Ok, that's fine. I'm going to stop talking to you now, because I think this conversation is just making you more defensive and stressed, which is unhelpful to the overall goal. But please, please just think through this the next time you have to make a decision about declawing - it IS mutilation, despite the fact that…

I know, right? I have rented multiple apartments and houses in four different states as an adult, and I was never not able to easily find a place that accepted cats without declawing. In fact, the vast majority of rentals I have looked at do not require declawing. I would never have declawed in order to live in a…

You're being defensive and lashing out with derisive names like "Kitty Social Justice Warriors" (as though 99% of the other people in this thread are all crazy PETA hippie cat ladies or something) and appealing to authority by bringing up your vet (who may have felt, as described in this thread, that s/he was just…

After having owned a number of cats, I have come to the (completely anecdotally-driven) conclusion that male cats are easier than female cats. I had a female cat once who lived for 16 years, was always touchy and bossy even as a kitten, and for the last 6 years of her life she was just the most autocratic, cranky old…

Kitty Social Justice Warriors = Anyone With A Conscience

Or...get another rental. :-(

I fully support this ban, and wish all states would do it. Declawing is unethical and a cruel thing to do to cats. Anyone who thinks a couch is more important than the health and welfare of a living being should not own a cat.

If you think FGM is "positive for society as a whole", you need some serious self-examination. That is one of the most repulsive statements I have read on the internet in a while.

It's not only OK, it's actually the moral thing to do. Fuck this culture nonsense. I have no problem judging oppression and harm done to other people in the name of "culture" and will continue to speak my mind about it regardless of whether or not it's socially normative on Jezebel or anywhere else.

Yeah, true that. Women are much more often expected to just roll over and be a doormat. Personal assertiveness is viewed as a personality flaw rather than as a healthy coping mechanism.

Yeah, that's the problem with being self-directed and assertive - you get happier and other people get unhappier with you. :-(

Very helpful. Thank you!

At the time, I felt that doing so would make me a great big drama queen. I think you said upthread that you were not American? It's not the thing to "shun" in America - people tend to blame the shunner and side with those being shunned, no matter how grave the offense, and then one gets a reputation as being overly…

A few years ago, I threw a party. About 15 people said they would attend. Come the day of, NOBODY showed up. Zip, zero, zilch. No phone calls, no emails. My husband and I were sitting there staring at one another over the carefully prepared food while the minutes ticked by. I was completely mortified. I felt like that…

Husband and I bought a fixer-upper house for $95K while I was in grad school, and paid the mortgage instead of rent. In our spare time, we fixed it up -~$10K worth of materials and a lot of sweat equity. I graduated with my Ph.D. (yes, STEM), got a good job in a warm climate, and sold the house for $165K. We put some…

Oh, yes, the cysts. I am not prone to UTIs or yeast infections, but I have struggled with recurring cysts off and on for years. They are awful in their own special way - I get the really painful kind, but luckily they are typically small. Some poor women get these giant horrible ones that are the size of golf balls.…

Oh, yes, the cysts. I am not prone to UTIs or yeast infections, but I have struggled with recurring cysts off and on for years. They are awful in their own special way - I get the really painful kind, but luckily they are typically small. I finally decided that they were being caused by small staph infections that I…

Sadly, this is so, so true. :-(

We had a fenced yard with cat fencing on the top of the 6' privacy fence. Aside from a few "prison breaks" in the beginning, it worked great for 5 years, and then it was a selling point for the house because our buyers had four cats. Our cats were SO happy in that yard - they got to safely run around and chase stuff,…

I am a middle-aged lady who drives a sweet little red Miata, and at gas stations and other public places I sometimes encounter young dudes who want to have what I call the "Hypothetical BMW" conversation. It goes like this: