Beware the enduring wrath of childless cat ladies
For the first time in American history, a major political party has nominated a woman of color as its Presidential candidate. Despite — or perhaps because of — this historic moment, the rush of sexist, racist attacks lobbed at the presumptive Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, have been fast and furious.
Though she’s the acting vice president of the United States, a former attorney general of California, a lifelong public servant and an accomplished attorney, for some, none of these credentials hold nearly as much weight in evaluating Harris’s qualifications for presidency as her birthing status.
What seemingly matters most to Harris’s political opponents is the singular fact that she has never had biological children (despite having raised two step-children, who lovingly call her “Momala”).
Three years prior to Harris’s rise as the Democratic presidential nominee in a now resurfaced video, then senatorial candidate and current Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, bemoaned in a Fox interview that “childless cat ladies” were responsible for destroying American values.
Specifically referencing Harris by name, he complained that the Democratic Party was led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” The “childless cat lady” leadership of the Democratic Party, according to Vance and others, had resulted in the party becoming “anti-family” and “anti-children.”
In the years since reciting his now viral sexist “childless cat lady” trope, Vance, who is scheduled to visit Michigan on Wednesday, has done little to distance himself from his earlier comments.
In multiple social media posts, he has repeatedly complained that “weird cat ladies” have “too much power in this country” and that they “must be stopped.” Separately, he has expressed that childless adults are “more sociopathic” than those with children and “ultimately (makes) our whole country a little bit less mentally stable.” Vance has denied his comments are misogynistic, but, to his credit, he did eventually apologize — to cats.
Amongst its many factual and logical deficiencies, Vance’s “childless cat lady” comments also lack originality. The sexist “childless cat lady” stereotype is an enduring cultural criticism. It has assumed many forms and undergone various iterations over time, but the sentiment it is intended to convey has remained unchanged. Old maid. Spinster. All of these terms have been used to denigrate the character of women who do not have children, irrespective of the circumstances of their childless status. Women who do not have children are viewed as inherently suspect.
Notably, birthing has never been a prerequisite for occupying the office of the President. Indeed, no American president has ever given birth, and yet being childless has not always been a political liability — at least not for men. Many of the Founding Fathers were themselves childless. Like Harris, George Washington was a stepparent but had no children of his own. James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Warren Harding, and James Buchanan all lacked biological children.
During the 18th and 19th centuries — when women could not vote and the idea of a female president was inconceivable — childless leaders were actually preferred. Rather than viewed as “anti-family” or having “no physical commitment to the future of the country,” it was commonly believed that leaders who were untethered to parental responsibilities would be more fully committed to the country and their official duties. George Washington acknowledged as much. In an early draft of his first inaugural address, Washington expressed that his lack of children would benefit him in his role as president.
Despite calls to penalize adults without children by imposing tax penalties and curtailing their voting rights (while simultaneously making the lives of parents more difficult by failing to support tangible pro-family and pro-child policies), “childless cat ladies” are not an insignificant constituency. They are, in fact, a powerful voting bloc. About 20% of American women under the age of 44 have no children. That translates to roughly 22 million American voters. President Joe Biden received 63% of the unmarried women’s vote. Arizona, a state that former President Trump lost in 2016 by 10,000 votes, happens to be home to approximately the same number of registered female voters who own a cat and don’t have children. One of the most influential people in the world — Taylor Swift — is a “childless cat lady” whose endorsement could potentially influence the outcome of the presidential election.
When November comes, politicians should brace themselves for the wrath of “childless cat ladies.” It will come, and when it does, it will arrive in full force at the ballot box.
Erin M. Carr is an assistant professor of law at Seattle University School of Law. She is also a childless dog lady who will be voting in November.