Well, I don't think stamp collectors and RC enthusiasts *have* much to worry about when it comes to sexy pictures at their conventions, so it's kind of a difficult comparison to make. :)
Seriously, this is a debate that's been going on in furry fandom since before people were calling it furry fandom--back in the early '80s there was an APA for cartoonists called "Vootie," a place for them to do funny animal cartoons that weren't Disney. I mean that literally, not euphemistically--Vootie was adult just in the sense of not being kiddie-only. Then one of the cartoonists, Reed Waller, did an explicit comic--and the debate of whether that's "proper" hasn't let up since.
The thing is, the comic Waller did was what became the comic "Omaha the Cat Dancer," an adults-only title that's been cited as one of the best serious comic books that's been done in the last twenty years. There's no reason that "adults-only" has to be something to be ashamed of. I wouldn't give a child a copy of "Omaha"; I wouldn't take the child to see "Saving Private Ryan," either.
As to whether selling explicit art is all about money, from watching the fandom since 1987 or so, I'd have to say it's a strongly qualified yes. Tweaking people's hormones is a level of insurance against mediocre talent: passably-good explicit art will sell better than passably-good non-explicit art. Non-explicit artists have to better. The flip side of this is that they can get a lot more attention, and a lot more money, when they're good.
Lastly, as to the "dark side": I'll be frank. If you've been a lifelong SF/F fan and been to nearly any SF convention, you will find the dark side *there,* too. For years around the Florida con scene one of the regular dealers was a guy calling himself "James Bondage," and he was selling, shall we say, eyebrow-raising gear. And "Uncle Larry the porn merchant" is still a staple on that circuit.
Furry fandom is unique only to the degree that it's had much more attention focused on that aspect, which has been something of a double whammy: not only are people more inclined to notice the sordid stuff, people are more inclined to *display* sordid stuff because they've heard they can sell it. This cycle probably won't be broken in the foreseeable future. Even so, it's not nearly as difficult to ignore stuff you're disinterested in--and find stuff that you *are* interested in--as some people would have you believe. (Furry fandom may also be unique with respect to the shrillness of its internal critics.)
Well, I don't think stamp collectors and RC enthusiasts *have* much to worry about when it comes to sexy pictures at their conventions, so it's kind of a difficult comparison to make. :)
Seriously, this is a debate that's been going on in furry fandom since before people were calling it furry fandom--back in the early '80s there was an APA for cartoonists called "Vootie," a place for them to do funny animal cartoons that weren't Disney. I mean that literally, not euphemistically--Vootie was adult just in the sense of not being kiddie-only. Then one of the cartoonists, Reed Waller, did an explicit comic--and the debate of whether that's "proper" hasn't let up since.
The thing is, the comic Waller did was what became the comic "Omaha the Cat Dancer," an adults-only title that's been cited as one of the best serious comic books that's been done in the last twenty years. There's no reason that "adults-only" has to be something to be ashamed of. I wouldn't give a child a copy of "Omaha"; I wouldn't take the child to see "Saving Private Ryan," either.
As to whether selling explicit art is all about money, from watching the fandom since 1987 or so, I'd have to say it's a strongly qualified yes. Tweaking people's hormones is a level of insurance against mediocre talent: passably-good explicit art will sell better than passably-good non-explicit art. Non-explicit artists have to better. The flip side of this is that they can get a lot more attention, and a lot more money, when they're good.
Lastly, as to the "dark side": I'll be frank. If you've been a lifelong SF/F fan and been to nearly any SF convention, you will find the dark side *there,* too. For years around the Florida con scene one of the regular dealers was a guy calling himself "James Bondage," and he was selling, shall we say, eyebrow-raising gear. And "Uncle Larry the porn merchant" is still a staple on that circuit.
Furry fandom is unique only to the degree that it's had much more attention focused on that aspect, which has been something of a double whammy: not only are people more inclined to notice the sordid stuff, people are more inclined to *display* sordid stuff because they've heard they can sell it. This cycle probably won't be broken in the foreseeable future. Even so, it's not nearly as difficult to ignore stuff you're disinterested in--and find stuff that you *are* interested in--as some people would have you believe. (Furry fandom may also be unique with respect to the shrillness of its internal critics.)
- Watts Martin (watts at ranea dot org)