I know several bird women. The problem is that instead of becoming extroverted because of an infection, they develop lung problems. It's much less romantic.
I’m a cat person. In fact I have a cat, but just the one.
I’m not sure how that makes me generally different though? I’m not trying to be argumentative, I’m genuinely curious.
I am and have always been an introvert, but I’m friends with introverted dog people too. Other than that, I’m not sure what (for lack of a better term) stereotypical traits I would have that correlate with being a cat person?
There are other such media hypes which you can explain like that without involving a neurologically active parasite. For example the belief that whites are being systematically replaced by blacks/hispanics/muslims/jews/... Or the belief that there is a single supreme being in the sky, watching everything we do, having killed his son for humanities sins. There are no rational reasons to believe any of this, still, many people do, with lots of media helping them reinforce those thoughts in quite effective bubbles.
So-called niche media hype is the reason gp thinks cat women are the product of toxoplasmosis. A general explanation for cat women themselves (along with all your other examples) is culture.
Asking non-jokingly, how do we explain “cat ladies”? Women who hoard cats and seem to be crazy.
They’re not typically “hamster ladies” or “dog men”.
Sure with billions of people you’ll find examples of anything.
But “cat ladies” seems to be an obvious symptom of something.