‘Kill me now’! Meet the WaPo writer who’s proudly raising her cats ‘gender-neutral’
I raised my shark gender neutral and now he's just jumping everywhere. https://t.co/z9W4SBRpog
— Parker Briden (@parkerwbriden) April 5, 2016
Welcome to 2016:
A serious discussion about gender neutrality and how to label your cats. https://t.co/NlHAWPzjjb
— Colby Itkowitz (@ColbyItkowitz) April 5, 2016
This is a very serious discussion. One might even say it’s thuper-therial.
What on earth. https://t.co/83SN8TC87G
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) April 5, 2016
Wait, wait! Just hear her out! The Post’sLauren R. Taylorwrites:
The cats lives wouldnt change, I reasoned, and it would help me learn to use plural pronouns for my friends, neighbors and colleagues who individually go by they, their and them. Even though using they, them and their as singular pronouns grates on many people because its grammatically incorrect, it seems to be the most popular solution to the question of how to identify people without requiring them to conform to the gender binary of female and male. It also just feels right to refer to people as they wish to be referred to.
Around the house, with just me, Essence and Trouble named for Rare Essence and Trouble Funk, for the DC music lovers reading this things were pretty easy. Id make a mistake (called misgendering), saying something like Wheres your brother? (Yes, I talk to my cats.) Usually, Id remember to fix it (Wheres your sibling? or Wheres your pal?). Just as Id hoped, I began finding it easier to remember to use gender-neutral language for the humans in my life.
And I began to get an infinitesimal taste of what transgender and gender-nonconforming people face. Im not talking about the outright bigotry and hatred something I cant know without being in their shoes but the complete cluelessness. Friends would come over, Id introduce the cats and their pronouns, and some would ask, But what ARE they? Some would randomly use he and she. Some would stumble, unable to form a sentence when talking about one of the cats.
Believe it or not, there’s more. But we’ll let you discover the remaining magic for yourself.
Just no. https://t.co/VvmzjFv4JU
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) April 5, 2016
@DLoesch I can't believe i just read that. I want my 4 min back.
— Vince Cotugno (@VinceCotugno) April 5, 2016
@DLoesch pic.twitter.com/nfNkHpwOmg
— Franklin Brown (@franklinnoble) April 5, 2016
Please God, tell me this person doesn't have children https://t.co/DcqB1UU6VI
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 5, 2016
Who needs children when you’ve got gender-neutral fur babies?
Peak cat lady? Remember the imp. things in troubled times,like the need to address cats by gender-neutral pronouns. https://t.co/vM2IZxu7AY
— Inez Feltscher (@InezFeltscher) April 5, 2016
@DLoesch @washingtonpost this raises crazy cat lady to a whole new level
— Jonathan Thiebaud (@Jtbaud24) April 5, 2016
maybe this is why you have cats https://t.co/77BhkiXYuc
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) April 5, 2016
Cats can’t tell you to shut up.
"Dear God our owner is stupid" https://t.co/wGhsQNui3x pic.twitter.com/oRaknEZXaW
— Elizabeth Harrington (@LizWFB) April 5, 2016
They can, of course, think it.
As Archie Bunker used to say, "Kill me now, Lord." https://t.co/WEoz4Lodxa
— Eric Fettmann (@EFettmann) April 5, 2016
Shut it all down. We're done. https://t.co/vZ4PHxpSbR
— Skoledad O'Brien (@torriangray) April 5, 2016
Burn everything. https://t.co/FqIKApapz5
— Countermoonbat (@CounterMoonbat) April 5, 2016
I don't want to live on this planet any more. https://t.co/mcc3RNq2Fn
— GW (@GregBW12) April 5, 2016
As for Taylor’s request that readers not laugh … well, let’s see how that’s working out for her:
Don't laugh, I dare you —https://t.co/yQ10dhcji0
— Pie Guevara (@PieGuevara) April 5, 2016
oops too late pic.twitter.com/1VVFkbz40j
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) April 5, 2016
Oops, I already laughed pic.twitter.com/vC6L5J2jO1
— John Tabin (@johntabin) April 5, 2016
@AandGShow I laughed https://t.co/HpFuB6IxGr
— Ron H (@rshamm01) April 5, 2016
yeah im definitely laughing https://t.co/Z0YPr0slkI
— s a m u e l (@retyart) April 5, 2016
I am laughing, because you (and your cats) are silly. https://t.co/HrBrzrAC7H
— Michael Q Sullivan (@MQSullivan) April 5, 2016
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