Frostwillow takes a look at how she-cats are treated in the series.
Iโve noticed a problematic way she-cats are treated in Warriors, and I think the reason why this happens is bad, because it just creates even more problems in the series, especially ThunderClan.
Also, thanks for the comments on my previous article! It was on WC names I donโt like and I think the name Quietkit was particularly cruel, since the poor thing was probably stillborn.
The issue is the way the story treats she-cats, like their main purpose is to create future main characters. I think the authors acknowledge this issue, because they have had characters like Hollyleaf and Bluestar make comments on this. Both of these cats have felt like the clan pressures and expects them to have kits. One thing I would like to point out is that both of these cats are in ThunderClan, the biggest clan. I personally think that ThunderClan has too many kits. Back in the first series, I felt like I knew nearly every cat in ThunderClan, now I can barely remember half of them. The reason for this is that nearly every she-cat in ThunderClan has gotten pregnant at some point, and thatโs realistic for a wild cat colony but thereโs already so many other things that are unrealistic in the series that having only a few she-cats have kits would be more realistic.
I feel like she-cats experience something that women experience in real life, everyone asking them when they are going to have children. Male cats are never expected to father kits and arenโt normally even in their kitโs lives half as much as the queens are.
The way queens work is problematic too. Everyone expects she-cats to stay with their kits cramped up in a nursery for half a year, and plenty of she-cats complain about it. When she-cats donโt want to stay in the nursery they are treated like they are crazy, and when a male cat (I canโt think of his name) wanted to raise his kits, I remember him getting almost all negative reactions. Why would a male cat have to convince his clan that he wants to raise his kits? That sounds sort of like the clan expects toms to lead (Iโll get into the problem with she-cats leading soon) and hunt while she-cats take care of kits.
In the community, some fans like to give โmeaningsโ to prefixes and suffixes. Flowers are something that are considered feminine, and fans often label the meaning of this suffix as โbeing motherlyโ. And people who assign a gender to this suffix always say it is for she-cats only, which is a separate problem. But Iโve never seen a suffix for fatherly cats. And why is something feminine motherly?
Now Iโm going to get into the problem with she-cat leaders. She-cat leaders arenโt supposed to have kits because it apparently gets in the way of their leadership. Which it doesnโt. A she-cat can make decisions for her clan when pregnant. A leader doesnโt have to be able to fight. The role of a leader is not to be the best fighter. After she-cats give birth, they donโt have to be with their kits 24 hours a day or even at all, if there is another she-cat with milk.
Thereโs many more issues, but Iโve run out of time. Hope you enjoy!
Great article! I agree completely C:
Amazing article. I 100% agree.
just like in the real world! although I do love kittens lol
Awesome article!! I 100% agree! :))
I think it’s bad when a she-cat complains about how they have to take care of their kits…Isn’t it bad if a mother doesn’t love her kids enough to to want to stay with them?
Sometimes the complaining is with comedic intentions, but there are going to be times where you don’t want to deal with your kids. And that’s fine–it’s what you do in response to that feeling that matters.
As an eldest sibling, yes, my younger siblings can be irritating, but in reality I’d do anything for either of them.
It is bad, but if the parents make a deal, say with Ivypool and Fernsong on Fernsong taking care of the kits, and Ivypool agreeing to the plan, that’s fine ๐
Fernsong was willing to be as involved with the kits, if not even more, than Ivypool wanted to be, and making an agreement that satisfied both of them, even though Ivypool didn’t initially want kits, was good
In cases like Lizardstripe, though, goodness knows what was going through her head when she decided to have kits
I agree!
I think you were thinking of Fernsong
Great article, definitely agree ๐
I totally agree with you. I’ve always found it misogynistic for a she-cat to be expected of having kits, especially if the she-cat didn’t want any in the first place. Especially since this could imply that this may hurt their future of being deputy or leader since apparently if a she-cats have kits then I guess you can’t be a deputy while a male cat can since he doesn’t have to be confined in the nursery for 6 months..6 months!! It takes 1 1/2 months for a kitten to be weaned yet the mother still needs to stay in there enough though she has no reason anymore when her kits are able to eat on their own without her! Even then she still won’t be able to be a deputy or leader since there’s some other cat whose has taken that role! It’s like the she-cats are forced to not have kits if they want to be deputy or leader, even if some she-cats may want to be deputy but also would like to be a mother someday. But if they don’t take up the opportunity to be a mother then they get shamed for it! It’s lose-lose situation for most she-cats & it’s so stupid!
Awesome! plz write another! it was amazing!
Fantastic article! ๐
Also, I think that Leafstar handled being a leader with kits really well! ๐๐
GREAT article!
I 100% agree. (I consider myself a med cat so I cant if i was in the warrior world. :3) There’s also a lot of female med cats (to my knowledge)
(yo my comment posted!)
I have waiting for someone to say this! This is so true! Toms aren’t expected to be fathers. So why are she-cats expected to be mothers? As a female and someone who isn’t interested in having offspring, I have always had this thought.