When "fat cat men" are in power, they start spewing nonsense like the Republican Vice President nominee JD Vance who has recently been quoted as comparing America’s downfall to a “bunch of childless cat ladies” who are running the show. This comment clearly lays bare his deep complex about gender while inadvertently throwing light on the supreme power of procreation, which Vance believes to be an important quality that is necessary to run a country.
Why are cats and women compared?
Thereby, indirectly, he is also accusing men, who can’t procreate, to be incompetent leaders.
Vance is evidently inarticulate about gender equity and reeks of pawtriachy in his outlook to progress.
Why are cats and women compared? When one refers to feline females, they have been associated with having witch powers, meanness, self-centredness and all things that women are not. The truth is women, like cats, are smart, and highly intelligent in nature and not like a fat cat, which is referred to as a man.
The term 'fat cat' which happens to be a Danish Folktale is the story of a greedy feline who gets carried away by the taste of freedom when asked to watch over a pot of porridge while the old woman goes out for a bit. He ends up eating not only the entire meal and pot but half the village - which we know that women won’t ever do. Therefore, Vance clearly is the fat cat who has been bestowed with a coveted position in a public space that clearly he is not capable of handling with enough control over his faux pas.
Vance already has shown his true colours with his former friend, Sofia Nelson, who is a transgender. Sofia allegedly said Vance was supportive of their transition. He apparently bought home-baked treats after they underwent top surgery. But Sofia’s and Vance’s friendship ended in 2021 when the politician started saying hateful things about trans people.
In India, if a cat crosses a road, it is considered a bad omen. We are tutored to stop in our tracks and do a little detour or pray for a ladder to not fall over our heads. It is worse if it happens to be a black cat. Black cats are not taken into homes as pets very easily. They are associated with witches and all things supernatural. When women are stereotyped with animals and plants, they forget that their very procreators are women.
Also, Vance needs to know that more and more women are choosing to remain single because of the gender gap in terms of pay, safety and responsibilities to family between them and men. Many childless women are doggedly pursuing their careers, and their passions and also looking after their pets which can range from birds to dogs to cats, but a man.
Vance needs to read the Morgan Stanley research data that shows that by 2030, 45% of women between the ages of 25 and 44 will be single and childless, out of choice. There must be a reason here for these steps being taken by women. Also, Vance must relearn that traditional markers of happiness and success no longer apply in today’s modern society.
Views expressed are the author's own.
Mohua Chinappa is a poet, and author and runs two podcasts, The Mohua Show, and The Literature Lounge and is part of a London-based non-profit think tank called Bridge India.
/shethepeople/media/agency_attachments/2024/11/11/2024-11-11t082606806z-shethepeople-black-logo-2000-x-2000-px-1.png){kind=logo}
Dear Political Leaders, 'Pawtriachy' Is Never Cool - Cats Always Are
It's time that we stop weighing women from the eyes of patriarchal traditional markers because these outgrown markers of happiness and success no longer apply in today’s society.
Image source: Healthline
When "fat cat men" are in power, they start spewing nonsense like the Republican Vice President nominee JD Vance who has recently been quoted as comparing America’s downfall to a “bunch of childless cat ladies” who are running the show. This comment clearly lays bare his deep complex about gender while inadvertently throwing light on the supreme power of procreation, which Vance believes to be an important quality that is necessary to run a country.
Why are cats and women compared?
Thereby, indirectly, he is also accusing men, who can’t procreate, to be incompetent leaders.
Vance is evidently inarticulate about gender equity and reeks of pawtriachy in his outlook to progress.
Why are cats and women compared? When one refers to feline females, they have been associated with having witch powers, meanness, self-centredness and all things that women are not. The truth is women, like cats, are smart, and highly intelligent in nature and not like a fat cat, which is referred to as a man.
The term 'fat cat' which happens to be a Danish Folktale is the story of a greedy feline who gets carried away by the taste of freedom when asked to watch over a pot of porridge while the old woman goes out for a bit. He ends up eating not only the entire meal and pot but half the village - which we know that women won’t ever do. Therefore, Vance clearly is the fat cat who has been bestowed with a coveted position in a public space that clearly he is not capable of handling with enough control over his faux pas.
Vance already has shown his true colours with his former friend, Sofia Nelson, who is a transgender. Sofia allegedly said Vance was supportive of their transition. He apparently bought home-baked treats after they underwent top surgery. But Sofia’s and Vance’s friendship ended in 2021 when the politician started saying hateful things about trans people.
In India, if a cat crosses a road, it is considered a bad omen. We are tutored to stop in our tracks and do a little detour or pray for a ladder to not fall over our heads. It is worse if it happens to be a black cat. Black cats are not taken into homes as pets very easily. They are associated with witches and all things supernatural. When women are stereotyped with animals and plants, they forget that their very procreators are women.
Also, Vance needs to know that more and more women are choosing to remain single because of the gender gap in terms of pay, safety and responsibilities to family between them and men. Many childless women are doggedly pursuing their careers, and their passions and also looking after their pets which can range from birds to dogs to cats, but a man.
Vance needs to read the Morgan Stanley research data that shows that by 2030, 45% of women between the ages of 25 and 44 will be single and childless, out of choice. There must be a reason here for these steps being taken by women. Also, Vance must relearn that traditional markers of happiness and success no longer apply in today’s modern society.
Views expressed are the author's own.
Mohua Chinappa is a poet, and author and runs two podcasts, The Mohua Show, and The Literature Lounge and is part of a London-based non-profit think tank called Bridge India.