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It's Okay for Straight Men to Love Cats

2008_10_thomjd.jpgHeterosexual men who love their cats get the NY Times Styles section treatment, as writer Abby Ellin finds more dudes "are posting photographs and videos of their little buddies on YouTube and on Web sites like menandcats.com, and Twittering about them to anyone who will listen."

One cat owner, Adam Fulrath, says," My cat takes priority over the new relationship. Realistically, unless there’s something absolutely amazing about her, he wins.” Elizabeth Daza "who dated a cat-owning man for eight years," said, "Straight men with cats seem to be really secure and stable. They don’t need to be running around the park and proving their masculinity like the dog guys.” And cat lover and owner John Scalzi--of bacon on cat fame-- even goes as far to call dogs "the insecure man's best friend."

This reminds us the part in Meet the Parents where Robert DeNiro's character has a mini-monologue on cats, after calling dogs "emotionally shallow": "When you yell at a dog, his tail will go between his legs and cover his genitals, his ears will go down. A dog is very easy to break, but cats make you work for their affection. They don't sell out the way dogs do."

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Comments [rss]

  • tsahpina

    all cat haters are plain idiots while not all cat loving people are non idiot
    those who love dogs but adore cats are the best.i am cush.haug.

  • Guest

    I never got the feminization of cats.

    -They are one of the most, if not THE most, efficient killing machine(s) on Earth.
    -In a fight: equal size cat vs. equal size dog, siamese to lion...absolutely NO contest. Cat wins.* Including fight to the death.
    *key reason why they have been so heavily studied by masters of martial arts throughout the ages.
    -They aren't needy at all. They'll get along just fine without you if they have to.

    The only men who are truly closeted, and it's no big secret anymore, are guys who follow, have a macho image to maintain, and parrot what is told to them by fashion. And yes, by playing "dress up" to "look" tough accessorizing with a dog is a fashion statement.

  • gobot

    straight men who love cats are closeted

  • soopaman

    Cats are great for kicking!!!!!!1

  • foodofthefuture

    i touched a cat and i liked it - mmnnnnn - something something tuna chapstick.

  • QM

    Right, because getting defensive and insulting others based on their choice of pets is the sort of thing stable & secure guys do.

    Ever stop and think that maybe it's just fun to play with a dog and that it's not some elaborate ruse to prove how macho you are?

  • King Kong

    This is the gay-est post on Gothamist yet. I am glad that someone else noticed this guy's helment. Maybe he is secure and stable because he just got off the short bus with his little cat.

  • martymar

    MEN ARE THE NEW WOMEN....

  • nomnomnom

    Wow. That is one incredibly non-straight looking photo.

  • Bouncing Soul

    Dogs just aren't meant for these tiny apartments. Cats are versatile.

    I've dated two cat lovers, one had four cats the other had one cat. Granted I'd take the man with one cat over four cats but there is something special about a man who could love such a temperamental animal.

  • TKaisen

    Dogs are way too high-maintenance. I'll take changing cat litter twice a week vs. walking a dog three or four times a day.

    Dogs are good if you have a yard. They're a pain in the ass in an apartment. And, if you're a male who owns a 5-pound dog calling a cat owner gay... that may actually break the irony scale.

  • Brainwash

    I strongly disagree. These men aren't straight or gay, they're just pussies.

  • babyhitler

    so there is an entire subclass of people keeping cats around to smell their pee and get high. Now it makes sense. cat lovers are really cat pee lovers.

  • HolyDiver

    What do you call a man in a helmet taking time out of his day to create a website called menandcats.com or posting pictures of him and his cat and posting them online so other people can see him in his helmet with his cat? He ain't riding a bicycle so the only other conclusion I could come to was that he was retarded.

    I'm all for being a lil more rational as a gender but this all out feminization of men is just pathetic.

  • NannyState

    Jay Leno leads the straight dude cat brigade so just get over this bizarre pet-surrogate gender imprinting already.

  • Spirit of 76

    Wow. It is true. The comments in this post absolutely prove that men who don't like cats are insecure. Only insecure people need to go around calling others "insane" or "retarded."

    Besides, Gothamist likes cats. Both Jen and Jake have them. Well, okay, maybe Jake is insane and retarded, but that's regardless of his preference in pets.

  • ides_of_march

    It's okay only as long as they don't name them Fluffy, Mr. Tiddlywinks, or Cleopatra.

  • thefacts

    Straight men like pussies, not cats.

  • Felix Hoenikker

    Bh

    It's called 'cheesing'....South Park episode 'Major Boobage'.

  • S_R

    ...and a sub class of straight men who love cats is 'straight men with synthesizers who love cats':

    http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/search/label/Cat

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