August
2006
Myth:
Vegans Don’t Have Sex
Vegan Aphrodite
The Satya Interview with Furry Girl
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Two years ago, at 20 years of age Furry Girl founded Veg Porn, an alternative
erotica and sex-positive society for vegetarian and vegan models of
all shapes, sizes and sexual identities. Around the same time she went
on to establish the renowned online Veg Sex Shop—offering the
best selection of sensual products that are free from animal testing
and animal byproducts. From vegan condoms, dams and latex gloves, to
rubber whips and non-leather restraints, the Veg Sex Shop is a must
for all vegans wanting to spice it up, keep it safe and be cruelty-free.
They also donate five percent of all sales to Scarleteen, a nonprofit,
sex-positive educational resource aimed at young people.
Busting all sorts of stereotypes, Furry Girl has some very interesting things
to say about the connections between feminism, animal rights and anti-pornography
advocacy. Brainy and busty, she carries within a strong sense of compassion and
justice. Kymberlie Adams Matthews shot the breeze with Furry
Girl about porn,
periods and vegan lubes.
Tell us about going vegan.
I went vegan seven summers ago. It was a simple choice that I made as soon as
I really looked into the subject of food animals. I can’t understand how
people can spend months or years ‘trying’ to give up certain foods
while supposedly acknowledging the horrific conditions that animals live under.
But I’ve never been one for half-assing things. I give my whole ass for
the animals.
When and why did you get involved with sex work?
I booked a solo photo shoot with a large adult company when I was 18. Aside from
being a boring anti-sexual experience, the creepy photographer was paid more
than I was. I took the $750 check I got and bought a digital camera of my own.
The first porn site I ever joined was jen-dave.com. Jen and Dave’s site
is a collection of homemade amateur/swinger/exhibitionist porn featuring themselves
and plenty of their friends. Unlike many mainstream adult productions, this sort
of porn was fun, realistic and hot. It was precisely the sort of thing I wanted
to go for, so the site really served as an inspiration to me.
I opened my first site in January of 2003, furrygirl.com, a solo amateur site
with a “bizarre twist”—I don’t shave my pits, legs or
cooter. As common as the fuzzy look is among my own friends, it’s almost
unheard of in porn. I’m a very low-maintenance person, so it’s always
a bonus to know that you don’t need to learn proper shaving or makeup application
techniques to make a living in the industry.
Do you consider yourself to be an activist?
I consider many adult sites to be of an “activist” nature by virtue
of their sex-positive presentations and array of models who break the bounds
of mainstream beauty standards. The porn industry will always produce the same
old formulaic junk, but we outsiders can work to carve out our own niches with
fun erotica that reflects our own interests.
I also run a menstruation-themed site, eroticred.com, which seeks to do away
with the silly notion that menstruation is filthy and that bleeding women shouldn’t
be having sex or be proud of their bodies at that time of the month. I would
say that’s my most activist-leaning site, especially since there is a chance
I could be prosecuted under U.S. obscenity laws for it, even go to prison for
my crazy idea that menstruation is a normal part of an adult woman’s sexuality.
There’s such a culture of shame and secrecy that surrounds menstruation,
and I like getting people talking about it.
How and why did you create Veg Porn?
It started with a short link list of performers like myself who were vegans and
vegetarians, and I got a lot of positive feedback from it. In May of 2004, I
opened Veg Porn as a membership site with exclusive photo sets of herbivores,
interesting articles and links, and the one and only naked vegan recipe collection.
I currently have 29 models of all shapes and sexual styles, and I just added
a forum for veggie restaurant reviews and an interview section for spotlighting
some good people in the AR community. There wasn’t any kind of grand plan,
like trying to use porn to convert people to veganism. I simply wanted a place
that offers the sort of things I find arousing made by people with animal-friendly
views.
And that led to the fabulous Veg Sex Shop?
I always knew I wanted to open a store, so it was great to get to a point where
I had a few thousand dollars to invest in getting together an inventory. I opened
in November 2004 and have filled around 700 orders since then.
I know a lot of people have a hard time finding vegan condoms and lubes. Can
you talk a bit about the products you offer?
I sell Glyde condoms, dams and gloves from Australia, which I haven’t seen
for sale in many other places. I stock a wide variety of vegan lubes—I’m
big on advising people to add some more slickness to their sex play. I also carry
silicone sex toys made by a small woman-owned company, a solar-powered bullet
vibe, the legendary Hitachi Magic Wand, some non-leather floggers and restraints,
vegan lip balm and a couple of good sex books. I would never carry any offensive
or dangerous junk, like breast or penis ‘enlarging’ pills that prey
on peoples’ insecurities, or dildos made from mystery plastics that possibly
pose health risks to their users. People should have the same high standards
for products they insert in their lower orifices that they do for the foods they
put in their mouths.
I think people don’t realize that these items aren’t vegan. Like,
how can a condom not be vegan, it’s only latex, right?
Sure, latex is a plant product, but milk protein is often added during the manufacturing
process. I’ve heard two stories behind why that is done—one, it acts
as an anti-frothing agent in the machinery, and two, that caseinates are a preservative.
Plus, most condoms are tested on animals, so it’s no real shock that the
two brands of widely recognized vegan condoms come from other countries, Glyde
from Australia and Condomi of Germany. I always tell people that if they can’t
find vegan condoms in their area, it’s really a better choice to use any
condom rather than no condom at all.
Some in the animal rights community are strongly anti-pornography and
anti-prostitution. This is based on the idea that women are seen by society as
commodities, as animals
are seen as commodities—animals being consumed literally as meat and women
being consumed figuratively as sex objects. What are your thoughts?
The funny/sad thing is the only people who think of sexual women as objects or
commodities are abject misogynists and certain strains of feminists. I think
most anti-sex feminist literature is nothing more than an exercise in showcasing
how the author’s own self-hatred and personal insecurities are projected
onto other women who are not ashamed of themselves. I feel sorry for women who
hold such angry and derogatory views of themselves and others.
It’s not hard to see why there are a number of animal rights activists
who cling to anti-sex and anti-porn rhetoric. As vegans, so many of us have been
conditioned to think of things only in terms of being brave crusaders for voiceless
victims who cannot speak on their own behalf. But you cannot extrapolate that
line of thinking onto humans and try to impose what you think is best on communities
of people who do not want or need your help. By reducing sex workers to frightened
abused animals in need of rescuing, they’ve really done nothing but reinforce
the idea that women are livestock who can’t think for themselves.
That’s a really good point. There are feminist groups who have simply shunned
sex worker issues while still professing to work for women’s rights.
The unfortunate downside to women having increased sexual and economic autonomy
is that not all of us make choices that are in line with what conservative feminists
believe we should be allowed to do. I don’t know what some people think
feminism means, but it shouldn’t mean that women need anyone, man or woman,
to tell them what they can do with their lives and their bodies.
Do you see the way mainstream society looks at sex workers and the way society
looks at animals connecting?
We as a society don’t afford much respect to either sex workers or animals—which
is a greater issue that vegan feminists could address. Nothing is gained by a
feminist movement that is bent on segregating out the ‘sluts’ and
holding them up as either pitiless victims or enemies of decency.
Who inspires you, both in terms of animal rights and your work?
I’ll always be inspired by people who work tirelessly for their causes,
most of whom never get any fame or glory. When it comes to the sex industry,
there are so many delightful people with similar visions to my own.
This issue is about busting vegan stereotypes. Do you think you bust any vegan
stereotypes?
I think most vegans bust the stereotype that we’re all pale nutters who
eat nothing but raw carrots and yell at everyone we encounter. I don’t
know any stereotypical vegans.
For more information on the Veg Sex Shop visit vegsexshop.com; Veg Porn visit
vegporn.com; Furry Girl visit www.furrygirl.com.
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