IHSS In-Class: Blog and Discussion - Stigmas Around Pets - Patricia A.

 The pet industry in America has become a huge part of society as most Americans today own at least one animal that they keep as a pet in their household. There seem to be multiple reasons for this, but I believe one of the major ones is that it has at this point become weird for a person to have never had at least one pet in their life. A societal expectation has been made that every person here has owned a pet, and people have even started being categorized by what kind of pet they have. The two most popular animals to keep as pets here are cats and dogs, and a whole stereotype has evolved around the people who own either of them. This phenomenon has become so common that people have even started introducing themselves as either a “dog person” or a “cat person” and based on whichever animal you favor, society places an expectation on what your personality is. Some examples of this from an article by Insider are that dog people are twice as likely to work in finance meanwhile cat owners tend to be more creative and prefer to consume artistic content. Another stereotype around these categories is that cat people are expected to be more introverted and to stay inside more while dog people are expected to be extroverted and spend more time outside. The list of stereotypes around these categories goes on and on but I would like to include a hot take in this because I find it interesting. In some videos online people have expressed the notion that people who hate cats have control issues. The reasoning behind this is that with a dog, the bond between the animal and the human is immediate and doesn’t require any work. When a person gets a cat however the only way to form a bond and a level of trust with the animal is through work, time, patience, and respect. You cannot expect a cat to immediately trust you and a lot of the people hating cats don't like them because they cannot control them. Cats are also a really good lesson in consent because of this; if a cat does not want to be interacted with it will be sure to let you know. If you continue trying to interact with a cat that is showing signs that it does not want to be interacted with, you can break their trust and they won’t want to interact with you again.


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