butchpussy:

giveyourreasons:

lesbian-lizards: aniskywalkerx: I actually completely love this Discourse because for some bizarre reason it really is putting people’s politics to the test. Like, are you able to step back from your unreasonable hatred of cats long enough to even entertain the possibility that there could be misogynistic implications in the way that cats are both related to the feminine and devalued in society relative to dogs (who are associated with the masculine), or are you being a whiny individualist going “but I HATE cats so there can’t possibly be any misogyny involved in the way society as a whole devalues cats, there can be absolutely no deeper reasoning for the way we behave about cats relative to the way we behave about dogs, it’s just that dogs are amazing and cats are evil and horrible and disgusting!! Also if you say society as a whole devalues cats due to misogyny and their connection to the feminine you are saying that every individual who hates cats (including me) is a misogynist and I’m not a misogynist so!!! it’s not true!!” jfc I feel like I stepped back into libfem Hell. “I like makeup so there’s nothing misogynist about the way society behaves about makeup!” “I like being skinny so there’s nothing wrong with the way society behaves about women’s weight/size!” lmao wow. I’m just wondering why no one seems to have a problem with discussing the sexist ramifications of “bacon culture” vs “pumpkin spice culture” but doesn’t seem to want to look deeper at the dog/cat thing? Literally everything in our culture is needlessly gendered even our pets. Cats are like the “girly drink” of animals. I know it’s absolutely ridiculous, but the absurdity is part of the problem. I’m having a lot of trouble seeing anything that supports the notion that “ society as a whole devalues cats.” Literally anything at all. Show me proof of this societal wide hatred of cats and I’ll shut the hell up. But you can’t, because it doesn’t exist. Yes, men make fun of women for liking pumpkin spice lattes. But when it comes to cats, all I see are cat videos on YouTube which get thousands of views, cat themed clothing and accessories, and people who get irrationally angry when someone says that they’re not fond of cats.

hatred of cats in western culture is deeply rooted in classism and misogyny, dating back to the middle ages in europe, where cats stood in as a symbol of wealthy “leisured” womanhood. poor people (mostly men) held festivals that literally centered around torturing and murdering cats, in a cathartic exercise against the rich and against the aristocratic women who were “off limits” to them sexually.

historians have written at length about this phenomenon, most notably in robert darnton’s “workers revolt: the great cat massacre of the rue saint-severin” (from the great cat massacre and other episodes in french cultural history). this essay is a good introductory text to the (sexist) phenomenon of cat hatred, in general. this is a cultural “value” that has clearly been retained for centuries - the signs of it are everywhere, if you bother to look.

while cats may be popular on the internet, in real life they are seen as expendable, even by those who are charged with their care. for a disturbing account of this devaluation at work, and it’s dire consequences, i recommend reading about the case of luka magnotta, who videotaped himself torturing kittens on many occasions. when internet good samaritans attempted to alert the ASPCA in canada, they did nothing and even reportedly said “they’re just cats”. magnotta knew this - this is why he chose cats instead of dogs. magnotta was allowed to continue his torture, and he moved on to eventually murdering and eating another man. the warning signs were there, but nobody cared, because the victims were, initially, “only” cats.

additionally, i am a black woman from a redneck town in the deep south of the u.s., and i heard both white and black men brag about using cats as bait or torturing them for fun. because cats are not the pets of “real men” - they stereotypically are the pets of women, of socially awkward individuals, of the rich, of gay men, of witches. this is demonstrably true, friend.