An unfounded anecdote about kitty litter boxes for role-playing students in public schools is a rumor that just won't stop, and especially in certain political circles.
Don Bolduc, a Republican candidate for the New Hampshire Senate, is one of the latest conservative politicians to repeat rumors that schools provide litter boxes for students who identify as anthropomorphic cats or “furries.” according to CNN.
“And take this, take this,” Bolduc says in a recording obtained by CNN. “They put litter boxes, right?… I wish I could make this.”
Turns out the story is untrue.
The rumor, which has been repeated by several Republican candidates across the country as well as the cocktail party rounds, has been repeatedly debunked by findings, including an Oct. 31 rebuke of Bolduc from Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire.
The academy tweeted that political candidates are welcome to visit the campus “before making claims about what's going on here.”
The kitty litter box hoax has spread so far and so fast that it has his own debunking wikipagewhich claims the rumor is a response to schools enacting rights for transgender students.
“This is absurd. Without any value,” he says Lydia Youngteaching professor for Northeastern's Graduate School of Education and head of faculty for the teacher licensure program.
“What's interesting is how many people are repeating it in an effort to make it a reality,” says Young, who is also head of faculty for the McFarland Scholars program at Northeastern.
Tomas Galguera, interim dean of the School of Education at Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California, says the rumor reflects parents' concerns about what's being taught in schools that has warped into paranoia and been amplified by the Internet.
“It comes from this concern of the American public that their children will be educated in ways that they don't approve of,” says Galguera.
“It's a constant suspicion of schools that they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, which gives rise to all these crazy ideas, like the idea of having litter boxes in schools.”
Rumors about litter boxes get so much attention that it's something that goes viral online, Galguera says.
“It gives extra power to the noisier, smaller groups,” he says.
Furries are a subculture of people who dress up as anthropomorphic animal characters, sometimes develop online “furzons” and attend conventions, one of which, Anthro New England, is scheduled for January in Boston.
Don't expect to find litter boxes at the conference, says Sharon E. Roberts, a Canadian academic and co-founder of the International Anthropomorphic Research Project/Furscience, which studies “fur fanaticism from sociological, social, psychological and clinical perspectives.”
“Furries—like many hobbyists—are engaged in a limited imagination,” Roberts writes in an email.
“For example, someone who goes to a Star Trek convention and cosplays as Captain Kirk is unlikely to show up to work on Monday and ask to have their phone replaced with a Star Fleet Communicator and have their supervisor send them to building B.”
“Similarly, furries might attend a fur convention, local meetups, or just connect with others online, but it's back to everyday life on Monday — just like everyone else,” says Roberts.
“Is it possible that someone somewhere has asked for a litter box? Like asking for a Star Fleet Communicator to be used at work, I guess anything is possible.”
“I can tell you, as someone who has studied fur for over a decade, the supposed behavior of asking for litter boxes in toilets is not supported by research,” says Roberts, referring to the rumor as a kind of “moral panic.” . “
Galguera believes that funding US schools primarily through local taxes contributes to “excessive concern about what is taught in schools,” a concern that lends itself to rumor and paranoia.
There is a sense that I am “paying for what my children are learning”, which is not the case in other countries that have a national curriculum, he says.
“If you go to France and ask, 'What do children study?' the Ministry of Education might tell you, 'Today we're going to study this geometry and this history,'” says Galguera.
In the US, some groups have “the idea that we're indoctrinating kids for all these extreme views,” he says.
Young says she had to do some digging — and she makes no apologies for the pun — about the trash can rumors to answer News@Northeastern's questions on the matter.
“I hadn't heard of it at all,” he says.
Young says she has read that at least 20 Republican political candidates have mentioned the rumor. NBC included the information in a report saying the kitty litter box rumors have become a GOP talking point in states like Colorado, Minnesota and Tennessee.
The focus appears to be on schools and districts where efforts have been made toward conversation, inclusion in the curriculum and communities for LGBTQ+ and transgender-identified students, Young says.
“Opening up to people who are different is really the goal here,” he says.
“Educators know their students,” Young says, adding that they do their best to create relationships and connections that foster safe environments for learning.
“I think this is a distraction technique to devalue public schools and say that creating inclusive environments shouldn't be happening,” he says.
“I really hope they stop repeating this (rumor),” says Young. “We have more than enough to do in teacher education than debunk fake stories. Let's focus on what's really in front of us and not make things up.”
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