New Study Finds That Men Who Pose With Cats Are Less Likely To Get a Date

• 01

  "Men holding cats were viewed as less masculine, more neurotic, agreeable, and open and less dateable", wrote the authors.

  
  via mdpi.

  When shown the cat-free picture of one of the subjects, 38% of women said they were likely or very likely to casually date him, while 37% said they'd consider a serious relationship with him. But a picture of the same man holding a cat gave the respondents paws for thought — and those numbers dropped to 33% for each category. 

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• 02

  After a picture was displayed, the female participants were asked to rate the man on 11 different personality attributes as well as on 12 masculine traits:

  
  via mdpi.

  Some of the traits on the list were how generally trusting he is, what are his artistic interests, his sociability level, leadership abilities, decision-making skills, dominance, kindness, sensitivity and more.  

• 03

  "The findings are likely the result of long-held cultural stereotypes about cat and dog owners," the authors said.

  
  via mdpi.

  "It is important to note that these findings were influenced by whether the female viewer self-identified as a 'dog' or 'cat' person, suggesting that American culture has distinguished 'cat men' as less masculine, perhaps creating a cultural preference for 'dog men' among most heterosexual women in the studied age group," they wrote.

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