OP-ED: Don't Be a Cat for Halloween If You're Not a Furry

Every year, thousands of people dress up in skimpy cat costumes for Halloween. What you may not realize is that these costumes are deeply hurtful to those of us who are actually sexually aroused by anthropomorphic cats.

My fetish is not a costume.

Furries are people who get really turned on by the thought of animals with human characteristics. There’s something about a cat on two legs with human emotions that revs my engines and drives me wild. Your sexy cat costume shows complete insensitivity to the struggles of our fetish subculture.

Think of the last time you wanted something you could not have. Now imagine if that thing was sex with an animal-human chimera. Your sexy cat costume trivializes our unending, ceaseless desire to hook up with a sexy cat.

A real furry costume is a beautiful thing. The hair is soft and thick. The eyes are deeply expressive. The bodies often include realistic animal genitalia. Drawing whiskers on your face, putting on ears, and calling that a cat is a disgraceful mockery of furry culture.

Bar an incredible advance in modern science, I will never get to meet and hook up with an actual feline-human hybrid. By pretending to be a cat, you force me to relive the pain of my unrealizable desires.

It is possible that you are wearing this outfit to increase your chances of hooking up with someone on Halloween. But did you pause to consider what that says to actual furries? Most of us struggle to find people who are also sexually attracted to human-like cats. Your ability to commoditize "wanting to fuck an animal" for one night a year is a slap in the face.

This Halloween, please be sensitive with your costume choice. Unless you are genuinely, deeply turned on by an anthropomorphic cat, pick something else.