“Cat Person” and Me

It's a #MeToo era-story which is used to narrate supposedly 'real world threats'.

The reason that some might be upset, is because you have a real world story of a 'nice guy' - who was used as the basis to narrative a story about how 'men are bad' aka a warning about 'toxic masculinity' etc..

Here is 'The Atlantic's headline of the original 2017 publication:

"The depiction of uncomfortable romance in "Cat Person" seems to resonate with countless women." [1]

Here is NPR's headline:

"'Cat Person' Author's New Book Evokes #MeToo Themes" [2]

WaPo:

"Opinion: ‘Cat Person’ is a next step in the #MeToo movement" [3]

So that's literally the first three pieces that came up in the Google search - and those three publications are 'major, respected, institutions'. All three are using the 'creative fiction' to promote a narrative about men's supposed actions etc..

It's obviously not just about 'some random bit of fiction that happened to be about real people and those real people are upset'.

If this was Stephen King, who used his 'Real Life Doctor' as the inspiration for some diabolical character - that would be the story. But there wouldn't be any elevation of the story into some kind of narrative in that case ... so it'd just be about a possibly upset Doctor.

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/12/a-vir...

[2] https://www.npr.org/2019/01/13/684894872/cat-person-author-s...

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/1...

Edit:

Here's a gem [4] it's literally an academic publication using the original story as basis for describing narcissism in the role of the oppression of women.

"I argue that Beauvoir’s notion of narcissism is an important tool for feminists today—well beyond the interpretation of Cat Person. It presses us to see systematic subordination not just as something done to women, but also as something women do to themselves. This in turn highlights the neglected role of self-transformation as a key aspect of feminist political resistance."

This is pseudo-intellectual hyperbole (published!) over a story that amounts to a giant lie.

It's intellectual bigotry.

[4] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...

You both seem the be making the same fundamental error, neglecting the thrust of this article, and the original piece: things are ambiguous, and in that ambiguity, we can contemplate, and people find that contemplation fascinating

I don't think anything Roupenian wrote lived up to Cat Person so maybe she just lucked onto someone else's story.

Roupenian spends a good portion of the story describing just how disgusting of a person he is. Of course, I know nothing about how Charles was with other women; I can only speak for myself. With me, at least, he was careful, patient, and gentle—it was the first time someone asked if they could kiss me instead of just doing it.

What an incredible slur against this man. So Kristen Roupenian copied real events so exactly that readers who knew the real people immediately identified them, except the only thing she changed was to make it so the guy is a disgusting predator of the younger woman and near-rapes her. Kristen Roupenian is a scumbag.

Not trying to imply that you are one of course, but that’s about as much detail she changed from the real life story—just the names. And now it was so successful that there’s going to be made about it starring Cousin Greg from HBO’s Succession. People love to gossip and will eventually put two and two together.