Bunny Hawkins of Skowhegan really likes bunnies, so she decided to become one. So far, the Rumor Has It page has been helpful in combatting harmful rumors and gathering positive feedback from the community, Grand Forks Superintendent Terry Brenner said. Whats unfortunate is then youre answering questions or dealing with topics like [the hoax] as opposed to all the good things that are going on in the classrooms and what were really here to do, educate the students.. It really allows you to be an idealized version of yourself. This thing has gotten out of control with politicians just wanting to have a talking point, said John McDonald, former director of campus safety at Jefferson County schools, whos now a school security consultant. Bunny Hawkins wears the outfit she works in at Walmart, complete with bunny tail, mask and Walmart vest. May. There is a real subculture of people known as furries, a community of children and adults who roleplay as anthropomorphized animal characters. Roberts said that in her research career, shes never heard of or seen an instance of a furry wanting a litter box. Similarly, furries might attend a furry convention, local meet-up, or simply connect with like-others online, but they return to everyday life on Monday just like everyone else.. Still, the untrue gossip is quite hurtful. For many furries, the fandom is a way to build social connections with others. Associate professor, Social Development Studies, University of Waterloo. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Kymera, 14, of Colorado, said being a furry is just a hobby, akin to being a mascot. Powers and his staff had to respond quickly, pulling together a statement to publish on social media on a Sunday night. In a message to the school district, Superintendent Michael E. Sharrow argued against the claims of litter boxes being provided for students that "identify as cats." (hutchyb // Canva) MIDLAND . Strike said that most furries he encountered grew up with interests in anthropomorphic cartoon characters and now find comfort around others with the same interest. FURRIES REACT to the Furry Litter Boxes in School Drama! Her campaign declined to answer questions about Ganahls claims, but in one interview with a local Fox affiliate, she suggested theres a lot of this going on in Jefferson County. She even changed her name to reflect her inner identity. Remember, fursuits are prohibitively expensive, custom made, hard to clean, hot and bulky. Its no coincidence that Bunny, the only other furry who agreed to be interviewed for this story, is also transgender, Pratt said. O'Furr, who has traced the origins of the litter box urban legend, dates the hoax to at least 2008. Enter your email and password to access comments. The writer, not identified by name, posted a piece in October alleging confirmed reports of furries employed at Bath Iron Works. How can both countries benefit from the deal? This claim as well as many others are simply false and are causing unnecessary stress to students and staff, Norbert Carpenter, the director of schools, said in the post. ET. However, its worth noting there are many marginalized statuses within the furry community. However, there is no publicly-available evidence that proves schools are providing litter boxes to self-identified "furries" anywhere in the U.S. "Furries" are people who often create . A Michigan school district is denying that litter boxes were provided to students who identify as 'furries' after a woman made the claim in a school board meeting last month.. Video of the woman . We've received your submission. Thats not a big leap from her natural optimism and cheerfulness, she said. Changing Demographics: How Educators Expect Populations to Shift, How School Districts Can Benefit From Housing Partnerships, Academic Integrity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience-Aligned & Trauma-Informed Approaches to Supporting Students, Teachers & Staff, What Educators of Color Say It Will Take to Boost Their Numbers in School Leadership, Top Superintendents Detail the Toll of Divisive PoliticsAnd How They've Responded, How to Address System Change in Education. Administrators have had to debunk everything from rumors of menacing clowns terrorizing students in 2016 to more recent claims that schools are indoctrinating students through critical race theory, the academic concept that teaches race is a social construct embedded into legal systems and policies. Prince Harrys Spare, like most celebrity memoirs, was ghostwritten. like a dog eats from a bowl).. The wave of misinformation reflects discontent among many conservatives around how the concepts and politics of gender identity are rapidly shifting. Best thrift stores in Boston and Oakland and is it okay to thrift XMas gifts? The angle is, Look at these weird freaks, she said. Rich Abrahamson/ Morning Sentinel. Reply. These are not the kinds of species that would use litter boxes, anyway. Shes allowed to wear her tail and mask at work, she said. Another 50 per cent of furries own furry paraphernalia a furry T-shirt, ears, collar or tail that communicates their furry interests to others. The focus seems to be on schools and district where there have been efforts to have conversations, curriculum inclusion and communities for students who identify as LGBTQ+ and as transgender, Young says. A couple of misunderstandings are that furries have fur fetishes or that they are psychologically dysfunctional, Plante wrote. Already have a commenting profile? She gave the example of a far-more mainstream Star Trek convention. The rumor, which has been repeated by several Republican nominees around the country as well as making the rounds of cocktail parties, has been repeatedly shot down by fact finding, including an Oct. 31 rebuke of Bolduc by Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire. There was also the unsubstantiated report that tables in a Texas school cafeteria were being lowered to allow furries to more easily eat without utensils or their hands (i.e. I am hopeful that once these stories are debunked furries will become better known and people who are anthropomorphically inclined will see that theyre part of something, he said, explaining that, Stories like these [help future furries realize] theyre not alone and isolated., Michael Kaplan contributed to this report. Furries are a fandom, like anime, Star Trek or football. While many furries have no interest in acquiring a fursuit at all, they can also be prohibitively expensive. A lot of furries not the majority are transgender, she said, not always necessarily transfem. In his comments, Bolduc specifically mentioned Pinkerton Academy, a high school in Derry, N.H., that serves both public and private, tuition-paying students. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page. Whats most provocative about this hoax is how it turns on two key wedge issues for conservatives: educational accommodations and gender nonconformity, said Joan Donovan, research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University and co-author of Meme Wars: The Untold Story of the Online Battles Upending Democracy in America.. With a Press Herald subscription, you can gift 5 articles each month. Have you met sports fans who wear their teams jersey at a special event, such as a game, or a music fan who wears their favourite bands branded T-shirt? Q&A with Mills College at Northeastern library director Janice Braun. If you go to France and you ask, What are the kids studying? the ministry of education can tell you, Today were going to be studying this geometry and this history, Galguera says. In mass media, furries are usually associated with sexual fetishes, the website says, but the most-cited draw to the furry fandom is its sense of belongingness, recreation, and escape from the mundaneness of daily life.. Depending on the study, we find more than 70 per cent of furries identify as LGBTQ+ and more than 25 per cent are gender-identity diverse. The second group has heard this same rumor at their own . At the school sit-down, concerned parent Lisa Hansen said she was really disturbed after reportedly learning from a student that at least one of our schools in our town, in one of the unisex bathrooms, a litter box for the kids that identify as cats. Furry fandom? It started with a comment at a school board meeting, which was later amplified by a Michigan state Republican leader, and culminated with a school superintendent explaining that, no, there were no litter boxes on school grounds for students to use if they identified as furries. The kitty litter box hoax has spread so far and so fast it even has its own debunking wikipage, which claims the rumor is in response to schools enacting rights for transgender students. US leverages its relationship with Taiwan to help rebuild the domestic semiconductor industry. That is the case for Bunny Hawkins, who says that without her costume, shes not completely expressing herself. They might dress up as a storm trooper or superhero and attend a comic book convention to have fun with friends. Within a few months, similar rumors began to spread in the U.S., where they quickly became culture war fodder. A study on furries led by Canadian college professor Dr. Kathy Gerbasi and published in the journal Society & Animals found that approximately 25% of those surveyed considered themselves less than 100% human and would become 0% human if they could. By starting all of this disinformation, they can say, public schools arent the answer. It is a shame that the furry community still endures (some) negative media portrayals and public misperception as deviants because the truth of this remarkable and resilient community is far more interesting, Dr. Sharon E. Roberts, associate professor at the University of Waterloo and a co-founder of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, told The Post. bizarre concession at a Dec. 20 board meeting. The first group is those who read the headline and had to know what this craziness was even about. Others wear partials. When they dont like something, they hiss and get this, get this, theyre putting litter boxes [in schools] for them.. Also this month, GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert told an audience in her home state of Colorado that educators are putting litter boxes in schools for people who identify as cats. Around the same time, Ed Thelander, a Republican congressional candidate in Maine, touted the same myth. Courtesy of AASA, The School Superintendents Association. We are, after all, talking about a Republican physician who has spoken out against Covid vaccines and condemned efforts to stop the spread of the virus. I just cant believe this is real, sputtered one incredulous commenter, while another wrote, Whats going on in this town?. The Jefferson County school district disputed Ganahls claims and said its dress code prohibits costumes at school. What fitness marketers dont tell you about New Years resolutions. Educators know their students, Young says, adding they do their best to create relationships and connections that foster safe environments for learning. Fursuits are usually worn on special occasions a parade, meet-up or convention. Mick Pratt of Westbrook wears her Pixil fursuit at a convention in Chicago in December. She attended her first furry event in 2016 and got her fursuit in 2020. The concept of becoming a furry originated at a science fiction convention in 1980, according to Wikipedia, which offers the caveat that the origin isnt exactly clear. In a Houston taqueria, a customer shot and killed a robbery suspect. On Jan. 20, Meshawn Maddock, the co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, advanced the rumor, posting on Facebook that Kids who identify as furries get a litter box in the school bathroom, with a link to a parent activist group. Brenner worries that the hoax serves as another tool for school choice advocates to sow division between public school parents and educators. This story has been shared 104,401 times. The four finalists for National Superintendent of the Year speak during a panel on Jan. 12 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. If your knowledge of furries comes mostly from television or social media, then what youve heard about furries is probably wrong. Tomas Galguera, interim dean of the School of Education at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California, says the rumor reflects parental concerns about what is being taught in schools that are twisted into paranoia and amplified by the internet. Finalists for national Superintendent of the Year say education has always been political, but deepening rifts are creating new challenges. In late October, Don Bolduc, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in New Hampshire, claimed schools were offering litter boxes for students who identified as cats and are part of the furries. Join our webinar to learn from experts on how to create safe spaces using neuroscience and trauma-informed approaches. Not So, Says School Official, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/23/us/politics/michigan-litter-box-school.html. Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles. She has a bunny outfit, and her employer, Walmart, allows her to wear a bunny tail and mask while working. In Minnesotas gubernatorial race, former state Sen. Scott Jensen has taken some bizarre positions in recent months. Thats the problem. Every school district that has been named by those 20 politicians said either to NBC News or in public statements that these claims are untrue. Im a co-founder of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project, also known as Furscience. Brenner found the hoax in his school community to be purposefully deceitful and part of an overarching political agenda to sow distrust in public schools. False rumors about litter boxes in classrooms have gained momentum in recent months. Far from merely identifying as felines, furries are an anthropomorphic community whose members sometimes dress up as a variety of animals at conventions, or who have a special fursona with whom they connect. Ive actually made new friends at school because of it, Dayna said in an email. We know sometimes information can get misunderstood and unfortunately, there can be disinformation out there, said Tracy Jentz, the communications and community engagement coordinator for the district and the north central region vice president for NSPRA. Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more. When asked by NBC News for evidence to support her assertion, Lauf referred to an anonymous far-right blog that claimed a student was permitted to wear a furry suit to school in Hinsdale, Illinois. Get the latest education news delivered to your inbox daily. According to Furscience, a website run by a multidisciplinary team of scientists studying furry fandom, furry describes a diverse community of fans, artists, writers, gamers, and role players.. Dayna, 15, who lives in Canada, said she brings a mask and tail to school every day but only wears them during lunch and keeps them in her bag during class. She legally changed her name to Bunny. In an episode of Spotify's "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast this week, host Joe Rogan told former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard that a litter box was installed in a school that his friend's wife. Ive studied more than 40,000 furries from 70 different countries over a decade, she said. Its only used to kind of sensationalize untruth, and to harm our community, in particular our transgender, nonbinary and gender-expansive youth, said Nadine Bridges, executive director of One Colorado, an LGBTQ rights organization, when asked about the litter box rumors. NSF official wants to catalyze research partnerships to tackle pressing societal challenges. The school district called that blogs story completely inaccurate and not something it would permit. Libs of TikTok noted as much in a subsequent tweet, but questioned why no one said so at the school board meeting, where some people applauded after Hansen spoke. The next day, the popular conservative Twitter account Libs of TikTok tweeted the video of Hansen at the school board meeting. Despite these risk factors and some who fear ostracism for their interests, furries well-being, self-esteem, life satisfaction, relationship quality and happiness are the same as non-furries. At the same time, furries such as Joe Strike are taking the high road, and believe that, over time, the community will benefit the increasingly de-stigmatized and mainstream subculture. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) A rumor going around on social media has been raising some eyebrows. As the number of people identifying as trans and nonbinary has increased in recent years, particularly among young people, so has the amount of anti-LGBTQ legislation from conservative politicians. She says being a furry is "a fun . I ordered a bunny outfit on a whim and ended up really loving it.. You dont have fetish scenes at the conventions, but some people might go back to their rooms for fun, he recently told The Post. Public schools in Maine and across the country have been plagued by false allegations that they have been forced to provide litter boxes for children who identify as animals, sometimes. 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