One of the overbearing themes of Cat People is sex, or a lack thereof. Having been made in the 1940’s, Lewton had to make this subject as subtle as possible but it can still be seen though out the film. There is one scene in particular that illustrates this well. In the scene, Oliver and Alice are talking by a water cooler and he is telling her about his uncertainty over his marriage. At one point Alice reaches down, out of the screen, to fill a cup of water. The placement and angle of her arm make it seem as though she has reached out of screen in order grab Oliver’s penis, at least that is how it appears from the angle. It is almost exactly at this moment that they begin to flirt and it appears that Oliver has begun playing with the idea of leaving Irena for Alice. Up to that point Oliver has received no kind of physical affection from Irena. At the moment of this scene when Alice “grabs” Oliver he immediately switches which woman he wants to be with. The film implies that the man wants sex, and when he can not get it from one person he will get it from another, despite how that action may make others feel. It becomes the possession, both physically and mentally, of a woman that Oliver needs. In that way, while sex is a major theme within this film, the theme of sex is pointing towards a specific problem in the issue of sex: The male ego.
The relationship between Irena and Dr. Judd can also be read as a reflection on the male ego. In Worland’s The Horror Film he phrases Dr. Judd’s seduction of Irena as “driven by condescension as much as lust”. That phrase encapsulates his domineering manhood towards his relationship to Irena. Being her psychotherapist, he believes he knows everything there is to know about her mind. That isn’t enough for him. He needs to possess and dominate both her mind and body. Again, like Oliver, he has no regard for how this may affect her. In a sense, Dr. Judd dominates over Irena more than Oliver, in that he finally kisses her. Interestingly, it is in this possessing both mind and body that causes Irena to regain some of her own agency by attacking and killing him. In having to turn into a murdering monster and ultimately dying in order to resist against it, the film suggests just how powerful and relentless the male ego is in its drive to possess others.
Another interesting aspect to the film is briefly mentioned by Worland. He mentions how Alice’s character embodies the “Rosie the Riveter” persona from the posters encouraging women to join the labor force to help propel the war economy during World War Two. Considering the film was released in 1942, after America had entered the war, the film seems to be sending a subtle message to the women audiences that would have been viewing the movie when it came out. While on many levels it easy and understandable to empathize with Irena’s character, ultimately it is Alice who survives the ordeal and gets to go home with the “all American” man. In this sense it would appear that not only is Irena’s curse a flaw, but so too is it a flaw of Irena’s that she is an artist rather than a productive industrial worker like Alice. Another way this idea can be read is that one woman is concerned with frivolous things, like superstition and art. The other is concerned with getting the man of their dreams and working hard to do a good job. When Alice’s life comes under threat, in a sense, the threat is coming from the embodiment of what will not help in winning the war and getting everyone’s husbands back. So in that way Irena’s “monstrousness” comes from her lack in contributing to the war effort. 
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