On Thursday, October 24th, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) Center and the Politics, Economics, and Law (PEL) Department co-sponsored a presentation and discussion facilitated by Professor Carolyn Cocca of PEL entitled Election 2024: From Cat Ladies to Cat Eaters – the politics of likability, masculinity & intersectionality from media to ballot. The event, which was held in one of the rooms that make up the WGSS Center in Woodlands 1, was well attended by students and faculty alike, including Dean Cheryl Wilson of the School of Arts and Sciences.

Professor Cocca covered a wide range of topics related to gender, race, and intersectionality in the current election. More than one of which involves cats. She first briefly went over how cats have been viewed historically – originally powerful goddesses of fertility, domesticity, and wisdom who later became connected to witches and stereotypes of ‘crazy, childless cat ladies.’ Then she covered how both the Trump and Harris campaign has been addressing issues of gender and race and the electorate’s reaction to them. The focus was especially on JD Vance’s deployment of the ‘childless cat lady’ trope against female Democratic voters and Trump’s disinformation campaign against Haitian migrants in Ohio that accuses them (with no evidence) of eating people’s pet cats and dogs.

Both campaigns use masculinity in their outreach to voters. Trump’s campaign has busted out the tired old canard about women not to be trusted with the nuclear codes at ‘that time of the month.’ The irony being that Trump’s behavior has been more erratic than any woman’s. Meanwhile the Lincoln Project, a publication of current and former Republicans working to get Harris elected, released an ad narrated by Sam Elliot, in his best grizzley cowboy voice. It was full of masculine imagery and tropes that included Elliot dropping the f-bomb and ending with him saying “It’s time to be a man, and vote for a woman.”

The ensuing discussion among the attendees was animated, full of frustration at watching many of the same tropes playing out from the 2016 election, now with the added racial elements. However, many people think that Harris has learned from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and has used femininity and masculinity differently, including acknowledging that she is a gun owner and would use it if necessary. Whether this approach is enough to win her the election remains to be seen.

Danielle (who prefers her last name not to be used), a senior and WGSS major who interns at the Center, said she loved the event. “It was the perfect amount of education and funny,” and “a good opportunity for other people to realize too why all this [gender] stuff is a really big deal, especially in the next election.” She finds Trump’s rhetoric to be really harmful to people who aren’t straight, white, cisgender men. While she understands the strategic reasons behind the “be a man, vote for a woman,” rhetoric, she feels it is still limiting in its binary approach to gender and its stereotypes. Anita Costa, a junior majoring in Environmental Studies and volunteering at the Center, appreciated hearing other people’s opinions about the election, because she feels similarly to other people who attended. She finds Trump’s comments to be “disgusting” and she is frustrated by his attacks on Harris’s gender, race, and things such as her laugh rather than on any of her policies. She goes on to say, “I think a lot of the time, it’s a lesser of two evils thing. And she’s not nearly as bad as he is. You don’t have to love a candidate in order to say you want to vote for them.” Both Danielle and Costa plan on paying close attention to the election returns and are anxiously anticipating them. When asked about her plans, Costa stated, “Maybe cry, maybe not cry.”

Danielle (who prefers her last name not to be used), a senior and WGSS major who interns at the Center, said she loved the event. “It was the perfect amount of education and funny,” and “a good opportunity for other people to realize too why all this [gender] stuff is a really big deal, especially in the next election.” She finds Trump’s rhetoric to be really harmful to people who aren’t straight, white, cisgender men. While she understands the strategic reasons behind the “be a man, vote for a woman,” rhetoric, she feels it is still limiting in its binary approach to gender and its stereotypes. Anita Costa, a junior majoring in Environmental Studies and volunteering at the Center, appreciated hearing other people’s opinions about the election, because she feels similarly to other people who attended. She finds Trump’s comments to be “disgusting” and she is frustrated by his attacks on Harris’s gender, race, and things such as her laugh rather than on any of her policies. She goes on to say, “I think a lot of the time, it’s a lesser of two evils thing. And she’s not nearly as bad as he is. You don’t have to love a candidate in order to say you want to vote for them.” Both Danielle and Costa plan on paying close attention to the election returns and are anxiously anticipating them. When asked about her plans, Costa stated, “Maybe cry, maybe not cry.”