The Only Thing Trans-Speciesism Exists as is a Cry for Help

“It could be worse. He could be a homosexual”. For those of you who missed it, William Tenenbaum of South Carolina, a self-proclaimed “deer”, was shot in the chest the other day by a hunter who had mistaken him for a real deer. In 2016, Tenenbaum broke into a local deer farm and was allegedly caught sexually assaulting several animals. There’s a whole can of worms to unpack here, but let me begin with a quote from his mother, Michelle Tenenbaum. According to Michelle, “When he was eight he believed he was a porcupine, then at twelve a squirrel, now he’s a deer. It could be worse. He could be a homosexual”. Yes, he broke into a private residence to perform acts of bestiality, but God forbid he be homosexual! As amusing as I found that particular remark, today I really want to focus on the statement that begins with “when he was eight”. As a student of psychology and neuroscience, I find it alarming that society today promotes this type of behavior, rather than clearly addressing the underlying issues here. Tenenbaum’s own mother acknowledges that this behavior began at the age of eight. In our current society of snowflakes, rather than recognizing this behavior as problematic, people like Tenenbaum are praised as “heroic” and “brave”. Newsflash for the snowflakes who can’t seem to grasp this: glorifying a crippling mental illness is not “brave”. Tenenbaum’s behavior should have certainly been flagged by the time he was twelve and acting like he was a squirrel. Tenenbaum’s type of behavior is usually indicative of deep-rooted sexual trauma or abuse that occured during early childhood years, and, if left untreated, leads to forms of escapism. Escapism manifests itself in many ways, like addiction, isolationism, or in Tenenbaum’s case, dissociation from reality and the delusional belief of being another species. Unfortunately, this is something that is increasingly common.

When I was in high school, I remember one semester of gym class particularly well. My school, which happens to be one of the top schools in the country, had just dumped thousands of tax-payer dollars into “gender neutral” changing stations in order to justify allowing biological men into the womens’ locker rooms. While this had already been a point of contention, the real kicker was the demand for a “trans-species” area by the family of a girl in my class. I had gone to middle school with the girl in question, and knew that her home life was horrific. She had been sexually and physically abused by both parents from a young age, which resulted in her being passed around through foster care until being claimed by a distant relative years later. This same distant relative was now the one claiming that this girl deserves special treatment because she is now a “cat”. She wore a clip on tail every day with a matching set of cat ears, only answered questions by “meowing” or “hissing”, and would interact with others by scratching or licking them. Talk about double standards! If I had gone around licking people, disciplinary action would have been taken immediately. I guess I should have just called myself a “cat” and I’d have been good to go! My gym class had to go through a type of “tolerance” training as a result of this, in which we were told we had to “respect” the fact that we had a “genderfluid cat” in the class, whose “cat name” changed based on the day, due to the constantly “changing” genders. If we failed to comply, we were to be sent to the school counselor to be “appropriately disciplined”. I was, and to this day, remain baffled that we were the ones to be sent to the counselor for not complying. I had grown up with this girl, as had many of my classmates. It was clear she needed major help, and my school prided itself on its mental health resources. Hundreds of thousands had been dumped into hiring esteemed counselors and psychologists with decades of education, yet all these “professionals” did was enable this behavior. Instead of helping this girl work through the years of pain, neglect, and self-harm that had led to her current situation, they were helping her learn to “avoid negative stigma” she might be receiving from her peers, and they were reinforcing the concept that she was “unique and brave”. Meanwhile, if any of the students in the school questioned her choices or spoke out about their opinion on the matter, they were destined for multiple meetings with the counselors to work on “tolerance and acceptance”. Why dump so much money in mental health resources just to slap a bandaid on a bullet wound? The “cat” in my grade clearly needed intensive and frequent therapy and psychological help, not “validation” that she was exactly where she needed to be.

Oftentimes, people will act out in ways like this as a cry for help. If we treat their cries for help as an excuse to enable their behavior, then nobody is walking away from the situation as a better person. Not to mention that it is biologically impossible to transition from a Homo sapien to another species. As a former biology major, I can give facts (better find a safe space, liberals. I know that those scare you) regarding this “revelation”. The very definition of a species is “a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding”. Do you have the same number of chromosomes as a deer? No. Can you breed with another deer? Tenenbaum, I know that you tried to, but no, you cannot. By continuing to promote this behavior rather than addressing its true cause, the liberal education and mental health system is pressing the button on society to self-destruct. Come on, fellow humans. Do better.

-N.M.

William Tenenbaum, self-proclaimed deer