress-sexualised-cuddly-toys-bizarre-festival.html![]()
Everyone loves a sh*t show. But that's what Daily Mail is all about...
Grown adults dressed as sexualised cuddly toys met at a gathering for ‘furries’ in Germany at Eurofurence, Europe’s largest furry fandom convention.
Cats in tutus and stockings, bears in cleavage baring tops and a creature in a satin corset were some of the 2,000 people who attended the convention in Berlin for fans of animals with anthropomorphic qualities.
The 20th anniversary of Euroference saw adults cuddling up in their figure-hugging outfits – which can cost as much as £5,000.
But Liza, a 29-year-old graphic designer based in Brighton, denied the convention was a sex party for people with a furry toy fetish.
She told the Independent: ‘We’re sick to death of reading that furry conventions are all about sex.’
Fans claim that adopting ‘fursonas’ to engage in animal roleplay by touching, petting, hugging and stroking each other is just harmless fun.
Anthrozoologist and social psychologist Kathy Gerbasi, who studies the furry phenomenon and has a fur suit herself, agreed there was a sexual aspect.
She said: ‘There is a sexual element for some people but I don’t think that applies to the majority.’
Ms Gerbasi, 65, argues that most people are interested in animals from a young age. She said: ‘We grow up with teddy bears, stories and pets. But furries take this interest in animals further.’
Some take it so far – that they actually believe they are part animal.
She said: ‘For most furries it’s just a fun hobby, but for others it’s an alter ego. Some think they’ve been reincarnated as an animal.’
New Yorker Ms Gerbasi, who is married to a pediatrician and has three children, got hooked on furry fandom nine years ago after coming across the underground movement on the internet.
She began studying the craze and ended up buying a dog costume based on her pet basset-springer spaniel for £180, which she wears every year to a festival called Anthrocon.
She said: ‘Most people spend around £5,000 on their costumes but I opted for a cheaper one and decided to make the body myself.
‘The first time I wore it to a furry convention I was nervous, but after a while I relaxed and it was so much fun.
‘My husband and children think it’s ridiculous but they let me get on with it.
‘The only thing is that it gets very hot in the outfit.’
But Ms Gerbasi does not wear her outfit in public. She said: ‘I’ve toyed with the idea of wearing it out but I was worried I would scare the cats.
'I do know some furries who go bowling in their costumes, but I think most like to wear them at conventions where they are surrounded by like-minded people.’
Conventions are held around the world and the UK scene is reported to be very active, though there are no reunions currently held on the scale of Euroference.
