Child identifies as a wolf ... WTF?

Yes, but unfortunately we've got medical professionals telling parents that their children are at risk of self-harm and suicide if they don't affirm their identity. We've also got schools teaching children that it's important to support everyone's identity, that it's kind and respectful to do so.

A child who genuinely believes they have a therian identity is going to be no less serious about this than a child who genuinely believes that they have an identity of the opposite sex. It's just more obvious that it could lead to harm if it meant that the child was on a pathway to medical interventions. Well, (I assume for now at least) no doctor would agree to a wolf blood transfusion once that child got to 18. But overwhelm your body with hormones way above the natural levels for your sex because you identify as the opposite sex? Go for it. From 16 years old in fact. Oh, and if you're really serious about your identity, why not join our puberty blocker trial? That way you won't have to go through any puberty - so when those opposite sex hormones create a mimicry of your desired "look", they won't be battling against anything. Sadly your brain won't go through any pubertal development at all, but we'll collect data to track that for a couple of years, so all good 👍

Sticking with the parallels, letting a child wear wolf ears or clothes bought from the aisle that had been targeted at the opposite sex (as we know, clothing manufacturers use sex-based stereotypes when designing clothes) are equally innocuous. The point at which we attach significance to this, such as thinking of it as affirming that identity, is equally unhelpful. It's the sleight of hand moment where the clothing choice has now become a key milestone in an affirmation journey. Thankfully most people can easily see that you wouldn't keep going along this pathway until you're medicalised as a wolf... but there's enough momentum (and money) behind the human "sex change" medical industry that this has been normalised.

how have we made the world so fucking toxic they want to opt out of it as far as they possibly can?

Children have been identifying out of their bodies into alternative realities as coping mechanisms for a long time. It's going up though, which is scary and heartbreaking.

Some families will have assumed their boy was "broken" and was really a girl if their son was drawn towards clothing or toy choices targeted at girls. If those families are also homophobic, and in adolescence the child becomes same-sex attracted, he may have internalised his parents' homophobia because that's also "not what boys are supposed to do". His coping mechanism may be to opt out of his body and "fix" it by "becoming straight".

Girls who experience sexual assault or who find the changes in puberty distressing (e.g. periods, boys and men suddenly lusting after them) have been opting out of their bodies in various ways for a long time. The method of doing so is what changes. Anorexia is a good example. It's a way stop those changes, like a cloak of protection with a feeling of being in control. I saw an interesting presentation from the LGB Alliance which showed cases of anorexia are (thankfully) declining. But scarily, what we're seeing instead is a huge increase in girls identifying out of their bodies. Often starting with non-binary but many going instead for the opposite sex. When my own daughter wasn't sure if she was meant to be a girl, she said that one of the reasons she didn't like being a girl was because girls are weak.... and she wanted to be strong to beat the bullies (she's autistic and had been on the receiving end of relentless autism-related bullying for months). Mia Hughes (@crymiariver on X) has done some really interesting research into the prevalence of the various different coping mechanisms that girls turn to and what's being discussed socially at the time e.g. the increase in anorexia cases tracks to Karen Carpenter's death being in the news and the significant uptick in girls experiencing gender dysphoria tracks to smart phones and social media. The LGB Alliance presentation delved into various examples of social media apps where information is shared and amplified, and how this correlates to gender dysphoria increasing in girls.

Edited for clarity.

But that's discrimination. Either all children who have an identity which differs from their physical body should be allowed into Wes Streeting's experiment or no children should be.

Instead of saying 'yes dear, here are your cat ears' why the fuck are we not looking at why kids want to be something other than what they are, how have we made the world so fucking toxic they want to opt out of it as far as they possibly can?

We all wanted to be a horse/cat/dog/red fire truck as little kids, it was fun, you got to play at and explore being someone or something else. You found out what interested you and what didn't.

We grew out of it, or we learned where and when was an appropriate time/place - some of those kids pretending to be a horse in the playground didn't stop enjoying pretending to be someone or something else, they grew up to be actors (or nutters. Take your pick).

Parents are supposed to help you navigate through your childish whims, fantasies and explorations, kindly, sensitively but also sensibly. Not further fuel such things in impractical and ridiculous ways.

It is utterly bizarre, isn’t it? Genuinely makes me think I’ll end up home educating, I don’t want my kids around this type of madness.

Looking forward to confirmation that this has been done (possibly via multiple posts) dropping in overnight tonight.

On a positive note, it's good to see this thread wake up again. It's the perfect time to think about therians. For example, I wonder if they'll be allowed to take part in the puberty blocker trial. It would seem somewhat disrespectful to their identity if they were excluded and instead were forced through human puberty. Surely they should be allowed time to think and should be given an opportunity for their brains and bodies to be experimented upon, just like the children with other identities.

Away and tidy your room. Hope you have a nice break over Christmas hols.

If I get were sick would they go to a Dr/hospital or to the Vet? If they needed a blood transfusion would they get wolf blood from a zoo? Would that kill the entity if they had a transfusion?

School broken up I see?

be rspectfull to therians😡😡😡😡

poor granddaughter 😭😭

u guys are mean👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿👿

Fortunately my granddaughter's school would nip any suggestion of this right in the bud.

@YYURYYUCICYYUR4ME you don't understand what a therian has to go through btw us therians get death therats so keep trash talking us folks!!

i'm a wolf therian i bite😈😈

👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎 I can't you guys are the meanest

Well, that took a turn 🤣

Little knobhead.

YOU GUYS ARE SO STUPID IM A THERIAN AND I IDENTIFY AS A WOLF AND YOU CAN ONLY IDENIFY AS A ANIMAL!!

We can easily recognise this regarding wolf identities..

I spoke too soon!

but he could go to school with a tail and fluffy ears with no repercussions

🤦‍♀️

change your gender in whatever way you like

I should qualify this by saying that firstly, we need to stop confusing children and vulnerable young adults by conflating "gender" (a belief in a gendered soul within each of us) with sex.

Once it's nice and clear, this should limit the number of people getting access to medical interventions for which there is no viable evidence base. At this point, changing gender would be as innocuous as changing your clothes or the way you style your hair.

We can easily recognise this regarding wolf identities but our schools, hospitals and other institutions seem to have got rather lost regarding gender identities.

My 14 year olds son can't understand why he was put in detention for wearing his "farming boots" instead of his school shoes (and yes he does know he shouldn't) but he could go to school with a tail and fluffy ears with no repercussions. Absolute madness and that's from the mouth if a child!

if trans people know that sex and gender is different, why do they keep wanting to access spaces for the opposite sex? Surely they’d go in the mixed gender single sex bathrooms related to their sex?

That's a great way to put it.

From what I've seen, it's either:

1. they believe they have an internal sense of "gender" that is separate from their sex, they adopt stereotypical clothing generally attributed to the opposite sex (or dress androgynyously if they believe they have a "non-binary" "gender") and they feel awkward in the facilities that are designated for their sex. BUT you'd think they'd want to challenge the idea that we all need to conform to sex-based stereotypes and would campaign for a) inclusive "all gender" acceptance in single-sex facilities or b) additional third spaces, so that they had a choice between single-sex multi-user facilities or private unisex ones.... unless...
2. Their belief isn't actually real, that it's a desire, and what they really want is access to be with members of the opposite sex. This is a great blog, written by a man who recognises why it's not a good idea to act on this desire: https://archive.is/2pQIq

Wolf, would have clothing removed, raw food and be in a cage outside! Assuming they'd need to be treated by a vet too and have all their shots!

Indeed. Maybe anyone who genuinely believes they're a wolf can campaign for such things.

I'm still confused as to what you mean. could you explain a little bit more to me to understand?

If a therian recognises that they are actually human, despite their belief/desire that they are not, they will find their life is healthier and less challenging than if they eat raw meat, get vaccinated by vets and demand that everyone treats them like an actual wolf (or whatever animal they identify as).

If a transperson accepts that their sex is real and immutable, despite their belief/desire that it isn't, they will find their life is healthier and less challenging than if they chop off (or add prosthetic) body parts, put synthetic hormones into their body that impact their endocrine system and demand that everyone treats them like they are the opposite sex (or as if they don't have any sex at all).

Us trans people are aware that we cannot change our sex. However, we can change our gender.

Great! Yes, change your gender in whatever way you like... there are apparently over 100 according to the BBC , so there's bound to be one that fits everyone who identifies as trans.

It's also important to be aware that not everyone believes that we all have a "gender" and because it's a belief, not a fact like sex, it makes no sense to organise society around it e.g. sports participation categories, changing rooms etc. There are even plenty of people who they say that they believe that transwomen are women, acknowledge that they don't really understand this (but want to be supportive re lived experience and believe in kindness to a marginalised few etc) yet still don't want them in women's sports.

im so confused right now what

Uh huh… no. If you can’t understand words, dictionaries are available. You can do it. I believe in you dude.