They circulate on social networks and you have asked us in our whatsapp verification service by publications that affirm that a girl from a school in England would have identified herself as a cat. The viral messages are supported by an audio in which, supposedly, a discussion between a teacher and a student about gender identity is heard. Spanish and international media echoed this and linked it to the cases of “‘furry’ children”, that is, minors who identify themselves as animals. Other publications omitted that the events had taken place in the United Kingdom, which caused confusion among users who assumed that the incident had taken place in Spain.
“Sara is a minor under 15 years of age who no longer wants to be identified as a girl, but as a cat,” say messages shared on Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok since at least June 27. Sometimes they are accompanied by a link to an article published by a Spanish newspaper that reported on the case, while other publications share a viral audio recording of a discussion.
Said recording would have been made in the school Rye College in East Sussex, UK, according to the viral posts. The media have also attributed the audio to the British school, although no reference to said center is made in the recording. In the audio, a woman, supposedly a teacher, is heard explaining that there are more than two genders, to which a girl, who would be one of her students, affirms that this is an opinion with which she does not agree, a comment which the teacher qualifies as “despicable”.
The origin of the discussion would have been a comment by said student to one of her schoolmates in England, who would have been asked “how could you identify yourself as a cat if you are a girl”. The center denied what happened, stating that “no minor had identified themselves as a cat or any other animal.” However, the audio of the alleged discussion between the teacher and the student and the controversy generated around the recording provoked the reaction of the British Government, which asked that the incident be investigated.
[La bailarina Sophie Rebecca no ha sido contratada por la Royal Academy of Dance o admitida por ser mujer trans]
What the viral audio says about the girl who would have been identified as a cat in a school in England
Viral posts and media outlets reporting the events at Rye College refer to a audio in which, supposedly, a teacher and a student discuss gender identity. British media such as The Guardian o The Times They attributed the recording to a class of Year 8 (1st ESO) students at the East Sussex school, although no explicit reference to the school is made in the viral audio.
According to users, the audio shows the moment in which a student would have criticized another girl for identifying herself as a cat at school in England and, as a consequence, the teacher scolded her. The recording, supposedly made secretly from the teacher, was shared on social networks, mainly TikTok, and the conversation is as follows:
Teacher: How dare you? You’ve let someone down, saying things like “I should be in a mental hospital.”
Student: I didn’t say that. I said: if they want to identify themselves as a cow or whatever, that’s wrong. Yes they are crazy.
Q: You were questioning his identity.
A: I wasn’t questioning her. She was talking about gender, I didn’t say anything about them.
Q: Where do you get this idea that there are only two genders?
A: I just gave my opinion. If I respect their opinion, can’t they respect mine?
Q: That is not an opinion.
A: There are only boys and girls, no other private parts.
Q: Gender is not related to the private parts one is born with. Gender is how you identify yourself, which is what I’ve been saying from the beginning.
A: But I don’t agree with that.
Q: The biological sex… There are actually three types of biological sexes because you can be born intersex. That is, being born with male and female parts or hormones. You know that?
A: That’s three, not 300.
Q: I’m talking about biological sex. In terms of genre, there are many genres. There are transgenders, agenders—people who don’t believe they have a gender…
A: But you can’t have that.
Q: How come you can’t have that?
A: It is not a law. It is our opinion. We just don’t agree with that. If you have a vagina you are a girl, if you have a penis you are a boy.
Q: But being cisgender is not necessarily the way to be. You’re talking about the fact that being cisgender is the norm, that you either identify with the gender of the sexual organ you were born with or you’re weird. It’s basically what you’re saying, which is very despicable.
The conversation between the teacher and the student continues and, in the background, the voices of other students who think the same as their classmate are heard. Given this, the teacher insists again: “Gender is how you identify yourself, it is not an opinion.” The student repeats that she “is” and the teacher responds by saying “it is not, and if you don’t like it, you have to go to a different school. You have to have your own educational conversation about equality, diversity and inclusion because I’m not going to have those expressions in my class.”
The student answers again saying: “Everyone else thinks so too, but they don’t say it because all this is happening”, to which the teacher tells her that “it could be because they are kind and sensitive”. The audio ends with a final response from the student: “I have not said anything in all the classes I have attended. It’s just because everyone turned around and started to say something. So I said ‘how can you identify as a cat if you’re a girl?’”
The alleged moment in which a first student would have stated that she identified herself as a cat is not included in the viral audio.
Rye College denies that one of its students identified as a cat
After the commotion caused on social networks, the school in England where the events occurred denied that a school girl had identified herself as a cat. “We want to clarify that no Rye College student has identified themselves as a cat or any other animal,” they assured from the school to Schools Weeka portal specialized in news about Education.
As a result of the controversy, the Department of Education in the United Kingdom sent the regional director for the South East of the United Kingdom, Dame Kate Dethridge, to the school to investigate what happened. Dethridge met with directors of the Aquinas Church of England trust, which administers Rye College, to “share an update on the events that took place before, during and after the recording,” Schools Week reported. From Newtral.es we have contacted the school and the office of the regional director, but at the date of publication of this article we have not received a response.
The case of the girl allegedly identified as a cat in England reaches the British Government
After the British media began to report the viral audio, different sectors of the Conservative Government of the United Kingdom expressed their opinion on the matter. For example, a spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, told the media that “teachers should not teach disputed opinions as facts or end valid discussions and debates,” as he noted. The Guardian.
On the opposite side of the political spectrum, a spokesman for Keir Starmer, leader of the UK Labor Party, declared that “children should be taught to identify as children,” the British newspaper reported. On the other hand, the British journalist and parliamentarian John Nicolson, a member of the Scottish National Party, echoed of statements from Rye College denying that one of the students had identified herself as a cat.
The case in East Sussex has once again put the focus on an educational guide prepared by the British Government on how to act in the event that a student identifies as transsexual, whose publication is scheduled for before the end of the course, according to The Telegraph.
The Minister for Equality and Women asked the Office for Standards in Education to investigate the case of Rye College
What happened at Rye College also reached the ears of the British Minister for Equality and Women, Kemi Badenoch, who sent a carta to the chief inspector of the Office of Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted), Amanda Spielman. This body, under the British Department of Education, is in charge of registering and inspecting educational centers in the United Kingdom —Rye College was inspected in January 2023 and the result it was good”.
In the letter, Badenoch expressed his concern about what had happened and asked Spielman to investigate the events that would have taken place at the East Sussex school. The minister argued that a teacher would have “acted inappropriately with respect to the beliefs of her students about sex, gender and a student who claimed to identify himself as a cat who, in [su] opinion, raises questions about safeguarding at school”.
Badenoch criticized the teacher for describing the “students’ beliefs” as “despicable” since, according to the minister, this is behavior that “is not in accordance with the requirements of the law on Equality in schools nor with the requirements of Ofsted on promoting respect”. Badenoch also pointed out that “teaching disputed political beliefs as fact—such as that there are ‘multiple genders’ or that ‘gender is not related to the private parts you are born with,’ which are politically controversial and have no scientific basis—the professor violated the requirements of political impartiality established in the Education Law of 1996”.
From Newtral.es we have consulted the British Department of Education and Ofsted about the investigation carried out at the school in England on the case of the girl who would have been identified as a cat, but we have not received a response.
Fuentes
WebArchive
Article from The Guardian about Rye College
Article from The Times about Rye College
Schools Week article on Rye College
John Nicolson tweet
Article from The Telegraph about Rye College
Letter from UK Women and Equality Minister Kemi Badenoch to Ofsted Chief Inspector
Rye College Inspection in January 2023
2023-07-02 07:51:10
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