Antisocial R4 midday today. Furries

[Davros]

Just heard an announcement that they will be discussing children "identifying " as animals and how much truth there is in reports of this behaviour, how prevalent it really is

The BBC's preferred (pre-furred?) approach to this issue tends to be to concentrate on the (seemingly false) allegations about litter trays in schools, and using the dismissal of that to dismiss the fact of there being furries in schools in general.

I listened to some of it. One of the two people taking part was absolutely adamant that schools should affirm a child's identity even if the child was identifying as an animal. Insane.

The other person sounded sensible.

No way!!

The adults have truly left the room.

Who were the two people taking part?

i didn’t catch the beginning so I’m not sure who the speakers were but it was so fascinating to hear the common sense vs affirmation at all costs views in real time. I know which one sounded more convincing!

Came to see if there was a thread on this and to start one if not!
I do find the presenter’s obvious bias (or the BBC’s?) frustrating.
I would have liked Lucy (who did well) to point out that school uniform is not the time for allowing children to express their identities by wearing ears or a tail. That is the whole point of a uniform!
I also thought the Canadian woman (Sharon something) talking about how dressing as a furry/engaging in the ‘furdom’ allows children to resolve their identity is meaningless without clarification of what that means? Resolving their identity that they are humans and they can’t change sex? Or resolving they really are a different gender (sex) or species?

The other speaker is clearly so deep in Queer Theory their brain has rotted. There was an underlying attitude of ‘yes, a small number of people will dress as furries as a kink but it’s a small number do we shouldn’t worry or safeguard kids’ that is so familiar to many of us from TRAs.

I haven't listened to it yet but this was a question posed by a senior leader (anon ) in a very large Facebook for senior leaders of primary schools run by 'the key' recently.

As in, how do we respond to requests ?

Some worryingly silly answers from senior school leaders but also some good ones. Particularly- clearly accessing too much of certain online content. Safeguarding risk.

At this rate the gender questioning child guidance will have to include species questioning ffs

"Thankfully" I suspect it's already in there, because the ever-increasing range of gender identities seems to include all options e.g. cat gender.

Obviously we've got the cognitive dissonance to contend with too, where the BBC (and others) are both incredulous that any school would teach that there were 72+ genders (it was positioned as a laughable idea when interviewing Gillian Keegan about the draft PHSE guidance... "it's just not happening, is it?", whilst also putting out children's website and programming content talking about 100 genders, whilst also presenting both sides (with a heavy bias that one side is bigoted and/or not nice).

incredulous that any school would teach that there were 72+ genders

Well I know of a new school leaver who was taught exactly this at a state school, (alongside one of the children of Kate Osbourne MP) as mum told me a few years ago. Pre pandemic.

There is an AIBU thread on this programme.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5174916-child-identifies-as-a-wolf-wtf

Adam Fleming did a good job of shining daylight into the two speakers views.
One turned to dust.
The other did not.

Haven't listened yet but I'm certainly going to do so.

Also, I shall have a good look through the AIBU thread. Thank you for posting that @miraxxx

That AIBU thread is well worth a read. Lots of people calling out exactly what needs to be said.

As well as people from this board, it's also clearly attracted some attention from TRA/Reddit land. Presumably some of those watchers are watching this thread too. If so, hi 👋🖍️

Someone has commented on that thread that they're a digital artist and a lot of income comes from adult furries. And any child into furry stuff should absolutely be considered at risk given the contact of that 'community.'

Yes, I saw that one.
It made me feel really worried for the parents that have no idea how dark this stuff is. I really hope that the people on that thread got pause for thought from that comment 🤞

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3639203-Nathaniel-Knight-partner-of-Aimee-Challenor-worrying-twitter-admissions

Revisited this thread after searching for Glinner on them and the links and content is horrifying

I'll post this here too:

When I watch complications of therians, to me they're getting a lot of proprioceptive feedback from the jumping around.

This may also be a pull for Children and teens who are perhaps autistic, as well as the visual sensory feedback from making the TikToks.

Kids and teens do need "rough and tumble play;" it's why judo was invented.

From experience, the kids who dislike football and more mainstream sports tend to enjoy martial arts. It's a huge shame these are not on our curriculums.

This looks harmless but as i and others have previously said, it's where the internet can lead someone from this .

Some children crave more proprioceptive feedback than others; my eldest boy would charge up and down on all fours like this being a lion till around aged 7 when he started learning to play football enough to be able to participate in active matches. (No adhd etc.)

My youngest boy has never been particularly active in this way.

A young girl I know with adhd spends her whole life doing cartwheels and gymnastics.

Some children I teach who struggle with emotional regulation will rearrange the classroom / chairs to let that out; we work with OTs to develop sensory programmes to get that proprioceptive feedback which is helpful for calming them in more appropriate ways. (It's extremely individual- some find some activities too stimulating and it increases anxiety. Hence the importance of using professionals.)

When I watch complications of therians, to me they're getting a lot of proprioceptive feedback from the jumping around.
This may also be a pull for Children and teens who are perhaps autistic, as well as the visual sensory feedback from making the TikToks.

Great observation.

Also great stuff.

Would a swinging motion fit in to the category of proprioceptive feedback, or is that something else? My daughter has a "swing" in her bedroom for regulation (although it's not currently hooked up as she wanted more space). It's a cocoon of material hanging from a single hook. So it hugs her as well as letting her swing.

Oh yes, but when you chat to OTs it's all very complicated. For example, I knew one child who would spin in one direction only and they were very keen we encouraged and oversaw spinning both ways. It would over stimulate her otherwise. Some of this stuff is linked to adrenaline release etc which can cause more issues in some children.

Water can be calming for some children, over stimulating for others (it's too easily chaotic and hilarious when thrown.)

DS, who has severe ASD, loves his rocking chair, trampoline etc

Rebound therapy is fantastic

www.reboundtherapy.org/

Interestingly my autistic DS has just started senior school and his need for fidgets etc in class has gone down now he’s regularly changing classrooms for lessons.
He’s a big proprioception seeker but hates football, rugby etc. He rocks as a stim and has a rocking chair at home (apparently a swing would be all wrong).