Following the presidential debate against Donald Trump on September 10, Taylor Swift broke her silence on the election to endorse Kamala Harris in an Instagram post signed: “With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady”. Taylor's caption was accompanied by a (fabulous) photo of her with a cat.
Her "Childless Cat Lady" comment is a nod to remarks made in 2021 by J.D. Vance, who is Donald Trump's candidate for vice-president.
Instagram content
In an interview that resurfaced in July, J.D. Vance can be seen telling former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the country was run 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.”
“Look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC, the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children,” J.D. continued. “How does it make any sense we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?”
X content
The reaction at the time was visceral. Jennifer Aniston took to her Instagram Stories to repost the above tweet, saying that she “truly can’t believe” that J.D. Vance could become the next Vice President of the U.S.
“All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day," she added. "I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too.”
Like Taylor – and Kamala – I'm a childless cat lady, too. I grew up ambivalent about having children. That didn't change as I sailed through my 20s and by the time I hit my 30s, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that I wasn't going to have children. I'm not going to waste column inches here with the reasons why. I shouldn't need to – it's my choice.
But sadly, it seems that in the face of such deep-seated misogyny I probably do have to defend my lifestyle, and put in writing that I'm happy as a childless woman. My life is by no means perfect but I'm never short of a smile. I love my career as a beauty editor, I love having the freedom to travel and the time to devote to meaningful relationships with family and friends.
I don't feel like I'm missing out by not having a baby.
I'm also the proud owner of cat. I love animals but, no, I don't refer to them as ‘fur babies’ and they are in no way my substitute for a human baby.
I am, however, the friend who is always a phone call away if you do need a babysitter, and I wouldn't rule out helping to raise someone else's child, either through adoption or as a stepmother. But if J.D. Vance is to be believed, I'm a social pariah.
His blistering attack on women and their reproductive rights is disturbing for many reasons, not least because this man could become Vice President of the leader of the so-called ‘free world’. Clearly here, freedom of choice isn't a democratic right for all – only for those who have ditched their birth control pills.
It's also fake news because Kamala isn't childless (she also doesn't appear to be miserable, though I can't confirm whether she owns a cat). She is the stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s two children.
Up until recently I didn't actually know that - nor do I care particularly, as I've been more interested in her political track record. Now that I do, it still doesn't affect my opinion on whether she is fit to do the job of President.
And could this meme actually help her become our first woman president?
And yet, here we are with the same old, tired ‘cat lady’ trope being wheeled out. I'd love to say the idea that those who opt out of having children of their own, or simply can't have them, have “miserable lives” is laughable.
But I actually find it terrifying that the right to choose motherhood is still being weaponised against women. As is J.D.'s belief that not giving birth to children makes a woman unfit to have a “stake” in how a country is run.
I can't even imagine how painful and triggering his comments are to women who are going through IVF, are living with the trauma of failed IVF or have had their uterus removed as a result of cancer.
It's no secret that Donald Trump and the Republican Party want to own a woman's uterus, make decisions about her body and all but put a bomb underneath her reproductive rights. But pitting women with children against those who don't have them? Surely, that's a new low.
At best it's gas-lighting, at worst it's a powerful man putting a muzzle on anyone who doesn't adopt the tradwife subculture.
Sorry to burst your bubble J.D., but the Ballerina Farm life isn't for me.
For more from Fiona Embleton, GLAMOUR's Associate Beauty Director, follow her on @fiembleton.
