For years, handmade art pamphlets known as fanzines, or zines, have been used as a way to spread social messages. Often their contents are controversial, but, like most artwork, the purpose is to make the viewer think deeper about the message. The self-described queer, furry zine, Pawboy, has the same goals.
Zines began as a storytelling method as early as the 1940s but grew in popularity as a form of protest and social commentary in the 1970s punk and the 1990s riot grrrl movement. They’re usually made by folding one piece of paper to create a four-page booklet.
Pawboy is a zine spreading around Western Carolina University’s campus. The zine depicts queer anthropomorphic characters wearing sexual outfits or engaging in sexual activities with other anthropomorphic characters.
An anthropomorphic character is an animal with human characteristics, the most common example being the characters from Disney’s Zootopia. Furries are a fandom that create their own characters and cosplay as them. The characters they create and embody are known as fursonas.
The author of Pawboy chose to be addressed by his pen name, Slush Puppy, to protect his identity due to the negative backlash the zine has received online.
Slush Puppy began creating and distributing Pawboy around campus at the end of January. He pinned them on bulletin boards, placed them on tables in residence halls and academic buildings and hid them in the library. He also shared previews from each zine on his Instagram, @slus.hpuppy.
“Any time queer art is in the forefront, especially if it involves sex, it can be taboo and something people are uncomfortable speaking about. But that’s a reason why I think it’s important to put this kind of media out there. Those conversations do need to be had because ultimately when sex is not viewed as taboo and it’s rather viewed as something normal, it makes it safer for a lot of people, especially people in the queer community,” Slush Puppy said. “There’s not a whole lot of information to be had out there, there’s not a lot of queer media, especially sexual content, that’s not fetish content. That was a big part of this project, giving a voice to that kind of queer sexuality because it does exist. Even if we don’t talk about it, it’s a part of our lives.”
Slush Puppy hoped his zines could be the voice and representation that he felt media lacked. Before his most recent edition, Slush Puppy used his social media to ask followers what questions about sexual safety they had and incorporated it into the zine. He felt that depicting the subject matter plainly was a way to reclaim the sexualization of his identities.
“I’m transgender and in the LGBTQ community. People in my community right now feel powerless. So, one of the first reasons I decided to undertake this project was because it gives me some of my power back,” Slush Puppy said. “It reclaims the fact that queer people are going to be sexualized, furries are going to be sexualized whether they are in explicit content or not.”
However, a large part of Pawboy’s controversy is its sexual images. Many feel the zine is too inappropriate to be in a public space. However, Slush Puppy intentionally designed the cover as a way to give viewers the chance to consent before reading it.
“A big part of it for me was giving people the option to look at it. Going along with my choice to make the content what it is, part of that decision was making sure that even if it’s placed in public spaces on campus, it has a cover that is not explicit and let’s you know what it is when you look at it,” Slush Puppy said. “People’s choice is very important to me.”
Lizzy, a furry at WCU, feels the cover is not sufficient for the nature of the content. Furries are a targeted group at WCU, therefore Lizzy chose to go by her fursona name to avoid harassment from her peers.
“I don’t think we should be distributing pornographic images around campus willy nilly. Even though there’s a warning, everyone has a different definition of what porn and 18+ entails,” Lizzy said. “One person might say, ‘18+ the worst it can get is tasteful nudity,’ while another person’s definition of 18+ might be full-on Pornhub stuff.”
Slush Puppy feels his work is art whether it’s considered pornographic by its viewers or not.
“There’s not a limit to art. People have struggled to put art in a box for centuries and that’s the problem is trying to put art in a box in the first place. I think pornographic art exists and it is pornographic art, but it is still art,” Slush Puppy said.
The zine is not associated with Furries at WCU, a registered student organization for WCU students that are a part of the furry fandom. According to Taiga, the president of Furries at WCU who also chose to go by his fursona name for the same reason as Lizzy, the response from the organization has been mixed.
“I did expect less pushback from the furry community at campus,” Slush Puppy said. “I have in the past been involved with the furry club, but this magazine is not affiliated with them.”
Lizzy’s biggest problem with Pawboy is the fear that she or her organization will receive the blame and backlash for the zine. She has not worn her furry costume, or fursuit, since the zines have been released.
“The general public does not know that this person may or may not be in the club. They’re just going to unfortunately automatically assume that it’s one of us,” Lizzy said. “I’m just really worried that somebody will act aggressive verbally or, even, physically against one of us just for going around in fursuit. I haven’t touched my fursuit since I saw the zines because what if somebody sees me and tries to yell at me for this.”
Slush Puppy said he never intended to cause any harm for his community and hopes people will remember the zine is not associated with the club or other WCU furries.
For many furries on campus, harassment from their peers was a fear long before the zines began. According to Lizzy, she and her friends would often be barked at when they wore their fursuits around campus.
“I’ve been called a slur before in my fursuit. I don’t know the logic behind it but that is a thing that has happened,” Lizzy said. “There’s also been name calling mostly just furry weirdo, creep, pedo[phile] is one that people get a lot.”
The use of anthropomorphic characters in the zines has also led to a lot of backlash of the zines. Anonymous social media app, YikYak, has been many people’s outlet to insult furries.
“When you join the fandom and you learn about the stigma around furries, you have to accept that’s part of what being a furry is,” Lizzy said.
Previously pictures have been posted of furries to mock them or call them disgusting and the zine has not stopped that.
One photo, which was since deleted, showed the Pawboy torn to pieces with the caption, “I fixed it.” The comments on the post varied in agreement that the zine was inappropriate and deserved to be ripped while others argued that it was still art someone put time into and that the user could have ignored it if they disagreed with it.
Other posts have been a host for debates in the comment section. The main concern is whether children will read the zines. Some argue there are constantly elementary and middle school children around campus that could easily find the zine and take it. Others argue that posting the zine online would lead to more children seeing it than a few physical copies around campus. Both agree children will not be deterred by an 18+ warning.
Slush Puppy has read the online discourse and agrees that posting the zine online would most likely lead to more children seeing it. He is considering finding a different distribution method to ensure children don’t see it while still protecting his anonymity.
Despite responses from some peers, Slush Puppy believes he is providing a voice for his community and believes that is more important than responding to discomfort.
“I know that a lot of people are worried about how it will affect the reputation of the furry community on campus and while I do feel like that is a valid concern, I also think it’s important to protect members of our community and prioritize that over the comfort level of people who might oppose the community anyways,” Slush Puppy said. “I feel like because the furry community is viewed as kind of odd and sexual in nature by a lot of people there’s going to be opposition whether there’s sexual content or not.”
Being a furry is not always a sexual thing to every member. Some members, like Lizzy, simply see being a furry as a way to express their interest in a form of art and character design.
“You have to educate people whenever you can that not all furries are gross and it’s not a fetish for everybody,” Lizzy said. “For me, I get to dress up as my favorite character. It’s the same thing as cosplay. Some people dress as their favorite anime characters, I get to dress up as my favorite animal character.”
The main goal of Pawboy is for readers to confront their ideas about sex, especially queer sex. Slush Puppy hopes those who feel uncomfortable with the zine will reflect on what about it could be causing discomfort.
“I think that discomfort could be taken as an opportunity to step back and think about why does this make me uncomfortable. Is it just because it portrays sex, does it have to do with the fact that it’s queer sex, does it have to do the fact that it involves characters that are anthropomorphic and how that community is viewed,” Slush Puppy said. “I think it’s important to think about where is that opposition coming from. It’s being encountered in an adult space by adults and so as adults it’s important to think about, ‘why do I respond to adult content the way that I do?’”
