Public opinion reflects new stance
As the 20th century edged forward, so women inched nearer to gaining the right to vote. But as if to sabotage their association with their furry friends, cats suddenly became a feature of anti-suffrage propaganda.
When JD Vance lamented that the United States was being run by "a bunch of childless cat ladies," the Republican Party's nominee for vice president was immediately accused of misogyny.
Vance had in fact uttered the put-down back in 2021, but it resurfaced in 2024 after he'd become Donald Trump's running mate. He later defended his words, saying he was not criticizing people who don't have children, but rather the Democratic Party for being "anti-family and anti-child."
Vance later claimed that he was just being sarcastic, but the damage was done. The comment unleashed fury among women, not least from female Democrats, including Kamala Harris, to whom the barbed remark had been aimed.
The fact is, though, that the description "cat lady" has been used as a pejorative term towards women without children for centuries, regardless of whether they actually own cats.
Ancient Egypt's half-cat, half-woman Bastet was the goddess of domesticity, childbirth, and cult secrets.
In Norse mythology, Freyja, the goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, and strength, rode a chariot pulled by two cats.
But by the Middle Ages, in an effort to rid the world of non-Christian gods and deities, the Roman Catholic Church had rebranded cats as evil.
In fact, the humble cat had garnered a reputation for being a minion of Satan. Furthermore, the creature was seen to be in cahoots with witches. The medieval era was not a good time to be a cat!
With the notion of witchcraft and devil cats largely debunked by the 18th century, single women with cats were nonetheless seen as figures to be pitied.
Unfortunately, unmarried woman in the 1700s were regarded somewhat with contempt; spare wheels if you like, with nowhere to go. Unlikely to be employed and with no husband, a single woman had to rely on the kindness of relatives for financial support.
In time, the cat lady became a figure of ridicule, an elderly spinster or widow with only felines for friends.
The cat lady quickly became resented by mainstream society. The die was cast, the stereotype forged.
It was during the Victorian era that the trope of the single woman and her association with cats truly gained substance. The idea of the lonely old maid caught the imagination of many.
As the Victorian era gave way to the Edwardian age, a strange thing happened. Felines started appearing as prized animals in cat shows. Money was to be made and cat capitalism boomed. If you owned a good-looking kitty, it could earn you a small fortune.
Strangely enough, though, the close bond forged between single women and cats was accepted as an inevitable social norm, at least in Great Britain.
In an underhand use of semantics, cats were mirrored as interfering so-and-sos intent on upsetting the status quo. Women's rights activists with cats as pets were presented to the public by the anti-suffragette movement as lonely and bitter individuals with a grudge against men.
The cat, however, was slowly winning over hearts and minds. By the mid-20th century, the domestic cat had become a favorite pet, a cherished companion. Generally, however, cats were still synonymous with old spinsters and coded as passive and associated with the home.
The image of the crazy cat lady endures, and with it the stereotype. But is a cat lady the product of genuine loneliness, or a result of a psychiatric condition?
The image of the eccentric, romance-challenged spinster who turned to cats for comfort is exemplified by the strange story of American socialite, fashion model, and cabaret performer Edith Bouvier Beale, nicknamed Little Edie.
Glamorous, wealthy, and a first cousin of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, Beale had a lavish upbringing as part of America's "Catholic aristocracy." She enjoyed a successful career as a clothes model, appearing on runways at Macy's in New York and Palm Beach in Florida. Then, when she was in her late thirties, Beale developed alopecia totalis, which caused her body hair to fall out.
Surviving as a virtual recluse in a seriously dilapidated property, Edith Beale attracted the attention of local authorities. In October 1971, police raided Grey Gardens and found the house "full of litter, rife with the odor of cats, and in violation of various local ordinances." In 1975, a documentary called 'Grey Gardens' highlighted the everyday lives of the two reclusive, upper-class women, both of whom were now living in poverty.
Carolee Schneemann was a visual artist who in the 1960s started to document her intimate relationship with various pet cats in paintings, performance art, and experimental film. For Schneemann, cats were muses.
The obsessive hoarding of cats, a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), has long been associated with "crazy cat ladies."
A theory has been put forward by some scientists suggesting a link between the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which is excreted by cats in their feces, and numerous psychiatric conditions, including OCD and schizophrenia.
And it's these scientific findings linking Toxoplasma gondii to several mental disorders and behavioral problems that has spawned the term "crazy cat-lady syndrome."
Meanwhile, what of the backlash following the remarks made by JD Vance? "He messed with the wrong demographic," was the opinion of many attending CatCon—often dubbed the Comic-Con for cat lovers—held ay the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on August 3, 2024. And some went further, hissing a warning: "You mess with the cat lady, you get the claws."
Celebrities, including comedian Chelsea Handler, were equally scathing. Handler, who does not have children, reminded audiences that "no president in the history of the United States has ever been a mother." Handler is pictured with Jennifer Aniston, also childless and who also took issue with Vance's description of some of the most powerful people in US politics as "childless cat ladies."
But when all said and done, the irony running through this entire debate is the fact that—among millennials at least—more men own cats than women (48% of men vs. 35% of women), according to Statista.
Sources: (NPR) (KQED) (The Guardian) (The Atlantic) (Statista)
A distraught and increasingly withdrawn Beale retreated to her mansion in the East Hampton estate Grey Gardens to live with her mother (Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, or Big Edie) and an ever-increasing retinue of cats, reportedly up to 30 felines.
Boy, did JD Vance stir up a hornet's nest when he likened female Democrats to a "bunch of childless cat ladies." In no time at all the Republican Party's nominee for vice president was enduring the ire of women everywhere, infuriated by such an offhand put-down. Vance was referring to the centuries-old stereotype of the lonely, romance-challenged spinster, but where did this figure of pity originate, and how did society advance the image?
Click through and find out more about the cat lady and her place in history.
What exactly is a cat lady?
What is the background of this figure that is laughed at?
LIFESTYLE Society
Boy, did JD Vance stir up a hornet's nest when he likened female Democrats to a "bunch of childless cat ladies." In no time at all the Republican Party's nominee for vice president was enduring the ire of women everywhere, infuriated by such an offhand put-down. Vance was referring to the centuries-old stereotype of the lonely, romance-challenged spinster, but where did this figure of pity originate, and how did society advance the image?
Click through and find out more about the cat lady and her place in history.