Recently there's been some new shit on twitter relating to Zaush, wherein he shared clothed images of kids (like you'd see in a catalogue) alongside porn of adults who deliberately make themselves look as young as possible, for the purposes of reference material for a potential cub art commission. I think the reaction to this leaked telegram conversation raises some interesting things to think about, so it's a good excuse for some thinking and talking. Anyway, the images Zaush shared in the conversation were not illegal, so that lie going around ought to be nipped in the bud before going further. The rest is about ones personal values.
First thing I'd like to make note of is that I can't see any objection to being disgusted by this conversation, since disgust is a personal, emotional response, it isn't something you can control and it isn't right or wrong in itself. So it is naturally understandable for people reading the conversation to be revolted by it. Personally, I'm rather puritanical for a furry and find most porn to be rather nasty to look at. As a result, along with drawing porn for furries for years, of things I'm not into, I have cultivated an attitude to facilitate my doing that. I may not be into something, but that doesn't make me "good" for not being into it, nor does it make those who are "bad" for liking it. We all know that our sexual interests are not a switch or series of switches that we can flip on and off; what we find attractive is something we are stuck with, hence the amazingly bizarre variety of furry artwork out there, haha.
Following on directly from this fact, it is therefore to be logically concluded that being disgusted by the sexual fantasies of another person is not a reason to think of that person as being evil for those fantasies. It is really important to see people as people first, with their sexual interests just being a part of who they are that they didn't choose. Next, I would say that fantasy is not reality. I'm sure we can all agree on this. Because sexual fantasies are not by necessity sexual realities, it is wrong to treat the former with the same moral weight as the latter, for the former doesn't physically exist, it doesn't act in the real world. Do you think it would be a good idea to behave as though people's fantasies, people's fiction, constitute immoral acts just as actual immoral acts are? Something for you to decide I guess, but I don't think a society built upon such a foundation as that would be one in which living is desirable.
So, after those broader principles, let's get more specific. Paedophilia and cub porn. We all know that cub stuff is very controversial in the fandom, as is Paedophilia. I think this is for good reason; it is, of course, morally right and even a moral duty to find child abuse to be evil, even among the most evil things human beings are capable of. So a natural disgust for fiction depicting things that are paedophilic in nature is a healthy and understandable reaction to have. However, I also believe that the head must rule the heart in the end, hence the necessity of having a justice system that is as impartial regarding emotions as possible. Justice must be blind to such things. So with this, with fantasy that repulses and revolts us, the head must prevail. People who like and draw cub porn, shota, loli, whatever are not abusing children. Drawings and stories are not abuse, they are fiction. So no matter how much one may be disgusted by such material, fiction is all that it is. Non-furries for years have justified their painting us as deviant scum on the basis that our sexual interests are repulsive, this same faulty principle is applied by us to fans of cub art. Tragically amusing.
Just as a short personal aside, regarding Zaush's artwork: Daddy's Little Secrets. I found the characters to be either sociopathic predators or empty vessels, receptacles for cum. I found the comic utterly disgusting. However, as it is a work of fiction and I am not the intended audience for it, there's nothing in the comic or my reaction to it that has anything to do with morality. Zaush has not committed a crime by producing the comic and I am not some moral saint for being revolted by it. Morality has fuck all to do with it.
I think it is really important generally, not just in a fandom where art is so inseparable from everything within it, to keep ones moral judgements in check. A moral reaction to art is part of what makes art as effective as it is in the first place, but it is so bloody important to not extend ones moral reaction to fiction to the authors of it. So, to conclude this, people's fantasies may well disgust and delight, but for the authors of fantasy to be immoral they have to DO immoral things in the real world. If we do not believe this, if we make exceptions for things that bother us the most, we're up shit creek sans paddles. We will not have the furry fandom as a place where free artistic expression exists. If a principle does not protect what we object to as individuals, then neither are the things we like protected from those who object to our own tastes.
