What we mean when we talk about childless cat ladies

Note: When I started writing this post, my plan was to find my way from JD Vance’s thoughts on childless cat ladies to the black cat as a symbol of the Wobblies. This is to say that it was supposed to be a Labor Day post. All I can say is that, just like everybody else, I’ve been busy.

When I learned of JD Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment, my first thought was, “Son, you fucked up.” I was obviously not alone.

Time, has of course, proven me correct—which is not to say that I was particularly prescient. I know three cat rescuers—two of them child-free by choice, one of them my sister—and I would not mess with any of them. Anyone with the pain tolerance needed to tangle with ferals and the fierce love and patience required to bottle-feed newborn kittens is someone you should respect and possibly (probably) fear.

We’ve all had our fun with JD, but it’s worth asking: Why is he using “childless cat lady” as an insult in the first place?

According to JD Vance, Kamala Harris is one of the “childless cat ladies” running the country. And it is true that she is Vice President of the United States! And the first woman to serve in that role! To say that she is an incredibly powerful public figure isn’t wrong.

To call Harris childless, however, is to dismiss the fact that she is part of what seems to be a happy and healthy blended family that includes two stepkids who call her “Momala.” To describe her as childless is both inaccurate and dismissive—unless you understand that, to Vance, only biological children count.

Also a childless cat lady? Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. It’s a fact that he was 36 when he got married, and the average age for a first marriage for an American man is 30. That said, it’s hardly an advanced age even for someone who wants kids, especially when his spouse is 7 years younger than him.

It’s difficult to look at Pete and Chasten and see people who are miserable because they wasted the best years of their lives pursuing their careers. Buttigieg has spoken about how hurtful it was to hear Vance’s words when he and his husband were trying to start a family. JD probably didn’t know about the couple’s struggles, but he surely knew that he was calling a cisgender man a woman.

Vance has tried to walk a fine line when it comes to marriage equality. He knows its not cool to appear homophobic, but his actual policy views—and his religious convictions—are pretty clear.1 It’s kind of funny that Vance is insulting Buttigieg by calling him a woman when, if Buttigieg was a woman married to a man rather than a man married to a man, Vance would presumably respect their union and their family.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the third childless cat lady that Vance accused of ruining the country. I don’t think she has kids. I don’t know if she has a cat. I don’t know much about her private life at all. What I do know is that she seems to be a woman busy doing the job that she was elected to do and that she’s pretty good at social media.

When I started writing this weeks and weeks ago, I planned to dig into the cultural history of “childless cat lady.” Plenty of pieces on the subject have popped up since Vance’s comments resurfaced, but articles like this often circulate the same dubious claims until the algorithms make them truth. Sifting through that shit is the kind of work I just haven’t had time for lately, surely you know the tropes.

Anywway, I’m going to try to do my best to explain what JD Vance is doing here.