In a comment to Lisa’s post on being a dog or cat person, a. brown pointed out Alpo’s new Get that Dog Some Alpo campaign, in which dogs who enjoy stereotypically high-maintenance feminine activities (pedicures, massages, fancy food, expensive accessories) need to be turned back into “real,” authentic dogs by eating meat, in the form of Alpo. I’ll leave comments about whether or not Alpo has what can realistically be defined as meat in it to others. Here are some screenshots from the site. Notice the language is always “he” or “his” if a gender is specified:
Here are two questions from a quiz you can take to find out if your dog is a Fido or a Fifi:
I’ll just say, for the record, there’s no way that a vegan doggie spa just let someone in to feed Alpo to customers’ dogs without their permission. Absolutely and entirely no way. Their customers would freak out. Also, they would have a horrid, horrid mess to clean up about a half hour later.
What I find interesting here is the association between masculinity and authenticity, while femininity is associated with the upper class, superficiality, and high-maintenance luxury. So “real” dogs like sports and sex (and meat), while dogs who are pampered are somehow less authentic dogs (and presumably don’t care about sex or sports).
And I don’t know where my dogs fit in! They aren’t super-pampered, so at first I thought they’re “real dogs,” but then I realized they’re both neutered, so they don’t care about sex. Are they Fifis or Fidos? [Note: I went through and randomly selected answers in the quiz without even reading the questions and the response was that my dogs are “Vegas” dogs; given that’s where we live, I guess it’ll do.]
Anyway, you might use this to talk about the associations between a certain working-class masculinity and authenticity, in opposition to the way femininity is often connected to artifice and fakeness.
Thanks for the tip, a. brown!
Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.
Comments 11
Topics about Dogs and Life with Pets » Sociological Images » FEMININE bDOGS/b NEED ALPO — February 16, 2009
[...] gwen added an interesting post today on Sociological Images » FEMININE bDOGS/b NEED ALPOHere’s a small readingIn a comment to Lisa’s post on being a bdog/b or cat person, a. brown pointed out Alpo’s new Get that bDog/b Some Alpo campaign, in which bdogs/b who enjoy stereotypically high-maintenance feminine activities (pedicures, b…/b [...]
Sabriel — February 16, 2009
Oh, excellent. This goes very well with your previous post!
Someone posted another reply on the last post, and I am going to sort of address it here. He made the point that "cat" is considered cool in a sort of jazz slang sort of way, like "cool cat."
I think in that sense, cat definitely refers to a very polished male. Someone who is suave, sophisticated, classy and stylish. More masculine than a metrosexual, but still on the dapper side of things.
A rugged, hairy man in a plaid jacket cannot be a cool cat.
If you think about it, cats are way more into grooming than dogs are. Dogs roll in dead animals and track mud and poop all over the carpet. They are joyously, exuberantly messy. Cats, on the other hand, tend to be clean and well coordinated, avoid mud and water, and tend to keep their fur in order.
Women are under far greater pressure to keep up their appearances than men. We are the target of more marketing, we buy more products, and we spend more time on personal grooming. It is considered feminine to care about your appearance, and this may be one factor that contributes to why women are compared to cats and men are compared to dogs.
It also might explain how the word "cat" can apply to a male. If the word is meant to indicate that the male is defying a specific, rugged conception of masculinity, the phrase cat is appropriate.
Sabriel — February 16, 2009
P.S. I'll admit that I haven't read it (I've only read about it and seen the author give a lecture), but this makes me think about the book The sexual politics of meat: A feminist-vegetarian critical theory.
Titanis walleri — February 16, 2009
Admittedly, the cat punching the dog in the face is pretty amusing...
Topics about Pets and Life with animals » Sociological Images » FEMININE bDOGS/b NEED ALPO — February 16, 2009
[...] gwen added an interesting post today on Sociological Images » FEMININE bDOGS/b NEED ALPOHere’s a small readingIn a comment to Lisa’s post on being a bdog/b or cat person, a. brown pointed out Alpo’s new Get that bDog/b Some Alpo campaign, in which bdogs/b who enjoy stereotypically high-maintenance feminine activities (pedicures, b…/b [...]
thewhatifgirl — February 17, 2009
Sabriel, I have known an awful lot of felines who loved to roll around in the dirt - especially right after a bath. I've also had multiple cats who did their business in places other than the litter box, and who brought me dead presents on a regular basis.
easyVegan.info » Blog Archive » easyVegan Link Sanctuary, 2009-02-17 — February 17, 2009
[...] Sociological Images: FEMININE DOGS NEED ALPO [...]
Ryan — February 19, 2009
Being more of a cat guy, I like the image of the cat punching the dog. If that was a at food ad, it would have worked on me.
If the ad was 'This cat had his fancy feast' or something I'd be thinking...yeah...get that slobberin mutt!
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