# Bumper sticker - what did Garfield do **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 12, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615 "2024-08-12T13:43:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/1 "2024-08-12T13:43:44Z")
I saw a bumper sticker this weekend, reading thusly: This Christian mom HATES Garfield Umm, what!? It was the only bumper sticker on the car and was replete with a cross. What the heck has G cat done now? Did her son die from eating too much lasagna? Any doper got a line on this? Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/2 "2024-08-12T13:47:54Z")
From a random post on reddit “I just looked it up. It seems it’s because Garfield’s creator won’t specify if the cat is male or female.” ETA [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/03/01/is-garfield-a-boy-how-a-cartoon-cats-gender-identity-sparked-a-war-on-wikipedia/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/03/01/is-garfield-a-boy-how-a-cartoon-cats-gender-identity-sparked-a-war-on-wikipedia/) (Maybe a better article) I only very briefly skimmed this, but at appears to stem from a 2017 argument about Garfield’s wiki page. [https://hellogiggles.com/garfield-cat-boy-or-girl/](https://hellogiggles.com/garfield-cat-boy-or-girl/) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/3 "2024-08-12T13:48:31Z")
The Star Route Scandal took place during President Garfield’s term and of course he was assassinated, **some** body hated him. OTOH, I, too, think the Garfield comic strip is a waste of the paper it’s printed on. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/4 "2024-08-12T13:50:15Z")
That’s not a good look for a self proclaimed Christian to broadcast their hate. Apparently Garfield’s creator has yet to assign a gender to the cartoon cat. I read this on Reddit just now as I was unaware of this staggering controversy in bumper stickers. I always thought Garfield is an aging white guy. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/5 "2024-08-12T13:52:34Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Apparently Garfield’s creator has yet to assign a gender to the cartoon cat. I read this on Reddit just now as I was unaware of this staggering controversy in bumper stickers. Check the date, I think this all happened in 2017 and Jim Davis has since stated Garfield is a male. From one of the articles I posted, if I’m reading it correctly, it started with this comment in a list of things you might not know about Garfield: > “Garfield is very universal,” Davis explained. “By virtue of being a cat, really, he’s not really male or female or any particular race or nationality, young or old.” And then clarified to this, after people started messing with the wiki page. > “Garfield is male,” Davis told _The Washington Post_ on Tuesday. “He has a girlfriend, Arlene.” ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/6 "2024-08-12T14:04:51Z")
You mean Arlene wasn’t Jon’s girlfriend? It’s been years since I read the strip I once was a big Garfield fan used to collect his merch. Then I grew up. Once an icon always an icon “ I hate Mondays” and uptight xtian moms ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/7 "2024-08-12T14:17:06Z")
> [@chela](#): > > You mean Arlene wasn’t Jon’s girlfriend? It’s been years since I read the strip I once was a big Garfield fan used to collect his merch. Then I grew up. Arlene is the skinny gap-toothed on-off g.f. of Garfield. You’re thinking of Liz the veterinarian, whom Jon finally won over, after decades of stalking her. Note the voice in the animated cartoons was always male and always voiced by men, with Lorenzo Music being the longest-serving voice actor. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/8 "2024-08-12T14:26:06Z")
“This is Garfield, your doorman.” ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/9 "2024-08-12T15:01:23Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Garfield’s creator won’t specify if the cat is male or female That’s interesting. It never occured to me that the cat wasn’t male. And now I’m wondering what evidence I thought I had as to Garfield’s gender. The name combined with a (very uncatlike) desire to subsist on pizza? Not adequate, when I think about it. Mostly I’m too annoyed by how uncatlike Garfield is (in multiple ways) to think much further about the strip, though. – wait a minute. Garfield sometimes hangs out with another cat, who Garfield treats like a girlfriend – and that cat is drawn as stereotypically feminine; including, for once, in the specifically cat-like fashion of a difference in neck thickness between the two (as well as in the very not-cat-like fashion of extra large lashes, lips, and apparently lipstick). I suppose that wouldn’t prove Garfield’s not a male-appearing female lesbian; but that’s probably at least part of what I’ve been going on. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/10 "2024-08-12T15:10:59Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > That’s interesting. It never occured to me that the cat wasn’t male. And now I’m wondering what evidence I thought I had as to Garfield’s gender. - Now you do. [![](https://assets.gocomics.com/uploads/blogs/blog_image_3764_4527_Garfield_Classics_by_Jim_Davis_Jan_31__2017_201703071339.jpg) ](https://assets.gocomics.com/uploads/blogs/blog_image_3764_4527_Garfield_Classics_by_Jim_Davis_Jan_31__2017_201703071339.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/11 "2024-08-12T15:17:07Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > The name combined with a (very uncatlike) desire to subsist on pizza? Lasagna, not pizza. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/12 "2024-08-12T15:20:06Z")
A desire to subsist on lasagna is equally uncatlike. (Don’t he and Jon sometimes make a big cheerful deal out of ordering pizza? Maybe not; as I said I’m not into that strip, I just read it because there it is in the funny pages and I’m reading the rest of them.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/13 "2024-08-12T15:51:28Z")
Garfield’s favorite food is lasagna, but he loves all human food, and has a preference for Italian. Jon being a bachelor, he doesn’t often cook himself, and so delivery pizza often ends up on the menu, which Garfield approves of. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/14 "2024-08-12T15:56:17Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > “I just looked it up. It seems it’s because Garfield’s creator won’t specify if the cat is male or female.” OMFG. Well, this was a new-ish looking bumper sticker so maybe her church just got the memo… as did I apparently. There is literally no end to the pettiness and and hate these idiots can conjure up. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/15 "2024-08-12T16:02:38Z")
I never thought there was any question about Garfield’s gender. As a singular name, Garfield is masculine. He was voiced by a man, He had a girlfriend before the idea of girls having girlfriends was something acceptable. So the idea that some uptight church lady got upset enough to purchase and install a bumper sticker gives me the eyerolls. She must have felt incredibly betrayed to make the effort. And hey, I like Garfield. There’s nothing wrong with that. I also like Garfield Minus Garfield. It’s so existentially dreadful in the “my life is a darkroom” kind of way. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/16 "2024-08-12T16:07:00Z")
> [@chela](#): > > That’s not a good look for a self proclaimed Christian to broadcast their hate. Three hundred years ago, self-proclaimed Christians were burning young women alive for practicing imaginary magic. Now they’re complaining about fictional cats having ambiguous genders. So I guess that’s progress. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/17 "2024-08-12T16:15:11Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I never thought there was any question about Garfield’s gender. As a singular name, Garfield is masculine. He was voiced by a man, He had a girlfriend before the idea of girls having girlfriends was something acceptable. Exactly. So Garfield’s creator not directly answering what was probably a loaded question makes it all the more ridiculous. Use your brains people. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I also like Garfield Minus Garfield. It’s so existentially dreadful in the “my life is a darkroom” kind of way. How many existentially dreadfuls does it take to change a lightbulb? Fish swim at the edge of my conscience. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/18 "2024-08-12T16:39:07Z")
I remember Matt Groening answering the question of whether Akbar and Jeff (the main characters of his [Life in Hell strip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_in_Hell)) were gay lovers or brothers or what, “Whatever offends you most, that’s what they are.” ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/19 "2024-08-12T16:44:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Three hundred years ago, self-proclaimed Christians were burning young women alive for practicing imaginary magic. Nitpick: The Salem witches were hung\* not burned. \*One accused witch was pressed to death trying to force a confession. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615/20 "2024-08-12T16:49:06Z")
If you’re saying those young women were hung we’re right back on the ambiguous gender issue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bumper-sticker-what-did-garfield-do/1005615.md?page=2)