Children wearing tails?

Where have all the bullies gone? 🤔

In my school you got tortured mercilessly if you only had 2 stripes on your trainers - I doubt you'd have made it out alive dressed as a cat!!

There are a small group of furries in DD's year group as well. It is an all girls school and they identify as cats and dragons apparently and fake having multiple personality disorders and arthiritis?? It is all very strange. Correlates with people being trans generally. In her twin sister's school though, there is nothing like that, thank goodness! And then DS' school is an all boys and if anyone tried to act like that..

I've never heard this, nor can I find any source for it.

In the whole the anime community is a friendly and kind space, free from the bullying found elsewhere. A lot of ASD folk find it enjoyable.

To baselessly suggest it has some connection to grooming is really quite offensive.

That said there are many anthropomorphic animal characters in anime and catgirls are especially popular.

One has no idea the other exists and is normal for little children I don’t include teens in that’s.

The other are fodder for the fetish scene or using it to purposefully find such to earn a following.

Even twitch streaming you will find teens anywhere from 13 up (as that’s technically the minimum age to stream) doing the whole cat ears, tiny pink clothes often to get the viewers in of a select group as it pays.

You think teenage goths weren’t fetishised by adults? I was a teenage goth and I can tell you you are so very very wrong.

Whats the difference

Obviously it's weird, but I'm sure a lot of the things you worse at 11 were weird, too. Let her do it. She'll cringe when she looks back at photos in 20 years time (maybe even in 2 years haha) and that's the fun of growing up.

I get your concerns. I do. But it's a massive leap to look at a kid wearing cat ears at drama club (which is all we actually know from OP!) to 'this child has a developing sexual fetish which could put them in danger and is a safeguarding risk'.

It's the crossover between 'pretend' and 'kink' that's the concern for me. The algorithm of a child interested in this sort of thing is definitely going to throw up some 'interesting' results for them online. It's potentially introducing them to a 'community' children have no business being involved in. I've seen 'furry' accounts on twitter, they're most definitely not suitable for teens!

I don't think anyone is saying the child themselves is acting out a fetish...more that they're (unintentionally) acting out the fetishes of adults.

I wouldn't want my child wearing what is practically a flashing neon 'vulnerable' sign out in the woods alone!

Well done 👏

It’s hardly new, been around for at least 20 years.

What evidence do you have for this?

If she has school dinners be sure to offer her the choice between Whiskers and Sheba served in a plastic bowl without cutlery, as well as a litter tray to crap in.

Anime is linked with grooming in the same sense as lollipops and kittens are linked with kidnapping children back in the old days.

It's not harmful in and of itself, it's just a thing that kids like that people will use to get at them.

I'm not saying the children are developing a fetish. I'm saying that they are both the beard for, and the target of, adult fetishists.

It's honestly not a co-incidence that children have suddenly started doing this. Teenagers who've been groomed are grooming children - and that grooming doesn't have to be in person, it happens online and just through the ether, like lots of things.

Can you explain more about anime please? My DC enjoy studio Ghibli films - I wasn't aware of a link with grooming?

I get your concerns. I do. But it's a massive leap to look at a kid wearing cat ears at drama club (which is all we actually know from OP!) to 'this child has a developing sexual fetish which could put them in danger and is a safeguarding risk'.

There are a few steps in between those two.

Most kids like to dress up as animals, it's not unusual.

Yes there is a developing trend, yes there might be some concerns around that for teenagers, that's why you just keep a watchful eye.

You can't label every kid who likes pretending to be a cat as a safeguarding risk.

You hear about schools and uni’s having a litter tray for the cat identifiers. I call bullshit on this. No one has ever proved it

100%

She hasn't outright said it but I think my daughter identifies as a sloth judging by the state of her bedroom lol. I can't get over the poster who said someone had a litter tray at uni lol imagine nipping to the kitchen to make a brew and there's a grown ass adult squatting in the hallway doing a shit lol.

Those older teens were children a couple of years ago.

Seriously, how do propose to keep the groups apart? Because the internet won't do it that's for sure.

My 12yo and her 12yo BF dressed up to see the Coraline film. DD was Coraline and her friend was the cat. Personally, I'm pleased they aren't growing up too fast.

I would say that the sexualisation of children/ dramatic conclusions people are jumping to on this thread is also "bloody worrying".

Do you really think this child is wearing cat ears due to some kind of sexual fetish?

Come on.

They're doing it because they think it's fun.

The information we have from OP is that an 11 year old is wearing cat ears/ tail to drama club. So what? What do you think is the actual risk here?

Just because furries exist in a sexual fetish way, doesn't mean that a child wearing a cat outfit means anything like that.

💯 this