LGBTQ Nation accuses Dakota Johnson of spreading transgender myths about students identifying as cats

The LGBTQ Nation website has accused Dakota Johnson of spreading and disseminating "the absurd and transphobic myth that schools are allowing students to identify as and behave like cats".

Dakota Johnson talking about kids identifying as cats. Image: LGBTQ Nation.

You might remember that time (I do) when in 2022 there was a big story about teachers allowing schoolkids to identify as cats and even providing them with litter trays. The kids describe themselves as furries. It was part of a movement of children identifying as animals and something similar occurred in Australia as I remember.

RELATED: School accused of installing cat litter trays for students who identify as ‘furries’

The same 'problem occurred in Wales at about the same time. See the image below:

The whole thing was massively hyped up by news media. It was hard to tell whether it was true or false and clearly LGBTQ Nation believe that it was all a terrible transgender myth.

Dakota Johnson is the daughter of actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith. She is quite a high profile actress who I recall starred in the film 50 Shades of Gray.

To be clear, transphobia consist of negative values feelings or actions towards transgender people. And Dakota Johnson is being accused by LGBTQ Nation of being negative towards transgender people.

But I don't get that because a person identifying as an animal isn't a transgender person is it? I am as confused as the next person. If you understand what's going on then please leave a comment! 😊

Apparently she made the comments in an interview with Bustle in a "discourse around this rising polyamory".

What's polyamory? Is the practice of having multiple intimate relationships whether sexual or just romantic with the full knowledge and consent of all parties involved. Okay that is the definition.

Dakota Johnson was talking about allowing people to do what they want to do if they weren't hurting anybody. That makes good sense. She then moved on to students behaving like cats and appeared to be supportive of those students.

She mentioned her stepson who had a friend who was saying that at their school some kids were identifying as cats. And she thought that was okay. I would too I think. I can't see a problem unless it disturbs school life and interferes with education which it might.

Also, sometimes schoolchildren don't know really what they want and therefore teachers and leaders should not necessarily reinforce strange behaviour by students and young people if that strange behaviour is based upon misplaced ideas and ideals.

But that's the news! It's non-news. But it contains a reference to cats!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

OFSTED has no concerns with the school where a pupil identified as a cat

NEWS AND VIEWS: There is a short article in The Times today which states that OFSTED "lauds school in cat pupil row". In other words, OFSTED, the government body charged with ensuring standards in education in the UK, have accepted that the standards are okay at the school concerned namely Rye College.

Pupil identifying as a cat. This a fictional image by DALLE-E.

Kemi Badenoch, the woman and equalities minister, had asked OFSTED to visit Rye College because she had fears about safeguarding. OFSTED decided that after an inspection they had no concerns about the school.

Earlier there were worries around the use of different pronouns by children at the school. Some senior figures in the education system said that pupils were identifying as animals, the moon and gay holograms!

The head teacher, Katharine Birbalsingh, of Michaela Community School said that she knew of at least one school were a group of pupils identified as cats. Comment: notice the word "group". This obviously means substantially more than one individual who wants to identify as a cat. That's a bit concerning.

However, OFSTED has praised relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) lessons at Rye College. The school is in East Sussex and it is for pupils aged 11-12. There is a culture of kindness at Rye College according to OFSTED.

Their report said: "Pupils enjoy weekly life education lessons and take them seriously, alongside linked work in tutor time and assemblies. They are enthusiastic about participating in discussions, including regular activities such as the Thursday debates. The concerns relating to the teaching of RSHE that led to this inspection do not reflect pupils' normal experiences at school."

In a statement in June of this year, the school said that no pupils had identified as a cat or any other animal. The incident which led to the inspection was an alleged recording of a teacher telling a pupil that she was despicable for not accepting her classmate identifying as a cat.

Kids pretending to be cats are taking over the classroom in wokery nonsense but there are serious undertones

 The argument from the right-wing is that pupils pretending to be cats are taking over the classroom and undermining the teacher who's probably too sensitive to the woke movement. They've allowed kids to become furries and in doing so undermined their authority. It's worse. One teacher admonished another for refusing to accept the concept of gender spectrum (non-binary). This is a merging of two wokery movements. 

Note: there is a wide spectrum of sexuality to which we must be enlightened and sensitive but I believe - without being disrespectful - that there are two sexes. Sex is biological. All the rest is in the head.

This is impossible and it must be stopped with firm leadership and guidance from parents initially and supported by teachers. Image: DALLE-E.

One girl self-identifies as a male cat and insisted on being addressed as 'kit'. The girl had merged the furries movement with the trans gender movement. Highly complicated and confusing. The culture becomes very fraught.

It disrupts the classroom and the education process. The UK education secretary, Gillian Keegan, has said that it is silly for pupils to self-identify as an animal. She takes the common-sense viewpoint. I feel sure that most Brits would agree with her. But is it just silliness? It may be a symptom of much more troubling mental processes in pupils and girls in particular. Too many are suicidal.

In Britain the classroom is becoming an impossible place for teachers which is why huge numbers are thinking of quitting.  It is a disturbingly high percentage. According to the BBC four out of ten teachers are planning to leave the profession! It is a catastrophe. The British education system is in a silent crisis and it is deteriorating. You can add inflation into the mix. Teachers have been striking for a huge pay increase. This is partly due to the difficulties of the job. Who'd be a teacher in Britain?

It will need a much firmer approach from heads and teachers. I'll be sexist and state that there needs to be more men in teaching. There are far less nowadays than in the past. In 2021/22, 75.5% of school teachers were women. Women have moved into teaching believing that it will suit them but no clearly not for a huge percentage.

They can be too gentle. Perhaps they sometimes lack sufficient confidence to stamp their authority over the classroom. That said the teachers are asking for guidance from the Dept. of Education on how to deal with this problem. Keegan will provide it, she says.

To be fair, it is very difficult for a teacher to deal with a child who wants to identify as a cat because of the modern snowflake culture. If teachers are too firm with pupils they can get into trouble when the child complains to their parents who then complain to the head teacher. It is toxic.

Teachers are having to be surrogate parents as parents abdicate their duties. Too many are capitulating to their children's fads to be trans or cats!! There is a merging of these movements as mentioned. Is this all about confused kids bossing around parents and teachers because they are too frightened to be firm and provide old-fashioned guidance?

Kids are also in crisis with an astonishingly high percentage of girls self-harming or having suicidal thoughts (30%!!). This can't go on. To me it is clear that there is a link between the high level of suicidal thoughts and wanting to opt-out by self-identifying as a cat.

Facebook post from Scotland claims that students identifying as cats are defecating on the floor

This is a spin-off or copycat situation from one in America where it was alleged that students were identifying as domestic cats and demanding litter trays and so on. It was denied by the school but it was a big press story for a while. They had a contentious council meeting to discuss it. It was taken seriously for a while. 

AMERICA: Lisa talking about 'furries' and litter boxes at the schools meeting. This was the original kids self-identifying as cats story which appears to have caused copycat scenarios in other countries. Screenshot.

School accused of installing cat litter trays for students who identify as ‘furries’.

It has been claimed that Scottish schoolchildren identifying as cats at a school in Banff and Macduff have defecated on the toilet floor because they were not given a cat litter tray. Screenshot.

Now a 'free-speech' Facebook page has published a video of human faeces on the floor in a toilet alleging that a student identifying as a cat is the perpetrator. The photograph on this page is a screenshot from the video which you can see in full by clicking on this link.

Another Facebook page called The Real Banff and Macduff Community Group has quite a few posts and comments on this topic in which they discuss it and in general they say that it is a fake story and should be dismissed.

While some other commenters are saying that it is true and pointing to the "Free-Speech, Banff, Macduff Facebook page. I guess they feel that their voices are being suppressed because comments and postings were removed by the administrators of The Real Banff and Macduff Community Group Page.

In truth, it is a bit of nonsense as I understand it. It's just somebody stirring up shite (excuse the pun please).

A spokesperson for Aberdeenshire Council said:

“We are aware of false rumours circulating online suggesting that Banff Academy has pupils identifying as cats requesting litter trays in the Academy’s toilets. It is disappointing to see this rumour continue to spread, however both Aberdeenshire Council and Banff Academy continue to focus on the well-being and education of our children and young people.”

If there is something truthful behind it, it might be because some students are unhappy with the way they are being treated and they are protesting. But they are not protesting, if this is true at all, by demanding litter trays because they self-identify as domestic cats. It must be something entirely different.

The trouble with these fake Facebook posts is that somebody gets hold of it and spreads the word and you have a conspiracy theory causing some people to believe it. Blame Facebook again. They are the source of many fake stories and identities.

There was another story about a young schoolgirl self-identifying as a domestic cat which came from Melbourne, Australia. That occurred around the same time as the American episode. Looks as if that was another example of copying a trend. That said, it is hard to know where the truth lies. You have to speculate as I have done on this page.

Kids identifying as 'furries' is not uncommon. It seems to be a way of escaping reality which they find difficult to bear.

Any enlightening comments are very welcome.

Clever non-verbal teenage girl identifies as a cat

NEWS AND COMMENT-MELBOURNE PRIVATE SCHOOL: A year eight student at a Melbourne private school who is described as being 'phenomenally bright' but is non-verbal has decided to identify herself as a cat. There's been a trend of adopting a furry animal identity and there is a kind of a culture among some kids in some schools to do this. People take a different attitude towards it.

School kids. Pic: Getty Images.

Those who support the woke movement are very sensitive towards it and the school is providing support staff to deal with a range of psychological issues. The school said that some students were presenting with a range of issues including mental health, anxiety and identity issues. These sorts of issues are present in a sizeable percentage UK school kids according to reports. Self-harming comes to mind as well as a manifestation of these pressures.

The school in question is tackling the issue gently and their approach is to always take matters on a student-by-student basis and seek professional advice.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the right-wing types such as Sen Ralph Babet who has criticised the Melbourne schoolgirl in a tweet (see above). He said that the girl identifying as a cat is:

"...a symptom of allowing the woke radical left in society to run rampant, unchecked. Can we just put a stop to this garbage right now. You go to school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic. You are not a cat. You are a little girl. The end".

That, it seems, would reflect a lot of people's views who don't believe in the woke movement.

I do not think that it is appropriate to talk to a girl who identifies as a furry like that. I don't think people should either encourage them to be furries or criticise them. You have to address the underlying cause of it sensitively. That is the only way forward in my view. From the child's perspective it is very real. You can't just shout at them and criticise them.

There was a recent story, in January, when a group of students at a Michigan, USA school identified as furries and the news went viral because there was a report that the school was providing litter trays for those kids who identified as cats. This was denied by the school.

RELATED: School accused of installing cat litter trays for students who identify as ‘furries’.

Psychologists, Judith Locke, living in Brisbane, Australia, said that she wasn't surprised at this trend of young girls and boys identifying as animals because they romanticise them in their lives and through television and film. And a lot of kids have difficulties in accepting themselves. Comment: Facebook does not help with influencers presenting perfect bodies thanks to photo-editing. Kids are going to hate their bodies.

Another Australian psychologist, Michael Carr-Greg, said that he had a patient, a boy, who identified as a dog but once stressors in his life were removed, he resorted to identifying as a human being. He has only dealt with one patient with this sort of psychological problem.

Furries tend to be teenagers and young adults although there are some in their late 20s and 30s. You even find some 70 and 80-year-old furries.

Comment: I feel I've got to make a comment about this. I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist. But if a child, a 13 or 14-year-old in a school in Brisbane, Australia, commits to identifying as a cat and behaves as a cat as best they can by, for example, being non-verbal, this has to be a mental health issue and they clearly don't want to be themselves. They want to be something or somebody else.

And that desire must be based upon the fact that they don't like what's happening around them, it seems to me. They want to escape the human world and transition into the animal world where perhaps they think that they will be treated better. I sense a desire to escape the human world which places unacceptable pressures upon some teenage students. Arguably adults - the grown-ups - are creating a world that is unacceptable to our kids. And this does not surprise me because it is also unacceptable to the grown-ups too!!

If that is correct then the adults have to do something to improve the lives of teenagers. And I wondered too whether the woke movement encourages teenagers to identify like this. There is a massive discussion about children identifying as the opposite sex and in the UK, there's been a scandal about an NHS clinic (The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust) providing the permanent means for children to transition from male to female and female to male without doing proper research and taking a more holistic approach. 

They took what is called the 'affirmative approach' which means that if the child affirms that they want to be the opposite sex that was enough upon which to provide them with life changing treatments. That clinic is going be sued by about a thousand people because they ruined some lives.

And the argument is that the woke movement encouraged the so-called experts to go down the wrong path and encourage opposite sex identification when the patients were not ready to really know what they wanted and needed. I think this case is a bit similar to that. Teenagers don't really know how to cope with life's pressures. 

The cure it seems to me would be to alleviate those pressures and teach schoolchildren how to cope with the pressures that remain.