Tuesday, January 16, 2007

51% of Women Are Pathetic Cat Ladies

I was heartened today to see an above-the-fold article in the New York Times with this headline: : "51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse." Finally, my family would stop looking at me as though, at 31 and unmarried, I were some kind of minority freak. They'd stop patting my hand every time I came home and opining at family reunions, "Whatever happened to [boyfriend from 3 years ago]? We sure had high hopes for that one..." I never understood their sentiments anyway, coming as they were from people who'd been bored for 25 of the 30 years of their marriage, from people divorced for longer than they were married, from people who eat or drink themselves into a stupor nightly to escape, at least mentally, the confines of their own "blessed unions." *I* was the happy one. Couldn't they see that? I'm the one who gets to travel on a whim, spend my time with a diverse menagerie of fascinating friends, do whatever I please on any given day. I can devote my hard-earned money to fun, good books, nice clothes, fancy dinners, my own savings, and what I deem to be worthy charitable causes, not to fund my husband's country club fees or visits to the titty bar, let alone diapers or strained peas. Life is fine.

But back to the article. I didn't quite have time to finish it in the paper version on the subway, so I clicked on it at lunch to read the rest. Unfortunately, as progressive as I like to think my favorite newspaper is, the photographer was phoning it in today. Why?

The article is illustrated with a middle-aged woman petting her cat.

Really? REALLY?

Couldn't the woman be off having a rock climbing adventure, or holding hands with a foxy 22-year-old with whom she is having a hot but wildly inappropriate affair? Couldn't she be doing something a little more empowering, and a little less cliche, than PETTING A CAT?

Eff you, New York Times.

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