Therian quadrobics popular for children in Finland; two schools ban animal masks

[frameacloud]

In Finland, between May and September, newspapers published many articles on therianthropes. The papers are Iltalehti (Evening Newspaper), Ilta-Sanomat (The Evening News), Yle (Finnish Broadcasting Company), and MTV Uutiset (Commercial Television News, no relationship to the MTV channel in America).

These articles show a hobby popularized among children and teens on the social media app TikTok, where therians exercise on all fours (quadrobics), imitating animal movements. With practice, they can jump high and land on their hands, and other challenging feats. Therian quadrobicists hand-make and wear a certain style of upper-face animal masks to express themselves and protect their privacy on the informal video-sharing app. Some other common accessories are a tail made of yarn or fur, fastened to their belt. Some wear sneakers painted to look like paws, or take their shoes off while exercising. They practice making animal vocalizations. The therianthrope community is multi-generational and has existed since 1994, but this set of practices– quadrobics and masks– are a new development among the youngest generation of therians. While some of these young self-described therians say that being an animal is an integral part of who they are, some others firmly say they don’t, and simply enjoy it as a creative hobby, which is another difference from previous generations of therians.

Therian children who express themselves in these ways have been becoming visible in some schools in Finland. Although this hasn’t been a big problem, school officials have started setting boundaries about it to make sure that class won’t be disrupted by students wearing masks or making animal noises. Students need to wear shoes outdoors and take them off inside the school, which means that kids who take off their shoes to play outside will track mud onto the floors, and dirty other children's socks. Before this school year started, the principals of the schools in the cities of Oulu and Joensuu sent messages to parents banning students from these behaviors in class, along with other sorts of costumes and toys. This brought public attention to therians. In the past couple of weeks, the newspapers followed up on that by interviewing teen therians, parents, public figures, locals, and child welfare experts. Aside from a few opinion pieces and some reasonable concerns, nearly all of these express a positive attitude toward therians and give accurate information about what they are. This shows that young quadrobicists have been successful at building a good image for therians, because parents and others who work with children like it when kids do crafts and play outside together.

I don’t know Finnish, so I’m having to access these articles with the help of machine translation. That’s not a proper translation. One challenge I’m aware of is that Finnish doesn’t have the words he or she, so the machine translation alternates between them arbitrarily, with no clue of what would be correct for that person in English. In the following annotated bibliography of the articles, I’ll do my best to figure out a probably correct translation of their titles and give a summary, but be aware that nuances may be confused or lost.




Finnish news articles from earlier this year, before the ban:


Maria Aarnio (May 29, 2024). “‘Käsite oli meille aikuisille aivan uusi’ – millainen ilmiö on nuorten keskuudessa suosittu therian?” (‘The concept was completely new to us adults’ – what kind of therian fad is popular among young people?) MTV Uutiset. https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/kasite-oli-meille-aikuisille-aivan-uusi-millainen-ilmio-on-nuorten-keskuudessa-suosittu-therian/8941648#gs.e0lnr6 Archived September 7, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240907063037/https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/kasite-oli-meille-aikuisille-aivan-uusi-millainen-ilmio-on-nuorten-keskuudessa-suosittu-therian/8941648#gs.e0lnr6

This describes therianthropy and quadrobics, and what parents need to know if their children are interested in them. The article also mentions the word otherhearted.


Samppa Rautio (June 16, 2024; republished on September 5, 2024 in response to the therian ban in schools). “Karhuna ihmiskehossa.” (A bear in a human body.) Ilta-Sanomat. https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000010677056.html Archived September 10, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240910233804/https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000010677056.html

This is an interview with a bear therian, age 34. Although the article shows many photos of this person, all have a bear mask on, and it changes the bear’s name to Karoliina for privacy reasons. The bear accurately summarizes many features of therianthropy. The article has remarks about therians from Rasmus Mannerström, Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Helsinki, and Michael Bond, author of Fans: A Journey into the Psychology of Belonging. The article also cites a survey of therian mental health, run by Helen Clegg, Rosalyn M Collings, and Elizabeth C Roxburgh. In 2019, the piece by Clegg et al had been published as “Therianthropy: wellbeing, schizotypy, and autism in individuals who self-identify as non-human.” I think it might be partly thanks to this bear and this thoughtful journalist that the later news coverage of therians was well informed and positive.



Finnish news articles from after the ban, in chronological order:


Maija Kansanen (August 20, 2024). “Lapset puhuvat kouluissa kieltä, jota aikuisen voi olla vaikea ymmärtää – Tässä ovat tämän hetken trendit.” (Children speak language in schools that can be difficult for an adult to understand – Here are the trends of the moment.) Helsingen Sanomat. https://www.hs.fi/suomi/art-2000010633508.html Archived September 7, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240907102344/https://www.hs.fi/suomi/art-2000010633508.html

The other articles say this is the first article that reported the ban. The article itself is behind a paywall.


Emilia Saukkonen (August 21, 2024). “Therian-maskit pannaan: Karsikon koulussa oppilaat eivät saa enää käyttää naamioita.” (Therian masks are banned: Students at Karsikko School are no longer allowed to wear masks.) Yle. https://yle.fi/a/74-20106426 Archived September 11, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240911004645/https://yle.fi/a/74-20106426

This article talks about the ban at the school in Oulu. It also summarizes the earlier article that interviewed the bear therian. The school principal says that youth fads come and go, and has no opinion of it as being good or bad. The school can make an exception to the ban if the student welfare staff decides it's important to a child's psychological health.


Jussi Korhonen (September 3, 2024). "Lehdet: Lapset ovat alkaneet identifioitua eläimiksi – Kouluissa aloitettu toimet." (Magazines: Children have started to identify as animals – Actions started in schools.) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/1674616c-7c65-4c9f-a56b-810197927309 Archived September 9, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909091227/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/1674616c-7c65-4c9f-a56b-810197927309

This talks about the ban at both schools.


Jessica Helaskoski and Catherine Kähkönen (September 3, 2024). “Joensuulaiskoulu kielsi eläimiksi identifioituvien lasten naamiot – therian-ilmiö aiheuttanut ongelmia myös muissa kouluissa.” MTV Uutiset. https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/joensuulaiskoulu-kielsi-elaimiksi-identifioituvien-lasten-naamiot-therian-ilmio-aiheuttanut-ongelmia-myos-muissa-kouluissa/9000934

This talks about the ban at both schools. The school in Joenssu explained that their reason for the ban is that they need to be able to tell who's who, and anyone could be behind an animal mask, so those can't be allowed in class or at recess. The school in Oulu said that their own reason for the ban was that children had brought their play behavior in from recess and misbehaved in class. However, in all these articles about the ban in the Oulu school, it looks unclear to me whether they mean that this had really happened at their own school, or if they had only heard that it was happening at other schools in general.


Samppa Rautio (September 3, 2024). “Oululaiskoulu kieltää therianit – rehtori sai tarpeekseen: ‘Tunnillakin konttaillaan ja mau’utaan.’” (Oulu school bans therians – the principal had enough: ‘Even in class they growl and meow.’) Ilta-Sanomat. https://www.is.fi/perhe/art-2000010670861.html Archived September 9, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909102458/https://www.is.fi/perhe/art-2000010670861.html


Riku Isokoski (September 4, 2024). “Hämmentävä ilmiö voimistuu lasten keskuudessa – Asiantuntija kertoo, miksi he matkivat eläimiä.” (Confusing phenomenon intensification among children – Expert explains why they mimic animals.) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/d561f1f2-b045-4bf9-9035-661b6ce2e61a Archived September 5, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240905015447/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/d561f1f2-b045-4bf9-9035-661b6ce2e61a

Kaisa Önlen from the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare explains that therianthropy is deeper than a hobby, so will turn out to be a permanent part of the identity for some teens, whereas for some teens, it’s just something they’re trying out for fun. Children need to be allowed to experiment and play to discover who they are in the world.


Jasmin Levo (September 4, 2024). “Näkökulma: Kuinka pitkälle opettajien pitää vielä venyä? Therian-ilmiö on vain jäävuorenhuippu.” (Viewpoint: How far do teachers need to go? The therian phenomenon is just a tip to the iceberg.) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/perheartikkelit/a/f9527a79-095c-4547-8d75-c532f29e6e93 Archived September 9, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909145615/https://www.iltalehti.fi/perheartikkelit/a/f9527a79-095c-4547-8d75-c532f29e6e93

An opinion article about how children who want to make animal noises in class are only one of many sorts of disruptive behavior in children’s classrooms, comparing this with cell phone use.


Samppa Rautio (September 4, 2024). “Nyt puhuu therianin äiti.” (Now talking to therian's mother.) Ilta-Sanomat. https://www.is.fi/perhe/art-2000010674287.html Archived September 11, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240911041011/https://www.is.fi/perhe/art-2000010674287.html

An interview with a mother about how the ban saddened her child to the point of asking to switch to a nearby school where it wasn’t banned. That mother saw the therian children have a healthy and positive experience together. She was concerned that the schools limit children’s freedom of expression too much, and might start banning nonconformist fashion styles too, such as goths. In contrast, another mother supported the ban. She had seen that her own child’s curiosity about therians had led to places on the internet that weren’t appropriate for children. The child had encountered an adult online with sexual content, and had planned to go to an adult therian meet-up. The mother grounded her child from social media. Her child had also gotten very sore from practicing quadrobics, but not injured.


Lilja Hannila (September 5, 2024). "Näin opettaja saa keskeyttää therianin ”kiisuilun” ilman, että syyllistyy laittomuuksiin: Juristi arvioi Wilma-jyrähdystä." (This allows the teacher to ban therian 'masking' without committing any illegalities: A lawyer will assess the Wilma message.) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/46005c9f-b27f-496b-b819-25de3100c47c Archived September 10, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240910091006/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/46005c9f-b27f-496b-b819-25de3100c47c

It was controversial for the schools to ban masks, because that's a dress code. A lawyer at the Finnish National Board of Education, Laura Francke, explains about school dress codes in general.


Leo Jaakkonen. (September 5, 2024). “Eläinmaskit hämmentävät kouluissa – nyt puhuvat therian-lapset.” (Animal masks confuse schools – now talking about therian children.) MTV Uutiset. https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/elainmaskit-hammentavat-kouluissa-nyt-puhuvat-therian-lapset/9002214


Leo Kirjonen (September 5, 2024). "Paulan 11-vuotias lapsi kuvittelee olevansa kettu: Äiti järkyttyi, kun therian-ilmiö kiellettiin Oulussa." (Paula's 11-year-old child thinks he's a fox: Mother shocked when therian phenomenon was banned in Oulu.) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/5b167c83-51d6-45e0-b1fb-008089d45e8d Archived September 7, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240907083332/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/5b167c83-51d6-45e0-b1fb-008089d45e8d


Jere Silfsten (September 5, 2024). “Therian-huuma näkyy kaupassa – eläinmaskit viedään nyt käsistä.” (Therian masks are now sold in the store – animal masks are getting carried away.) MTV Uutiset. https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/therian-huuma-nakyy-kaupassa-elainmaskit-viedaan-nyt-kasista/9002094 Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20240912185250/https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/therian-huuma-nakyy-kaupassa-elainmaskit-viedaan-nyt-kasista/9002094

In the capital city Helsinki, the craft store Sirpa Saviluoto talks about therian animal masks. The store started selling them less than a year ago. The owner hadn't heard of therians before then, but has been learning from parents. Most buyers are primary school children. The store only sells blank masks, not ready-made ones or tails. The owner believes it's important for children to do crafts and make their masks and tails for themselves. The ban brought publicity and now the masks are selling faster than they can keep them in stock.


Heidi Asplund (September 6, 2024). “Kommentti: Aikuiset sekosivat lasten eläinmaskeista – hävetkää!” (Commentary: Adults ban children’s animal masks– shame!) MTV Uutiset. https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/kommentti-aikuiset-sekosivat-lasten-elainmaskeista-havetkaa/9002926


Anna Hopi and Riia Pakkanen (September 6, 2024). “Supernanny Pia Penttalan suorat sanat therian-ilmiöstä: ‘Pitäisi alkaa hätäkellot soimaan.’” (Supernanny Pia Penttala’s direct words about therian phenomenon: ‘There should be an emergency bell ringing.’) https://www.iltalehti.fi/viihdeuutiset/a/feee8339-324e-4787-9be2-0b696ab0d162 Archived September 7, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240907014441/https://www.iltalehti.fi/viihdeuutiset/a/feee8339-324e-4787-9be2-0b696ab0d162

This article interviews several TV celebrities on what they think parents should do if their children say they are therians. These opinions are not well informed about what therians are. They tend toward conjecture about bizarre and unlikely scenarios that haven’t happened.


Mikael Kaivanto (September 6, 2024). “Fazer-kahvilassa viittaus therianeihin? Näin toimitusjohtaja kommentoi.” (In Fazer Cafe, reference to therians? Here's how the CEO commented.) https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/4a80fb39-18e7-4d24-8b31-1b78e367cf61 Archived September 7, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240907013741/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/4a80fb39-18e7-4d24-8b31-1b78e367cf61

At a certain café in Helsinki, the figures on the restroom signs have animal ears. The CEO explained that the signs have been like this for a long time. It's part of their branding. Despite rumors, it’s not a reference to the recently fashionable hobby.


Mari Kononen (September 6, 2024). “Joensuulais­koulu kielsi therian­maskit.” (Joensuu school bans therian masks.) Ilta-Sanomat. https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000010681609.html Archived September 11, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240911091135/https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000010681609.html

The principal of that school explains his reasoning for the ban is that students' faces need to be visible, during recess, too.


Samppa Rautio (September 6, 2024). “Therian-raivo järkyttää – ‘Elämme ihan outoa aikaa.’” (Therian fad shocks: ‘We are living in a strange time.’) Ilta-Sanomat. https://www.is.fi/perhe/art-2000010679079.html Archived September 11, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240911073437/https://www.is.fi/perhe/art-2000010679079.html

The Ombudsman for Children, Elina Pekkarinen, looks at the hostile attitudes that adults have toward therian children. The Ombudsman explains that adults are often annoyed and scandalized by youth and youth fads, because adults want children to conform. She is disgusted at adults who have left comments on the internet saying that the children should be hunted like animals. It’s these adults who she calls strange, because it's terrible for adults to talk about children that way. She describes the therian hobby with approval.


Perrtu Kaupinen (September 7, 2024). "Pääkirjoitus: Lasten pitää saada leikkiä eläimiä, mutta leikkiä on vaarallista kutsua identiteetiksi." (Editorial: Children need to play animals, but it's dangerous to call play an identity.) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/paakirjoitus/a/8cc904b7-1c2c-461b-b9e3-c27313d0c740 Archived September 7, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240907013819/https://www.iltalehti.fi/paakirjoitus/a/8cc904b7-1c2c-461b-b9e3-c27313d0c740

This opinion article says that although the hobby itself is all right, it is disruptive if children try to continue animal behavior during class, and that calling therianthropy an identity makes a joke of the serious issue of gender identity.


Leo Kirjonen (September 7, 2024). "Rehtorit linjaavat therian-oppilaista: 'Emme me ole täällä eläiminä.'" (Principals say of Therian students: 'We are not here as animals.') https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/0d1ee0ed-e26f-4ae7-a3a6-129d6bfdf041 Archived September 7, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240907013152/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/0d1ee0ed-e26f-4ae7-a3a6-129d6bfdf041

The newspaper asked the officials of schools in different parts of Finland to find out if therian hobbyists were really so widespread as believed. Several schools had no sign of it or hadn't heard of it. All of them agreed that it sounded like a healthy activity for children, as long as the masks aren't scary to other younger children.


Heini Kilpamäki (September 7, 2024). "Seiko, 15, on therian – Nyt hänellä on painavaa sanottavaa trendi-ilmiöstä." (Seiko, 15, on therians – Now they speak up about trending.) Iltalehti.
https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/9f9616a8-9886-4540-9302-9b63caf8fb42 Archived September 10, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240910051442/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/9f9616a8-9886-4540-9302-9b63caf8fb42

This article interviews a teen therian– only by the nickname Seiko, to protect the child’s privacy– and the child’s parent, who explain about what it really means to be a therian and an alterhuman, using those words, and how it’s different from being a furry, and more than a fad or hobby.


Samppa Rautio (September 9, 2024). “Kommentti: Therian-ilmiössä on kyse yksin­kertaisesta, mutta tärkeästä asiasta.” (Commentary: Therian fad is a simple but important issue.) Ilta-Sanomat. https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000010685958.html

An editor of the newspaper gives the opinion that it’s okay for children to use animal play to combat loneliness and find out who they are. The editor points out that adult therians are as able to behave themselves and speak normally as any other adult.


Heini Kilpamäki (September 11, 2024). “Lapset: Pilalla – Tässä 7 syytä.” Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/perheartikkelit/a/aa1b3e49-7a6e-4a1f-a1a3-b47a5e87a3f4

This humor article reminds its readers that therians and TikTok aren’t the first fads that adults said were inappropriate for young students. It gives some familiar examples from previous decades, such as people who had thought Elvis danced in a much too scandalous way.


Sanna Ukkola (September 12, 2024). “Kolumni: Apua, lapseni on susi – Nyt hän vaatii raakaa lihaa kouluruoaksi, mitä teen?” (Column: Help, my child is a wolf – Now he wants raw meat for school food, what do I do?) Iltalehti. https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/29d8700f-9d9a-42df-9b23-ae04e7aada82 Archived September 14, 2024: https://web.archive.org/web/20240914005855/https://www.iltalehti.fi/kotimaa/a/29d8700f-9d9a-42df-9b23-ae04e7aada82

A mean-spirited satirical opinion piece describing bizarre scenarios that have not happened. Despite the title, this is not about someone's own child, and children haven’t been asking for raw meat in school.

Comments

[lb_lee]

It is so weird contrasting this news so far with the culture war litterbox shit that's happening over here. -_- Some adults need to grow up and get lives.

[frameacloud]

Exactly, I was thinking that too!

[voxel]

It seems like the problem most adults have with these children's masks and quadrobics is that they can be disruptive in class. I suppose, based on these summaries, that they're doing well over there with this sort of thing. I'm glad.