Heads should stop teachers allowing children to identify as cats, says No 10

[IwantToRetire]

The spokesman said that teachers should not teach “contested opinions as facts” and called for headteachers to intervene in extreme cases.

“It would not be right to comment on the actions of a specific individual or a specific school without knowing the full details, but we understand why these reports will be concerning for parents,” the spokesman said.

“In broad terms, teachers have a responsibility to encourage their students to engage respectfully with those they disagree with.

“They should also not be teaching contested opinions as fact, shutting down valid discussions and debates.

“It’s important parents and carers are reassured that children aren’t being influenced by personal views of those teaching them. Any example that strays from this would be wrong and we would expect headteachers to act.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/06/20/rye-college-children-neo-pronouns-cats-moons-rishi-sunak/

Unlike the headline the article makes it clear that a "spokesman" (how old fashioned and sexist shouldn't that be spokesperson?!) has said this so Sunak may or may not have a public opinion about this ...

But the Telegraph seems to be keen to keep the issue of self identifying on their front pages.

When I first heard about children doing this I thought (hoped) that it was younger children making fun of the trans generation, but seems not.

NB article is behind a paywall but can be read at https://archive.ph by entering the Telegraph URL above into the box.

(The cat in picture below looks very cross. Probably feels the same way GC women feel - outraged at the notion that some young human could in any way know or speak with experience based knowledge about being a cat!)

I highly doubt any kid is genuinely identifying as a cat and has decided that is how they are going to live the rest of their life.

Right. So can you now understand that what a child says about their biology being “wrong” and that they they “are”/“identify as” the opposite sex, because they have been told that they can and that that is an option and that other people have to take it seriously and even celebrate it’s it, should NOT be taken seriously. Because kids believe what they’re taught at school to be true and are not settled in their identity. So no child’s claim that they “are” something they physically cannot be should go unchallenged. Not because I want to be mean to or hate trans people. But because this leads to children suffering extreme physical harm that many later regret. Just like if we took a child saying “i’m a cat” seriously (you’re claiming that’s not happening).

if you think no child really thinks they’re a cat for life, why would any child think they’re the opposite sex for life?

If a kid crawls into the classroom then it's easy to challenge them, and necessary as the rest of the class will be disrupted. If they were to walk in and behave like a normal kid except asking to be referred to as "ze/zem" or something, then there is nothing to do. That's the reality with most teenagers i've met who identify as trans or non-binary. Name changes are a non-issue - kids have to change "known as" names for all sorts of reasons.

For teachers to speak out, they would have to actually raise the point. One could object to Pride Month activities, or to School of Sexuality coming into school. I guess it might be appropriate to fill in CPOMS for individual kids, or have a private chat with the safeguarding lead.

The idea that you could lose your job over a carefully worded CPOMS is interesting.

School in cat self-ID row faces investigation

digitaleditions.telegraph.co.uk/data/1374/reader/reader.html?social#!preferred/0/package/1374/pub/1374/page/3/article/NaN

twitter.com/tmorrowspapers/status/1671268494736863234?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

“I highly doubt any kid is genuinely identifying as a cat and has decided that is how they are going to live the rest of their life.”

Oh really? Because I can think of at least two cases of men who famously went through extreme body modification to look like big cats. They got spots/ stripes tattooed all over their body, their teeth modified to look like fangs, one of them got whiskers installed.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking_Cat

Given that there’s huge money in the transition industry already, what’s to stop cosmetic surgeons from offering other, even more unusual and exotic treatments? After all, yesterday’s horrific genital mutilations are today’s gender affirming care.

That poster has inadvertently posted why so many have an issue with ‘identifying’

The movement has taken over much of society and is baseless.

They can see it clearly when talking about dc playing and how much that has changed.

If they were to walk in and behave like a normal kid except asking to be referred to as "ze/zem" or something, then there is nothing to do. That's the reality with most teenagers i've met who identify as trans or non-binary. Name changes are a non-issue - kids have to change "known as" names for all sorts of reasons.

Of course name changes occur but were in the past communicated to teachers by management or pastoral care ,not the child.

So pleased to see that the school is being investigated. I note that the Association School & College Leaders deny there's a problem - they've seen nothing. This is the same response from all the unions - that there's nothing to see. All of them have trans inclusions policies and have been complicit in pushing this stuff at schools.

Hope that golden bridge is strong enough to hold the weight of all these hypocritical organisations retreating back across it.

Nadhim Zahawi, the former education secretary, said: “It is clear to everyone that schools need to stop the spread of this damaging nonsense. The Government should make it clear to schools that they will be supported in standing up to the increasingly farcical examples that get in the way of teaching our children and preparing them for the real world. We should let kids be kids and stop them falling into the trap of identity politics.”

Here is one running across that golden bridge, unrepentant and rewriting history. I recall him speaking about suicide on Question time years ago.

I always find that whenever there's a new example of trans insanity the reaction is either "This didn't happen, you're making it up" or "This is perfectly fine, and you're a bigot if you don't agree with it." You never know which one you're going to get.

In this case, it looks like even the extremists have decided the cat identification story makes them look ridiculous.

And it seems like people are starting to try to get what's going on, heard:

https://twitter.com/famedtrust/status/1671401315258228736?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://twitter.com/whistleblowingt/status/1671260741490597888?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://twitter.com/misssnuffy/status/1671260094258982912?s=46&t=WHoOZZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

https://twitter.com/misssnuffy/status/1671226523540389904?s=46&t=WHoOZZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

Sunlight sunlight sunlight. I'm sorry (yes I am) for the names teacher involved in this row. But this bullshit has to stop.

Pastoral care do communicate name changes. If you are talking about resisting social transition by schools then those ate the ones you would be querying.

Youre right to be wary. Because it’s absolute rubbish.

There is absolutely no indication that anyone involved ‘identifies as a cat’. What we have is two girls who surreptitiously recorded an interaction, started recording (or edited it to start) at a point after they appear to have told the other child that she belongs in an asylum. This is the sort of language their champions are now comfortable with apparently.

Theres nothing in the video that suggests the child in question identifies as a cat. The only reference comes from one of the bullies (and yes, if you’re telling another child they belong in an asylum you’re a bully) that they wouldn’t have to recognise her as a cat.

The whole thing is made up. Just like claims in the US that schools were putting litter trays in for students who identified as cats. Just totally made up.

And as ever this ‘movement’ is made up of people who are callous enough to peddle lies, and people who are stupid enough to believe them.

A PP said that the government had encouraged this. Just a reminder that as far back as 2020 the government published guidelines actively discouraging it:

"We are aware that topics involving gender and biological sex can be complex and sensitive matters to navigate. You should not reinforce harmful stereotypes, for instance by suggesting that children might be a different gender based on their personality and interests or the clothes they prefer to wear. Resources used in teaching about this topic must always be age-appropriate and evidence based. Materials which suggest that non-conformity to gender stereotypes should be seen as synonymous with having a different gender identity should not be used and you should not work with external agencies or organisations that produce such material. While teachers should not suggest to a child that their non-compliance with gender stereotypes means that either their personality or their body is wrong and in need of changing, teachers should always seek to treat individual students with sympathy and support."

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum#using-external-agencies

Just so I’m clear

LARPing as a cat - don’t be ridiculous that never happens & if it does it’s fine, I mean it’s just playing

Men LARPing as women - totally fine, they are actual women you bigot

They should have said they identify as a dog, and didn't want to bite her.

Are they really?

Or do they just like playing as a cat, and then maybe read a Daily Mail article or something gender critical online, and now think it's fun to play at "identifying as a cat"?

How intriguing to see who this PP blames for pupils identifying as cats. Not the TQ+ rainbow community and queer theory advocates, but the very people calling this craziness out? People identifying as animals, aliens, different races, different ages etc, are being empowered and enabled by queer theory - where boundaries are broken and you can be anything you damn well please. And that “all-inclusive” message is being pushed into schools, messing up kids’ minds and getting them questioning their own identity when really they should be concentrating on learning and playing.

As for the teacher, I’m sad she was doxxed as that is never justifiable, but the recording is valuable evidence of just how badly things have gone wrong.

Only those who identify as women and those who believe them should be the only people believed.

Anyone else who describes anything else, they are not to be believed, when they supply evidence if it's even viewed, it is right-wing and to be dismissed.

That’s pretty straightforward. If I can remember back that far it was published around the time of Keira Bell’s court case (thank you Keira).

The activist teaching staff who’re denying this example of government clarity because it’s not “statutory” are prioritising semantics over children’s mental health for personal gain.

Once you see it you cannot unsee it.

The government are going to be very embarrassed when they conduct their investigation into who is getting schools to teach this ‘damaging nonsense’ of gender identity and find out that it’s themselves.

I got chatting to another dog walker and she said in her daughters school one girl had the pronouns of 'Bear/Frog'
I burst out laughing, assuming it was a joke on all this nonesense, but no, apparently she is totally serious.

(She also said her 12 year old girl was looked down on by all the other girls at a party for saying she was a straight girl)

Interesting chat actually, cant remember how the subject came up but I started off mildly GC and mentioned rapists locked up with women. She was totally shocked. But, she also said her husband worked at the Tavistock in the GIDS clinic (I have also chatted to the husband).
What I could not understand is how she could be so ignorant of gender ideology when her husband works in GIDS? It was nuts, she knew nothing of men in womens prisons, sports, all women short lists ect.. I mean how could she not know?
The husband looks like the young (though he's not actually that young) trendy wokester type.
He gave me a dirty look the last time I passed him in the park. I was all smiles 😁

Is he tranage and transkind?

We had a funny kind of social training at a school I worked in once.

I identified as a humpback whale.
Let me tell you, it did not go down well. I sat alone that lunch.

Apart from that; lovely to see New names on these boards. Lovely to see threads questioning this staying up in Aibu.

Maybe that should be purrsonally.

I'm a cat person and love cats. But identifying as a humpback whale is sheer class. Respect turbonerd