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Almost immediately we are shown Irena's internal conflict, which will drive the plot of the film. It is very clearly a struggle driven by her sexuality, although considering this film came out in 1942 it is all handled very chastely (especially compared to the 1982 incest-packed remake starring Natassja Kinski and Malcom McDowell). Irena is both terrified of and drawn to the panther, which represents sin and evil, specifically the sin and evil of her uncontrollable sexuality. Living close enough to the zoo allows Irena to hear the animals at night, and while she enjoys the sounds of the other large cats, she says of the panther: “He screams like a woman. I don't like that.”

Irena is clearly trying to fight her sexuality, to fight the panther inside of her. She wants to kill it, to stab it with a sword (which we can virtually always assume represents a penis, since it is, after all, a giant sharp phallus made for inserting into other people). And yet over and over again she returns to the panther at the zoo, unable to resist its pull. In a moment of weakness she even literally feeds it, bringing a dead bird to the panther for it to devour. Similarly, she is unable to resist the dangerous lust inside of her, so while she tries to starve it and fight it, on a certain level she understands that she will inevitably succumb to it.

Oliver quickly falls in love with Irena despite her attempts to fend off his advances. She does not even let him kiss her, and when he proposes to her she tells him that she had intentionally isolated herself as a way to avoid this type of situation. She understands that there is a part of her that is dangerous, and if she indulged her lust with even a kiss it would emerge and take control of her. Oliver, of course, believes that Irena's stories are based on unfounded superstition and that someday she will be able to tell these “fairy tales” to their children.

Irena's concerns are based on very real fears shared by many men and women, especially those who are uncomfortable with their own sexuality. The condemnation of sexual urges is less prevalent today than it was in the more repressed 1940s, but people, especially women, who indulge their urges are still attacked and criticized. As a result, many people are afraid of their own sexuality, and the idea of people consumed by their own insatiable urges lives on. Of course, since this is a horror movie the fear has to be about something more sensational and dangerous than simple sexual desire, which is why Irena fears that not only will she lose control of herself, but she will transform into a ferocious panther.

The film presents this dangerous sexuality as something innate and unstoppable, a threat that Irena is born with and cannot overcome. Every animal - with the exception of the panther - is terrified of her, and the bird that she feeds to the panther died of fright when she tried to pick it up. Many people believe that animals can sense things that humans cannot, and Irena's evil nature, hidden by her beautiful exterior, is revealed to the animals. Other Cat People also recognize the power inside of her that she tries to keep in check. At Irena and Oliver's engagement party a mysterious beautiful woman walks up to Irena and addresses her in Serbian. Irena admits that the woman was calling her “my sister,” and we are meant to infer that this is another of the Cat People, and that she sees in Irena a kindred spirit.

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