The myth of “cat women” taken up politically by the conservatives

For what reasons Do conservative men fear “cat women” so much? Across the Atlantic, the United States runs following the site’s revelations Politic, on May 2, 2022, announcing that the Supreme Court would be called to overturn Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) since 1973.

While Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren joined the procession of pro-choice activists, two conservative politicians preferred resorting to the stereotype of “cat women” to de-legitimize the fight to protect the right to abortion in the land of Uncle Sam.

“Cat Women”: conservatives’ favorite humiliating topic

“How many of these women who are rallying against the overturning of the Roe V. Wade ruling are over-educated and unloved millennials, sadly returning home from protests for a solitary, microwave-heated dinner? with their cats and without a game on Bumble? “

This tweet, as colorful as it is detestable, was published on May 4, 2022 by Matt Gaetz, member of the United States House of Representatives. And unfortunately he is not the only one using this image …

JD Vancebest-selling author who won the Republican primary in particular for the seat of senator in Ohio on May 3, thanks to the belated and decisive support of Donald Trump, he resorted to this “cat women” topic at least twice in 2021.

As of July 2021, the best-selling author Hillbilly Elegy supported by a big smile this unbearable stereotype in front of presenter Tucker Carlson on the Fox News channel:

” Our country is effectively ruled, through the Democrats and the corporate oligarchy, by a pack of childless cat women, unhappy in their lives because of the choices they have made, who therefore want to make the rest of the country unhappy too. “

Welcome to anti-feminist images!

Sara JonesAustralian journalist, decryptedcourtesy of a University of Minnesota resource bank, this political use of the expression “cat ladies”May 5, in the columns of International mail :

” This is an old stereotype based on silly beliefs about single women and feminists. Associated with women and the ‘domestic sphere’, cats were used in anti-feminist images portray suffragettes as silly, childish, unsuitable for political life. “

However, originally the cat was a symbol that activists of the 20th century used to defend women’s suffrage. “The representations of cats were more frequent (…) than those of any other animal”observes historian Kenneth Florey with National Geographic.

Originally, women symbolized as docile house cats

This phenomenon is explained by the fact that at the time postcards intended to promote or discredit the cause of the suffragettes were often illustrated with animals.

Since the 19th century, dogs and cats were associated with a genus, respectively, both symbols of opposition to universal suffrage. In the collective and misogynistic imagination of the time, dogs, considered active animals, were naturally assimilated to humanswhile cats embodied womenthey should remain within their designated sphere: their home of course!

Without surprise, feminist pioneers, breaking free from social norms, were branded as stray cats unlike the docile domestic cat. Often the postcards depicted men being forced by a cat to do women-related tasks such as cooking, taking care of children, or doing laundry.

In 1913, the British Parliament enacted a law called the Temporary Discharge for Ill-Heath Act to satisfy a broad hunger strike movement of British feminist activists. Jailed suffragettes were forced to eat and even once released they were monitored and controlled: that’s why this law was soon dubbed the “Cat and Mouse Act”.

On this momentum, a few years later, across the Atlantic, two suffragettes, Nell Richardson and Alice Bruke, he decided to adopt a cat as a symbol of the struggle for women’s suffrage on their national tour to enforce their rights. At the wheel of the “Golden Flyer”, they joined in New York and California, in the company of Saxon, their kitten, who soon became a media darling.

The cliché of “cat women” is still strongly anchored today

According to a 2015 PetSmart survey, 50% of Americans still believed this stereotype. But this equation of women with cats, being execrable and depressed feminist spinsters, is totally unfounded, according to a Royal Society Open Science study published in 2019:

” We found no evidence to support the female cat stereotype. Feline owners did not suffer from self-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety any more than others. Furthermore, there is no discernible difference in their intimate relationship experiences.. “

This study finds that people who have pets are more emphatic: in no case owning a cat rhymes with psychological fragility and a bitter temperament.

It is therefore time for the conservatives to take off the blinders from this bullshit and move with the times. Does this “cat woman” (or “crazy cat”) argument really reflect their fear of feminism, as journalist Sarah Jones seems to think, or on the contrary, don’t they give a damn about our mouth?

” Cat lady traditionally doesn’t have a man. Her needs and habits are not dictated by her spouse or children. She can form her own opinions and is free to do what she wants, which means she has time to get involved in politics. “

Bullshit and how nice! For conservative politicians, this excuse is too good to once again ridicule women who just want to preserve their fragile rights. And then, as Colette would say: “Time spent with a cat is never wasted … There is no normal cat. “ To meditate.

Featured image: © Milada Vigerova – Unsplash