If you’ve been paying attention to politics in the United States in 2024, chances are you’ve heard about the “childless cat ladies” comment by vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. His 2021 comments came back to scratch him, becoming a widespread meme and rallying meow for women and their allies everywhere. With just days left before the presidential election, it looks like felines have played an unusually powerful role in the race. And purrhaps, that’s not a coincidence at all if you look at ancient herstory.

Vance’s comments from several years ago unsurprisingly took place on Fox News, in which he lamented without evidence that “miserable” cat ladies wanted to make others miserable, too. He then referred to “weird cat ladies” in an unrelated 2021 Tweet about a male Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman. (Yes, really.)

After the comments became a mainstream focus in 2024, Vance claimed he was merely being sarcastic. But, by then, women everywhere had pounced on his insulting remarks, which are actually an ancient trope.

“In a 2021 interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson, then-Senate-candidate Vance complained that the U.S. was being run by Democrats, corporate oligarchs and “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too,” NPR reported.

Video about the Childless Cat Ladies comments by Inside Edition:

When Women Were First Targeted for Loving Cats

As most people know, cats have dominated the internet for decades, but Vance’s cat lady trope has ancient origins. If you go back thousands of years, you will find that cats have been associated with powerful deities around the world. In more recent times, childless women with cats were murdered and accused of witchcraft. Such medieval practices crossed the ocean and arrived in colonial America, leading to the horrific Salem Witch Trials.

The reason women with cats were originally targeted most certainly had to do with politics, orthodox religion, and men who wanted to claw power away from women and the divine feminine. It’s not so different today, but compelling that felines are appearing everywhere.

For those who believe in synchronicities, seeing cats left and right might be considered a cosmic sign.

Cats and Powerful Goddesses

In Middle Age Europe, cats were increasingly linked to paganism and witchcraft. But prior to that time, women associated with cats were among the most powerful goddesses across the planet. They represent the force for justice and the equality of the divine feminine. Thus, there was nothing evil about them. In actuality, it was the opposite; they were fierce defenders of what was right, but you would not want to cross them either.

There are many examples in ancient Egypt, such as Sekhmet, Bastet, and Mafdet. Although sometimes represented as women with cat heads, their theophanies were also cats. In modern times, people mistakingly believe the Egyptians worshipped cats, but this was not technically so. However, the feline theophany was symbolic of the qualities of the deity.

In Norse mythology, the goddess Freyja is seen with cats. Cat gods and spirits are found in Asia, Europe, and even the Americas. They are often associated with powerful goddesses, which obviously early orthodox religions wholly rejected. Previous belief systems that had a balance between males and females were persecuted, much like the so-called “witches” later.

When Cat Goddesses Became “Pagan”

As the Romans crushed and murdered those who would not conform to state beliefs, they defaced ancient temples, built over, or replaced them. However, the old ways remained in practice in secrecy. To try to assure that only their religion dominated, entire belief systems were labeled as pagan and cast as inferior, primitive, or untrue myths. Nevertheless, they incorporated a good amount of the old ways into their edited writings and practices.

The first use of the term “paganism” has been linked to the 4th century by early Christians to refer to people who practiced religions other than Judaism or Christianity in the Roman Empire. The Roman word paganus meant “civilian,” and may have been coined by soldiers of the Roman army.

“Early Christians conceived of themselves as miles Christi, or “soldiers of Christ,” and thus may have adopted the designation of “civilian” for those who had not joined their religious movement,” Britannica writes.

Thus, the earliest pagans were rural people who didn’t yet conform to Roman military orders.

The Cat Lady Trope Continues

Ever since the time of the Romans, ancient beliefs involving cats or goddesses have all been branded as pagan. Even after the Roman Empire fell, it remained an easy way to cast dispersions on beliefs predating orthodox Christianity. Along with pointing out that someone is pagan, they may label women “crazy cat ladies,” rather than witches, necessarily. Why? Maybe that’s because calling someone a witch today would draw ridicule to the one commenting?

In recent times, Donald Trump has notably made a habit of projecting himself as the subject of a witch hunt, regardless of the evidence of his wrongdoings. Meanwhile, his campaign with J.D. Vance has not only targeted women’s health care, but it seems they have targeted nearly everyone aside from those who are like them, white, outwardly Christian heterosexual males -patriarchs of wealth.

Largely thanks to Trump, we also have a Supreme Court that has been widely accused, and credibly so, of being unjust. As noted, the Goddess was the ancient symbol of justice, along with her cat Theophanies.

Thus, it doesn’t seem coincidental that cats and the women (and others) who love them are front and center in this pivotal meowment of herstory. May She let out a loud battle roar and retake what is justly Hers: bodily autonomy and equality for all women. May She usher in a new Age of enlightenment and cast away the darkness that fell on civilization when men unwisely decided to try and declaw Her. It’s time to restore justice once more.

As Stevie Nicks says in her powerful anthem, the Lighthouse, “Don’t let them take your power.”

Featured image: Goddess Sekhmet, from Egypt, 1390-1352 BCE. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Wikimedia Commons