Hi there! This is a new, ongoing project that seeks to archive and categorise every appearance of a character that can be considered a catgirl in various forms of media. Below are some quick FAQs but feel free to ask or email ([email protected]) with any further questions.
WHAT IS CONSIDERED A CATGIRL?
A catgirl, by definition, is a female or feminine character that has a human body but also exhibits traits of a cat. These are predominantly physical traits and most often manifest as cat ears, a cat tail, and oversized cat paws. The archive may take into account cat-like behaviour, all of which will be tagged appropriately.
WHO RUNS THIS BLOG?
The Catgirl Archive was started in September 2022 by Rebecca Gault, an early career academic specialising in fantasy, genre fiction, body politics, queer theory, and sexuality studies. You can find her on Twitter under @phoenixfcrce
WHAT MEDIA WILL BE CONSIDERED?
Everything! Anime, manga, video games, comic books, TV shows, films, and so on. If there's a catgirl, she'll be categorised.
IS IT EXCLUSIVELY WOMEN?
This project does seek to look mostly at female characters but catboys do exist, and may be considered further down the line.
I hope you're all excited to come on this journey with me and create a comprehensive catgirl compendium !
The catgirl of this Monday Meow is Kalshara from Winx Club!
Kalshara is the antagonist of Season 7 of Winx Club. She is ambitious, demanding, and disrespectful toward fairies (despite the fact that she herself is a fairy) and nature itself. Kalshara is capable of taming Fairy Animals. Moreover, she excels at shapeshifting and can take the form of many animals - although she predominantly presents as a cat hybrid.
Building off our last Cat Call discussing anthropomorphism as a concept, I wanted to use this month’s post to highlight the next step of this idea. In many of the pieces of media featuring catgirls, there is an undeniable sexual component.
This sexual component occupies a very unique space - aspects of it will read as very regressive (something that I’d love to explore further in a future Cat Call) but some aspects are unusually forward-thinking. To fully illustrate these, it’s important to note that the change in the physiology of the catgirl is essential here. Catgirls are visibly different from a regular human - they are Othered in their appearance by virtue of their animalistic characteristics (most commonly cat ears, tails, and paws).
Despite their Othering, they are also seen as sexually appealing. When attraction exhibits itself in creatures that are markedly different from humans, it becomes a relationship dynamic that transgresses societal norms. In this respect then, we see that any form of erotic attraction to these monstrous creations can be uncoupled from anthropomorphism and therefore, from the humanist and anthropocentric mindset that so often is present when discussing the construction of the body.
The decoupling of attraction from anthropocentrism exhibited by those who publicly speak of their attraction to the non-human form reveals the complexity of desire and eroticism, and connects eroticism to a form of pornographic transgression, as set out by Susan Sontag. Sontag, in her theses of the pornographic imagination, writes “that discourse one might call the poetry of transgression is also knowledge. He who transgresses not only breaks a rule. He goes somewhere that the others are not; and he knows something the others don’t know” (Sontag 2009).
The monstrous erotic desire is this transgression, particularly as the sphere of desire moves away from the humanoid position and thus, away from the Western anthropocentric view of humanity as the pinnacle of all entities and living creatures. In exploring desire for the non-anthropomorphic, the retooling of human empathy and human eroticism allows for a movement into a space that is not occupied by the wider society at large and thus, becomes radicalised in terms of desire politics. By reading Sontag’s pornographic theses in conjunction with this idea of post-anthropocentric desire, it can be said that the one exhibiting these desires and thus, the one at the site of monstrous eroticism is revolutionising the ways in which we talk about sexuality. The inscription of these desires onto a non-normative creature allows for a radicalisation of sexual politics as the relationship becomes untenable under hegemonic societal standards.
It is worth considering these aspects when looking at catgirl culture and the sexualisation of the catgirl - especially when you consider the proliferation of the catgirl in queer spaces. If the very image of the catgirl body begins to complicate desire then it is likely that which draws a queer community to such an idea - the space to actively transcend societal standards for what conventional desire may look like.
Of course, there are also very regressive ideals associated with the sexualised catgirl that allow for discussion about women that can easily be construed as misogynistic - the majority of which I would love to explore going forward.
(Excerpts on decoupling anthropocentrism from desire taken from my own Masters thesis: “The Monster Smash: Mapping Teratophilia and the Monstrous Body as a Site of Cultural Contestation” as submitted to the University of Glasgow in 2022)
The catgirl(s) for this spooky Monday Meow are Simone Lenoir and Lena Dupree from Scooby Doo On Zombie Island.
Simone and Lena, along with their companion Jacques (not pictured) are werecats. After seeking revenge on the pirates who ransacked their village, Simone and Lena’s cat god granted them their abilities. They can prolong their lives and stay immortal only by draining the lives of others at the time of the harvest moon.
The catgirl of this Feline Friday is Ichigo Momomiya from Tokyo Mew-Mew.
Ichigo is the protagonist of Tokyo Mew-Mew and her DNA is merged with that of an Iriomote Wild Cat. She is sweet, and ready for anything - although afraid of ghosts! Her Mew Mark is a pink version of the imprint on her Mew Pendant on the inside of her right thigh. When transformed into a full cat, she has black fur with pink paw pads and pink inside her ears.
The catgirl of this Monday Meow is Blair from Soul Eater!
Blair is a monster cat who was capable of shifting from human form to her full cat form. She is capable of performing magic and, in true cat fashion, has nine lives. Generally speaking, Blair is fun-loving and affable, with little to no shame associated with her physical form. Her name is a reference to the Blair Witch Project.
The catgirl of this Feline Friday is Lieutenant M'Ress from Star Trek: The Animated Series!
Lieutenant M'Ress was a Caitian Starfleet officer who served aboard the USS Enterprise under Captain James T. Kirk during the final two years of their five-year mission. She primarily worked as the secondary communications officer under Lieutenant Uhura and showed interest in anthropology, archaeology, poetry, and performing.
The catgirl of this Monday Meow is Y'shtola Rhul from Final Fantasy XIV!
Y'shtola is a Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te and, in game, can often be seen wandering the lands of La Noscea. She is a masterful sorceress and conjurer. An expert in the arcane arts and unyielding by her very nature, Y'shtola has refined herself into something far more than a simple traveller.
One of the main features of catgirl culture is that the catgirls in question are hybrids; part animal and part human. The humanisation of the cat-like aspects in catgirls is evident and key to the first concept I wanted to highlight in this Cat Calls series. When animals are humanised to such an extent that they begin to take on human-like qualities, this is a result of anthropomorphism.
Many scholars have cited anthropomorphism as an innate trait of human psychology (Hutson 2012) and the phenomenon has ancient roots in fables and folklore. Anthropomorphised animals feature heavily in many of these tales.
The term however first applied in a religious context and originally referred to the idea of applying a human form to the Christian God. While anthropomorphism is common in mythology, the Christian aspect is more accurately named anthropotheism in recent discourse. Anthropomorphism is more easily defined when you turn to ancient mythology such as that of Ancient Egypt. Egyptian culture often featured hybridised deities, such as Sekhmet and Bast - both of whom presented with cat heads. The blending of animal and human traits then is a foundational part of wider society.
Anthropocentrism, however, is slightly different in the attitude it takes towards the non-human. Anthropocentrism centres humanity and the human experience – including the physical experience of possessing a human body – as the most important entity and experience in the world. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that anthropocentrism “regards humans as separate from and superior to nature and holds that human life has intrinsic value” (Boslaugh 2013). Anthropocentrism positions the human as the most desirable thing - both to be and to pursue.
The question then becomes whether catgirls and the traditional portrayal of catgirl appearances is an anthropocentric one or one that attempts to animalise the human rather than humanise the animal? Oftentimes, the catgirl is heavily sexualised and thus, speaks to what we see in the desires other people exhibit. If someone is attracted to catgirls, does this speak to a desire for an experience that taps into but does not give into animalistic tendencies? If someone envisions themselves as a catgirl, is this a desire for liberation from conventional societal structure? In asking these questions, it gives scope to explore whether or not the concept of the catgirl has space for differing sexual politics; whether they be revolutionary or regressive.
The catgirl of this Monday Meow is Nekoko from Destiny of the Shrine Maiden!
Nekoko appears incredibly cheerful but in actuality, was a victim of horrific medical experimentation. This experimentation is potentially the cause for her catlike appearance and behaviour. The large syringe she carries contains medication to heal injuries and illness, but the process of the injection causes immense pain. Nekoko can also launch the syringe as an explosive rocket.
The catgirl of this Feline Friday is Catseye from X-Men!
As a mutant in the X-Men line of Marvel Comics, Catseye possessed the ability to shift between human, feline, and werecat form. She was a member of the Hellions - a group of students taught by Emma Frost. As her adoptive daughter, Catseye displayed a genius level intellect but a disinterest in acting like a human - favouring her feline nature instead.
The catgirl of this Monday Meow is Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power!
Starting out as a cadet in the Horde, Catra eventually served as Hordak's second-in-command and an initial antagonist. After the invasion of the army of Horde Prime, Catra briefly served as an agent of Horde Prime before her reformation and relationship with Adora.
The catgirl of this Feline Friday is Felicia from Darkstalkers!
Felicia is an optimistic American catgirl from Darkstalkers, the Capcom series of fighting games. She was raised in a convent by a Catholic nun and hoped to be a pop star.
