It began with a post on Twitter, a British mother claimed that her daughter has been unfairly berated by a teacher after she challenged another student’s identity.
It a was alleged that her daughter had been chastised for failing to acknowledge another student identified as a cat.
Over the last two years we’ve tracked the multiple reports of conservative politicians, right-wing television pundits and anti-transgender activists who’ve claimed that schools are making special considerations for students who think they are cats.
15-05-2021 Journalist Leisa Goddard says students identify as cats
19-03-2022 Courier-Mail claims Brisbane school has cat identifying students
21-03-2022 Sky News shares the ‘students identify as cats’ story
29-03-2022 Media Watch questions Sky News’ ‘students identify as cats’ story
29-03-2022 Tell us if you’ve heard this one before, students are identify as cats
23-05-2022 Why do politicians keep falling for the students identify as cats myth?
24-08-2022 News Corp claims to have found more cat identifying students
25-09-2022 Indiana school officials deny there are cat identifying students
08-10-2022 Schools ask politicians to stop claiming students identify as cats
From Brisbane and Melbourne to Indiana, Ohio, Utah, Idaho, Michigan, Arkansas, Texas and Canada, there have been claims of students identify as cats, and time and time again it’s been thoroughly debunked as a urban myth.
The stories never have any directly verifiable information, they’re always cases of hearsay based on second or third hand accounts. Claims along the lines of ‘I know it’s true because my neighbour’s cousin’s friend’s husband is a gardener at the school – and he saw it – cat people!’
But time and time again politicians believe it, the conservative media report it, and the social media outrage machine kicks off.
But was this time different, the UK mother claimed she had proof, her daughter had covertly recorded the dressing down from the teacher. There was an audio file.
Indeed there was, a short grab of a teacher arguing with a student over the concepts of gender identity was uploaded. Soon it was featuring on television news program around the globe.
Social media users identified the teacher reportedly featured in the clip, her accounts were bombarded by abuse. A campaign was launched calling for authorities to investigate the school.
The Department for Education responded to the media saying they’d asked the regional director to establish the full details of the case.
“Following concerning reports regarding Rye College, the Education Secretary has asked the regional director to look into the matter further to establish the full details of the case and whether the school requires any additional support. ”
This innocuous “we’re getting more information’ line was quickly reported as an investigation into what was going on at the school.
The school also put out a statement.
“We are committed to offering our pupils an inclusive education,” said a spokesperson. “Teachers endeavour to ensure that pupils’ views are listened to and encourage them to ask questions and engage in discussion. Teachers also aim to answer questions sensitively and honestly.
“We strive to uphold the highest standards across the school. We are reviewing our processes and working with the relevant individuals to ensure such events do not take place in the future.”
In the audio recording the teacher makes no mention of a student identifying as a cat, while two students argue that they only accept there being two genders. In the clip one of the students says that in their argument with another student over gender concepts they had asked “How can you identify as a cat when you’re a girl?”
The argument quickly escalates and the teacher is soon threatening to send the student to see a more senior school official over their statements.
The lack of any actual evidence of a cat-identify student actually existing didn’t stop it becoming a big story in newspapers and on a news broadcasts around the world.
GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry donned cat ears and whiskers and announced she now wanted to me known as “Meow-chelle”.
“Self identity – where do we drawn the line?” Dewberry asked viewers.
Here in Australia, Sky News host Rita Panahi discussed it with Daisy Cousens. Paul Murray delved into the issue with Nigel Farage, and Andrew Bolt brought in GB News host Patrick Christys for his hot takes.
“What is going on in Britain’s schools is damaging, dangerous and should illegal.” Christys said. “We now need to protect our pupils from woke lefty idiotic teachers who are trying to warp their young minds with this gender knowledge.”
The GB News host said British students were being forced to believe there are up to one hundred genders, and being expelled from schools or reported to the police if they failed to comply.
“Brave teachers who stand up to this madness are being cancelled by what I call the Trans-Mafia” Christys said, saying he was aware of the case of one teacher who was sacked for refusing to use a nine-year old girl’s pronouns.
‘They were sacked, they had to pay legal costs and she’s now going to have to sell her house. That’s why I call them the mafia, because they want to take everything from you, your job, your money and your house.”
“Right now in British schools children are being allowed to identify as animals and inanimate objects. Cats, dogs, dinosaurs, horses – and even in one case – the moon! This is absolutely outrageous.” Christys told a giggling Andrew Bolt.
The British news host said teachers should focus on teaching students how to identify as doctors and lawyers. “I do not want them to teach my child how to be a cat.”
Within a week we’d gone from a student who thinks they’re a cat, to dinosaurs, dogs, horses and celestial bodies.
Eventually the school at the centre of the furor came out and declared: “None of our students identify as a cats, or any other animal”.
Writing in Byline Times author Otto English published information from other students who were reportedly in the classroom when the argument between the teacher and the students broke out.
They confirmed that while there had been an argument about gender identity in the classroom, the suggestion that people were identifying as cats was only introduced by the two students who later went on to make the covert recording of their argument with the teacher.
A broad-ranging conversation about gender among a group of year 8 students seems to have turned nasty and the teacher intervened. The teacher then appears to have become frustrated with the student’s disrespectful attitude.
As Otto English highlights in their article, questions should not be asked of teenagers putting covert audio on TikTok, but of major news organisations who present the claim as fact and stir up outrage on a global scale.
Incidentally, the outrage over cats, dogs, moons and dinosaurs comes just as the UK government is about to release new guidelines how schools should treat student’s gender identity.
Graeme Watson
Do you need some support?
If you are struggling with anxiety or depression, support and counselling are available from:
QLife: 1800 184 527 / qlife.org.au (Webchat 3pm – midnight)
QLife are a counselling and referral service for LGBTQIA+ people.
DISCHARGED: info@discharged.asn.au / discharged.asn.au
Discharged is a trans-led support service with peer support groups for trans and gender diverse folks.
Lifeline: 13 11 14 / lifeline.org.au
Beyondblue: 1300 22 4636 / www.beyondblue.org.au
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
