AIBU to wonder why cats are girls and dogs are boys?

[Astarael]

Surely a basic understanding of biology tells us that if all cats were female and all dogs male both species would have died out long ago?

I was getting my cats' advent calendars earlier yes I am one of those people and noticed that the cat ones were branded "good girl" and the dog ones "good boy". Both brands are owned by the same company. Both of my cats are female but I have owned several male cats in the past... I know they exist.

Am I the only one to think it's a bit odd? probably And before anyone asks, no this isn't the only thing I have to worry about I'm not actually worried per se just a tad confused.

I used to believe this when I was little.

MIL does this with our dogs, calls both he/him, they are In fact both bitches. Don't get me started why after 4 and 5 years of us having them to her they don't have names.

YANBU.

It gets worse though. Caterpillars are for boys apparently, but butterflies are for girls, as a woman once explained to me. I thought about it, and realised that's always the way people (in Britain, anyway) refer to them.

That means that not only are caterpillars impossibly all male, but they all undergo a sex change as they grow up!

It is odd isn't it. I always refer to cats as "she", I suppose because of how adults referred to them when I was growing up. I can't quite bring myself to stop, perhaps because their "femaleness" is associated with some allegedly female characteristics that are quite appealing: the fact that they were witches "familiars" aligns them with a kind of intuitive, mystical, allegedly female form of wisdom; and they are also associated with an allegedly female grace and elegance.

Lots of adverts for cat food nakedly seek to flatter female owners by implying that as cat owners they partake of all this mystery and grace. I'm sure that some of the "cats are better than dogs" stuff you see on MN is a similar kind of gender-based self-flattery by aligning the pet's and the female owners alleged strengths. Dogs are looked down on as the plodding unintuitive blokes of the pet world.

It is very daft.

I've always thought of cats as boys. I've only ever had male cats so maybe that's skewered my view? Never really thought of dogs as only 1 sex either. Am I missing out on something?

DH does this (as do all his family) & it drives me & the DC mad, especially as our dogs are female & our cats are male!

It's daft isn't it? My cats are resolutely male.

it's the same on clothes for babies/toddlers - girls get cats and bunnies and BASTARD Hello Kitty whereas boys get dogs and dinosaurs and lions. It's shite.

It's annoyed me actually as my mum and dad's cat is a boy and yes, I'm one of those people too I'm on the lookout for an advent calendar for him but I won't be buying one that says 'good girl' on it - don't want to confuse the poor thing. I thought this post would be about something a child had assumed - I could understand that - but for adults it is just stupid. I hope it's not the same for cat stockings...

The same company has Gussie, for fish.

Mske of that what you will.

I have only ever had male cats and female dogs

Aren't they all eunuchs anyway? should they not get intersex cards?

I suppose dogs bounce about more and get grubby and cats spend their lives cool and calm and washing. Which is why those teeny silky handbag dogs feel wrong, and when my cat slaughters something I am

mitchsta I doubt the cat will be confused; if it can read, it is already ahead of most cats. If it knows it is used to be male then it is definitely ahead.

You can buy Advent Calendars for cats??? OMG!

I'm going to get one for each of mine....I have two females and one male

My husband will absolutely freak when I come home with my latest "pointless and extravagant" purchase for my angels He just doesn't understand how much I love them!!!!

I've never thought of cats as girls and dogs as boys ... seems v odd.

Kveta that is so true! When I was pregnant I was convinced it was a boy and noticed that clothing with cats on was all pink! DD does have a dinosaur babygro though. It is blue trimmed so probably supposed to be for a boy.

mitchsta and MadCap I know quite a few children (mostly those without pets) think that this is the case. I think these brands just reinforce that in a way. BTW I bought a "dreamies" one. Its got a whizzy mouse in it behind the door for Christmas day

So glad others think its odd. Was wondering if I was just being a mad cat lady.

Actually, yes, come to think of it, buying your pet something that helps them count down to the notional birthdate of the son of god is a tad weirder than randomly assigning a gender to a species.

£2.69 each Writer

For me, as a child, the sun was a girl and the moon was a boy. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was actually the other way round.

The letters of the alphabet were also gendered - a is a girl, b is a boy etc. Cant remember them all now. And numbers had colours.

Think it's called synesthesia.

Bit off-topic there!

No idea what you mean ButThereAgain

My mum wraps presents for the cats and puts them under the tree with labels saying things like "To Ginger* Merry Christmas from Father Christmas".

*names changed to protect the innocent

Aren't cats designated as female and dogs as male in most European languages? It must be an old and widely accepted phenomenon, still not sure why though.

Der Hund
Die Katze

Etc

That's an interesting point meringue Spanish was my language at school. In Spanish you change the word depending on the gender so cat is either el gato or la gata and dog is el perro or la perra from my hazy GCSE memories but if you didn't know the gender of the specific animal you would use the masculine for both cats and dogs.

If German, French etc treat cat as feminine that may explain part of the ingrained stereotyping.

Los gatos (masculine) in Spanish and les chats (masculine) in French for cats.

Just German then, the Germans must think the same as us. Is it more or less sexist to just treat all animals as male????

Except Der Kater in German does exist, meaning a male cat but also a hangover so you tend to be careful how you use it.

But it's true that Die Katze is the default for Cat.