'The furry fandom is just like any other group of like-minded individuals,' Strom says. Strom says that the fandom is not about sex at all, and that it's no different than communities of people obsessed with anime or superhero comics. He cautiously agreed to an interview with me because - as a 17-year veteran of the fandom - he wants to set the furry facts straight.
But Strom isn't here to tell me about costumes or kinks. Furries are often portrayed as weirdos who dress up as animals for sex play. Strom is a furry - a subset of geeks who like to role play as fictional anthropomorphic characters with human traits. He's gotten himself in trouble by doing this, which I myself have done a couple of times. He offers his services when he shouldn't be because the people he's helping don't really deserve his help. He's in his 30s, he has blue eyes and blond hair.' Strom says, pointing to his blond ponytail and gentle blue eyes. 'He's a nice guy to a fault. 'He is six foot two, which is how tall I am. For the past 17 years, Strom has had an anthropomorphic alter-ego: Jaded Fox. There's just something about them that speaks to me,' he tells me over coffee and a sandwich near his downtown San Francisco office, where he works as an IT guy for a media company. Josh Strom always loved foxes, but it wasn't until he became an adult that he started to imagine what it would be like to actually become one.
