No, Furries Weren’t Assailing Students at a Utah Middle School. They Were Therians.
The TikTok trend has been around for years- baffling teachers, administrators and the press
by Jeremy Lee Quinn
VIDEO explainer
EXCERPT
…those assuming that the generic use of the term “furries” suffices in this case, need only run a Tiktok search for #Therians. The accessories of today’s “therian” teens & tweens, immersed in a subculture of anthropomorphic identity, are more scaled down than their more adult “furry” counterparts. Kids often sport a simple mask or a tail. Their identities are not rooted in a fur-suit. They are rooted in behavior.
Missed signs: A Michigan school student testified in October 2021 that she was confused as to why kids at schools were acting like animals. A woman also testified she had heard an unproven rumor about litterboxes, sending the press into a tailspin. The 8th grader’s testimony was all but forgotten.
The Utah school responded swiftly, assuring media outlets and parents that this was no more than online rumor and internet hysteria. “We have had zero incidents either reported or observed,” spokesman Seth Sorenson confidently told media outlets the morning after the protest.
Yet, Sorenson sounded exasperated over the phone. When asked what the protest was about, he paused, and let out a nervous laugh. He then downplayed the situation as “a few kids in headbands” with animal ears.
That Thursday morning, Sorenson had not yet disclosed that the school received the first overnight bomb threat, rattling the community and casting a pall over the discourse.
Then, the video came out. It showed school kids on all fours, in animal masks in various parts of the campus from the “Panther Den'' student commons, to the steps to the cafeteria stage, to Mt. Nebo’s outdoor field. Some tweens were recorded taking an aggressive stance towards schoolmates.
The viral footage of the protest outside the school started to percolate. A student named Kendalyn had launched an online petition, “Students for Humans at Schools, not Animals aka furries.” Pristine protest signs signaled parental involvement, yet by all accounts it was grass roots. “We the people, not the animals,” the group chanted quite seriously…
Subscribe for forthcoming report how this “therian trend” episode ties in with others in school districts in other states.