La Chute du Chat (Two Women Disturbed by a Cat) by Jean-Alphonse Roehn, 19th century.
19th century lesbians well acquainted with “pets watching u have sex” struggle
Important historical testimony: Marina Tsvetaeva, in the second poem of her “Girlfriend” cycle, that she wrote in 1914 at the beginning of her relationship with Sophia Parnok, mentions her Siberian cat watching them have sex:
Beneath caresses of a soft plaid throw,
I summon yesterday … a dream?
What was it? Who’s the victor?
Who, the overthrown?Rethinking all of it anew,
I’m tormenting myself again.
And that, for which I have no words,
Was … love? But can it … ?Who was the hunter? Who—the prey?
Oh devil, all of it, it’s upside down!
And the Siberian cat,
What did he grasp amidst his drawling, purring sounds?
Published
if it happened at all, it happened like that 