Beyond Taylor Swift: Who Are Cat People?

6 Degrees of Cats

Who is a cat person? What is the essence of feline fandom and who exactly are the literal and figurative cat people among us? Listen and find out on the world's #1 (and only) cat-themed culture, history and science podcast!

Celebrate the Lunar New Year (Happy Year of the Dragon) or Têt, with us in Vietnam, where we discover a unique breed of cat people with the help of Austin-based comic Ivy Le of the FOGO: Fear of Going Outside podcast. Ivy is joined by audio producer, artist and educator TK "Keisha" Dutes and Cat Person social media manager Tracy Michelle, as we debunk stereotypes, challenge cultural and racial assumptions and redefine what it means to be a cat person - while advocating for everyone's rightful place alongside Taylor Swift as an iconic figure of our tribe.

Prepare to embrace your inner cat person of the 21st Century and join the revolution! Tune in now for a purr-fectly engaging discussion that will change the way you see feline companionship forever.

Support the podcast, sign up for The Captain’s Log, the companion podcast newsletter and learn about way$ to help keep this ship afloat for our next season here: linktr.ee/6degreesofcats.

Referenced artifacts:

• Cats vs Dogs map (original source: BudgetDirect)

Referenced episodes:

• Felines & Fatherhood: Exploring Masculinity, Father’s Day, and the Unique Bond Between Men and Cats
• Cats vs Cupid: Why Cats are the Better Valentine’s Day Mascot
• Cats Are the Consummate Domesticate: Origins and Evolution of Our Feline Friends [Pilot]

About the experts:

• Keisha “TK” Dutes is a multimedia producer and artist whose work has been featured on NPR’s LifeKit. She serves on the board of AIR Media and has consulted for Spotify USA and Willie Mae Rock Camp as an audio educator. TK can be followed on Meta and X as @tastykeish and on TikTok as tk_creates.
• Ivy Le is a Vietnamese-American comedian, actress, writer and producer of Spotify’s hit podcast, FOGO Fear of Going Outside. She can be followed on social media @ivylewithonee and found at ivylewithonee.com.
• Tracy Michelle is a stylist, writer, gamer and content creator who serves as the social media manager of lifestyle brand Cat Person. She can be followed on social media @ohheytracy and found at ohheytracy.com.

Producer, writer, editor, sound designer, host, basically everything*

• Captain Kitty (Amanda B. - Instagram: @catsuitband)

* with co-executive producers Binky & Snuggles

Animal voices include:

• Binky & Snuggles _^..^_

Music:

• Leathered: "Look Alive" © 2022
• The Captain & Tenille 2: Snuggles: Jeoparty
• Samples licensed via Loopcloud
• Additional sound effects from Pixabay.com

Logo design:

• Edward Anthony © 2024 (Instagram: @itsmyunzii)

Research used:

• Booth, J. (2023, December 11). All about Taylor Swift’s cats, Meredith Grey, Olivia Benson and Benjamin Button. People Magazine. https://people.com/pets/all-about-taylor-swift-cats
• McGrath, M. (2023, December 20). Cats vs. dogs: Which does the world prefer?. Budget Direct. https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/pet-insurance/guides/cats-vs-dogs-which-does-the-world-prefer.html#:~:text=Key%20Findings,are%20all%20dog%2Dpeople%20countries.
• Megna, M. (2024, February 1). Forbes Pet ownership statistics 2024. Pet Ownership Statistics 2024. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/
• Mitovich, M. W. (2024, January 19). Ratings: Law & order trio grow after 8-month break, SVU Tops Thursday. TVLine. https://tvline.com/ratings/law-and-order-svu-season-25-premiere-viewership-1235131925/
• Rigby, S. (2023, March 16). What’s the longest a cat can live for? Here are the world’s oldest felines. BBC Science Focus Magazine. https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/whats-the-longest-a-cat-can-live-for
• Taylor Swift Life and Career. Taylor Swift Museum. (n.d.). https://www.theswiftmuseum.com/life-and-career
• With almost 1 million video choices, women 18-34 turn to classic TV. Nielsen. (2023, June 30). https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2023/with-almost-1-million-video-choices-women-18-34-turn-to-classic-tv/
• Yin, S. (2019, February 5). What Lunar New Year reveals about the world’s calendars. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/05/science/chinese-new-year-lunar-calendar.html