EXHIBITS

 Woman with five cats¹

 Corgi in a “doggie stroller”²

Present-Day Conceptions

Today, there are many who refer to their pets a “fur babies” or “fur children.” There is the perception that owners use pets as surrogates for human relationships with friends, family, children, and intimate partners. In particular, female owners of all ages are cast dispersion, as intense relationships with pets reflect negative gender identities. As children, girls are often introduced to ideas of sexuality and concepts of sexual intimacy through observing animal behavior. As young women, individuals begin to view pets as preferable companions. A common colloquial quip among pet-owning young women is “who needs boys when there’s cats and (books, tacos, pizza).” If these same young women do pursue romantic relationships, some choose to have “fur children” rather than babies. Middle age women purchase small dogs to fill the affectional void left when their children move out. Older women who never married or no longer have partners to care for surround themselves with cats, becoming the proverbial “crazy cat lady.” At every age, these females potentially display a distorted view of the boundaries between human and animal, treating the later like the former. While pets also speak to concepts and issues of masculinity, they are most closely tied to issues of femininity.

These same conceptions of females using pets as surrogates are reflected in eighteenth-century literature, namely through the image of the lapdog, but cats, monkeys, and pets in general also speak to similar ideas. 

Lady with a Pet Dog (1672) Oil Painting by Pieter Cornelisz van Slingelandt³

Lady Delm and her Children (1777-1780) Oil Painting by Joshua Reynolds⁴

Relationships

Instead of devoting attention towards and bestowing affection on husbands and children, women with pets would be compelled to expend those same energies on their lapdog or any pet. At a time when female identity depended on the formation of these meaningful relationships, a failure to do so reflected a failure to control desires and affections (113)[1]. Lapdogs as surrogates are most readily apparent in eighteenth-century poetry through the use of rhymes. As literary scholar, Laura Brown describes, “typical rhyme words—nap and lap; miss, bliss, and kiss; or lies and thighs—give a series of verbal anchors for the ideas of sexual connection”[2] between ladies and lapdogs. 

Male

In poetry, lapdogs were often portrayed as being in direct conflict with the males surrounding their female owners. Henry Carey’s 1713 poem “The Rival Lap-Dog” portrays this rivalry wherein the narrator inquires

Corinna, pray tell me,

When thus you repel me,

When humbly I sue for a Kiss,

Why Dony, at pleasure,

May kiss without measure,

And surfeit himself with the Bliss?[3] 

 Lapdogs were also depicted as objects of male jealousy, with the male desiring to trade his unfulfilling status as a human with the dog's place of intimacy near the female. Conversely, while some males may be envious of lapdogs, others may find such affection towards lapdogs unattractive as described by Jonas Hanway who commented “a man of taste and sentiment…will be SHOCK’D to see a lady ravishing a dog with her caresses; and the more distinguished she is for her personal charms, the more shocking she will appear”[4].

Children

In not forming male relationships in favor of pets, women would also forfeit the opportunity to perform the female role of mother. Instead, the attention reserved for children would be diverted towards and directed on pets, who are doted and fawned over and “ravished” with caresses.