Despite official denials, furries in school are now pretty much public knowledge, but what’s the problem? Furry is a playful subculture attracting a large number of kids sanctioned as a gender identity and assigned a rainbow flag with paw prints. Although not formally recognized as a sexual orientation, furry is included under the LGBTQ plus umbrella and often considered kink.
While furry meet-ups include innocent animal-themed cosplay, opportunistic males may wear furry costumes to gain access to kids. If that seems far-fetched, consider Aaron Zeman, a self-described demi furry fox (demisexual "furry") who was arrested on charges of kidnapping a 13-year-old boy from Layton City, Utah. While the case also involved online enticement, the furry identity can conceal predatory intent. Utah is also where students from a middle school staged a walk out to protest their school’s permissive practice of allowing furries on a routine basis to disrupt classes, utter animal noises, crawl on all fours, and scratch or bite classmates.
Elsewhere, school administrators may be increasingly conflicted by the inclusion of furries under the LGBTQ plus umbrella. Emails at a Colorado school, for instance, showed administrators conspiring to hide furries because “calling into question students dressing or "identifying" as furries is part of a larger, national political platform to further marginalize our transgender and lgbtq+ students." However, an English teacher in the Dallas area, Auguste Meyrat, writes that teachers and students are required to overlook the very real possibility of mental health issues when a kid dons a dog collar, barks, and crawls on all fours.Concerned generally that teacher queries about such behavior are increasingly considered discrimination, whistleblower gender therapist Sara Stockon, told Jordan Peterson more of her school-age patients identified as animals in recent years.
No doubt fearing lawsuits, school officials are loath to admit much less address the problem. Since at least 2022, legally risk-averse school districts have denied parental concerns while also engaging in name calling, gaslighting, and lying outright. Federal mandates under Title IX may make things worse. School staff may soon regard furries as a protected class. Educational organizations, such as Gender Spectrum, already insist a student’s identity can encompass animal identification.
Nationwide, parents are voicing concern about “gender identity” gutting sex protections in the revised Title IX protections which may now inadvertently include furries. Educational researcher, Max Eden notes furries can claim to be a protected civil rights group: “If a student wanted to bring a complaint that a new dress code prohibiting cat ears targeted her and her peers on the basis of gender identity, she would have a very strong case that her civil rights had been violated.”
If furries make parents concerned, it is the result of furry–related child porn and furry fetish activity becoming victims of sexual predators. A subculture encompassing about 250,000 Americans, “furries” are predominantly white males under 25 who identify as “not heterosexual.” Thus experts confirm the cause for parental concern.
For some, dressing as a furry is part of an acknowledged fetish, and it’s up to the “con committee to keep that out of public view. The public should not even be aware.” One study found “participants most commonly reported that they became furries in the context of online pornography featuring anthropomorphic animals…”, a conditioned fetish (e.g., Rachman, 1966) ” Fetish play or yiffing at some furry conventions shows it is not an identity but for many a fetish.
While it is not evident to kids, educators should know sex offenders confide they prefer furries to other disguises. “Both sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals and sexual arousal by fantasizing about being anthropomorphic animals were nearly universal.” If acted out, this is called bestiality. Clearly, there is cause to question why any porn-linked fetish would be accepted as a gender identity: “The porn, the meetups, etc. are what concern parents because what people also learn when they research furries is that furry fandom has a strong sexual fetish undercurrent.”
A photo from 2022 shows Furries participating alongside pride participants in fetish gear. While furry costumes are not synonymous with fetish gear, kids can be misled.
Targets of Opportunity
The furry identity is especially appealing to kids seeking friendships and those on the spectrum. Youth in general often say they are uncomfortable in social gatherings. For those who are socially awkward, dressing as a furry gives them permission to be someone else. British writer Toby Young says furry students appear to have developed legitimate mental health issues. “I worry about the kids who’ve embraced these identities, and not just because they’re clearly disturbed.” Identifying as an animal was one of the clear red flags that led Washington therapist and whistleblower Tamara Pietzke to refuse to approve a young suicidal patient for gender medicine.
Providing insight as to the extent and nature of the problems associated with dehumanizing oneself, Robert Roper testified for Florida Citizens Alliance that a student may seek an escape from difficulties they face and begin to think they are an animal trapped within a human body. “For a student upset with his situation in life, it might be easier for him to disappear into an alternate reality.” Public schools absolutely need to be proactive, especially since some schools have witnessed groups of furries forming. A group of students in San Antonio believed they were part of a wolf pack according to a video about individuals who think they are animals.
Social spread when one group is afforded special status may be inevitable, and by college, peers recognize the furry fandom as a cover for deviance. According to undergrad Mary Heinz, who conducted an interview-based study published in the Journal for Undergraduate Ethnography, non-normative behavior is supported within the furry fandom. Moreover, someone acting in a socially- aberrant way may act out in other abnormal ways, “deviancy can beget deviancy because an individual has a secure sense of belonging in furry spaces to experience their multiple deviant identities.” That is, not just one but several perverse behaviors often coexist.
Observing changes in behavior obviously needs to be reported to the child’s parents, but schools also must recognize the basic reality that acting as an animal puts all students at risk. One of the Utah parents, John Lund, pointed out on X that school administrators can communicate unambiguously when furries are acting out, all without violating privacy. “Schools have a moral and legal obligation not to hide legitimate threats to the safety of students as mere concerns about privacy.” In other words, parents are no longer put off by hand-waving reassurances that no students are dressing as furries.
Legitimate questions are thus beginning to be widely raised despite administrators breaking trust with parents by denying their safety concerns. As noted, these include consideration for how kids might be targeted by a sexual predator. Equally concerning is whether protecting anti-human behavior can cause --or feed into-- mental health issues. Students go to school to study animal behavior not to adopt it.
Wrong Speak is a free-expression platform that allows varying viewpoints. All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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OK we have officially reached the peak of stupid.
This is disturbing on so many levels. I feel for the kids that have gotten trapped in this deviancy, I am disgusted (but not surprised) by the cowardice and complicity of the teachers and administrators and the board members in the government school systems.
Parents need to really investigate whether any of this evil rot has infested their local school system and get their kids the hell out if so.