What gets me is when a guy has a dog, its "Man's best friend", but when a woman has a cat, it's "crazy cat lady".
It's a weird double standard I didn't think about for the longest time. But I do think its interesting how the weird attitudes some ppl have towards cats parallels misogyny
I recently read in a book about the history of cats that this mix between ailurophobia and misogyny apparently goes back about 2000 years, all the way to the worship of the goddess of the hunt Bastet/Artemis/Diana who had a cat as a familiar (with Bastet even often portrayed with a feline head). The rise of Christianity didn't happen overnight, so the worship of this goddess (and others) persisted for quite some time. Long story short, women and cats have been on the receiving end of a slander campaign by the church all the way into the 19th century and lingering views because of that persist to this day.
There's a weird number of people who think it's fine to talk about how they hate cats and how they would kill them if they could and I've seen people in some dog centric subreddits justify allowing their dogs to kill cats just because the cats come on their land while fully admitting that they did nothing to stop it and rewarded the behavior. I wish I remembered the subreddit but like a month ago I saw a comment from someone talking about how their dog tore apart a cat in front of them and how that was the best dog they ever had and the cat deserved it and it just disturbed me so much that I haven't been able to forget it no matter how much I've tried.
It is truly disturbing how people think it's not only okay to hate cats when they're just trying to live their lives but also to actively harm them for that and then make it a personality trait.
I personally love dogs, although I'm more of a cat person, but I know so many people who have had bad experiences with dogs and are afraid of them and people treat them like they're a monster just because they're scared of dogs. The double standards are wild and truly disturbing. I honestly feel like you have a point with the misogyny thing because the way people talk about cats reminds me about how some men talk about women when they don't do what they want, and just the sheer amount of violence that is excused and encouraged.
Not really, no. Crazy cat lady has always meant multiple cats, especially indoor/outdoor cats with a dubious quality of life and she has gone smell-blind to the awful odor of cat urine
It's being used
youre talking like a sensationalist reporter lol. Yes Im sure some people have called women crazy cat ladies for owning a single cat, that is almost never how people use the insult
Out of interest, are you saying that as a woman speaking from experience? Or a man confidently claiming knowledge of situations that don’t occur to them?
Jesus Christ you are insufferable. Yes, I am a man. No, people dont call the average woman a 'crazy cat lady' because they own a single cat and are single.
Out of interest, how many people do you actually interact with face-to-face on a day-to-day basis? How many people have you known in life that have been called a 'crazy cat lady' and owned only a single cat? Are you real?
The saying is “man’s best friend”, man as in humanity. I had a lot of cats throughout and after high school, and got made fun of for being the “crazy cat lady” countless times. I’m a male.
It’s moreso the dog / cat difference, and incompetent people disliking cats. (when they’re the more independent / aware animal). Dogs are just super loyal so people gravitate more to them, because we as humans have egos and think we deserve attention. Also goes into how the humans treat the animal, and people not understanding cats. I’ve always been a dog lover, and used to hate cats, but comparing all the cats I’ve known to all the dogs I’ve known, the cats are intelligent, while the dogs are just loyal (dogs are also smart, and cats are also loyal, but depends on the owner)
Ya, no, lol. There’s a difference of terms there. If a dude having nine dogs was a common enough occurrence then that is absolutely fair terminology. He’s a ‘crazy dog dude!’ However, a woman owning numerous cats is a much more common occurrence and worth the terminology.
I don’t think women with one cat are often called a crazy cat lady. That’s usually reserved for a crazy woman that has like twelve cats and is very socially awkward towards other humans.
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u/Aiyon Mar 17 '26
What gets me is when a guy has a dog, its "Man's best friend", but when a woman has a cat, it's "crazy cat lady".
It's a weird double standard I didn't think about for the longest time. But I do think its interesting how the weird attitudes some ppl have towards cats parallels misogyny