There are more Cat Guys than Cat Ladies (#CrazyCatMen & #CrazyCatWomen)

Hadley, Robin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4254-7648 (2024) There are more Cat Guys than Cat Ladies (#CrazyCatMen & #CrazyCatWomen). Fertility Matters at Work Blog.

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Abstract

Vice President and Presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s fertility history has been the focus of much attention: #CrazyCatLady. In the mid-2010s former UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s childless status became an issue during her leadership campaign. Her husband’s childlessness was not mentioned: no #CrazyCatMan. According to ChatGPT [1] there is no equivalent to ‘crazy cat lady’ the nearest being ‘crazy cat man’ or ‘cat guy.’ ChatGPT notes that the male version does not have the same stigma or cultural recognition as #CrazyCatLady. Increased life expectancy and lower fertility rates has implications for individuals and nations. In 2021 Pew Research Centre [2] found an increasing number of childless US adults don’t expect to become parents. Unfortunately, Pew don’t give the levels of childless men and women. In Europe approximately 25% of men compared to 20% of women are childless [3] while a British cohort study found that 25.4% of men and 19% of women were childless [4]. Nonetheless, caution is needed as the statistics on childlessness in Europe, UK, US and many countries are uncertain because they are only based on the mother’s history data collected at the registration of a birth [5].