Childless cat lady memes mock remarks made by Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance about Democrats such as Vice President Kamala Harris. Vance’s comments trashing women who don’t have children, whether by choice or biological or environmental circumstance, have not gone over well with much of the massive voter block.
“We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by 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,” said Donald Trump’s running mate. “And it’s just a basic fact if you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC—the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”
In response to this derision towards women who have cats but no children, people have been posting photos of their favorite ladies who love cats as "childless cat lady" memes. These include widely beloved figures with mass numbers of fans such as singer Taylor Swift and the late actress and animal lover Betty White.
Vance made the "childless cat lady" remarks on July 29, 2021, on an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight. The then-Ohio Senator was trying to claim that people can only feel as though they have a stake in their nation's future if they have biological children.
Harris is the stepmother of two children brought into her life by her husband, attorney Doug Emhoff after they met on a blind date in 2013.
The childless cat lady memes of 2024 began to pop up around Twitter on July 22, just after Vance's old comments resurfaced amid hype for Harris' presidential campaign.
The stereotype of the childless cat lady or "crazy" cat lady mixes contempt for the image of the "spinster" that originated in the 18th century with the even older fear of the witch who keeps cats and is more likely to eat children than birth them.
In 1881, writer Hart Ayrault bemoaned the unmarried, childless woman who had "failed in the prime object of existence"—which, at least for women in Vance's view, was marrying a man and popping out kids.
"Tradition associates her with cats and parrots, on which she is supposed to lavish all that is left of affection in her withered heart," he wrote in Potter’s American Monthly.
On July 24, actress Jennifer Aniston posted to Instagram Stories, lambasting Vance for his statements in a rare foray into politics.
"I truly can’t believe this is coming from a potential VP of The United States," the video text read. "All I can say is… Mr. Vance, I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children of her own one day. I hope she will not need to turn to IVF as a second option. Because you are trying to take that away from her, too."
Aniston herself struggled with fertility difficulties, undergoing IVF and other treatments for a time in her late 30s and into her 40s. Her attempts to get pregnant were ultimately unsuccessful. She is more of a dog lady, however.
Vance has since doubled down during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show last week. “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment,” he said. "I’ve got nothing against cats.”
“People are focusing so much on the sarcasm and not on the substance of what I actually said. And the substance of what I said, I’m sorry, it’s true.”
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