The dating scene is just the kind of thing to make all committed couples thankful that they never have to deal with it ever again. It’s tough out there for singles. Even the smallest flaw can send you to the sidelines, and you might never even know what caused it.
And according to one study from researchers at Colorado State University and Boise State University, it’s even tougher for guys with cats.
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Guys, if you have cats, you should probably keep your furry buddy out of your dating profile pic.
That’s according to a study titled “Not the Cat’s Meow? The Impact of Posing with Cats on Female Perceptions of Male Dateability,” published in Animals .
For the study, the researchers asked 708 women between the ages of 18 and 24 to look at pictures of men, dating profile-style, and rate how likely they’d be to either casually date them or engage in a serious relationship with them.
Whether the guy had a cat with him in the picture made a noticeable difference.
For the first test subject, when pictured without a cat, 38% of the women said they’d be likely or very likely to casually date him, and 37% said they’d consider a serious relationship.
When pictured with the cat, those percentages dropped to 33%. Meanwhile, the women who said they’d never consider even dating him rose from 9% to 14%.
Things improved slightly with the second test subject.
On his own, 40% of women said they’d be unlikely or certain to not date him, and 41% said they’d never consider a serious relationship with him. When pictured with a cat in his lap, both of those percentages rose to 45%.
In explaining the results, the study’s authors suggested that women view men with cats as less masculine.
“Men holding cats were viewed as less masculine; more neurotic, agreeable, and open; and less dateable,” the authors wrote .
“Women prefer men with ‘good genes,’ often defined as more masculine traits,” they added, citing other research. “Clearly, the presence of a cat diminishes that perception.”
They also attributed the results to cultural stereotypes about “dog people” versus “cat people.”
“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.
h/t: Animals
