Recently, I picked up the book Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine by Kristen J. Sollee from The Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick because I really enjoyed her book Witches, Sluts, and Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive...and because it has "Cat" in the title. (Duh.) I have to say I enjoyed it. She writes about topics that live in our subconscious that we don't consider in everyday life, but I think I was hoping it would break down the chapter topics a little more. The feral feminine discussion is a HUGE undertaking because there are a VAST amount of cat archetypes symbolizing so many things, and can be interpreted so many ways! She used her experiences and pop culture references to round out the chapters, but honestly you could go on forever with how cat symbolism is around us daily. Everyone's experiences while reading this book can bring different ideas to the table. It's a malleable read.
There's a thoughtful introduction by Pam Grossman, who I have written about before. What a great start, then Sollee touches on ("touches" being the operative word) kitten play, cat kinks, cats and courtesans, and more. Side note: Kitten play is a form of animal role play where you get into the headspace of the animal you are portraying and take on their mannerisms. So this book was much more sexual in nature than I anticipated.
There are chapters covering black cat superstition, history of Egyptian cat gods (I was hoping it would get into more), and the cult of Hello Kitty cuteness. I'm a strong supporter of Hello Kitty. AND I'm here to remind you, Hello Kitty is a girl dressed up as a cat, her name is Kitty White, and she is five apples tall.
I think the thing I hated about this book was that she references many many images that aren't pictured, and unless you are familiar with the artist or image, you really have no clue what she's talking about. I'd like to see the images in the book. Other than that, it's a good read that makes you think.
For more info on the author http://kristensollee.com/
0 comments: