Why do people often gender assign all cats as females?

[Scootaloodle 1,621]

Sorry if this is a little ranting, but this really grinds my gears:

 

We have this nice gentleman come round to clean out the oven, and I’m not wanting to be mean towards him or anything here.

 

But my cat named Purrs came in, and he said “is SHE friendly?”

 

The ‘She’ he was talking about is not a she because Purrs is a ‘he’.

 

Just like humans and many other animals, its 50/50 chance the human or animal in question will be either male or female.

 

With humans, it’s easier to tell the difference we usually know from names, voices and the way they look etc what gender they are.

 

With cats, it’s not so easy I’ve seen chocolate Burmese cats that are girls that look identical to Purrs pretty much and I’ve not been able to really tell the difference.

 

But to assume just because it’s a cat it’s defiantly a ‘she’ is completely ridiculous in my opinion, and I don’t like people to assume the gender of an animal based on what species it is. If they don’t know the cat, why not just say “the cat” instead of assigning a gender that it has a 50% chance of not being?

 

Why do people often think a cat is always a ‘she?’ 

Edited May 23, 2013 by Asherdangerdash

[Eureka 1,119]

Cats are cute and fluffy, and adorable and fluffy. I guess fluffy and cute=girl. It's probably just a normal stereotype/label thing.

[Feather Gem 965]

I, for one, think it may just be the person himself.

I've seen many cats.  And even though I don't really know, I do end up calling the cat either a 'he' or a 'she'.  Its automatic.  The cat just looks like a 'he' or 'she' to me.

When I first met my kitty, who is so fluffy fluffy, I knew it was a he. 

 

Have a picture of him Cx Just because.

[Fanned 88]

I think you just care too much. Who cares what your friend or whatever thinks-- if it bothers you then just I don't see why or how. It's just something automatically assumed by some people.

[Snowdream 221]

well obviously because everyone knows that cats are superior and everyone knows females are superior, I guess they all just made the connection...

 

 

I'm kidding I'm kidding Jeeze!!

 

I don't really think that cats are always "she's" infact, I often call them "He's"

[Ashley 2,427]

I was 5 when I got my cat... The only reason I knew he was a boy was because his cage said so.

My cat is usually associated as a female, but that is only because he is super fluffy! My other kitty, Deets, is assumed as male. He looks just like Surprise except his fur is thick and he is black.

Edited May 23, 2013 by Megamare

[Nilkad_Naqadah 144]

Personally I've just noticed that cats, even male ones, seem to have facial features that fit more with "feminine" norms than "masculine" norms. 

 

Cats are actually one of the few domestic animals I can't tell the gender of at a glance.

[Sapphire Quill 1,186]

You know what really grinds my gears? This Lindsey Lohan, With all those little outfits, jumping around there on stage, half naked with your little outfits, you know? you're up there jumping around, and I'm just sitting here with my beard, so, what am I supposed to do? what, what, what do you want, you know, are we going to go out? is that what your- why, why are you leaping around there, throwing those things all up, up other there all up in my face, eh, What do you want Lindsey, WHAT DO YOU WANT! I'll tell you what you want, you want nothing, you want nothing!

Sorry had to do it... :3

 

Well, I have no idea really, because of they're cuteness, it automaticily triggers people to think they're female?

I have one male and one female cat, you can easily tell them apart, but I've had them mistaken for both females before,

Maybe it's just because of their cuteness, or something similar :3

 

~Sapphire 

[JayPeg 17]

Well I've grown up with female cats, I'm just kinda used to refering to a cat as a she. Its the same thing with dogs, I grew up with a dog that was male, and now Im used to refering to a dog as male. I'm sure if I grew up with a male cat and female dog I would probably think the opposite of how I do already.

[Viscra Maelstrom 3,718]

behavioural-wise i guess the way a cat acts reminds people of how females act. same with people normally assigning dogs as male from the way they act. at least that's what i have noticed.

[Callisto 1,873]

I guess it's because cats look a lot more feminine than a dog or a hamster or what have you, whether they're a male or a female cat.

[mycarhasaMoustache 449]

I cant say I have ever had that happen Most people that dont know the gender of a cat just avoid mentioning gender. I personally dont take it as an insult since unless you have a well trained eye and know alot about cats it is very difficult to tell a male from a female.

[Le Kvlt Dawn 2,364]

I wish I had a cat I hate how society makes dogs look all masculine and shit. I had a dog once, it was an okay experience but I really want a cat. I like how cats are much quieter and independent compared to dogs. I never liked dogs.

[Reani 176]

Dogs are the most absolutely annoying animal I have ever been associated with. Those slobbering fleabags just cause trouble. It seems that their target area for their shit is my floor, bed, or my f***ing uniform.

 

Cats are amazing because they act like people. They stroll around not giving a care in the world. Cats are a very intelligent and independent race, unlike those kiss ass mutts known as "man's best friend". Yeah, more like the Chinese's best course. I think I went overboard a little there.

[RWB 229]

In Sweden, this is to be expected.

 

Why? Because of the history of the usage of the term "Katt"(Cat).

 

 

Female Katt= Katta(Cat+feminine ending), used in some places. The ending a has fallen out of use for the word.

Male Cat= Hankatt(male prefix(literally meaning male)+cat)

 

Hane=Male(of a species).

 

This means?

 

Katt= Cat(species)

Katt= Female cat

Hankatt= Male cat/tomcat

Honkatt= Female cat, if you want to get huffy about it.

[Lady Leopardess 393]

Oh yeah I know in german it's Die Katze ,which is female.

 

My kitty is a male but people never are sure.

 

I don't automatically assume as kitty is a boy or a girl. Although I tend to think of littler cats as girl and bigger ones as boys. Or if the kitty has a deeper meow then it's a boy and vice versa. Although I know one deep throated kitty who's afemale.

[Mysteli 25]

I myself usually say "it" instead of he or she until I get to know the gender of the pet. I do this to be on the safe side so I don't have to be corrected and say "oh" if I was wrong when I find out.

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,794]

I can only explain this, by considering that english is a germanic language and in the other germanic languages, we have a partially strong gender assignment.

 

In german for example, a single cat in general and/or a female cat is called "die (definite female article) Katze", so the german word for cat is female.

But a male cat is specifically called "der (definite male article) Kater".

 

I guess, it's some kind of unconsciously traditional similarity within germanic languages.

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

I think its because cats are usually viewed as feminine animals and them posessing many feminine aspects 

[Silenz Veritas 171]

On 5/23/2013 at 7:47 AM, Viscra Maelstrom said:

behavioural-wise i guess the way a cat acts reminds people of how females act. same with people normally assigning dogs as male from the way they act. at least that's what i have noticed.

I think you hear 'good boy' in relation to dogs quite a bit so people tend to think of cats as female (being the 'opposite' of dogs).

That's my best guess anyway.

[Altastrofae 933]

Cats are very in tune with feminine aspects, so human go on instinct to say they're female. They know who is what within their own species due to sexuality and "preservation of species" instincts they're implanted with. They don't NEED too know who they can mate with in a different species because it wouldn't be possible in the first place. Same with humans, we only recognize gender within our own species.

Birds for example, recognize the male as having big, ultraviolet spots on their wings and breast. We can't see that, but a person might, only because the differences are so clear, usually.

Now, if that bird looked at us, they could never tell the difference with their limited metacognitive abilities

[Feather Scribbles 194]

There are way more than two genders. Why do we have to also sort animals into this ridiculous binary system? For all you know, the cat that you are theoretically describing could be non-binary, gender fluid, agender, etc.!

Edited May 19, 2018 by Feather Scribbles

[Envy 5,998]

I don't know, but it also drives me crazy when people gender assign all dogs as male. I don't assign any animal a gender unless I know which one.

[CheeryFox 23,811]

It's a thang! .. Probably need more research done. 

[Porrot 95]

Cats are hygenic and dignified, like women...

Dogs are smelly and sniff butts and hump things. Just like men.

(I'm only half-serious.)

14 minutes ago, CrystalBloodMoon said:

Cats are very in tune with feminine aspects, so human go on instinct to say they're female. They know who is what within their own species due to sexuality and "preservation of species" instincts they're implanted with. They don't NEED too know who they can mate with in a different species because it wouldn't be possible in the first place. Same with humans, we only recognize gender within our own species.

Birds for example, recognize the male as having big, ultraviolet spots on their wings and breast. We can't see that, but a person might, only because the differences are so clear, usually.

Now, if that bird looked at us, they could never tell the difference with their limited metacognitive abilities

Totally wrong. Birds are extremely intelligent.