If you're following the election in America, you know about the references made regarding the so-called "cat ladies." Just a little "catch-up ketchup" for those who haven't. The conservative (white-men's) Republican Party's nominated macho-weird vice presidential candidate JD Vance demeaned women who are childless as "cat ladies." He mainly targeted the opposition progressive- Democratic party, crowning it as a party led by childless leaders including the party's presidential nominee, Kamala Harris.
Let me first address the group on the other side of the gender spectrum of cat ladies––the dog-gentlemen. I find this "species" highly engaging, pleasant and exorbitantly proud of their dogs. I see them walking their dogs with unabashed-upbeat energy. Some canines are big, adorable, good looking––others are medium in size––ugly, friendly . . . some are small, delicate in appearance, sort of mean (bark at me). Izara, my granddaughter, gets sad when the dogs bark at her, takes it as a personal-rejection.
The public sidewalk is adjacent to our front lawn. As she and I play in the front yard, we see people passing by ––young, old, children . . . women, men. When we first moved into this house in 2022, Izara didn't attend preschool.
She was born in January of 2020. Her life changed abruptly as the covid 19 pandemic broke out. Till she was eligible for the vaccine, we maintained near 100% social-distancing. We stayed home. Her parents worked from home, mostly. We couldn't invite anyone on her first and second birthdays––it was only the three of us.
Izara craved for friends––other than us. I guess we were becoming sort of boring for her. Soon she made her first friends. . .
"Hello, hello!" Izara waved her hands at the man walking by. He waved back with a smile and stopped for a chat. He was a dog-gentleman and his dog started barking. Izara was taken aback and hid behind me.
"I am Frank. This is Fifi. She's a puppy . . . she's happy, so barking," Frank tried to calm Izara but Fifi was a feisty dog, excited to meet us. We properly introduced ourselves. Since then, Frank and Fifi have remained our friends.
The other day, on my walk I met a young man with a large dog.
"You can pat him," the dog gentleman encouraged me. "Here, give him these treats."
I did so. The dog was delighted. His name was Pedro.
I also meet ladies with dogs. I love dogs. I am a no-pet (lady?) woman but I have a thriving garden that needs constant attention. I prefer to be called a "woman." Lady seems a bit elitist to me.
My niece Nadiah in Kansas City has two cats––Leo and Jazzy. Izara adores them. Nadiah is also the biological mother of two children and has two step children. She is happy with her husband Frank in an interracial marriage. Cat ladies aren't necessarily childless or single. Vance's myth busted!
Rubayat, my other niece in Seattle, married her husband Joe with his dog, Tucker, and two cats–Finn and Tor. All three animals are beautiful. I let Tucker sit on my lap when we drove to a park while I visited. After that our friendship was cemented!
We have just-cat-men in our family as well . . . my brother's cat's name is Simba . . . It's not an anomaly or a monopoly–– anyone from any gender (including infinite genders––transgender, cisgender, non-binary, gender expansive, gender fluid . . .) can have preferences for cats or dogs or for both as pets. . .
Now about childless women . . . I have friends and family members who don't have children. Some tried for years (natural, infertility treatments), some had miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies––some simply chose not to have children. I had difficulty conceiving. I still remember the heartbreaks every month . . . it was hard.
No one has the right to insult women who choose or not choose to have children. The Republican party has attacked women's reproductive rights––a woman's right to have abortion, access to contraception, infertility treatments. In several states abortion is punished by law–– no exemption in cases of rape, incest, miscarriage, danger to mother's life, any fetus related irreversible complications that demand termination of a pregnancy. Mothers of still born babies in the womb are forced to carry them to full term risking septic and other related toxemia. Even the doctors are threatened to be jailed if they assist.
Republican Vance maintains that pregnancy as a result of rape should be continued as it's just "an inconvenience" to the woman/girl, nothing more. And his party wants to ban IVF.
In the Republican party's world view a childless woman has a lesser status. They shame and demean women for not having children but are ready to take away a woman's right to have children by IVF. However, men (I guess across all party lines) are very much in support of Viagra. 18 % of men age 20 and up in the US suffer from erectile disfunction (ED). It is estimated that in America half of the men between the ages of 40-70 will have ED to some degrees. They don't consider themselves lesser–– they feel stronger with Viagra. Women senators, Judges, presidential nominees have never spoken about men's rights to Viagra. In 2019, Pfizer generated about $500 million revenue by selling Viagra in the US. (Globally, it's about $ 2 billion as of 2008).
So let women and men be . . . let's not try to punish anyone––the cat ladies and dog gentlemen . . .
. . . It seems I have landed in the country of the American-Taliban. Old habits die hard!
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Bravo
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