A New Study Found That Women Are Less Likely To Date Men Who Put Up Pictures With Cats. Apparently, It’s Considered Less Masculine. What Even?
Modern day dating is a painful ordeal. It’s tricky, it’s exhausting, and let’s be honest – it turns out to be a futile exercise more often than not. Going on a first date is like walking on eggshells, and if by chance you both come out unscathed, the second date is an even bigger grey area. There are rules and an unspoken code of conduct and you waste all your time watching out for land mines you may accidentally step on. We’ve unnecessarily complicated something that’s supposed to be fun, and its not the first time. To make matters worse, ever so often, some obscure study will uncover a new aspect of dating psychology that’ll make you swear off the nasty business entirely.
This one is especially bad for animal lovers. According to a study by the Colorado State University, women are less likely to say yes to men who like cats. Before we get to the infuriating results, let’s talk about the study itself. Scientists conducted an online experiment wherein they showed 708 women between the ages of 18 and 24 photos of two men – both were with a cat in one and without in another. The responses proved that the women were less likely to approve of the men when they saw the picture with a cat.
“Men holding cats were viewed as less masculine; more neurotic, agreeable, and open; and less dateable,” the authors wrote.
The primary question here, of course, is what prompted this research because I seem to have entirely missed the point. Because who thought that some men were undateable not because they were raging alcoholics or closet misogynists, but because they had a picture with a cat? Why would this become a legit point of research? Yes, my mind is boggled too.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBOcDNMHYWQ/?utm_source=ig_embed
But let’s go back to the findings on this game-changing research. On seeing one of the men’s picture without a cat, 38% of women said they would casually date him, while 37% said they would consider a serious relationship. But a picture of the same man with a cat was shown, the numbers dropped to 33% for each category. The percentage of women who said they would rule out the subject entirely rose from 9% without the cat to 14% with the cat. Although there wasn’t a significant decline in positive ratings for the second subject, the proportion of women who would not consider him as a potential partner at all, rose from 40% without the feline friend to 45% with one.
41% of women said they were unlikely to want a relationship with him, and this number rose to 45% when the cat came into the picture. Still a little confused here. Wouldn’t having a pet show that this man is capable of giving love, of taking care of another being would mean that he’s more dateable?
ALSO READ: This Man Is Marrying His Cat To Raise Funds For An Animal Society. Where’s Our Invite?
“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,” the authors wrote. Aha, that would explain this bias.
This might take the cake for the second most baseless stereotype about masculinity, falling just behind ‘pink is for girls and blue is for boys’. If we now start judging our men based on their favourite animal, we’re in seriously bad shape as a society. Moreover, we need to stop forcing age old concepts of masculinity onto men. Masculinity and femininity is a spectrum, and one may lie anywhere on it. Feminine men too deserve complete freedom to express themselves however they like without being stereotyped less masculine. It’s high time we replace labels and boxes with freedom and fluidity.
Here are some cat loving men who are absolutely killing it:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CBahk-Jg_dw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
https://www.instagram.com/p/CALX0ibAPPY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
