(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Stalker Vance and the Real Meaning of "Childless Cat Ladies" [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-08-13 Politics is about power, and power has a political dimension. Power manifests not just on a grand scale but also on a very personal scale. Not all power is ugly and coercive, but some of it is. JD Vance showed the world an audacious and childish display of manspreading power last week in Wisconsin. Another display of Vance’s power politics surfaced in an interview of his mansplaining of women. Women understand JD Vance and what he’s trying to accomplish. Men who don’t have their heads buried in the sand also get it. What Vance Did and Said Last week at a small airport in Wisconsin, JD Vance and a gaggle of hangers-on affected their best swagger and crossed over to where the press was gathered near Vice President Harris’s plane, Air Force 2. After getting some of the reporters’ attention, Vance announced with a practiced smirk that he was inspecting his “future plane.” There were no signs of amusement coming from the press corps, though that probably wasn’t what Vance was going for. He was manspreading. Separated by several years but very much related to Vance’s tarmac swagger is the now viral video of Vance deriding many American women as “childless cat ladies.” When Vance made those comments, he was speaking to a sycophantic talking head on a right-wing show. He was clearly intending his comments to be heard by a particular audience, and he said the out loud part out loud. He was mansplaining. What Vance Meant At that Wisconsin airport, Vance was clearly jealous that Harris was getting all the attention from the press. He was probably also jealous that Harris had a bigger plane. Some men are insecure about the size of their equipment, you know. But however easy it is easy to mock Weird JD, the meaning of his action that day is serious. He saw a women with power receiving attention, so he inserted himself into her space to disempower her. He felt the need to get people to pay attention to him rather than to a woman. His comment about her plane — the vice presidential plane — being his “future plane” was no insinuation. He was out front in saying that a woman having status was some kind of mistake that he will rectify in the future. There’s also his intimidation tactic. Gather the bros and invade a woman’s space. Make sure she hears that she’s not respected, tell her she needs to be taken down and put back in her proper place. Try to trigger her and distract from the reality that you were the one triggered by a woman having power. Manspreading. It was an ugly display of power. Another word for Vance’s brohavior is “stalking.” Vance’s “childless cat ladies” comment from years earlier was a similar attempt to exert power to put women back in their proper place. Ridiculing women as “childless cat ladies” was a thinly veiled insult that these women are single because they are unattractive and undesirable. It comes from the regressive male attitude that proper women work to attract and please men, provide men with children, and live and work to support their husband and kids. Women without that male-centric priority end up alone, childless, and have to buy a cat for companionship. That’s what Vance’ comment implies. I’m not attributing this attitude to Vance, he openly admits it by adding on that he thinks these women are bitter about being alone and are trying to make everyone else as unhappy as they are. Mansplaining. It was an ugly display of power. For any trolls who may want to say that Vance wasn’t being sexist in any of this, I say this: You may fool yourself and fellow bros, but you are not fooling anyone with a clue — not anyone who’s been paying attention to how some men assert power on both the personal scale and the grand scale. JD Vance has shown us who he is. Believe him. Women and nonsexist men understand this. I hope you do, too. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/13/2262812/-Stalker-Vance-and-the-Real-Meaning-of-Childless-Cat-Ladies?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/