Child identifies as a wolf ... WTF?

[Portakalkedi]

Just on Radio 4 now, discussing a child in secondary school who identifies as a wolf, and the school is going along with this. AIBU to think the world (or at least the UK) has gone mad? If said child is living in the woods, catching its own prey etc etc, howling and running with other wolves, which I doubt, then why the hell is anyone going along with it? They are also saying that some others identify as dogs or cats etc. And here was me thinking men 'identifying' as women was bad.

I identify as a rich person, it's not working out too well

I identify as a rich person, it's not working out too well

Some of the jokes on this thread are pretty bad taste IMO.

If there's a child who genuinely believes they are a wolf, that sounds like a serious mental health condition. If they are pretending to be a wolf, that should be treated as pretence / play and not accepted at school. Sounds like a cry for attention / help and needs to be dealt with appropriately. Not really a joking matter in either case.

Exactly! There's always the "Let kids be kids" malarkey being thrown out there...but come on! There's a bloody shelf-life to that, surely?!

On a serious note, the fact the parents are told terms like "therian" and "furry' from the mouths of their kids, and go along with it is disturbing. I said in the other thread, if a kid came home saying they were a submissive and wanted a collar, parents would be hitting the roof.

Same thing. Different fetish. But because animals are cute they just brush it off as innocent and naive. It might be, to begin with. But just as you'd not let your 11 year old child go out in BDSM gear, these parents shouldn't be letting their child go out in furry costumes.

It's naive in the extreme!

furries are very real, and there are actually people who think these identities should be respected - one of them was featured in the Radio 4 discussion!

Yes, I thought Artemisia Sanguisorba didn't really sound like she had the courage of her convictions with what she was saying. Too much hesitation and going quiet. She sounded like another one who wants to be seen lapping from the right water source.

Exactly

I’ve come across it in a work setting. It’s happening alright.

Strong skepticism here.

Kids have phones and their phones have cameras. They make TikTok videos of themselves every time they sneeze. If children were actually living as wolves throughout the school days, their classmates would be posting video evidence of it constantly. You wouldn't need to hear about it on the radio. That is like the platonic ideal of something that would go viral.

It's like how every right-wing pundit in America knows about a child at their kid's school who identifies as a cat and wees in a litter box. But there are no credible photos of these litter boxes in schools.

There IS kitty litter being stored in some Anerican schools, but the reason for it is far more disturbing than transcats. It's there in case an active shooter enters the building and the children/teachers have to shelter in place for hours without access to toilets.

Has the world gone mad.? I despair at situations like this I really do.

👏👏👏👏

This was the inevitable consequence of the trans rights movement. If we tell boys they can identify as girls and vice versa, it's not a huge leap to them identifying as animals or light bulbs or some such nonsense. White can identify as black. Young as old. Able bodied as disabled etc etc. And there are plenty of idiots out there who will affirm them.

Crikey. I can't even imagine.

As I keep saying, the kitty litter aspect is total bullshit, but there are kids who identify as animals, and there are some members of staff who take it more seriously than they should.

I agree, I am fairly sure most of the kids that say they identify as cats / dogs/ wolves etc
( why is it always a furry nice animal and not a maggot / worm / slug ? )
probably get pretty much what ever they want regarding toys / tec / food so they are reaching further out to try to get unobtainable things.
If they had to work on a farm , proper work not just the fun stuff, the only thing they would identify as is been physically tired and mentally stimulated .

I dont think there is anything wrong at all with imagination and pretending to be a animal during play time or weekends for short periods of time is fine but it's pretend not identifying* *as

Nah mate

We're not the USA. We have more than a binary choice between patriarchal right wing gender stereotypes and patriarchal left wing gender ideology.

Many people choose to reject the notion of regressive gender stereotypes as being in any way inherent. Many people (including many lesbians, gays and even trans people) see the glaring safeguarding issues that come with a wholesale acceptance of the current iteration of trans ideology.

Personally I don't think it's wrong for teenagers or adults to dress up as animals on occasion. It's fun! But this obsession with identities is so reductive to the human experience. We are all multi faceted, not fixed in these ridiculous boxes.

And why does the identity obsession somehow render all we know about male pattern sexual offending irrelevant? That's what terrifies feminists. Men with wank fantasies need to stay the fuck away from children, be they gay children, children buying into the trans agenda the media shoves down their throats, or children who enjoy dressing up as animals. Let children have their childhoods away from abusive men FFS.

these stories are true. As much as people say ‘it’s just a rumour’ many of us working in schools are having parents referring to their children as therians. It’s just fact!

schools are not providing kitty litter but doesn’t stop the fact it’s true and parents are enabling it.

There are no boundaries for kids these days are there?

I had a pupil once whose cat would follow him into school. I thought it was cute then but now I realise that the cat was identifying as a schoolboy!

This is just another made up story which people will use in their arguments against self ID. Boring.

What nonsense, none of us cared if you were gay/lesbian, none of us cared about drag queens. Hell, none of us cared if you were a man ‘dressing as a woman’. But we did start to care when some of those men started invading our spaces and competing in our sports and we do care that our children are being coerced down this road of mental instability. It’s radicalisation alright but it’s the wokies doing to the radicalising of our children 😡

We don't need to make up stupid arguments against self-ID. the fact that women have a right to their own single-sex spaces and the offending stats for transwomen is all we need.

Even if they are doing that, they’re still not a cat!

But why do you think this is so outrageous it must be made up - at the same time as thinking that self identifying as the opposite sex should be taken seriously?

If you can identify as one impossible thing, why not another?

This is when kids take "you can be anything you want to be" literally.

Secondary school teacher here.
However dire you think the situation is with our young people and their spoilt, idle attitudes…. double it. Then times it by a thousand and you might be nearer the mark.
Im so sick of having to justifying sanctions to parents who think their children are little darlings.
Genuinely called a mum this week to tell her that her son was sleeping in my lesson and when I tried to wake him up he said ‘pipe down love, can’t you see I’m trying to sleep!’
Her response?
‘Well he want disrupting the lesson, was he?’ And ‘My son doesn’t like being told what to do’ and my personal favourite: ‘He probably was tired, he was up last night until 4am playing call of duty.’

You might think this response is rare but I would say there are least 5/6 like this in every class.

Going back to your original point, we have an increasing number of children identifying as animals lower down the school. It’s the current trend. Just like we had an influx of gender fluid children when that was ‘in’.
All it does is take away from children who genuinely are non binary.