THE MYTH OF THE CAT LADY

I saw this book cover and I had to laugh. Ahh, the myth of the cat lady. Although, I guess when most people think of cat ladies, they think frumpy. I doubt that they envision somebody in high heals, especially wearing the so called "come f me pumps." Knitting goes with the image. Drunk? Not exactly. Tea would more aptly be the drink of choice for a cat lady.

But really, what the heck is this cat lady thing about in the first place? Nobody goes around and gives men with dogs a hard time. In fact, they are probably going to be seen in a good light. Some guy in a park walking his dog is a chick magnet. Now, picture how sit-coms portray cat ladies. Get my drift? It's not exactly an item that an individual would advertise in a personal ad. It sends off an image of mustiness...dare I say...spinsterhood?

Let's be honest, though. Who would you rather have the extended conversation with? Let's assume that looks don't come into play with it. Would you rather talk to dog man or cat lady? All in all, I have noticed that the cat ladies amongst us tend to be the librarians of the world while the dog men are the guys who yell at the umpire on the sports station. Guess who knows that Monet and Manet aren't the same person?

Now, one thing that I have noticed is that a guy who likes cats is almost always a wonderful human being. They tend to be intelligent, liberal, kind and very independent. It's a pretty good litmus test. I knew a guy who loved cats and when I heard that he was moving back to town, I told a female friend that she had to meet him; that he was a great person and that they'd get along well. She has more pets then I do. They are now married and rescue ferals.

Women get called so many derogatory terms. I once had a couple of ignorant "jocks en masse" types walk by me and laughing, they made some comment about the blond reading. I looked up at them, flipped up the book (which was something like Sartre or Ionesco) and asked them if they wanted to have a discourse about the book. They seemed to take offence at that. On the one hand, they make like they have contempt for "dumb" blonds and women. In truth, that's who they like. So hey...I guess I can handle the cat lady insults.