Cat ladies

[live love laugh]

This has been rattling around in my head so I guess now’s as good a time as any to dump it.

I don’t think Vance and company meant felines when they referred to childless women as cat ladies. I think
it was really a dog whistle about homosexuality.

Am I totally wrong?

[Ocelot II]

1. I think you're wrong; sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

"Cat lady" is a long-standing stereotype of an older, unmarried, pathetic and lonely woman who lives all alone except for her child-surrogate cats because she's too homely or weird to get a husband and bring forth actual children. It's intended as a simple and clear insult to women who don't follow the Vance Rules for Nice 1950s Ladies, which involve getting married, having children, and not working outside the home; it's nothing to do with homosexuality.

[GenThePerservering]

2. Yeah, pretty much

cat ladies is a trope. Nothing to do with lesbianism.

ETA: "Ladies" instead of "women" is another slap in the face - women are powerful, 'ladies' are sanitized.

[canetoad]

3. My response

To "ladies" is; a lady wouldn't twist your knackers until you cried. I would.

[niyad]

6. A guy once asked me why I preferred "BITCH" to "lady". I replied,

"because ladies get stepped on. Bitches do the stepping." He never bothered me again.

[stopdiggin]

4. honestly ? the fact that 'old cat lady' is such a long standing and established jibe

And in such common usage - often even as humorous self identifier .....
So - in this case - I think you're digging a little too deep.

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[B.See]

5. Not likely JD Slick is slick enough to

COUCH his intent in such subtleties.