Cat Person

Last December, a short story called Cat Person went viral online. Written by Kristen Roupenian, the piece was critically acclaimed and widely dispersed within a few days of being released in The New Yorker. Even the newspaper itself was surprised; the last time a short story of theirs was this widely discussed was in 1997. Appearing in the last weeks of 2017, Cat Person gained more reads than all other pieces The New Yorker published in the previous 11 months.

So why was this story so important to readers? Why did audiences everywhere flock to read it? I personally believe it went viral for a few reasons. For one, the story is shockingly relatable. It discusses a short love story between Margot, a college student, and an older man named Robert, who begin their relationship in the same way many of us begin ours: through text messaging. Their dates aren't romantic, and the lust between them begins to fizzle. However, both of them stick the course for a bit longer solely because they enjoy the person they have imagined each other to be. Eventually, Margot feels that though she is no longer interested in Robert, she has come too far to simply "change her mind and send him back" (Roupenian).  

This feeling hits particularly strongly on the recent rise of the #MeToo movement. While sexual assault and harassment are offences that are focused on to a much greater degree, this movement also discusses societal pressures felt by women while in relationships. Many women, in my perspective, found this piece interesting and noteworthy because it hits on a topic to which we all can relate. We've all felt, or know someone who has, that we owe something to the man we've been seeing. This manifests in different ways for different women. For Margot, she realized that she couldn't back out once she went home with Robert. She worried that "after everything she'd done to push this forward, [it] would make her seem spoiled and capricious" (Roupenian).

Women should not feel this way. Women should not feel that they owe anything to anyone, or must subscribe to societal pressures to please or impress their dates. Finally, we read a piece that strikes a chord within us. A chord of knowing how Margot feels, feeling pity, embarrassment, frustration on her behalf. A chord that makes the Me Too movement seem a lot closer to home. A lot closer to all of us.