When I bring up the subject of cats on this blog, as I so often do, it’s party because, well, I’m a bit of a fan. But it’s also because I know it confuses and irritates the misogynists who read this blog, inveterate cat-haters all (or almost all). I’ve never quite understood the depth of the animosity the guys in the manosphere seem to have towards cats.
But now one of these cat haters has provided us with a theoretical explanation for his catphobia. In a post with the suggestive title “Limp-Wristed Cat Lovers, Beautiful Dog Lovers,” the guy behind the PUA blog LaidInNYC explains why real men — and real women — hate cats and love dogs instead.
Dogs are loyal, obedient, and affectionate.
Masculine men love these qualities in our companions, and they are qualities we want in our women as well.
Cats are selfish, independent, and alpha.
Masculine men hate these qualities in our companions. This is because masculine men are the owners, not the owned.
Huh. It’s weird how these descriptions of “alpha males” often read like confessions of massive insecurity. So “masculine men” are so insecure they can’t stand being challenged even by their pets? They’re so threatened by the independence of other creatures that they can’t tolerate a pet that might sometimes wander off into another room to take a nap?
But according to Mr. LaidInNYC, it’s the cat-loving dudes who are the sissies:
95% of men who love cats are either gay or have sub fantasies*. If you like cats, you like not being in control.
Well, all except for a small-percentage of super-alpha dudes who are so manly they can tame even the mighty housecat:
There are a small percentage of straight alpha seducers that like to own cats. The reason is they love dominating an already dominant living thing. They like to stare down and dominate their cats just because they can.
Welcome to my world.
Well, ok, sometimes the cats stare me down.
But what about the women? If masculine men love dogs, shouldn’t feminine women love cats? Then why do manosphere dudes so regularly hurl abuse on women with cats?
Well, LaidInNYC has an answer for that: it turns out that truly feminine women actually prefer dogs to cats, but for a totally different reason than men.
While men love the loyalty and obedience, girls are much more likely to coo over a dogs unconditional love, furry cuddles, and “look how cute he looks when he does that thing with his paw” type stuff.
Feminine girls love their dogs but they don’t enjoy training them, letting them run in an open field and feeling pride when the dog comes right back when called, punishing them when necessary, etc. …
Most of the feminine dog lovers I know already have strong male dominance types in their life, be it a strong father, boyfriend, or husband, and they just like the dog as another source of love. … cats are superfluous when you have a man to obey.
It’s a different story indeed for “the masculine, ugly, old, short-haired, barren feminists who end up being cat ladies.”
Ugly masculine girls, on the other hand, cannot find a male to dominate them in their social life because they lack the beauty. Since being dominated by a strong independent entity who doesn’t need her is so important to a woman, she must seek out that domination. Ugly girls find this in either a career, feminism, cats, or some combination of the three.
A job, a cat, some feminism: the holy trinity of MISANDRY.
I’m not not exactly sure how any of these things “dominate” women, but since Mr. LaidInNYC doesn’t actually seem to know anything about anything, I guess I’ll let that one slide.
In the meantime, I would like to treat you all to pictures of some of the evil independent creatures that make alpha males tremble in fear:
Classical Conditioning is attempting to trigger a response like salivation or being startled by preceding a stimulus (like blowing a puff of air into someone’s eye) with a signaler (a buzzing noise).
Operant Conditioning is attempting to shape behavior by encouraging the behavior you want (Reinforcement) and discouraging the behavior you do not want (Punishment).
There are four way this is achieved:
Positive Reinforcement: Administering a “goodie” for the target behavior
Negative Reinforcement: Removing a “baddie” for the target behavior
Positive Punishment: Administering a “baddie” for the unwanted behavior
Negative Punishment: Removing a “goodie” for the unwanted behavior.
Positive Reinforcement is the most effective way to get a target behavior. We can even use positive reinforcement to discourage a negative behavior by distraction.
Example: Linda gets out of her seat after she has completed her schoolwork and tends to distract her peers. Linda enjoys drawing. Rather than punishing Linda for getting out of her seat… offer her the option of drawing while her peers are working on their sums (or whatever). It’s necessary for Linda to remain in her seat while drawing. You don’t need to punish the unwanted behavior. You just need to reinforce the target behavior.
Lots of dog people claim this, and maybe it’s true for particularly nervous dogs, but I don’t think it’s true of most dogs, actually. I don’t think barn dogs, dogs that are kept sort of like many people keep cats (being fed but not really trained in any way and allowed to come and go as they please) and stray dogs generally suffer from not having a human being who provide them with “social structure”. This way of keeping dogs have been common historically and is still common in some areas, and I don’t think these dogs go around their day thinking “OMG I have so much responsibility that I can’t handle myself, I wish I had an alpha that took responsibility for me” or something.
I think douche may just be super intimidated by the size of Shiro’s balls.
Neoteny. Dogs are, genetically, baby wolves. So it makes sense that they need a “parent” figure because they’ve been bred to never grow up.
Goddammit, I really need to watch which account I’m logged in as. I swear I’m not just trying to subliminally plug my project (because it doesn’t really exist yet).
That’s a cute logo you have there!
Thanks, it was done by this guy.
Thanks, guys! I literally forgot to sleep last night, thanks to all these comments and kitty-links, and my new obsession with Queen of Wands. I realized it was time for bed when my kitty came to wake me up in the morning, and I was still at my computer, watching “My Cat From Hell” videos.
Mice are cuter than cats or dogs!
Says me ;P
@ Dvärghundspossen
Hi!
Yes, you are right! My experience with dogs is limited to city dogs, that have to live in a human-dominated environment, so my observation is also very limited.
My dog was not raised with people, so at the beginning he didn’t know how to react when a person or another dog approached him, didn’t know what a car was, didn’t know what to do in the park… When he was a puppy, I could see how he modeled his behaviour after mine, checking my moods and gauging my reactions to everything new. I saw the same with my partner’s dog, in new situations he tends to rely on him to know how to react.
As I have said, these are dogs who interact with people all the time, and who had to learn the rules of the human world. Now that I think about it, rather than “alpha/beta”, the relationship of these dogs with their humans maybe could be defined as “parent/offspring”.
In short: you have made me think and you are absolutely right, this is a result of their environment and not a “natural” behaviour.
jonatma420, has it occurred to you that the men in ancient Egypt revered cats? Oh, these guys also wore makeup. Nevertheless, they kicked a lot of ass back then. It would have been a bad idea to mess with them.
Good points, Xen!
The Furrinati in Japan:
http://www.retailhellunderground.com/my_weblog/2013/07/japan-convenience-store-hell-demanding-cat-custys-.html
Okay, I have just spent five minutes laughing REALLY LOUDLY at work.
My work here is done then. 🙂
Having just watched the scene in Black Books where Bernard spits out his wine, I nearly did the same with my tea when I read that! 😀
I particularly liked the cat on top of the mini fridge full of drinks. What, that isn’t a device invented specifically to keep cats comfortable in the summer? Nonsense.
I thought having a cat that doubles as an out of order sign was a great idea. Given the state of our printers, photocopiers and computers at work, we could keep a couple of kitties occupied doing that.
My printer is frequently out of order because Evie likes to plant her not inconsiderable back end on the feeder tray and use it as a comfortable spot for her early morning napping (by midafternoon the sun is in another window and she relocates along with it!).
http://youtu.be/aO_Ro7SMPuk
Cooties!
http://24.media.tumblr.com/9680544dcd2efbe5d82f0a1ddec8ea63/tumblr_mockbtGysv1rw1wnno1_250.gif
Nah, Evie just stares at me whenever I print something. She doesn’t move a muscle, if anything she snuggles down even more, because it’s a laser printer and printing makes it get nice and warm!
Hoomin germs, oh noes!
http://okcniceguys.tumblr.com/image/51316795704
Funniest MRA PUA magazine of all time x
For a real cool cat in a fedora, check this.