Not "MANLY" to like cats!

I have known that my mother-in-law has not approved since we have adopted 2 cats within this past year.....but I thought maybe she just did`nt like cats....until recently she told my husband (her son) that she thinks it`s not "manly" for him to like cats....and that he should`nt be telling people how much he likes them and that he makes things for them etc.
I told him that I LOVE him all the more BECAUSE he loves the cats and dotes over them! (I`m the one who REALLY counts in his book, of course!)
Can you believe that anyone would say such a thing? GO FIGURE!
Linda

Good grief! How does she feel about men who like babies?

There's a lot of that kind of talk here in NZ too - but then again we are a very manly, gumboots and farming society!

That is just down-right silly. A true man is able to be tender with others and not care what others think. My brother-in-law (RIP) always amazed me because he was this big outdoorsman, going hunting all of the time, yet he had two cats instead of dogs and it was so sweet to watch him snuggle with the cats.

But then, I'm still trying to figure out why my husband thinks fuschia is more manly than pink. (Something to do with the T-Mobile bicycling jerseys).

Yikes!!!

That's such an unfair stereotype . I am 13, and it is a hard world for a guy who is obsessed(yes obsessed) with cats. I read a really good article in cat fancy about it, though. It was called "breaking the man barrier".

I'm taking a class this quarter titled "Images of Men and Masculinity." I was worried for five weeks about this class and ended up going to talk to the professor because not only did I not relate to anything we were talking about in class as what was "male," but I fit in the opposite end of the spectrum for most of it. I have cats, I don't eat meat, I don't drink, I don't sleep around, I like to cook.

It turns out that it's not a "bad" thing to be different than mainstream images of what it means to be a man. In fact, I'm willing to bet that it's those images that are at the root of a lot of problems.

Ok, I'm coming down from the soap box now.

A man that loves cats is a good thing. She doesn't know what she's talking about!

Does she also think it's "unfeminine" if a woman has dogs? I find her attitude strange.

Sheesh. I love almost nothing more than the sight of my husband snuggling our babies! I'd be tempted to tell her that if he doesn't have an inferiority complex about it then she should keep her ideas to herself. And if she thinks he is 'less masculine' because he loves cats she should ask you about the last time he 'made you feeel like a woman!' But then I'd never be bold enough to say that to my MIL

Mmm so its not manly for me to like cats . Wierd not heard that one before. Oh well I think I can live with myself

Apparently Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Heinlein and a slew of other writers weren't "manly" .

Well it takes a real man that has cats so tell her that one!.

What a bunch of BS. Very outdated and ignorant.

She sounds like a nasty, hateful person to say something like that. Sorry

How very rude. I hope he doesn't let it influence him!

Sometimes it is surprising how our mil's managed to raise such wonderful men! I am amazed at how kooky my mil is sometimes, and yet dh is great. Thank goodness they manage to keep some of their kookiness from passing on to their sons!

Some people are just sooo...

Argh! STUPID! Sorry I can't think of a better way to say it.

At least he's just blowing her off.

Originally Posted by Beckiboo

How very rude. I hope he doesn't let it influence him!

Sometimes it is surprising how our mil's managed to raise such wonderful men! I am amazed at how kooky my mil is sometimes, and yet dh is great. Thank goodness they manage to keep some of their kookiness from passing on to their sons!

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Actually he was raised more by his grandmother until she died when he was 11 years old....so THANKFULLY his mother did`nt have that much early influence on him.
I LOVE that he loves our cats....and he`s a great big burly guy too!
Linda

Originally Posted by Miss Mew

A man that loves cats is a good thing. She doesn't know what she's talking about!

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Originally Posted by stampit3d

I have known that my mother-in-law has not approved since we have adopted 2 cats within this past year.....but I thought maybe she just did`nt like cats....until recently she told my husband (her son) that she thinks it`s not "manly" for him to like cats....and that he should`nt be telling people how much he likes them and that he makes things for them etc.

I told him that I LOVE him all the more BECAUSE he loves the cats and dotes over them! (I`m the one who REALLY counts in his book, of course!)
Can you believe that anyone would say such a thing? GO FIGURE!
Linda

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I think that's a bunch of BULL**** REALLY, I know lots of men that like cats, men that cry, men that are senstive, are they not supposed to be any of those either, I rather have a man that is careing, senstive,and loving then some hard person. I don't think people teach there sons to be tough anymore. Not manly what is up with that anyway