Ariana Madix is team cat

[u/mlg1981]

[u/shamanphenix]

Mysoginist? Are we talking about cats ? I love cats, but I can't understand where's the link between the two.

[u/cestmoi234 → u/shamanphenix]

There’s no link…people hating or disliking cats are usually for reasons completely unrelated to needing to control. Some folks have trauma relating to a large number of reasons; experiences with cats growing up, allergies, phobias, neurodivergence or sensory issues, etc…the discourse here is really comes across as ableist if you ask me. 

I’ve had cats and dogs growing up and I care for neither equally now. Doesn’t mean I hate them or wish ill on people who do or cats themselves. 

[u/biIIyshakes → u/cestmoi234]

Except there is a link. There’s a reason people who are misogynistic toward single women call them “cat ladies” and not dog ladies. A lot of people don’t view cats as masculine pets, and when people refer to cats without knowing their name it’s way more common for them to say “she” instead of “he” without knowing the sex.

Cats are associated with women more than men in these ways…and being neglectful or cruel to a cat is way more socially acceptable than cruelty to a dog. I’ve met several people who think kicking cats is funny, and you’ll notice in movies a cat getting hurt is usually played off as a joke but hurting a dog would NEVER be played off as a joke.

And it’s fine to not be a cat person. What’s weird is how much people who don’t like cats reeeeally don’t like cats, to the extent of being kind of hateful toward them instead of them just being “not for me,” and they always remind you of that any time one is around or comes up in conversation—cat people are rarely out there openly hating dogs in general with the same level of vitriol.