The curse of the cat lady
When I adopted my cat from a pet rescue last year I worried about a few things. Was I responsible enough to be a pet owner? Would he settle in ok? What if he turned out to be one of those ferals who bounced off walls and ate my furniture?
But there was one pitfall I didn't predict. Hearing that Hamish was moving in, several people warned: "Be careful you don't become a crazy cat lady."
For single women it seems owning a cat marks the start of a rapid descent into madness and a flat piled high with newspapers and feline faeces. Living alone apparently places you even more at risk of this fate.
I was warned I'd become one of "those" women who withdraws from civilised society to spend her days sweeping up kitty litter and chuckling at YouTube clips of cats in mittens, freaking out at their own reflection.
When I do leave the house, wild-eyed and babbling in gibberish, it will only be long enough to hurl wailing moggies at passing pedestrians, a la Eleanor Abernethy, the crazy cat lady from The Simpsons.
It's a prevailing stereotype that's enough to make even the sanest and most well-groomed cat lover have a hissy fit. While it may be meant in jest, the subtext to the "cat lady" tag is more pointed. Isn't it really just another way of saying "old maid" or "spinster"? The implication is that these women are so sad and lonely they've given up on men and are going slowly cuckoo with only a fleabitten bag of fur for company.
How else can we explain the fact that "cat gentleman" is not part of our everyday vernacular?
....more at link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/75012 ... e-cat-lady
