I heard a fellow teacher today spread the stupid fucking rumor that kids are identifying as animals.

[Music Man]

I teach high school in a conservative area. Today in a diversity training for people throughout the district, during a segment about respecting pronouns/identity, this bro-ey guy says, "Where do we draw the line? I mean, we have kids now saying they identify as birds and say they'll only respond to you if you chirp at them."

I immediately piped up. "Is there really an epidemic of that?"

I was disappointed to see that not only did he say yes, but others in the room also agreed. He continued, "You have kids wearing cat ears, and schools are putting in litter boxes."

I told him that I've seen memes like that going around, and it's undoubtedly meant to parody transgenderism.

He couldn't believe that I didn't think this was really happening. Fortunately, the conversation ended there, because it was not going to be a pleasant if it continued.

I'm still fuming about it hours later. The way that lies spread, and they way that LGBT students are used as punchlines.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

1. There are furries

But i doubt they only respond to chirps or only use litter boxes. Wearing cat ears, sure.
And those memes absolutely are mocking queer and trans folx.

[jimfields33]

3. Actually I heard it as well at the family reunion

I didn’t pay much attention but just did a search and it was fake news. The rumor started and went like gang busters.

[rainy]

5. "Furries" is a thing. I saw a former student of mine

Last edited Tue Aug 2, 2022, 03:21 AM - Edit history (1)

this summer and she went on and on about the furries in her Middle School. The furries take it very seriously. They dress like the animal for school every day and try to behave like the animal. The student was very annoyed about the whole “furry” thing. I’ve seen them in the mall around here too. The middle school furries apparently take it very seriously.

[dewsgirl]

10. Middle school😳 this must be an anime thing, maybe?

I thought furries were a fetish/kink/sex thing? They have conventions and are very into them from what I have read.
My son's fiance has been into Anime and dressed up at times(usually at Halloween) since they were in the 3rd grade, I have not once thought she was into Anime in that way. She is now 21 and still reads Anime and dresses up for Halloween parties/going to Halloween Horror Nights.

I do realize there are people that have these kind of fetishes, but not all of them. And she doesn't identify as anything but female. They have never dated anyone else, and I've known her since she was 8 years old.

[JHB]

19. Not directly, but the communities have overlap.

The furries thing emerged in the late 70s from US comics, but was mainly convention costuming as anthropomorphic characters. The kink thing is an offshoot (think "Fritz the Cat" ), not the whole thing.


In fact, if it's a "dress as an animal every day and act like that animal" thing with the Middle Schoolers, it may be yet another offshoot. The old costuming thing tended to be specific characters, either from a comic or show, or original characters they made up.

Seems to me the kids are just enthusing over something they like, maybe (for some, probably) overstepping in places. Shrug. It's called "being a teenager". Don't freak out, just set some boundaries, as you would with a kid who was so obsessed with baseball statistics he neglected his schoolwork.

[AKwannabe]

13. Where is around here

Seattle has ALL the furries

[rainy]

18. Virginia Beach.

[obamanut2012]

28. This is not happening

The student was not telling the truth, or was pulling your leg.

Not happening.

You see middle-school aged Furries walking around your mall all the time?

lolz

Okay.

[Thtwudbeme]

33. agree- I just posted the same thing below

MS librarian here.

[Scrivener7]

36. What kids go to malls?

[Baitball Blogger]

15. I saw one with a fox tail.

Looked pretty cool.

[Deminpenn]

16. Furries are a real thing

There is a huge Anthrocon in Pittsburgh every summer. It's been there since 2006 and draws big crowds.

https://www.visitpittsburgh.com/pittsburgh-anthrocon/

[Cosmocat]

22. Correct

Kids do get a little carried away with it, but that is what kids do.

Harmless, not much different than kids identifying as preps, smokers, whatever.

[Mad_Machine76]

37. There is a wide overlap

between the Furry community and the Queer/Trans community, but obviously it's not the same thing as being Trans.

[KentuckyWoman]

2. Ask them to name the kid - or name the school.

That generally shuts them up.

[Mad_Machine76]

39. Yup

they can't do it. The right-wing just says these things and lots of people just pick it up and spread it around as gospel.

[NanceGreggs]

4. Okay. Name them. nt

[Haggard Celine]

6. That's a bunch of shit.

I don't know about how lax the dress code is in schools these days, but I don't think furry stuff should be allowed. Dressing up as an animal is a costume, not a mode of dress for humans under normal circumstances. They should require kids to dress as humans for school. Whether they identify as a male, female, or other gender is not the same as dressing as an animal. Any fool can see that. They need to use common sense, although I know that common sense isn't really common anymore. Administrators who allow furry dress in schools are, in my opinion, trying to sabotage awareness of gender roles.

[TheBeam19]

24. The members of this group would

say your post is bigoted.

https://www.reddit.com/r/otherkin/

They’re serious, believe it or not.

[inthewind21]

43. Who cares

`About anything that comes from Reddit.

[TheBeam19]

45. Lol

[Cosmocat]

25. There is a lot of established law about student free expression

All school code, especially things like dress code, are designed with legal considerations.

"dressing as a human" or "not dress like an animal" doesn't work like that.

Further, a lot of schools, especially as the elementary level have dress up days, that would either directly or indirectly lead to student's dressing up as a animal - favorite movie character, things like that.

There is not doubt a big part of the push is in response to the diversity movement, with kids spinning it off to animals.

But, it isn't ill intentioned on their part like that, and you have to give kids space with these types of things. It really is harmless.

[eShirl]

7. That litter box thing is rw bullshit.

They're just repeating stupid bullshit like all the uneducated rw yahoos. Except they're the educated rw yahoos.

[MacKasey]

8. It is nonsense

I heard the rumor about dressing up like animals and wanting to use a litter box about six months ago. There are no names or pictures just internet made up nonsense.

Ask for names, places and dates.

Just think it thru, supposedly the person is dressed in a costume and they have to relieved themselves, any girl/women is going to have to get undressed and if a boy/man needs to take a crap. Logically, the only thing that works is a diaper so no need of a litter box

And dogs don't use litter boxes, maybe pee-pee pads, same problem if you are talking a crap

[dewsgirl]

9. The cat ears were a thing a few years ago, my granddaughter(6) has

a headband and a pair of headphones. My 16 yr old niece also had the headband, I can assure everyone, neither want to be cats. How absurd! SMH

[Emile]

11. This shit probably starts in the church.

[AKwannabe]

12. Guy has not heard of

Furries. Just sayin

[BannonsLiver]

29. This is interesting

I’m old enough to remember when a furry or furries were people who liked to bang while wearing animal costumes. I guess the definition of furry has evolved some from the 90’s.

[Sympthsical]

40. There are still those

Furries and otherkin aren't necessarily the same thing - although there can be frequent overlap.

Otherkin is not necessarily sexualized, whereas furries are more geared specifically towards the fetish.

Otherkin is considered by those who include themselves as on a similar spectrum as being transgender. A lot of trans people aren't super appreciative of that, but it is what it is.

Otherkin vs furries has the same crobar between them as gender identity and orientation. Not the same things, but not entirely distant from one another.

[JHB]

14. Years ago there was a company that advertised a gasoline additive...

...which supposedly reduced wear and tear on the engine at startup. The sales pitch line in the TV ads was "The worst thing you can do to your engine is start it."

One day, during small talk that wandered into assorted minor car difficulties, a co-worker said "You know what they say... 'The worst thing...'", quoting the TV pitch. I said "Nicky, I don't know whether that's true or not, but I do know that I never heard anyone say that until someone was using it to sell something on TV."

I think your fellow teachers have done something similar to ol' Nicky: Just adsorbed something that pervaded the media they consumed, without thinking about it much.

I mean, geez, the assorted cat-ears-shaped accessories (hats, hoodies, headphones, hair accessories) are because they think it's cute and product makers are responding to a niche fashion market opportunity.

And, really, "schools are putting in litter boxes"? Where? Name one where that's actually happening. And if they can (and it's real, not something from a news parody site taken as real), name 10. There are thousands of schools in this country, so if there's a epidemic of school litter box installations, 10 examples should be an easy number to reach.

[Coventina]

17. I wish I could rec your post!

Excellent points!!

[uponit7771]

41. Morbly MO high school is where they put in litter boxes and other stupid shit. This is a fad amongst

... mostly privileged white kids the black and Hispanic kids in the school are de facto not allowed to take part as much as the other kids.

Screwed up

[Ilsa]

20. Litter boxes would be a huge health violation.

You can't have feces and urine about to be stepped on by the next kid and tracked through school, say nothing of toxoplasmosis.

[sir pball]

21. It actually *is* a thing, but not common. They refer to themselves as "Otherkin".

It's a small but 100% serious group. Matter of fact, a person on here identifies as Other, a jaguar IIRC.

Otherkin are a subculture of people who identify as not entirely human. Some otherkin believe their identity derives from reincarnation, a non-human soul, ancestry,[2] symbolism, or metaphor.[1] Others attribute it to unusual psychology and do not hold spiritual beliefs on the subject. Categories of otherkin include Fictionkin, those who identify as fictional characters; Conceptkin, who identify as abstract concepts; Weatherkin, who identify as weather systems; as well as a number of other more obscure categories.
------
A controversial but frequently made analogy is to the transgender condition and gender dysphoria, leading to the terms trans-species or trans-speciesism and species dysphoria.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin

[TheBeam19]

23. True. Here's their Reddit group.

These people are serious.

https://www.reddit.com/r/otherkin/

[Thtwudbeme]

26. I am a middle school librarian

Yes, the kiddos wear stupid clothes to school-- and yes, the "cat ears" headbands are a thing. They also try out different pronouns, and some declare themselves "bi," "gay," or "trans."

The most respectful sweet boy in school last year wore dresses every now and then.

I love them- they are "trying out" different things, and are pretty creative about it. The best part is that the other kids take it in stride. It's adults that spend too much time on social media that are freaking out.

I try to keep really "cool stuff" in my media center should the "creative urge" hit- I keep really nice, artist quality colored pencils, markers, sparkle gel pens- lots of paper products. You just never know what they are going to come up with!

But, the "furries" thing is just for fun. NONE of them think they are really cats- and there are no litter boxes anywhere in the school.

[BannonsLiver]

31. Interesting discussion

I’m guessing furries doesn’t mean what it did back in the 90’s or early 2000s anymore? Because back then it was adults who liked to wear animal costumes while having sex. Today it seems to mean anyone who likes to dress up as an animal and sex is not necessarily part of it anymore.

[Thtwudbeme]

32. Librarians are kind of in a weird position in schools- we see ALL the students

and we are the only ones besides the cafeteria workers. In gym class, they are doing athletic stuff...the gym teachers have lesson plans that the students are following.

I DO teach in the media center-- all three grades. Primarily research skills, but I also run a pretty cool makerspace.

But, during the day...the kids wander in with just a hall pass and a little free time. They aren't there because they were "sent," (such as guidance). So..Yeah...I get to "know" the whole school. Eventually I see them ALL.

Media coordinators tend to hang out with media coordinators from all over their county-- we are loners in the school...most people think we "check out and shelve books." (for some bizarre reason, people think we can fix copiers- hint: No, we cannot). Therefore I have a pretty good idea if there is a "weird trend."

I have NEVER, not once, in school, in professional development sessions...nor on social media.... heard of any middle schooler taking being a "furry" seriously. Gender identity- yes- and that HAS ramped up...but, "furry?" Nope.

[XanaDUer2]

34. Proud to say I've never fixed a copier

Fuck that.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

35. The kink community is still there

But there is more general costuming as well.
I was at a Comicon about 5 years ago and there was a group of furry horses running rickshaws from the Con to the Hotel. I'm not sure how much of that was innocent costuming and how much was kink.
I know it's apocryphal, but all the furries I know personally are neurodivergent, and several are trans or non-binary.

[panader0]

27. Meanwhile, adults obsess over comic book heroes like Spiderman, Batman, Superman,

The Hulk, The Wolverine etc. Or zombies. Those heroes set movie records, which amazes me.
I read comics as a little kid, but that ended by the time I was a teen.
American culture can be very disappointing.

[intheflow]

30. Ah, yes. Conflating human identity and sexuality with bestiality.

This is akin to what I've heard the homophobes say about legalizing gay marriage: "But where do we draw the line? How long before someone wants to marry their dog?"

[Sympthsical]

38. They're called otherkin

They're a thing.

The litter thing is BS, but otherkin has been a thing in various spaces of the internet for years. Particularly Tumblr. Sometimes you'll see people with cat ears or tails. Outward public expression has been more common in Gen Z than Millennials. I think my generation is a bit too old and missed the social media train that increased the spread of it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otherkin

One of the odder subcultures out there. My partner and I were having a conversation about this the other day. Otherkin and furries. We both speculated if the rise in the culture (and subsequent fetishes) was down to simply more cartoons as people are growing up. Given that they're highly grounded in anthropomorphic forms. When your formative years are spent watching and relating to anthropomorphic animals, it probably tracks that some people will carry that into adolescence and the formation of adult orientations.

Just a piece for idle conversation. I don't care what people do if they're not harming anyone. In my 90s days, some subgroups of goths decided they were vampires. Kids are weird.

[Paladin]

42. Better a slime lizard than a Republican. (nt)

[SKKY]

44. If you've ever seen my heathens eat...

...they clearly identify as animals. Probably Tasmanian Devils if I'm being honest.