Knowing my love for plush toys, cartoons and strip clubs, a friend returned from N.Y.C. with a flyer for me. “Plushies,” it reads, alongside a photo of a man with a reaper tattoo on his shoulder wearing a studded leather cuff and collar, and nothing else, getting a piggyback ride from Tigger. Not a cartoon rendering of the classic Milne character, but a man in a plush suit. The back of the flyer reads, “Furvert Fetish and the Return of Kinky Tinky Winky.”

What are “furverts”? There is a lot of terminology to catch up on: “Furries” are simply devoted fans of cartoon animals from comic books and TV shows. Furverts, on the other hand, sexualize these cartoon animals, merging childhood and adult fantasies. While some furverts carry out these fantasies by role-playing online or viewing anatomically correct “tiffy” drawings of characters (essentially collecting cheese pinups with fur), others make wearable fur suits—taking the fantasy to a higher level.

By putting on a costume, “fur suits” actually embody their cartoon character for the purpose of sexual encounters. Fur-suit furverts mainly interact by hugging, dancing and rubbing at conventions across the globe. Lately, some furverts have taken their fur suits into the gay fetish rave scene in New York with anatomically altered or genital-accessible suits such as a codpiece-wearing Teletubby and Mickey Mouse with a zipper added to his shorts. Ravers have already reintegrated glow sticks, bouncy balls and Slinkies as trip toys and rediscovered the joy of sucking on lollipops, Jolly Ranchers and pacifiers, so why not go just one step further? After all, it’s just one more way of fulfilling the childhood fantasy of making love with a favorite cartoon. Fur suits hooking up with suit-less furry fans is a raver’s dream come true.

By imagining myself as both the naked boy and Tigger, I can begin to personally empathize with this fetish: As the boy, I get to live out my fantasy of being intimate with a trusted character I’ve loved since childhood. Even if there’s a penis that pops out of the costume, I don’t have to worry about being labeled gay, straight or bi—I just have to worry about giving and receiving pleasure. It is the ultimate one-night stand as no personality interferes with my fantasy. When I imagine myself as Tigger, on the other hand, I gain complete anonymity. I can be free of sexual and personal body hang-ups because I’m not me, I’m Tigger. At the same time I enjoy the openness and love that cartoons inspire. I can seamlessly slip into my alter ego, only giving to the encounter as much of myself as I choose. In both roles, in the fetish’s most perfect form, the very adult experience of sex with a stranger can be transformed into a childish game of make-believe.

Who ever would have guessed that Howard the Duck was so far ahead of its time?