1
00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,200
Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom never told you. From how Stuff

2
00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:13,960
Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm

3
00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:18,639
Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline. And since we're talking about the

4
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,600
Speaker 1: crazy cat ladies stereotype, I have a little story to share.

5
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:26,759
Speaker 1: I don't think that I've shared on the podcast before,

6
00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,280
Speaker 1: but Caroline stopped me. If this sounds familiar, Okay, I

7
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:35,760
Speaker 1: really hope I haven't shared this before, because, um, yeah,

8
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:41,720
Speaker 1: it's it's a little story about my well meaning nephews

9
00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:49,160
Speaker 1: who are ten. They're twins, twin boys, and it got

10
00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:54,040
Speaker 1: back to me that they were a little concerned about

11
00:00:54,080 --> 00:01:01,520
Speaker 1: me because their their aunt, Kristen is I'm married and

12
00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:06,520
Speaker 1: I hadn't brought a fella to any kind of holiday

13
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,320
Speaker 1: dinners or other family events in a long time. And

14
00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,520
Speaker 1: they were talking to my sister, their mom about it,

15
00:01:15,760 --> 00:01:18,920
Speaker 1: and they, like out of the blue, just came up

16
00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:23,400
Speaker 1: to her. We're like, mom, um, we're worried about aunt Kristen.

17
00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:28,720
Speaker 1: We understand that she lives with a cat, she is single.

18
00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,920
Speaker 1: Like they essentially told my sister they were worried I

19
00:01:31,920 --> 00:01:34,080
Speaker 1: was going to become a cat lady. And where did

20
00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:36,800
Speaker 1: they get this idea from? I asked him about it.

21
00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,560
Speaker 1: I confronted them. I said, boys, I hear that you

22
00:01:40,600 --> 00:01:42,959
Speaker 1: are worried about my dating status. First of all, thank

23
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:49,120
Speaker 1: you for your concern. I appreciate it. Um. Secondly, why

24
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:52,560
Speaker 1: what gives you the impression that I'm gonna become a

25
00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:57,120
Speaker 1: crazy cat lady and die alone except with cats? And

26
00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: they said, well, d t V. They got it from TV. Yeah,

27
00:02:02,840 --> 00:02:06,040
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know what what TV they were.

28
00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:08,520
Speaker 1: Maybe they were watching that Sex in the City episode

29
00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,360
Speaker 1: where Miranda like flashes forward and is worried, like sees

30
00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:14,320
Speaker 1: herself dead on the kitchen floor being eaten by her cat.

31
00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,200
Speaker 1: I hope that's not why my ten year old nephews

32
00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:25,000
Speaker 1: were watching UM, but it was hilarious because they were

33
00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:30,120
Speaker 1: so young and yet already had grasped onto this stereotype.

34
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,280
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe they watched The Simpsons with the crazy

35
00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:35,639
Speaker 1: cat lady cats hanging off of her. I mean, you

36
00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:38,680
Speaker 1: don't seem actually crazy, though, And I've never seen cats

37
00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:44,120
Speaker 1: literally hanging off of your bathrobe, so it's happened. I

38
00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,600
Speaker 1: mean when you walk through a patch of cats in

39
00:02:46,639 --> 00:02:48,800
Speaker 1: the woods and they just accidentally cling onto you, like

40
00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:53,079
Speaker 1: those brambles. Yeah, currently, I don't own any cats. I've

41
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,920
Speaker 1: owned cats in the past. I love cats. I would

42
00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,200
Speaker 1: say I'm more of a cat person than a dog person.

43
00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:01,919
Speaker 1: But at times now a living by myself. Um, and

44
00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:05,800
Speaker 1: though cat free, I still feel like a crazy catwoman

45
00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:10,560
Speaker 1: sometimes because there's a neighbor cat that comes over to

46
00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,800
Speaker 1: that will visit me when I'm sitting outside on my

47
00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,200
Speaker 1: little terrace, and I have a fake name for it

48
00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:20,480
Speaker 1: that I think it's. The owner has probably heard, um

49
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,320
Speaker 1: And why should talking to my cat that way? Yeah, like,

50
00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,800
Speaker 1: my cat is not named sir Lancelot. Sorry, it looks

51
00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,120
Speaker 1: like a lancelot um. And I have to catch myself

52
00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:37,000
Speaker 1: because I will greet read this fictionally named cat and

53
00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,480
Speaker 1: and also introduced it to friends as though it were

54
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,040
Speaker 1: my own. Yeah, I thought it was yours. Well, well,

55
00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:44,760
Speaker 1: I thought it was a stray cat, honestly, and that

56
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:46,720
Speaker 1: you were just like calling it things and maybe you

57
00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:49,640
Speaker 1: were a little loopy. If no, I guess it's better

58
00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,920
Speaker 1: that it's a neighbor's cat, not just astray that is

59
00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:54,040
Speaker 1: your spirit animal or something. Yeah, it's a lot's a

60
00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:59,760
Speaker 1: little scruppy. But anyway, enough about me. How about how

61
00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:05,760
Speaker 1: about historically why this association with women and cats even

62
00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,760
Speaker 1: exists because it has been around for so so long. Yeah,

63
00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:11,960
Speaker 1: I think it's it's it always has, like people have

64
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:17,640
Speaker 1: always somehow associated women and cats. And going way back

65
00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:22,360
Speaker 1: to Egypt, let's let's take a trip up the Nile,

66
00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,400
Speaker 1: down the Nile. In the Nile. Okay, so in Egypt

67
00:04:26,440 --> 00:04:29,920
Speaker 1: they had Isis. She was a a cat goddess. They

68
00:04:29,960 --> 00:04:35,320
Speaker 1: also had Bastet or basket feline cat goddess who became

69
00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,279
Speaker 1: a house cat and protector of women, children and domestic cats.

70
00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,000
Speaker 1: She was also a got us a family fertility and birth,

71
00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:44,440
Speaker 1: and she was depicted with a cat head and a

72
00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,760
Speaker 1: woman's body. You know what I'm thinking though now too.

73
00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:50,599
Speaker 1: No cats in the Bible, and I remember other cats

74
00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,960
Speaker 1: in the Bible. I don't know, but early Christians weren't

75
00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,920
Speaker 1: a big fan. No, not at all. I mean I'm surprised.

76
00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,159
Speaker 1: So maybe like there was a verse in Genesis us

77
00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:03,680
Speaker 1: like right after Eve was created then cat memes. Yeah

78
00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:10,040
Speaker 1: than cat in the middle all cat, I can have cheeseburger, Jesus. Um. Yeah.

79
00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:13,560
Speaker 1: The historically cats were ratters or mouses inside the home,

80
00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:16,560
Speaker 1: and of course women traditionally we're working inside of the home.

81
00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:19,400
Speaker 1: So there, you know, there's a connection with that, the

82
00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:24,960
Speaker 1: domesticity and the cats hanging around, whereas the dogs were

83
00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:29,120
Speaker 1: given tasks outside with the men, like doing the hunting

84
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:33,240
Speaker 1: or guarding the home or the property. Yeah, and this

85
00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:36,640
Speaker 1: line was drawn by animal expert Andrea Arden and Forbes,

86
00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:39,760
Speaker 1: and she also pointed out that look, cats know where

87
00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:41,960
Speaker 1: the food is and they hang out around the women,

88
00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,320
Speaker 1: because those are the people who are traditionally feeding and

89
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,200
Speaker 1: caring for everybody in the household. But then things got

90
00:05:47,240 --> 00:05:51,320
Speaker 1: so twisted so quickly. And yes, a lot of it

91
00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:56,359
Speaker 1: is related to Christianity. For instance, Cleo Simon, who was

92
00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,680
Speaker 1: the author of the Feline Mystique. How about that for

93
00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:03,480
Speaker 1: any title. I'll see what she did there, She writes.

94
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,760
Speaker 1: There's a lot of linkage even in early Christianity that

95
00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,760
Speaker 1: women and cats were actually celebrated, but by the sixth

96
00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,600
Speaker 1: century cats were seen as a manifestation of women's sinful

97
00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:20,279
Speaker 1: sexual lives, which is ironic because now crazy cat ladies

98
00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:26,920
Speaker 1: are the epitome of spinsterhood exactly. Well, back in twelve

99
00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:28,960
Speaker 1: thirty three it was a bad year for women and

100
00:06:29,080 --> 00:06:33,039
Speaker 1: cats in general, because Pope Gregory the Ninth called for

101
00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,720
Speaker 1: the death of all cats and their female owners in

102
00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,800
Speaker 1: an attempt to rid Christendom of witchcraft. So there's that

103
00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:43,040
Speaker 1: first connection between women and witches. But there had previously

104
00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,480
Speaker 1: been this connection that people drew between black cats and

105
00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,480
Speaker 1: the devil, you know, and black cats being which is

106
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:55,159
Speaker 1: familiars and spirit animals and stuff like that. Uh. Donald Ingalls,

107
00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:58,479
Speaker 1: in his book Classical Cats, The Rise and Fall of

108
00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:02,280
Speaker 1: the Sacred Cats, said that the Pope's Vox in Rama

109
00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:05,359
Speaker 1: was the first official church document that actually condemns the

110
00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 1: black cat as an incarnation of Satan, and from here

111
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:11,840
Speaker 1: on out until about the early nineteenth century, black cats

112
00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,120
Speaker 1: were just killed. They were just slaughtered. I had a

113
00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,320
Speaker 1: black cat growing up. His name was Smudge. Are you

114
00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:20,320
Speaker 1: sure it wasn't the ferret? You sure it was a cat?

115
00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:25,400
Speaker 1: It was the cat, and he was fantastic and I

116
00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,080
Speaker 1: used to after breakfast, I would go out to see

117
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,640
Speaker 1: him and sometimes takes treats of pancakes, Muche loved pancakes

118
00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:40,040
Speaker 1: anything anyway. Yeah, speaking of pope's popes, popes hated cats. Yeah,

119
00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,080
Speaker 1: Catholics none too none too big a fan. Maybe maybe

120
00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:47,640
Speaker 1: there was a cat allergy in Christendom that was causing

121
00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:51,080
Speaker 1: all of this ill will because Pope Innocent the eighth

122
00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:56,320
Speaker 1: also officially excommunicated all cats and decree that any found

123
00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,880
Speaker 1: in possession of quote unquote witches should be burned all

124
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,320
Speaker 1: along with them. So if you were a Catholic cat,

125
00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:04,680
Speaker 1: you were just out of luck. You could not go

126
00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:09,280
Speaker 1: to communion. Um. This continues through the Middle Ages, when,

127
00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:11,040
Speaker 1: like I said, black hats were thought to be which

128
00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:14,760
Speaker 1: is familiars or actually which is in disguise. And what's

129
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:17,960
Speaker 1: interesting is around this time there was this male demon, uh,

130
00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,600
Speaker 1: correct me if I pronounce this wrong, Baffa met Baffa

131
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:24,800
Speaker 1: Metafa Met, who encompasses actually many of Bastet's characteristics that

132
00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:29,400
Speaker 1: Egyptian cat goddess and was sometimes portrayed portrayed with female

133
00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:34,760
Speaker 1: breasts reminiscent of the Egyptian statuettes of Bastets. So this

134
00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,319
Speaker 1: little cultural thing, like you know, worms its way through

135
00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:39,960
Speaker 1: all the way up to the Middle Ages, and people

136
00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,040
Speaker 1: are like, well, you know, cats are just evil, particularly

137
00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,080
Speaker 1: if they're black, and let's just give them boobs and

138
00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:48,120
Speaker 1: that makes them more evil. Yeah, and they're evil in

139
00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:54,560
Speaker 1: their relationships specifically with women. It's a strange Uh, It's

140
00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:57,800
Speaker 1: it's like there's there's a discomfort in a way with

141
00:08:57,880 --> 00:09:01,840
Speaker 1: how close women and counts may tend to get. And

142
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:06,440
Speaker 1: it's a question that we are still asking today, like

143
00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:11,360
Speaker 1: why women love cats so gosh dar much. For instance,

144
00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:15,559
Speaker 1: there was an article published in Forbes recently. I was

145
00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,880
Speaker 1: talking about how it's all about all the cats personality.

146
00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,640
Speaker 1: You know, cats can seem independent and aloof and getting

147
00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,280
Speaker 1: their approval is not so easy. So maybe for women

148
00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:29,840
Speaker 1: we like cats so much because it's just like a guy,

149
00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,840
Speaker 1: you know, dating a guy. Well, it's just so aloof

150
00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:34,880
Speaker 1: and playing hard to get. Is my cat going to

151
00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:37,439
Speaker 1: call me later? So when I text my cat? Yeah,

152
00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:42,160
Speaker 1: so we like put out food pet the cat. I

153
00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,320
Speaker 1: don't know, but a lot of people draw lines between

154
00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:47,320
Speaker 1: women being all cold and aloof and playing hard to

155
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:50,520
Speaker 1: get and cats being that way, whereas dogs are more

156
00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:54,840
Speaker 1: like affable. Yeah. Well anyway, so they're asking in the

157
00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:59,199
Speaker 1: Forbes article, why are women supposedly okay with less obvious

158
00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:01,280
Speaker 1: displays of effect action from cats at a post of

159
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,920
Speaker 1: dogs and Pia Sault, who's a psychologist and animal welfare advocates,

160
00:10:05,960 --> 00:10:08,600
Speaker 1: said that it may be that women are more intrinsically

161
00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,240
Speaker 1: gratified by nurturing others and therefore do not need an

162
00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:15,200
Speaker 1: external reflection to reinforce caretaking behavior. And my eyebrow was raised.

163
00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:21,040
Speaker 1: I mean I enjoyed Smudge so much, you know, because

164
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,600
Speaker 1: he he would thank me for the pancakes in the

165
00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:25,679
Speaker 1: form of you know, you could do little tricks. He'd

166
00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,880
Speaker 1: stand up on his hind legs. I'm sharing too much,

167
00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:32,600
Speaker 1: you know. Also, I have no cats. Well, I don't

168
00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:35,679
Speaker 1: have any good cat stories. Really well, this was going

169
00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,880
Speaker 1: on during the home school years, so maybe pe sometimes

170
00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:45,160
Speaker 1: was cat training time with Smudge. Um. I also find

171
00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:50,679
Speaker 1: this correlation between supposedly like cat like behavior of aloofness

172
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:56,560
Speaker 1: and independent independence, uh, compared to how women supposedly are.

173
00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:01,800
Speaker 1: And I'm going to put out a whack do theory

174
00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:05,240
Speaker 1: that all of this concern over cats and women is

175
00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:09,440
Speaker 1: really a reflection of an internalized fear that women don't

176
00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:16,560
Speaker 1: actually quote unquote need men. I can now probably write

177
00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:20,400
Speaker 1: a book. Tell me more? Is there more? Tell me more? Um? Well,

178
00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:22,040
Speaker 1: I will tell you what's going on in my head

179
00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,800
Speaker 1: right now, which is of the dating advice book that

180
00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:26,920
Speaker 1: I'm about to write based on how women should just

181
00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:32,840
Speaker 1: act like cats to get men. Yeah, okay, call me

182
00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,840
Speaker 1: up book published You have to wear a tail? No,

183
00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,240
Speaker 1: please don't. Okay. So it's beyond just the idea that

184
00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,240
Speaker 1: cats are aloof women, play hard to get women? Are

185
00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,720
Speaker 1: cats cats or women? It's weird. There's also these feline

186
00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,320
Speaker 1: images of women in pop culture. And this is coming

187
00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:52,840
Speaker 1: from a San Francisco Gate article that talks about characters

188
00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,360
Speaker 1: like Catwoman and Josie from Josie and the Pussycats who

189
00:11:56,360 --> 00:12:01,240
Speaker 1: were sexy, kittenish, wild and into pendant and uh, that

190
00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,880
Speaker 1: author clear assignment that we Christian mentioned earlier, said that

191
00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:07,560
Speaker 1: that just rubs men the wrong way. And she says,

192
00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:09,520
Speaker 1: think of the negative words that can be used for

193
00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:13,040
Speaker 1: women catty or sex, kitten, And when people describe cats

194
00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:16,160
Speaker 1: negative traits, they call them aloof, demanding, promiscuous, the same

195
00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:20,200
Speaker 1: thing people find threatening about women. Exclamation point Yeah, I

196
00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:25,320
Speaker 1: mean I the fact that women of all you know,

197
00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,600
Speaker 1: phases of their life can be described in cat terms

198
00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:33,120
Speaker 1: and are described in cat terms. Uh. That's so it's

199
00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 1: very odd, everything from kitten to cougar. Now there is

200
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:40,520
Speaker 1: some valid research to back this up, not just my

201
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:45,040
Speaker 1: mindless ramblings about how someone could probably make money drawing

202
00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:49,280
Speaker 1: uh connections between cats and dating in the human world.

203
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,760
Speaker 1: There was a study published in the journal Behavioral Processes

204
00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,800
Speaker 1: in two thousand eleven that found that cats attached to

205
00:12:57,880 --> 00:13:03,320
Speaker 1: people particularly when but not just for food. They looked

206
00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:11,120
Speaker 1: at observational interactions between cats and their human owners and

207
00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,920
Speaker 1: found that the dynamics and human cat relationships are similar

208
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:21,000
Speaker 1: to those in human bonds. Yeah, it's interesting. Uh. John Day,

209
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:22,840
Speaker 1: who's a co author of that study, said that the

210
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:24,880
Speaker 1: way cats and humans interact with each other when it

211
00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:28,319
Speaker 1: comes to food is similar to the interactions between caregivers

212
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:30,679
Speaker 1: and infants, and he says that both cat and human

213
00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,920
Speaker 1: infant are at least in part in control of wind

214
00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:37,440
Speaker 1: and what they are fed, because I've been around moody cats,

215
00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,400
Speaker 1: you know, I've been around moody babies, and they can

216
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,880
Speaker 1: let you know when they are hungry. So yeah, they

217
00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:47,880
Speaker 1: they chalk it up to u cats having a different

218
00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:51,960
Speaker 1: type of relationship to two people than dogs do. Yeah,

219
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,000
Speaker 1: and especially there there is the gender difference, and this

220
00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,880
Speaker 1: has come up in multiple studies where there does seem

221
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:03,000
Speaker 1: to be a stronger can nection of sorts between cats

222
00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:07,720
Speaker 1: and women. Although I have met many cat guys, like

223
00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,800
Speaker 1: guys who love cats, to a degree I've never seen

224
00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:16,040
Speaker 1: in a woman. Yeah. Well, my friend Claire, she and

225
00:14:16,040 --> 00:14:19,480
Speaker 1: her husband adopted their neighbor's cat, and for the longest time,

226
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:21,200
Speaker 1: the cat would not go to her. For the first

227
00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:23,760
Speaker 1: year that they adopted it, it would avoid her like

228
00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:25,600
Speaker 1: the plague and only go to her husband and be

229
00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:27,480
Speaker 1: all over her husband, but not have anything to do

230
00:14:27,520 --> 00:14:29,920
Speaker 1: with her. And she thinks eventually the cat, you know,

231
00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:31,680
Speaker 1: the cat has warmed up to her. She thinks that

232
00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,800
Speaker 1: maybe the the lady who owned the cat before was

233
00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,360
Speaker 1: mean to it, So maybe cats just learn an aversion

234
00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,680
Speaker 1: to demean he's whatever the gender. And speaking of women,

235
00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,880
Speaker 1: another finding from this behavioral process of study was the

236
00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:52,080
Speaker 1: extroverted women with young active cats had the strongest relationship.

237
00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:54,040
Speaker 1: Right all the cat had to do with like flick

238
00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:56,160
Speaker 1: his tail and be like I want attention, and the

239
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,360
Speaker 1: woman would get it. She'd be like, yeah, let's let's

240
00:14:58,360 --> 00:15:02,800
Speaker 1: play cat. But is that whole that whole attention giving

241
00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,840
Speaker 1: thing where cats remember kindness in return the favors. The

242
00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:09,560
Speaker 1: study says, if owners comply with the cat's wishes to interact,

243
00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,240
Speaker 1: the cat will often comply with the owner's wishes at

244
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:15,520
Speaker 1: other times. So your cat has an elephant's memory when

245
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:20,080
Speaker 1: it comes to playing and being nice. And maybe since uh,

246
00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,560
Speaker 1: since the female owners, at least according to these studies,

247
00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,920
Speaker 1: there is nothing against any guys who love cats out there.

248
00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:29,720
Speaker 1: I know you're out there. You care for cats better

249
00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:33,920
Speaker 1: than I do. I'm sure, um, the cats will will

250
00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:38,400
Speaker 1: approach the female owners more frequently, maybe because we are

251
00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:44,280
Speaker 1: more attuned to those nurturing behaviors, as I'm sure some

252
00:15:44,280 --> 00:15:48,200
Speaker 1: some psychologists would would say, to which we would both

253
00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:53,240
Speaker 1: probably raise our eyebrows. Eyebrows race. But getting back to

254
00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:57,960
Speaker 1: the crazy old cat lady stereotype, because that suggestion that

255
00:15:58,080 --> 00:16:02,160
Speaker 1: extroverted women with young, active cats have the best relationships.

256
00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:06,280
Speaker 1: That's still kind of going against this idea that only

257
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:13,560
Speaker 1: cuckoo older females are crazy for cats. Yeah. Well, Forbes

258
00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,360
Speaker 1: talks about some some kind of common sense stuff if

259
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,160
Speaker 1: you think about it. Um, they point out that women

260
00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,000
Speaker 1: live longer than men, so they're more elderly women than

261
00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:26,560
Speaker 1: elderly men. At a given time, these elderly women, maybe

262
00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:28,680
Speaker 1: they get lonely and they may take in hungry, straight,

263
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:32,360
Speaker 1: straight cats who might reproduce quickly. Then they point out, hey,

264
00:16:32,400 --> 00:16:34,440
Speaker 1: you know, cats are more self sufficient than dogs, so

265
00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:37,600
Speaker 1: they are easier for older women to care for. So

266
00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:40,400
Speaker 1: maybe this relationship develops like if a if a woman

267
00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,760
Speaker 1: loses her husband and she's alone, and you know, maybe

268
00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 1: maybe she doesn't have the best mobility. The cats are

269
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:48,880
Speaker 1: more independent, you know, you can just leave food out

270
00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,920
Speaker 1: or whatever, and that you don't have to walk them typically. Typically,

271
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,960
Speaker 1: and on a very downer note, some suggest that this

272
00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:01,600
Speaker 1: kind of elder cat behavior could be a sign of dementia.

273
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:05,520
Speaker 1: You know, the women are older, women are by themselves

274
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:07,679
Speaker 1: by this point, and they're just caring for more and

275
00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:11,840
Speaker 1: more cats, and they don't know that they have too

276
00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,880
Speaker 1: many cats on their hands. And it's also gets us

277
00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:20,600
Speaker 1: into pet hoarding. Um and animal hoarding is statistically more

278
00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:26,840
Speaker 1: frequent and older, isolated, socio economically disadvantaged women. Right, And

279
00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,080
Speaker 1: they point out that, like we said, women might be

280
00:17:29,160 --> 00:17:31,399
Speaker 1: drawn to stray cats because they're smaller and easier to

281
00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:35,000
Speaker 1: round up. Uh. There there was a an article, I

282
00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:37,800
Speaker 1: guess it was on the Today Show website about some

283
00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:40,919
Speaker 1: women who it kind of ranged everywhere from just a

284
00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:42,919
Speaker 1: young woman who had a cat and she got teased

285
00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:44,919
Speaker 1: for being a cat lady by our friends and family

286
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,240
Speaker 1: all the way up to a woman who had started

287
00:17:47,240 --> 00:17:50,000
Speaker 1: out as a cat rescuer, like, let me help these

288
00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:54,240
Speaker 1: stray cats, and it turned into a really bad, unhealthy

289
00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,080
Speaker 1: situation in her house. Yeah. There's a whole documentary made

290
00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,520
Speaker 1: in two thousand nine called Cat Lady that follows a

291
00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:05,720
Speaker 1: range of women who have lots of cats. Um and

292
00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,040
Speaker 1: we we did an episode on hoarders and hoarding behavior

293
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,360
Speaker 1: way back when, um and I saw. Since then, I've

294
00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:17,359
Speaker 1: seen an episode of Hoarders that was dealing with a

295
00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:21,560
Speaker 1: cat hoarder and it was, um it was I could

296
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,399
Speaker 1: you could almost smell the ammonia, you know, from the

297
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:29,400
Speaker 1: from the excessive litter boxes. Yeah. Well, so we've got

298
00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,119
Speaker 1: this idea of crazy cat ladies regardless of age. And

299
00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 1: when you talk about hoarders, these people often have major

300
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:40,240
Speaker 1: dysfunction and work, social and daily activities. So maybe these

301
00:18:40,280 --> 00:18:43,080
Speaker 1: people do just seem unstable. But the thing that they're

302
00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,439
Speaker 1: hoarding instead of I don't know what you hoard, but

303
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,600
Speaker 1: instead of whatever it is as Yeah. Yeah, but also

304
00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:53,560
Speaker 1: but still that doesn't that doesn't answer our question about

305
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,800
Speaker 1: like why the stereotype of crazy cat ladies so pervasive

306
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:02,920
Speaker 1: Because cat hoarders are a small population. I really think

307
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:07,320
Speaker 1: it ties into witches, all the witchcraft stuff the early Christianity,

308
00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:10,119
Speaker 1: Like you're a witch, you have a familiar, you know,

309
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 1: you have this animal that's black and evil and associated

310
00:19:12,840 --> 00:19:14,880
Speaker 1: with the devil. So yeah, I think it goes back

311
00:19:14,880 --> 00:19:16,840
Speaker 1: to the idea of which is and all the feline.

312
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:21,840
Speaker 1: A phobic made that word up, felinophobic popes. Nothing against

313
00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,240
Speaker 1: Catholic listeners out there, but really, popes got a cat

314
00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:30,960
Speaker 1: a brake. Um. But there has been some more scientific

315
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:36,520
Speaker 1: research possibly suggesting that there could be a parasitic link

316
00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:43,040
Speaker 1: going on between cat craziness behavior male or female. Really

317
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:48,520
Speaker 1: and um and this parasite. Yeah, not to alarm you,

318
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:53,440
Speaker 1: but cats are taking over the world very slowly. Um.

319
00:19:53,480 --> 00:19:57,920
Speaker 1: So evolutionary biologists, Oh gosh, Jari's love flagger. We're gonna

320
00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:03,640
Speaker 1: go ver yarrow yaroslove flager. So this biologist has been

321
00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:07,560
Speaker 1: pursuing the connection between a parasite called Toxoplasma Gandhi or

322
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:11,119
Speaker 1: T gandhi in mood and personality changes in people. And

323
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:12,800
Speaker 1: he had done all this research in reading and he

324
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,359
Speaker 1: was like, you know what, it's kind of strange that

325
00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:18,760
Speaker 1: I will just willingly cross the street and situations that

326
00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 1: scare and stress out. Other people don't seem to bother me.

327
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,359
Speaker 1: And you know what, I dressed kind of swappy. He

328
00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:29,280
Speaker 1: actually tested positive for t GANDHI And okay, so I

329
00:20:29,480 --> 00:20:31,399
Speaker 1: will explain that. We'll explain in a minute. But this

330
00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,160
Speaker 1: is a parasite that is excreted by cats in their

331
00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:37,840
Speaker 1: feces and it causes toxoplasmosis, which is the reason that

332
00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,200
Speaker 1: pregnant women are told to avoid cats litter boxes because

333
00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:43,679
Speaker 1: if they're infected, it can result in severe brain damage

334
00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:48,120
Speaker 1: or death for the child. So anyway, back to this biologist,

335
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,719
Speaker 1: he did years and years of studies, which kind of

336
00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,920
Speaker 1: sounds like crazytown, but he's gotten a lot of support

337
00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,280
Speaker 1: from other biologists. Well, yeah, and we should explain, um,

338
00:20:58,359 --> 00:21:02,439
Speaker 1: what the the life cycle of this parasite, because the

339
00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:07,119
Speaker 1: cats will and it's kind of a groos life cycle.

340
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,560
Speaker 1: But let us go for it. And if you're eating

341
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,399
Speaker 1: a sandwich right now, just put it down for a minute,

342
00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,600
Speaker 1: because we're about to talk about poop. Because first off,

343
00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:20,240
Speaker 1: the parasite gets pooped out of the cat. The parasite

344
00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:24,160
Speaker 1: wants to find another host so that it can get

345
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,240
Speaker 1: back into the cat, right yeah, so it can so

346
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,840
Speaker 1: can little life cycle in the cat's stomach, and yeah,

347
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 1: and it can real and it can reproduce. So this

348
00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:37,719
Speaker 1: theory is that the cats poop out this parasite. Humans

349
00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:42,120
Speaker 1: get in contact with the poop, get the parasite, and

350
00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:47,000
Speaker 1: then engage because of the parasite wreaking havoc in our brains,

351
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:51,600
Speaker 1: engage in reckless behavior such as crossing the street willy

352
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:54,360
Speaker 1: nilly without looking to see if cars are coming, so

353
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:59,720
Speaker 1: that we will then die and the parasite can get

354
00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:01,720
Speaker 1: back into the cat, which will come up. You know,

355
00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,640
Speaker 1: a straight cat will wander up and start looking our

356
00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:07,280
Speaker 1: just like in Batman when what's her name falls out

357
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,280
Speaker 1: of the window, Selina and all those cats crawl over. Yeah,

358
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,399
Speaker 1: and she's probably infected because she had so many cats.

359
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,560
Speaker 1: She probably handled the cat litter box, got the parasite,

360
00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,119
Speaker 1: probably got tea Gandhi. And then those cats come back

361
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:23,080
Speaker 1: start eating your spilled guts, only to get the parasite

362
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,080
Speaker 1: poop it out again, and the circle of life continues

363
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 1: to take that. Elton John So he found that study subjects,

364
00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:33,520
Speaker 1: he did a ton of studies just across the board,

365
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:35,840
Speaker 1: all different types of people, and he found that study

366
00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:39,920
Speaker 1: subjects had significantly delayed reaction times. Those who tested positive

367
00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: for the parasite were about two and a half times

368
00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:46,200
Speaker 1: more likely to get into a car accident. This reminds

369
00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:50,800
Speaker 1: me of when we were doing the podcast on on

370
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:54,440
Speaker 1: Luck and we talked about that one study finding that

371
00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,679
Speaker 1: traffic accidents go up on Friday thirteenth, So listen, if

372
00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:04,040
Speaker 1: it's Frida thirteen and you might have this parasite take

373
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,720
Speaker 1: the bus. Well, so he found that and this you know,

374
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,120
Speaker 1: Kristen made the comment earlier about extroverted young women and

375
00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,320
Speaker 1: having young active cats that goes against the typical stereotype

376
00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:18,600
Speaker 1: of a shut in, spinster cat lady. Well, this also

377
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,520
Speaker 1: does because infected women tend to be more outgoing, trusting,

378
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,840
Speaker 1: image conscious, and rule abiding, whereas infected men are the opposite.

379
00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:30,320
Speaker 1: They become more introverted, suspicious, oblivious to others opinions of them,

380
00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,160
Speaker 1: and inclined to disregard rules. And so you're thinking, well,

381
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:34,639
Speaker 1: if they have the parasite, if a man and a

382
00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,159
Speaker 1: woman have a parasite that's the same, why are they

383
00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: acting differently? And he brings up his anxiety theory, which

384
00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:43,760
Speaker 1: we Chris and I have talked about stress and anxiety

385
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,639
Speaker 1: responses and men and women, and how women want to

386
00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,359
Speaker 1: go forth and be around people when they are stressed

387
00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,720
Speaker 1: and nurture, whereas men withdraw. And so he thinks that

388
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,879
Speaker 1: this parasite is like bringing out some of our anxiety responses.

389
00:23:56,600 --> 00:24:01,720
Speaker 1: Huh yeah. And not only that, infected men have elevated testosterone,

390
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,520
Speaker 1: which would make sense for increased risk taking behavior. And

391
00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:08,879
Speaker 1: women shown photos of these men rated them as more

392
00:24:08,920 --> 00:24:13,840
Speaker 1: masculine than pictures of uninfected men. WHOA This parasite is

393
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:17,480
Speaker 1: quite powerful, I know. And it's funny because there so

394
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:19,600
Speaker 1: there was a New York Times article about it, and

395
00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 1: the author was, you know, she had flown to Prague

396
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 1: to have interviews with this guy and all throughout this

397
00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:29,479
Speaker 1: because you hear these things and you're like, oh, I'm

398
00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:33,680
Speaker 1: feeling outgoing an image conscious today. I hope I'm not infected. Well,

399
00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:36,400
Speaker 1: she she got tested and of course it turned out negative.

400
00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,200
Speaker 1: So I mean, you can't blame a parasite for everything,

401
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:43,880
Speaker 1: or can you? Can you? They also tie it to schizophrenia,

402
00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:47,280
Speaker 1: which is interesting. Um, they say that it could very

403
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:52,960
Speaker 1: well trigger schizophrenia in genetically susceptible people because in schizophrenia,

404
00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: dopamine production is ramped up in your brain, and the

405
00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:01,240
Speaker 1: parasite actually, coincidentally we're not has two genes that allow

406
00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 1: it to boost dopamine production in the host brain. So

407
00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 1: these antipsychotics that schizophrenics take that are designed to quell

408
00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:13,000
Speaker 1: delusions because of their disease blocks the action of dopamine.

409
00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:17,080
Speaker 1: But the scientist Flagger thinks that it could actually be

410
00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:22,119
Speaker 1: blocking the parasite. Now listen to this when it comes

411
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:26,440
Speaker 1: to schizophrenia, Okay, And I feel like this is this

412
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:29,879
Speaker 1: is when we should be pulling in uh, Matt and

413
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 1: Ben from stuff they don't want you to know, because

414
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:37,240
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm getting very conspiracy theory esque, because

415
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 1: brace yourself psychologists E Fuller Tory, when talking about the

416
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:49,159
Speaker 1: possible connection between schizophrenia and ti Gandhi, points out that

417
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 1: schizophrenia didn't rise in prevalence until the latter half of

418
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:57,440
Speaker 1: the eighteenth century, when people in Paris and London started

419
00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:03,480
Speaker 1: keeping cats as pets. Then done, dun do do do

420
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,160
Speaker 1: do do do do? What is much done to me? Now?

421
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, I don't know. But you can't get tested.

422
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:12,399
Speaker 1: But the thing is, what are you gonna do? You

423
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: can't do anything because uh, these little weird parasite cysts

424
00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:18,439
Speaker 1: that end up getting all of you, not all over you,

425
00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:22,880
Speaker 1: that's an exaggeration, but they are. You can't take antibiotics

426
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:25,880
Speaker 1: for him, so you're just gonna be that way. So

427
00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,719
Speaker 1: you're just gonna be. So maybe you should go into

428
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:34,639
Speaker 1: evolutionary biology. Like you're a slow flagger who's been studying

429
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,760
Speaker 1: this and you start a club. Yes, and we're sloppy outfits. No. No,

430
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 1: as a woman, you would be dressed very nicely, because

431
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: he noticed that in all of his studies when the

432
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,840
Speaker 1: women who were infected would come in to be tested,

433
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,400
Speaker 1: they were all dressed like to the nines, and men

434
00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:52,200
Speaker 1: would come in all like, so okay, well if this

435
00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:55,919
Speaker 1: parasite could help me dress better, I mean, all right yea.

436
00:26:56,680 --> 00:27:00,320
Speaker 1: But then again, doesn't that seem to be debunking the

437
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: crazy cat lady stereotype Because so far, even with this parasite,

438
00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 1: even with the personality connections, all that is. All that

439
00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:13,679
Speaker 1: I'm hearing is that women who own cats, maybe to

440
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:18,040
Speaker 1: the extent that we are contracting parasites from them, are

441
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: well dressed, social, outgoing gals. Yeah you know, well, yeah,

442
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,119
Speaker 1: in the literal crazy, I have a parasite cat ladyway,

443
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: maybe you're better off. Yeah. I mean, if anything, this

444
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: is an argument to drop what you're doing, head to

445
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 1: your nearest animal shelter and pick up a kitten. Oh yeah,

446
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,880
Speaker 1: I got a kitten right now, right now in the studio.

447
00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,040
Speaker 1: I will admit I'm more of a dog person and

448
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:48,840
Speaker 1: this whole thing got me a little scared about parasites,

449
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 1: whereas I'm totally gung ho for cats. Now, okay, well,

450
00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,600
Speaker 1: I really want to hear from our our cat lady listeners.

451
00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,080
Speaker 1: Do you ever get accused of being cat laid to you?

452
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:04,000
Speaker 1: Are people very insensitive? How many cats do you have? Yeah?

453
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:10,880
Speaker 1: Do children like my nephews approach you and worry that

454
00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,679
Speaker 1: your cat status and your dating status are not looking

455
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:18,600
Speaker 1: too good? Yeah? Let us know your thoughts, mom. Stuff

456
00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:22,199
Speaker 1: at Discovery dot com is where you can email us,

457
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 1: And before we get into your emails, we have a

458
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:29,879
Speaker 1: quick word from today's sponsor bringing you this episode of

459
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 1: Stuff I've Never Told You, which is Audible dot Com.

460
00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 1: At audible dot com, you can choose from thousands of

461
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: downloadable audio book titles to listen to on your mobile

462
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,160
Speaker 1: device or anywhere you would like to learn more and

463
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,560
Speaker 1: a title that we think that stuff I've Never told

464
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,480
Speaker 1: you listeners might appreciate since we are talking about cats.

465
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,720
Speaker 1: If you want to learn more about cat domestication, we

466
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 1: recommend heading over to audible dot com and downloading The

467
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 1: Taming of the Cat by Scientific American. I believe it's

468
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:11,240
Speaker 1: only twenty three minutes long, so just a quick audio

469
00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 1: documentary of how cats even got into our homes to

470
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 1: begin with. So it's Egyptian, Egyptians and popes. So Audible

471
00:29:21,720 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 1: dot com thank you for sponsoring this episode of Stuff

472
00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:27,840
Speaker 1: Mom Never told you. Be sure to head over there

473
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:33,160
Speaker 1: and check out their vast library of titles. And now

474
00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:40,320
Speaker 1: back to our letters, and here we have an email

475
00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:43,479
Speaker 1: from Melissa about our sleepover podcast. She says, I went

476
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,680
Speaker 1: to a lot of sleepover slash slumber parties when I

477
00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:48,040
Speaker 1: was younger, but I'm debating on whether I will let

478
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,480
Speaker 1: my own children have them. Most of my slumber party experiences,

479
00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: the ones I can still remember, didn't end well. My

480
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:58,360
Speaker 1: past sleepover experiences include wedding the bed, getting the stomach fluent,

481
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:01,920
Speaker 1: throwing up, sleepwalking, and having horrific night terrors that freaked

482
00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:04,280
Speaker 1: out the parents and children present. I even made a

483
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 1: girl cry at one, but that requires a backstory. Okay,

484
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:09,640
Speaker 1: here it is six girls all agree that the first

485
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: one to fall asleep would get their sleeping bag taped

486
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:13,640
Speaker 1: to the floor. So when the first girl fell asleep,

487
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: I dutifully taped her to the floor. This was followed

488
00:30:16,160 --> 00:30:18,000
Speaker 1: by the girl waking up and crying in a panic,

489
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,920
Speaker 1: calling her mom and going home. Her mom made me

490
00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 1: apologize to her, which was really embarrassing. So that does

491
00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:27,200
Speaker 1: sound Yeah, you and Melissa, you and I, we did

492
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,800
Speaker 1: not have good slumber party experiences. That's cool, It's all right.

493
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:35,680
Speaker 1: You know, just if your child is ready, let them go. Well,

494
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: speaking of whether or not your child is ready, I've

495
00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,400
Speaker 1: got an email here from Julia about our episode on

496
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:47,360
Speaker 1: kids in makeup, and she has a different perspective and

497
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 1: starts off we need a social reform. All anyone talks

498
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: about is body image or what age is appropriate. Nobody

499
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,920
Speaker 1: ever thinks about what's in the makeup, who has tested

500
00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 1: on and the damage it does to your physical body.

501
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: There are animals, horses, and byproducts and makeup tested on

502
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:05,520
Speaker 1: innocent animals, package and harmful plastics and are full of

503
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 1: chemicals that cause breakouts and aging. Nobody ever discusses this,

504
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,280
Speaker 1: and if they do, they simply shrug off the facts

505
00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:14,600
Speaker 1: and continue to put on their face. There are ethical

506
00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: makeup products, but they're expensive and not as saturated as

507
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 1: they're harmful counterparts. If six year old girls saw some

508
00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,800
Speaker 1: of the rabbits I've seen with fur falling out, bloody skin,

509
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 1: and rotten eyeballs, I'm sure they would feel more reluctant

510
00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 1: about applying that makeup on their own skin. Women don't

511
00:31:30,600 --> 00:31:33,040
Speaker 1: care because they've already sold their soul to their particular

512
00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:37,440
Speaker 1: brands and consider makeup quote putting on their face. As

513
00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,800
Speaker 1: a teenager in high school, I couldn't recognize myself in

514
00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:42,920
Speaker 1: the mirror without a few layers of foundation, powder, eyeliner, eyeshadow,

515
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: and mascara. I had a lot of acne problems and

516
00:31:45,600 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 1: self esteem issues. Now I rarely wear makeup, and if

517
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 1: I do, it's handmade, vegan and very very white. My

518
00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 1: skin is completely cleared up. I find myself beautiful on

519
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 1: a daily basis. I'm reducing my harmful impact to the

520
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:00,320
Speaker 1: planet and animals, and I'm saving a whole lot of

521
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:05,200
Speaker 1: money to boot, all of which are pretty convincing arguments,

522
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,040
Speaker 1: So thank you, Julia, and thank you to everyone who's

523
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,080
Speaker 1: written in mom Stuff at Discovery dot Com is our

524
00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: email address. You can also find us on Facebook and

525
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:17,400
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast, and check

526
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,719
Speaker 1: out our tumbler It's stuff Mom Never Told You dot

527
00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:24,400
Speaker 1: tumbler dot com, follow us over there, and, last but

528
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 1: not least, if you like to get smart this week,

529
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:29,880
Speaker 1: head over to our website, it's how stuff works dot

530
00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: com for more on this and thousands of other topics.

531
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:41,880
Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com