Skip to Main Content
Frequently Asked Questions
Submit an ETD
Global Search Box
Need Help?
Keyword Search
Participating Institutions
Advanced Search
School Logo
Files
File List
03-07 Barak - Combined Dissertation.pdf (994.83 KB)
ETD Abstract Container
Abstract Header
Spinsters, Old Maids, and Cat Ladies: A Case Study in Containment Strategies
Author Info
Barak, Katherine Sullivan
Permalink:
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1393246792
Abstract Details
Year and Degree
2014, Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, American Culture Studies.
Abstract
Using Michel Foucault's notion of containment strategies, this dissertation argues that representations of the crazy cat lady, the reprehensible animal hoarder, the proud spinster, and the unproductive old maid negatively frame independent, single women as models of failed White womanhood. These characters must be contained because they intrinsically transgress social norms, query gender roles, and challenge the limitations of mediated womanhood. In order to explore the role of representation, this dissertation provides a suggestive history of the ways spinsters and old maids evolved into their current iteration, the cat lady. The research begins by tracing cultural representations of cats and women from 2000 BCE through the early modern period. After this retrospective, the research focuses on two particular points of cultural anxiety connected to changing gender roles: the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. During the former, the media characterized spinsters and old maids as selfish, proud, unnatural, unproductive, and childish in newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets. Rather than focusing exclusively on the negative coverage, this dissertation deeply analyzes three transgressive novels, Agnes Grey, An Old-Fashioned Girl, and Lolly Willowes: Or the Loving Huntsman, to contextualize the ways positive representations of spinsters and old maids could threaten patriarchal society. At the turn of the 21st century, spinster and old maid became outmoded terms, but the cat lady emerges as a postmodern version of the same cautionary tale. Fictional television characters like Eleanor Abernathy from The Simpsons and Angela Martin from The Office are deconstructed, revealing the ways the framing and editing contribute to narratives of failed femininity. Participants from reality TV shows like Hoarders and Confessions: Animal Hoarding and the documentary film Cat Ladies are analyzed to demonstrate the ways factual representations further pathologize the cat lady by associating her with hoarding and mental illness. This dissertation illustrates how a marginalized, peripheral character like the cat lady serves as a tool for social maintenance, reinforcing heteronormative gender roles and containing alternative versions of womanhood.
Committee
Ellen Berry (Advisor)
Vikki Krane (Committee Member)
Sarah Smith Rainey (Committee Member)
Marilyn Motz (Committee Member)
Pages
238 p.
Subject Headings
American Studies
;
Animals
;
Gender
;
Gender Studies
;
Mass Media
Keywords
Single Women
;
Popular Culture
;
Representation
;
Documentary Film
;
Reality TV
;
Television
;
Feminism
;
Cat Lady
Recommended Citations
Refworks
EndNote
RIS
Mendeley
Citations
Barak, K. S. (2014).
Spinsters, Old Maids, and Cat Ladies: A Case Study in Containment Strategies
[Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1393246792
APA Style (7th edition)
Barak, Katherine.
Spinsters, Old Maids, and Cat Ladies: A Case Study in Containment Strategies.
2014. Bowling Green State University, Doctoral dissertation.
OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center
, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1393246792.
MLA Style (8th edition)
Barak, Katherine. "Spinsters, Old Maids, and Cat Ladies: A Case Study in Containment Strategies." Doctoral dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1393246792
Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)
Abstract Footer
Document number:
bgsu1393246792
Download Count:
15,372
Copyright Info
© 2014, some rights reserved.
Spinsters, Old Maids, and Cat Ladies: A Case Study in Containment Strategies by Katherine Sullivan Barak is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.