Nuki News #18 - Why Bellies?

If you know me, I have a very strong interest in bellies. I think since this interest has played a large part in my time in the fur community, I feel it’s good to dedicate at least 1 post to why I focus on them so much! 

The fur community is what allowed me to explore this part of myself that has always been there. It took some time, I didn’t start deliberately including belly-focus in my art until 2015. Honestly I had a great deal of embarrassment and shame for liking bellies so much, especially the thought of bellies touching each other. Typing this now, 5 years later, it’s absolutely silly to think the majority of my life I used to be afraid of even saying the word ‘belly’. I didn’t want anyone to know I liked them. For years I had only talked about it with a close circle of friends(whom I’m living with now actually). But you might ask, “Why bellies, Artie?” And a fair number of yall have an answer to it yourself, as I don’t doubt a number of you also enjoy them, otherwise you wouldn’t have found my work!

I think there are a few things I like about them, and if you’re into bellies too, then this probably seems token. Bellies are a softer tender part of us, and to some 4 legged animals(dogs and cats especially) exposing your belly is a sign of trust. I felt if you could have bellies touching, it’s like expressing you can trust each other, and it means a lot to me to get to touch bellies with someone else. It is also obviously a pretty intimate area! Intimacy is something I hungered for and lacked a lot of years past. It’s innocuous enough that there isn’t any inherent sexualness in it, though it definitely can go that direction if both folks involved care to.  I do enjoy how bigger bellies wobble, and can be squished and molded a fair bit, depending on the amount of fat. They feel smooth and warm, and I could certainly find myself spacing out rubbing a tummy! 

It seems to me a fairly large amount of furries who are  into fat/bellies, they’re more into how someone gets fat or fatter, be it eating a lot, or inflation of some sort, magical potions or what not. I want bellies to be celebrated, but to me it's what you do with your belly that matters, big or small. And I want my art to encourage folks to feel more comfortable using their bellies, or at least open folks to the idea of having some tummy ain’t so bad. I’ve gotten a fair handful of folks reaching out to me to say I have helped them in this way, and it really is honoring and fulfilling to know. It makes me more confident that I am going in the right direction and through me expressing myself through depicting these tubby middles, I’m able to encourage others to be more comfortable with themselves. 

I felt alone in my keen interest in bellies a decade ago- no one around me talked about it, it was just a sign of lack of exercise, and to me it just seemed a crime or shame that people didn’t bump bellies with each other or see the value in them. But I was much too ashamed to do anything about it back then. Now that I can, I’ll endeavor to do so in most pictures I make. Maybe when I’m a few decades older I’ll be able to articulate this better, but for now that’ll have to do. But if you have questions about tummies or also have your own way of describing your interest in bellies, lemme hear it!!