Leslie Knope says I'm very angry on parks and rec.
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‘Kids not cats’: J.D. Vance has created misogyny’s new rallying cry

The Handmaid’s Tale called, Andrew Tate. They’d like their plot back. The known misogynist and generally bad guy (on trial for sex trafficking) logged onto Twitter to post that he thought women should be having babies. And I think he should be in jail, so we can’t all get what we want.

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Tate tweeted that “Peak female performance is pregnancy.” Personally, my peak performance as a female is when I nail the belting part of “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Celine Dion at karaoke, but it isn’t surprising that known woman hater Andrew Tate would only see a woman for her biology and not who she actually is.

Some of the responses were pretty hilarious takedowns of Tate, but others were predictably sexist. One person posted a meme of Lisa Simpson from The Simpsons giving a presentation that said “women are born to have kids, not cats,” echoing vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance’s own words. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the U.S. run by someone who stokes this kind of misogyny.

By this logic, men are born to be used as breeding tools and that alone, right? Just want to clarify that a woman cannot just magically have a child all on her own without assistance from the male anatomy. And if the idea is that a woman was “only” born to have kids, then a man would be the same. Would he not?

I know it’s foolish to use logic to try to understand what men like Tate mean when they tweet these things, but I just don’t get it. What does my cat have to do with me having kids? I want kids some day, with a nice gentleman who doesn’t diminish me to just my ability to have said kids. I can also still have a cat.

Peak male performance is shutting up, actually

We all know that Andrew Tate is scum but he, unfortunately, has a fan base of young impressionable teenage boys who are listening to him. Those boys think that what Tate says about women is true and they will grow up to treat women in the way Tate preaches they should. Frankly, I say f*** that.

Calling things like this out is important. I grew up in a family of a lot of strong women but my immediate family was just me, my mom, and three men. If my brothers or my father had the audacity to tell me that my place was to just shut up and be someone’s mother? They’d probably never see me again, but not before I left them with a reminder to never say that thing again. Granted, the men in my family know better and respect women.

I cannot say the same for Tate and his ilk. They’re the kind of men who listen as women complain about what men say to them and label us as man haters. No, my guy. I hate men like you. I do not hate the general population of men. Just the ones who think I am only put on this Earth to serve them.

Peak female performance is a woman doing whatever she wants and not being criticized for it. Peak male performance is all of Top Gun: Maverick. I don’t make the rules; that’s just the truth. In all seriousness though, it just circles back to policing women when we did not ask for someone to do so.

Just stop telling women what to do already

I am so beyond tired of being told that I need to change something about myself to be desirable to a man. We women should be “quiet” or not talk down to a man. We should be girly and cute but not wear anything too short or tight. If we dare have an opinion? Keep it to ourselves.

No? Sorry? I’m my own person. If that’s what being with a man entails, I’m good actually. (I am aware that most men are not like this and most are sweet and caring and do, in fact, allow women to be their own people. I do not need you telling me “not all men” in the comments.)

What I want to do as a woman is just exist. We constantly have people like Tate telling us what we should be doing and I am happy to continue to live my life doing the exact opposite. I will hug my cat and wear whatever my heart desires, thank you very much.


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Rachel Leishman
Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.