Imperative form + という方

Question

...猫の写真を見ないですむと思うと、同情しろという方が無理だった。
When he thought that he could get away without seeing any cat photos, sympathy was impossible.

In my translation I've condensed all of 同情しろという方 into just one word: sympathy. I'm struggling with how to unpack this. One problem is that I don't know whether 方 is ほう or かた. I can think of two ways this might go:

1. 同情しろという方{かた}が無理だった - a person saying that you should be sympathetic would have been unreasonable.
2. 同情しろという方{ほう}が無理だった - the side of him that said he should be sympathetic was impossible/unreasonable.

I think option 2. makes more sense but I'm not certain.

Answer 1

「猫{ねこ}の写真{しゃしん}を見{み}ないですむと思{おも}うと、同情{どうじょう}しろという方が無理{むり}だった。」

First, the 「方」 is read 「ほう」.

Reading it 「かた」 would not be a possibility here as 「[Person] が無理だった」 is an unnatural-sounding phrase to begin with.

「[Verb Phrase in Imperative Form] + という方{ほう}が + [Phrase with Negative Content]」

This pattern should be remembered almost as a set phrase as it is used quite often.

It expresses one's idea/opinion that one of the two possible options/ways of doing something is more strange/unusual/unreasonable/unrecommendable, etc.

The two options here are: 1) telling one to be sympathetic and 2) telling one not to be sympathetic.

Finally, the common 'negative' phrases that are often placed right after the 「という方が」 include 「おかしい」、「変{へん}だ」、「どうかしている」, etc.