I think this might be as good a place as any to drop a note of caution about all statistics you can find about trafficking or Backpage.com. While debunking itself is accused of murky politics (especially by opponents with vested interest themselves) there's a lot of common sense criticism about what you might call an industry of inflating numbers and causing panic. Same as if we were talking about marijuana use being accused of heinous affects that don't exist.
This topic is the tip of where furry meets counterculture. For that, it makes sense to look towards the SF Bay area - silicon valley's relationship with furry should need no introduction - and here's some data about it being a "hotbed" of furry subculture.
Here's a piece I did that relates to it. Furry events there can cross over with subcultural circus theater, avant-cabaret, burlesque, comedy and music, and other subculture like Burning Man.
There's been great support here for furry kink events. I co founded one by invite of a BDSM club and have dated sex workers like one who worked at the unionized Lusty Lady club.
This stuff is under pressure to exist, and where it does it can bring healthy safer support for people involved. It's everywhere of course, but in other places where it's driven underground it makes things worse. (As an aside, no it's not comparable to complaint about the community moderating itself by excluding hate speech, hate is the opposite value, moderation is a sign of health too.)
To the extent that furry represents DIYness and outsiderness as a self made community, members whose interest aligns with kink deserve tolerance for it. They're just as much fans into books and art as anyone else in it. They're also a reason it has independence and isn't a corporate run mickey mouse club, and might deserve a special thanks for that. A piece about that -
Speaking of Pounced I see this as part of a scary larger agenda. Soapboxing, but their closing appears to be collateral damage from a real attack in the larger culture. I have no idea who these critics are or where they're coming from with insinuations about sinister activity on the site. Unless we get names and evidence to give it substance, it may even be evidence of a loaded topic used as a wedge to drive in a repressive agenda. As far as I know, Pounced has been a staple of the community forever, run by nonprofit generosity, apart from all other personals sites here. (Linked above, a piece looking at other sites being scammy was one of the first expose type articles I did back in 2013.) Unless anyone wants to come forward with evidence of suspicions for a more complicated story, the whole community should be upset about Pounced taking a hit against what it represents. I've been getting tons of comments from furries telling about meeting, making friends and getting married to others met on the site.
I think this might be as good a place as any to drop a note of caution about all statistics you can find about trafficking or Backpage.com. While debunking itself is accused of murky politics (especially by opponents with vested interest themselves) there's a lot of common sense criticism about what you might call an industry of inflating numbers and causing panic. Same as if we were talking about marijuana use being accused of heinous affects that don't exist.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/03/27/lies-damned-lies-and...
https://www.villagevoice.com/2011/03/23/womens-funding-network-sex-trafficking-s...
This topic is the tip of where furry meets counterculture. For that, it makes sense to look towards the SF Bay area - silicon valley's relationship with furry should need no introduction - and here's some data about it being a "hotbed" of furry subculture.
https://thebolditalic.com/amp/p/10fb86273453
Here's a piece I did that relates to it. Furry events there can cross over with subcultural circus theater, avant-cabaret, burlesque, comedy and music, and other subculture like Burning Man.
http://dogpatch.press/2015/11/06/rap-cd-comedy-show/
There's been great support here for furry kink events. I co founded one by invite of a BDSM club and have dated sex workers like one who worked at the unionized Lusty Lady club.
https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/08/what-it-was-like-to-work-at...
This stuff is under pressure to exist, and where it does it can bring healthy safer support for people involved. It's everywhere of course, but in other places where it's driven underground it makes things worse. (As an aside, no it's not comparable to complaint about the community moderating itself by excluding hate speech, hate is the opposite value, moderation is a sign of health too.)
To the extent that furry represents DIYness and outsiderness as a self made community, members whose interest aligns with kink deserve tolerance for it. They're just as much fans into books and art as anyone else in it. They're also a reason it has independence and isn't a corporate run mickey mouse club, and might deserve a special thanks for that. A piece about that -
http://dogpatch.press/2015/03/31/community-commodity/
Speaking of Pounced I see this as part of a scary larger agenda. Soapboxing, but their closing appears to be collateral damage from a real attack in the larger culture. I have no idea who these critics are or where they're coming from with insinuations about sinister activity on the site. Unless we get names and evidence to give it substance, it may even be evidence of a loaded topic used as a wedge to drive in a repressive agenda. As far as I know, Pounced has been a staple of the community forever, run by nonprofit generosity, apart from all other personals sites here. (Linked above, a piece looking at other sites being scammy was one of the first expose type articles I did back in 2013.) Unless anyone wants to come forward with evidence of suspicions for a more complicated story, the whole community should be upset about Pounced taking a hit against what it represents. I've been getting tons of comments from furries telling about meeting, making friends and getting married to others met on the site.