Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feminine in Myth and Magic

Sollee (Witches, Sluts, Feminists) shows the ways in which transgressive aspects of femininity have always been connected to the feline in her agile, clever study. Sollee begins with the idea of the “shapeshifting epithet” of sluttiness, linking the Twitter hashtag #CatsAreSluts to the history of cat representation, including Aristotle’s fourth-century BCE statement about cats’ lack of virtue and the performances of cross-dressing, kitten-carrying 18th-century Venetian revelers. Particularly enjoyable is Sollee’s chapter on the comics character Catwoman, who evolved into a patriarchy-crushing feline feminist icon. Sollee also explains how shapeshifting, demonology, insanity, kink, and witchcraft are related to the history of humans taking inspiration from cats, arguing that wildness and a “refusal of patriarchal prescriptions” are the core tenets of all cat iconography. Unfortunately, Sollee provides no practical ideas for the “reclaiming” suggested in her title, and often the book feels like an information dump with little narrative cohesion. Despite this, her breezy tone and framework connecting pop culture to feline archetypes combine to create an appealing take. (Sept.)