“Furries in Schools” Hoax Map documents a moral panic to attack LGBT people by proxy.
by Patch O'Furr
False reports about students “identifying as animals” and demanding unusual accommodations are like a resurrection of the 1980’s Satanic Panic. The public is being targeted with a wave of misinformation and greedy grabbing for views, at the expense of furry fans, public education, and LGBTQ people in general.
- The Daily Beast – Furry Panic Is the Latest Dumb GOP Attack on Public Schools and another story from Salon (they source this site.)
- Dogpatch Press – Origins of an urban legend: “litter boxes for furries” joke gets revived for moral panic
What better way to face bullying than to document it, and connect debunkers outside the community to watchdogs inside? Responsible journalists, take note!
Here’s a new resource from Troj, a furry fan, psychologist and researcher from Colorado: “I started making a map of school boards and regions that have courted the “litter box” myth and related urban legends about furries.” (They’re mainly American myths, but even reach Australia.)
Each point on the map has a note with details (check them for links to sources), and date of media coverage or earliest mention of a given urban legend. Similar myths are roughly grouped by color. They keep coming: at date of writing, one in North Carolina is too fresh to appear yet.