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Original poster

Should people be able to officially identify as whatever they like?

238 replies

Whatdidisay · 07/02/2022 22:38

With the news that Bristol university has issues guidance to staff on the correct use of pronouns for students identifying as cats (catgender) has it now gone too far?
Surely if someone seriously believes they are a cat, then they need a doctor and a reality check not pronouns and validation?

OP posts:
TheDoveFromAboveCooCoo · 08/02/2022 08:44

Pronouns roar/roarer

x2boys · 08/02/2022 08:57

I would say this kind of nonsense is verging on the delusional and anyone who truly believes they are a cat needs a mental health assessment not affirmation.

x2boys · 08/02/2022 09:03

@Mothermorph

I asked teen DD about this and she already knew about cat pronouns. I think she said they were neo-prounouns that related to identifying as something non human... I keep thinking of the (iirc) prudential ad in the 90s where a man says "I want to be a tree"!!Blush
Was that also the we wanna be together + in a Brummie accent ) Advert 🤣

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AngelicaElizaAndPeggy · 08/02/2022 09:13

Charles VI of France famously thought he was made of glass. I remember learning about this at university and oh, how we laughed 😬. Probs be sent down for that now.

Anyway, apparently, between the 15th and 17th centuries, there was a spate of 'glass men' who were completely convinced of this. One was said to have glass buttocks and refused to sit down in case they smashed. Another took himself to Murano in Venice and demanded to be melted down and reformed as a goblet.

Not sure what charles' pronouns would be?

daily.jstor.org/french-king-who-believed-made-glass/#:~:text=King%20Charles%20VI%20of%20France,the%2015th%20and%2017th%20centuries.&text=King%20Charles%20VI%2C%20ruler%20of,he%20was%20made%20of%20glass.

jay55 · 08/02/2022 09:15

In my yoof, we'd have put it down to too many drugs.
But apparently young people don't do as many drugs or drink as much these days.
Honestly if they spent more time hungover there would be less time for this.

x2boys · 08/02/2022 09:16

@jay55

In my yoof, we'd have put it down to too many drugs. But apparently young people don't do as many drugs or drink as much these days. Honestly if they spent more time hungover there would be less time for this.
True very true🤣
ehb102 · 08/02/2022 09:19

Nowadays I hear "I identify as..." As "I am not this thing but I want you to pretend I am." What happened to material reality? Either you are something or you are not.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 08/02/2022 09:19

My Gds has lately been self-identifying as an orang-outan - capering at top speed on all fours around the house.
He’s only 5 though.

Whatwouldscullydo · 08/02/2022 09:20

But apparently young people don't do as many drugs or drink as much these days.
Honestly if they spent more time hungover there would be less time for this

When you were fortunate enough to be able to order an alcoholic drink even whilst wearing your school uniform, you would not have dared kick.off at the bar staff for misgendering you!

Phyllis321 · 08/02/2022 09:20

Serious question (sort of) - do catgender folk use littertrays?

Nowadays I hear "I identify as..." As "I am not this thing but I want you to pretend I am." What happened to material reality? Either you are something or you are not.

Precisely.

Livpool · 08/02/2022 09:30

I am going to identify as a billionaire then! And no one best tell me I am not one - or there will be hell to pay!

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 08/02/2022 09:37

This action at Bristol has either been done by someone who is unimagineably stupid, or someone who is unimagineably clever playing the long game.
I'm not sure which, but sadly I assume the former.

Grumpyoldpersonwithcats · 08/02/2022 09:38

unimaginably FFS

gegs73 · 08/02/2022 09:40

DS2 told me about this very thing at the weekend. Year 10s had an assembly on it with a cat person (furry ?) from the year below stood with a cat mask on, meowing explaining all about it 😱 He thought the whole thing was ridiculous and couldn't get his head around it. I'd be extremely worried if I were their parents. Sounds to me like they have been going far too deep into the internet.

AgathaX · 08/02/2022 09:43

Can you imagine the toilet blocks at Bristol uni? Mens/unisex/disabled/litterbox

Can you imagine the vending machines? Coca-cola, Fanta zero, Red Bull, Buxton water, saucer of milk.

SartresSoul · 08/02/2022 09:49

@Lollypop701

George galloway needs to be told…. Him turning up as a cat would definitely bring an end to the madness
Grin

I think it proves how ridiculous the whole pronoun situation is really. I have joked in the past about people waking up and deciding to identify as a unicorn one day, I didn’t think people actually would be this batshit.

Seriouslymole · 08/02/2022 09:50

I am hoping this signals the beginning of the end in the form of “peak identification”.

Hurrah for the cat 🐈.

I fear DS may have started the trend last winter aged 11 when he said he was identifying as a dog so he could pee up against a tree in the park. (In his defence the park was empty and it was dark - it is a limited defence I know.)

EishetChayil · 08/02/2022 09:53

@AgathaX

Can you imagine the toilet blocks at Bristol uni? Mens/unisex/disabled/litterbox

Can you imagine the vending machines? Coca-cola, Fanta zero, Red Bull, Buxton water, saucer of milk.

And imagine the courses on offer: history, geography, maths, how to knock as many objects of a surface as possible.

110APiccadilly · 08/02/2022 09:56

You people identifying as older for your pensions are missing a trick. I identify as a billionaire. And I demand that my bank recognise my very valid feelings of billionaireship.

nansbigpants · 08/02/2022 10:02

If cat-gender is a thing (and not someone trying to hint at the insanity of self identification) are there not wider implications?

Can students with cat allergies call for safe spaces, or is this phobic? If university accommodation specifies no cats (or other pets) allowed can cat-gender students apply? If they can, is this phobic as it treats them differently from natal cats? If a cat-gender person commits a crime can they be prosecuted according to human laws? If a cat-gender student with a penis has sex with a cat-gender student without a penis without consent is this rape or just living authentically as a cat? In the same scenario, do we need consent to castrate?

Mothermorph · 08/02/2022 10:04

I wonder what the rules would be if you brought an actual cat or dog to lectures (after all they might identify as a student?)

nopuppiesallowed · 08/02/2022 10:05

@WindInTheWillows7

When people believe they are something they are not, they need help to align their thinking with reality, not the other way around. When people want healthy limbs amputated, we don't all affirm them in their choice and go ahead and amputate their limbs. We counsel them into accepting the objective truth that their limbs do not need removing. The same goes for gender. You can feel, ever so strongly, that you are another gender, but that doesn't make it true. Those who affirm them in their delusion are not being kind or "loving"; they are being cruel and deceitful.
This! Actual common sense has flown out of the window. I was in a lingerie changing room in John Lewis a few years ago and a man dressed as a woman came out of his cubicle at the same time as me. It got me thinking. Identifying himself as a woman meant he could use the woman only space. So what if he applied for a job as a bra fitter? Would you want your daughters to be fitted by him in a private cubicle? I have great sympathy for people with gender confusion and they need support but think it's not helpful to comply with them in this.
RedScarfJamjar · 08/02/2022 10:08

@gegs73

DS2 told me about this very thing at the weekend. Year 10s had an assembly on it with a cat person (furry ?) from the year below stood with a cat mask on, meowing explaining all about it 😱 He thought the whole thing was ridiculous and couldn't get his head around it. I'd be extremely worried if I were their parents. Sounds to me like they have been going far too deep into the internet.
Shut the front door! They had an assembly on FURRIES?

What the Heckington heck?

IncompleteSenten · 08/02/2022 10:09

@110APiccadilly

You people identifying as older for your pensions are missing a trick. I identify as a billionaire. And I demand that my bank recognise my very valid feelings of billionaireship.
Ok. I changed my mind.

I'm that.

delurkasaurus · 08/02/2022 10:16

@gegs73

DS2 told me about this very thing at the weekend. Year 10s had an assembly on it with a cat person (furry ?) from the year below stood with a cat mask on, meowing explaining all about it 😱 He thought the whole thing was ridiculous and couldn't get his head around it. I'd be extremely worried if I were their parents. Sounds to me like they have been going far too deep into the internet.
Please report this to Ofsted. It's not at all in line with what should be taught in schools.