What is a ‘childless cat lady?’ Here’s what it means and why it’s trending

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance called Vice President Kamala Harris a “childless cat lady” in 2021 and it has recently resurfaced online.

You may have heard the term before and if you haven’t, you may be wondering, what’s so wrong with a lady who likes cats?

What does it mean to call someone a cat lady? Here’s what we know.

J.D. Vance’s ‘cat lady’ comment

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on his evening show back in July 2021, Vance took aim at Harris and other democratic politicians for not having children.

“We are effectively run in this country … by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they wanna make the rest of the country miserable, too,” Vance told Carlson. “It’s just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”

This statement is not entirely true as Harris has two stepchildren with her husband, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and Pete Buttigieg adopted twins with his husband in August 2021. Buttigieg and his husband were in the middle of the adoption process when Vance made those comments.

What does the term ‘cat lady’ mean?

Cat lady is typically used as a derogatory term used toward women who have chosen to not have children. While men who do not have children are often lauded and called bachelors.

“Women often are likened to cats in a pejorative way — for example, a common insult is to call a woman ‘catty,’ said Leora Tanenbaum, author of “I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet.” “With a man, on the other hand, you would never use that word and are more likely to describe him as ‘spiteful.’ And we describe arguments between women as ‘catfights,’ while an argument between men is just, well, an ‘argument.'”

Women have long been treated differently in society.

“The expectation that all women will and should become mothers was forged by a long history that understood reproduction as American women’s primary civic contribution,” says Peggy Heffington, an assistant senior instructional professor at the University of Chicago who teaches and writes on feminism, women’s movements and motherhood in American and European history.

Vance’s comments imply that anyone who is not a parent, who he deems to be a “childless cat lady” should not be running this country.

More:Kamala Harris, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston and when we reduce women to ‘childless cat ladies’

Swifties respond to the negative connotations for “cat ladies”

The “cat lady” insult specifically carries with it some connotations. “You are physically unattractive, or a workaholic, which makes you a deviant person; no wonder you have a pet cat, because that’s the only one who loves you,” Tanenbaum says. Tell that to all the Swifties who bought tickets to her groundbreaking Eras tour and fired up social media retorts to Vance’s comments.

Who are other ‘childless cat ladies’?

While Swift is one of the most notable ‘childless cat ladies’ due to the recent success of her “Eras Tour,” many other famous women are considered to be as well.

Jennifer Anniston, Jennifer Coolidge, Helen Mirren, Stevie Nicks, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Betty White, Oprah Winfrey and many others are all successful women without children.

Aniston called out Vance on her Instagram story after his comments resurfaced: “All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.” 

Others are reading:Internet warns JD Vance after video resurfaces implying Kamala Harris is childless cat lady

Katie Wiseman is a trending news intern at IndyStar. Contact her at klwiseman@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @itskatiewiseman.