Kigu time!

A quieter week, following on the heels of a lovely rope and wine evening that consisted of wine and lots of people huddled in cuddle puddles on sheepskin rugs. I think the weather made us feel more in need of warm, human bodies than anything else. Chiaroscuro and I did bring along our kigu outfits which made us even more huggable, and cause Ringmaster to look on aghast as we demanded Shibari. Probably not an authentic traditional experience but a worthwhile exploration of otaku culture and also lots of silly, giggling fun. This tangentially led on to a conversation about "eastern" versus "western" Shibari - the former placing emphasis on passive, receiving rope bottoms and the latter involving more ties that revolve around restraint and struggle. We wondered whether this was a cultural thing - certainly it would be a very British trope to only feel able to let go and enjoy being tied up in situations where one was forced to do so, or could not escape.

Eventually, after being chased around Benny Hill style, he overcame his disgust and used ties that were appropriate to the animals we were dressed up as - emphasising the limbs of the long legged giraffe and the traditional pose of a growling bear. He will probably start talking to me again around 2019.

I don't think it's a kink in the sense that being a furry is. I don't feel sexual or sexualised (I really, really don't want to have sex whilst wearing one), but I do feel happy and amused. All of which are good and positive things. After a shopping trip the next day in which other perverts bought kigu the general consensus was that they do create a different persona for you to inhabit. Certainly I was me, but I was me with the knowledge that I could be silly. Part of me thinks that this sort of dress-up and lets pretend teeters on the edges of The Doll Project and of aspects of animal play.

Except, not quite.

Dolls are, by my own definition at least, for sexual use or abuse. And animals tend towards the dangerous and somewhat cruel, rough things in need of taking and taming. These toys are different. Remember when you were young and you built a den, perhaps using blankets and old clothes horses? You hid in it, maybe with a torch and were safe in your own secret world where everything was soft and comforting. They are like that. I got the giggles a lot and romped around.

We discussed how clothing affects how you are perceived, and whether we could all get kitted up in our plushie jumpsuits attend a BDSM event and engage in some extreme edge play. I think that there would be a certain element of point scoring involved in this - which isn't to say that it shouldn't be done, although it's fair to say that some people will get upset and think we are taking the piss. Which in one sense, we would be. However, far too much kink is taken far too seriously and far too much labelling is done via whatever someone is wearing.

Plus if you can dominate someone whilst wearing a giant panda costume, you can pretty much do anything. And it would be marvellously creepy.