So I was re-reading this interview today and thinking about Davekat and Dirkjake and how both narratives revolve around struggling with this very detached, uncaring, disconnected sense of masculinity–in some ways this is true of Jake and Karkat as much as Dirk and Dave. 

And I’m once again struck by these pragraphs which are 100% true and I think goes a long way in explaining why furry stuff resonates with me so much and maybe to some extent why I was rather insulated from the worst of that hypermasculine mentality:

“RORY: I’ve talked before, I think, about how what’s interesting about the language of male affection in furry stuff is that it’s kind of like, this shared experience of feeling more comfortable and validated about shamed desires by bringing them back to this childhood comfort space. It’s really fundamentally different in a lot of ways from like, aggressive worship of disconnected mutually assured uncaring masculinity, all that stuff?

AUSTIN:  Yes!! Chris Goodwin, that was it! And yeah, that’s honestly a spectacular way to put it— that mutually-assured-uncaring line hit me like a punch in the stomach. I think a lot of queer kids are drawn to furry media and art because it’s a way to soften and lend intimacy and sweetness to what is usually this, like, intentionally-sexualized sense of scariness around being queer. You have these internalized feelings of shame and fear that then congeal around this idea of, like you said, utterly disconnected masculinity.

Using cartoons to explore themes like male affection and intimacy can take them from this very hoo-rah, austere — and deeply, deeply silly — TOM of Finland level of emotional distance to something very secure and okay and comforting, like “this is okay, you are okay! It’s okay for this to be fun!” — Especially for kids growing up queer, it can be difficult to find expressions of closeness that aren’t either veiled in plausible deniability, or are just out-and-out sexualization of pain and internalized shame.”

Anyway. I’m not going anywhere in specific with this I’m just glad the furry community was there for me and I’m also glad Dave, Jake and Dirk are canon furries and Dave definitely got Karkat in on it probably during the meteor. 

ZEAL- Rory Frances’ interview with Austin Hocolmb, of Night Physics