Why do people love the concept of catgirls to begin with?

i mean theyre just the human version of strays to me, not really cute or whatever. sure they have supernatural strengths, but humans also have the intelligence to advance beyond that. i dont really understand why people prefer catgirls, it makes sense why humans have dominion over them in lore because of that. it also makes sense why the humans are the ones to rebel in lore, the catgirls would have a very difficult time, id imagine. i dont really understand why humans would accept them at all. like i get why people are attracted to them, but its not something i would ever want. im not gay, but a true nonbinary catgirl would probably be better in my opinion, than a female one. i doubt it would make sense for humans to accept them though, considering how cats are treated now. i dont think people would mind killing them, either. maybe it would be significantly better in real life, a true nonbinary catgirl would probably be better for society than what is in the lore of those kinds of animes, but i dont think it would be similar to those scenarios at all.