And now for an inappropriately long, maybe-spoilery comment about this NSFW-text furry VN.
I’ve been thinking about this VN’s story for like a month since I played it. It’s not perfect, but I really like it. It’s an unexpectedly thoughtful critique at how we learn about other identities and cultures through something as performative as porn, but instead of being an ugly mirror of the real world, it actually presents some original issues by talking about furry evolution and history. It feels grounded in something sensible. It’s not just an exhausting rehash of the social issues that my friends and I have to deal with. This VN actally tries to present and break-down sexual stereotypes that this furry world faces, as the guys ask questions and think about how those stereotypes came to be.
They end up realizing some of the half-truths they’ve been told through the porn industry. Then it’s cleared up as they talk from their own experience and give their personal understanding of their own species. (And then the cat guy shows off his dick as proof.) It’s kind of beautiful? It’s an awesome way to demonstrate the deconstruction of stereotypes, where people just kinda listen to people unlike themselves and they learn something. It’s like, furry porn social justice. Can I say that to someone not in my friend circle and have it be taken as a compliment?
I really appreciate that this VN asks more questions to set species as something apart from something we could quickly identify in the real world. None of the stereotypes or issues presented have obvious “answers”. It suggests that we’d have this problem with any identifier if there was a distinct difference between the media we see, and the experiences of those people in real life. Different species still deal with stereotypes that come from porn, or even just from outsiders coming into big cities, but some of these stereotypes are apparently decent appraisals, so between these guys some of them are alright and don’t affect them negatively. But all of these stereotypes are based on sex or bodies, and the way the questions are phrased gives me the impression that these aren’t topics often talked about in public.
Breaking down these stereotypes is not something you could “solve” in a day because so many specifics would be involved. We only have the perspective of these two guys, but they tell us so much. You just have to sit and think about how what they talk about affects other furries like themselves as something ongoing. And that’s kind of awesome for some random furry VN on the internet to make me feel.