Suffragette Kitty
May 13, 2013 6:35 PM Subscribe
Cat Imagery in the Suffrage Movement: Cats were a common symbol in suffragette imagery. Cats represented the domestic sphere, and anti-suffrage postcards often used them to reference female activists. The intent was to portray suffragettes as silly, infantile, incompetent, and ill-suited to political engagement.
More on the Cat-and-Mouse Act and cat suffrage postcards: Cats and Suffrage.
More on the Cat-and-Mouse Act and cat suffrage postcards: Cats and Suffrage.
(P.S.: There's a whole 'nother article to be written about how images of cats, and the meanings those images impart, has evolved since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and now, when cats rule the Internet. I smell a dissertation.)
posted by mudpuppie at 6:42 PM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by mudpuppie at 6:42 PM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
I CAN HAZ FRANCHISE?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:48 PM on May 13, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:48 PM on May 13, 2013 [5 favorites]
I think you'd be required to have someone from I Can Has Cheeseburger on your dissertation committee.
posted by not_the_water at 6:50 PM on May 13, 2013
posted by not_the_water at 6:50 PM on May 13, 2013
The intent was to portray suffragettes as silly, infantile, incompetent, and ill-suited to political engagement.
Little did they know we would claw out their eyes and shit in their slippers.
posted by elizardbits at 7:27 PM on May 13, 2013 [19 favorites]
Little did they know we would claw out their eyes and shit in their slippers.
posted by elizardbits at 7:27 PM on May 13, 2013 [19 favorites]
Below the cats on that link is a postcard of a father who is caring for his children (presumably for like an hour) as his wife goes off to vote.
We can't let the women have the vote because us men will have to care for our children an hour out of each year? Really?
posted by el io at 7:36 PM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
We can't let the women have the vote because us men will have to care for our children an hour out of each year? Really?
posted by el io at 7:36 PM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
First off, best title of the year.
Secondly, I would never have believed anyone if they had told me about this in person, and if I saw it on Facebook I would have scoured snopes for evidence that they were fakes. Bizarre, disturbing and interesting, thanks.
posted by skewed at 7:55 PM on May 13, 2013
Secondly, I would never have believed anyone if they had told me about this in person, and if I saw it on Facebook I would have scoured snopes for evidence that they were fakes. Bizarre, disturbing and interesting, thanks.
posted by skewed at 7:55 PM on May 13, 2013
Yes indeed, this is a masterwork of titling.
Interesting stuff, thanks.
posted by Miko at 8:00 PM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
Interesting stuff, thanks.
posted by Miko at 8:00 PM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]
I am deeply amused by the man with babies card because its true — that's exactly what I want! They were onto me.
posted by dame at 8:02 PM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by dame at 8:02 PM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]
I find this interesting in light of the Sabotabby symbol.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:04 PM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:04 PM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]
Pope Guilty: "I find this interesting in light of the Sabotabby symbol."
Heh - I was kinda thinking the same thing, especially the father at home one.
posted by symbioid at 8:25 PM on May 13, 2013
Heh - I was kinda thinking the same thing, especially the father at home one.
posted by symbioid at 8:25 PM on May 13, 2013
So cool, I had no idea. You guys sent me running down all kinds of "silent agitator" images.
posted by Miko at 8:39 PM on May 13, 2013
posted by Miko at 8:39 PM on May 13, 2013
After I read the post, I expected to see some allusion to witches' familiars in the linked images, but if that's there, I missed it.
Also, the roundness of the pupils in the second image is kind of a weird trick.
posted by jamjam at 9:33 PM on May 13, 2013
Also, the roundness of the pupils in the second image is kind of a weird trick.
posted by jamjam at 9:33 PM on May 13, 2013
Don't lean on me, man, 'cause I can't afford the Friskies...
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:23 PM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:23 PM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]
Cats represented the domestic sphere...
Not to mention that elderly maiden ladies in, for example, Agatha Christie novels are very frequently referred to as "old cats" and "old pussies". The message being: It isn't women that want to vote. It's malcontents who can't even get a husband.
posted by DU at 4:58 AM on May 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
Not to mention that elderly maiden ladies in, for example, Agatha Christie novels are very frequently referred to as "old cats" and "old pussies". The message being: It isn't women that want to vote. It's malcontents who can't even get a husband.
posted by DU at 4:58 AM on May 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
Ursula Hitler: "Don't lean on me, man, 'cause I can't afford the Friskies..."
Scat! Scat! Filthy cat!
posted by jquinby at 5:26 AM on May 14, 2013
Scat! Scat! Filthy cat!
posted by jquinby at 5:26 AM on May 14, 2013
I am disappointed that this post isn't about a Cat Imagery Suffrage Movement.
posted by nowhere man at 5:35 AM on May 14, 2013
posted by nowhere man at 5:35 AM on May 14, 2013
We can't let the women have the vote because us men will have to care for our children an hour out of each year? Really?
Yep, really. Anti-suffragete ads and postcards don't seem to tiptoe around that point, either, the way anti-feminist movements tend to do nowadays. They're pretty explicit on two (quite contradictory) points:
(1) Suffragetes are all old maids who can't get a man, or
(2) If we let women enter the men's sphere, then men will have to do women's work! And women's work is hard!"
posted by muddgirl at 6:20 AM on May 14, 2013
Yep, really. Anti-suffragete ads and postcards don't seem to tiptoe around that point, either, the way anti-feminist movements tend to do nowadays. They're pretty explicit on two (quite contradictory) points:
(1) Suffragetes are all old maids who can't get a man, or
(2) If we let women enter the men's sphere, then men will have to do women's work! And women's work is hard!"
posted by muddgirl at 6:20 AM on May 14, 2013
"If we give women the vote, they might gain power -- and treat us as we've treated them! Quelle Horreur!"
Alternatively:
"We can't let women vote, or once per year, men will have to make the tea. And since men are too stupid to use a tea kettle, that will cause ruin. So better to leave the job of running the country to men! Who, as previously noted, are too stupid to use a tea kettle."
posted by KathrynT at 9:27 AM on May 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
Alternatively:
"We can't let women vote, or once per year, men will have to make the tea. And since men are too stupid to use a tea kettle, that will cause ruin. So better to leave the job of running the country to men! Who, as previously noted, are too stupid to use a tea kettle."
posted by KathrynT at 9:27 AM on May 14, 2013 [4 favorites]
During the era when "Everybody Loves Raymond" was really popular, there was a lot of discussion even on this very site about the portrayal of fathers/husbands as bumbling and incompetent, which can be seen as a justification for their being turned outside of the home to work for pay so that women, presumably naturally gifted with maintaining order, can do it at home where it's most important.
Bullshit then, bullshit now.
posted by Miko at 11:24 AM on May 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
Bullshit then, bullshit now.
posted by Miko at 11:24 AM on May 14, 2013 [2 favorites]
This image, of a suffragette on hunger strike being force-fed, is notable for two things:
1. It was a turning-point in public sympathies for the suffragettes. Even those who didn't support the cause were often horrified by the treatment of the prisoners - including those who supported their imprisonment.
2. "Torture". Are you listening, force-feeding Guantanemo guards and your US government bosses? No, of course you aren't.
I looked up this image based on the description in the 2nd FPP link (emphasis mine):
WSPU member Marion Dunlop, whose motto was “Release or Death,” staged the first suffragette hunger strike to protest the inordinately long prison sentences given to suffragettes and the fact they were not treated as political prisoners. The British government released her from jail after 91 hours of fasting in order not to risk her health.
Once the British government realized that the suffragettes would be able to use this tactic to avoid serving their full sentences, the authorities introduced forcible feeding, a tactic up to that point reserved for the insane.[1] Although not initially endorsed by the WSPU, the hunger strike became a favorite tactic. Christabel Pankhurst’s The Suffragette contained a drawing of the process in 1909. The black and white picture by A. Patriot (Alfred Pearse) shows four women holding down the prisoner in a wooden chair while one man tied her neck down and another man forced liquid down a tube and into her nose. Pearse developed a full color poster for the 1910 general election, titled “The Modern Inquisition: Treatment of Political Prisoners under a Liberal Government.”
Recognizing the potential for public outcry against a process named torture, the British government responded with the Cat-and-Mouse Act (officially known as the Prisoner’s Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act) which ordered that women who engaged in hunger strikes should be released from prison once they fell ill, but would be re-arrested once they recovered their strength. This enabled the government to free itself from responsibility for harming the protesters; if a woman died after being released, then the government could claim it was not to blame. Once released, women were often too weak to protest, but once their strength was recovered, they would be placed back in jail, thus thwarting dissent. On November 29, 1917, the US government announced it plans to use Britain’s cat and mouse approach.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:42 PM on May 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
1. It was a turning-point in public sympathies for the suffragettes. Even those who didn't support the cause were often horrified by the treatment of the prisoners - including those who supported their imprisonment.
2. "Torture". Are you listening, force-feeding Guantanemo guards and your US government bosses? No, of course you aren't.
I looked up this image based on the description in the 2nd FPP link (emphasis mine):
WSPU member Marion Dunlop, whose motto was “Release or Death,” staged the first suffragette hunger strike to protest the inordinately long prison sentences given to suffragettes and the fact they were not treated as political prisoners. The British government released her from jail after 91 hours of fasting in order not to risk her health.
Once the British government realized that the suffragettes would be able to use this tactic to avoid serving their full sentences, the authorities introduced forcible feeding, a tactic up to that point reserved for the insane.[1] Although not initially endorsed by the WSPU, the hunger strike became a favorite tactic. Christabel Pankhurst’s The Suffragette contained a drawing of the process in 1909. The black and white picture by A. Patriot (Alfred Pearse) shows four women holding down the prisoner in a wooden chair while one man tied her neck down and another man forced liquid down a tube and into her nose. Pearse developed a full color poster for the 1910 general election, titled “The Modern Inquisition: Treatment of Political Prisoners under a Liberal Government.”
Recognizing the potential for public outcry against a process named torture, the British government responded with the Cat-and-Mouse Act (officially known as the Prisoner’s Temporary Discharge of Ill Health Act) which ordered that women who engaged in hunger strikes should be released from prison once they fell ill, but would be re-arrested once they recovered their strength. This enabled the government to free itself from responsibility for harming the protesters; if a woman died after being released, then the government could claim it was not to blame. Once released, women were often too weak to protest, but once their strength was recovered, they would be placed back in jail, thus thwarting dissent. On November 29, 1917, the US government announced it plans to use Britain’s cat and mouse approach.
posted by IAmBroom at 2:42 PM on May 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
We can't let the women have the vote because us men will have to care for our children an hour out of each year? Really?
The trope, even in advertising today, is that men can't be trusted with anything around the house.
posted by Mezentian at 7:16 AM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
The trope, even in advertising today, is that men can't be trusted with anything around the house.
posted by Mezentian at 7:16 AM on May 15, 2013 [1 favorite]
Except, Mezentian, in the suffragette era the trope was more like "women can't be trusted out of the house, because then they won't do their duties".
posted by IAmBroom at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2013
posted by IAmBroom at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2013
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Describes my cats exactly.
Also, those postcards/posters are really horribly offensive. Yuck.
posted by mudpuppie at 6:39 PM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]