Revenge of the Childless Cat Ladies

On the Media

Vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance’s remarks on childless cat ladies have ties to a movement urging people to have more children. On this week’s On the Media, find out why declining birth rates are regarded by some as a harbinger of doom. Plus, the storied history of so-called cat ladies, and why they often face contempt.

[01:00] Host Micah Loewinger on our “weird” politics, why every day in our news cycle feels like an eternity, and the debate over Donald Trump’s interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference.

[06:38] Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with Rachel Cohen, policy correspondent at Vox, about J.D. Vance and the belief that falling birth rates foretell social and economic catastrophe.

[23:49] OTM producer Candice Wang reports the story of an older, more established population anxiety: the fear that there are simply too many people for our planet to sustain.

[32:55] Host Brooke Gladstone interviews Kathryn Hughes, author of Catland, about the storied history of the cat lady trope, how cats became beloved by so many in our culture, and the many meanings ascribed to the animals.

Further reading / listening:

• “The movement desperately trying to get people to have more babies” by Rachel Cohen
• Building the Population Bomb by Emily Klancher Merchant
• The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation by Charles C. Mann
• Reproductive Rights and Wrongs: The Global Politics of Population Control by Betsy Hartmann
• Catland: Louis Wain and the Great Cat Mania by Kathryn Hughes

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