#AllCatsAreBeautiful: Ambient affiliation and the visual-verbal representation and appreciation of cats in online subversive discourses

This paper investigates the topics and affiliations associated with hashtag #AllCatsAreBeautiful on social media platform Twitter. Drawing concepts from semiotics (systemic functional theory) critical animal studies, identifies a number of potentially overlapping or fields, including anti-policing, commodification nonhuman animals, gender sexism, body image body-shaming, as well more general positive appreciation admiration cats. The discusses how people position themselves in relation to those topics, through patterns ideational attitudinal meanings, cats are represented appreciated visually, verbally intersemiotically. Cats, this context, play an important role struggles for justice, symbolizing freedom resistance love solidarity. highlights spaces around which bonds can be made communities shared values interests co-constructed.