[CAT] Gender and cat ownership
Mar. 4th, 2011 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldGay Guy, Straight Guy had a post taking a look at stereotypes of gender and sexual orientation in cat ownership.
My favourite of these ads is the one featuring the biker.
Gay Guy (the original poster) wondered if there was a greater tendency for queer men to have cats as pets than straight men. That seems possible, and me, I'd support the existence of another, broader stereotypical tendency of cat ownership, for catowners to be disproportionately women, not men. I mentioned a recent study emphasizing the attachment of cats to people that said that women had a closer relationship to cats than men, and some months earlier I linked to something of a grassroots tendency for men to come out as cat owners, their Flickr group being here. There's some definite gender coding in regards to pet ownership, cats tending to the feminine and dogs to the masculine.
I wonder why? When you think about the case of the cat, in many ways it lives up to traditionally masculine norms better than dogs: emotionally autonomous and content to have substantially transactional relationships with their owners, they're independent-minded and more than capable of surviving independent of their owner. (Shakespeare, I've not mentioned, purely an indoor cat, has two kills.) Or do dogs fill, for the stereotypically masculine male pet owner, a necessary emotional relationship, an enthusiastic partner in an emotionally open relationship?
The Much Love Animal Rescue team in southern California has launched the "It's OK To Be a Cat Guy" campaign, which emphasizes that cats are not just for lonely ladies. They are also for tough guys -- with or without social skills.
Other versions (biker, bartender) are also on our gayads/straightads Tumblr.
I have to admit, I've known many single straight guys with dogs. I've only ever known one who had a cat. And, yes, he communicated with the animal in "baby talk." Nice guy. But that was a little unsettling.
My favourite of these ads is the one featuring the biker.
Gay Guy (the original poster) wondered if there was a greater tendency for queer men to have cats as pets than straight men. That seems possible, and me, I'd support the existence of another, broader stereotypical tendency of cat ownership, for catowners to be disproportionately women, not men. I mentioned a recent study emphasizing the attachment of cats to people that said that women had a closer relationship to cats than men, and some months earlier I linked to something of a grassroots tendency for men to come out as cat owners, their Flickr group being here. There's some definite gender coding in regards to pet ownership, cats tending to the feminine and dogs to the masculine.
I wonder why? When you think about the case of the cat, in many ways it lives up to traditionally masculine norms better than dogs: emotionally autonomous and content to have substantially transactional relationships with their owners, they're independent-minded and more than capable of surviving independent of their owner. (Shakespeare, I've not mentioned, purely an indoor cat, has two kills.) Or do dogs fill, for the stereotypically masculine male pet owner, a necessary emotional relationship, an enthusiastic partner in an emotionally open relationship?
