The usual when bathing a cat is that the cat tries to get away from the water, and if you're at a sink that means the cat climbs you like a tree.

If you simply get in the bathtub/shower with the cat, when/if he/she struggles, the attempt will be to get OUT of the tub - which quite likely is in a direction away from the more delicate parts of your person should you lose control. Being much larger and possibly even a little smarter(?) than the average cat, controlling the poor critter for the duration of a necessary bathing should not really be much of a problem. With the dozen or so cats I've bathed in recent memory, they seem rather curious about the fact that I'm "in there doing it too" which seems to have something of a calming effect on them. Instead of abject panic they display more of a "passive evil loathing" of the process, at least.

I've not been able to convince "she who owns them" that it's safe to expose one's naked body to potentially angry claws in this manner, but she shows no reluctance at demanding that I "do the deed" when needed.

We've rarely needed to bathe fully adult cats, but young - through pre-adolescent, perhaps - kittens can be overwhelmed by fleas and sometimes by other parasites, probably because they don't spend sufficient time away from bedding or sleeping places that may be infested with eggs/larvae. There are few "treatments" that are effective for a bedding area that are safe to use with young cats. A good bath with an appropriate "flea soap" is often the best way to get them back to health; but it is essential that a "cat" soap be used since they may ingest significant amounts of residuals in grooming after the bath, regardless of how thoroughly they're rinsed.

John