GENDER-RELATED STEREOTYPES OF MALE “CAT PEOPLE” AND “DOG PEOPLE”
Robert W. Mitchell  Department of Psychology 
Background
North Americans apparently maintain a stereotype of men who like
dogs as more masculine and (perhaps) less feminine than men who like
cats.
(see Perrine, R. and Osbourne, H. 1998. Anthrozoös 11(1): 33-40.)
Methods
Undergraduates (n = 587) provided evaluations of two men (one
“average” in masculinity, the other very masculine). Prior to watching a
video of the two men playing a verbal game, the participants were
either given no information about the men, or told that both men were
cat people, dog people, heterosexual, gay, or adopted. After watching,
participants rated both men for 24 characteristics, including masculinity
and femininity, on a Likert-like scale from 0 (Not X) to 5 (X); 2.5 is the
rating for average masculinity or average femininity.
Results for Femininity
The label used had no impact on the average man’s femininity ratings
(F (5, 581) = .94, p = .45).
However, the label did influence the masculine man’s ratings (F (5,
581) = 8.76, p < .0001; see Figure 2). Fisher’s PLSD indicates that,
when labeled gay, the man was viewed as more feminine than when he
was labeled anything else or not labeled (p < .0001). The labels of “cat
person” or “dog person” resulted in the same femininity ratings as did
no label or the labels of “heterosexual” or “adopted” (all p > .10).
Implications
Perhaps because of their association with hunting and being controllable
by people, dogs appear to add masculinity to an already masculine man,
at least by comparison with when he was not labeled and when he was
labeled with masculinity-depleting labels such as “gay” and “cat
person.” The label “dog person” resulted in masculinity ratings for the
masculine man that were consistent with the masculinity-supporting
label of “heterosexual” and the gender-irrelevant label of “adopted.” The
fact that none of the labels had any effect on the average man’s
masculinity, however, is puzzling.
Eastern Kentucky University  Richmond, KY 40475 USA  robert.mitchell@eku.edu
Concerns
It is unclear if men who like cats are viewed as less masculine and
more feminine only by comparison with men who like dogs. To
broaden the comparison, I examined people’s gender-related
perceptions of men given a label associated with gender stereotypes
(gay men, heterosexual men, cat person, dog person) as well as of the
same men saddled with no obvious gender stereotype (adopted men,
men not labeled).
Results for Masculinity
The label used had no impact on the average man’s masculinity (F (5, 581)
= 0.30, p = .92).
However, the label did influence the masculine man’s ratings (F (5, 581) =
3.72, p < 0.003; see Figure 1). Fisher’s PLSD indicates that, when labeled a
dog person, the man was viewed as more masculine than when he was
labeled a cat person (p = .028), gay (p < .0001), or not labeled (p = .017). In
addition, he was viewed as less masculine when labeled gay than when
given any other label (all p ≤ .011), except for the label of cat person. The
labels “cat person” and “gay” were indistinguishable in their lower
masculinity (p = .064).
Overall findings
Apparently, preferring dogs (i.e., being a “dog person”) makes a
masculine man appear more masculine than does his preferring cats
(being labeled a “cat person”), being labeled gay, or being unlabeled;
his masculinity when labeled a “dog person” (or a “cat person”) was
(statistically speaking) the same as when labeled heterosexual (a
typically masculine label) or adopted (a label unrelated to gender).
Being labeled a “dog person” or “cat person,” or being labeled (or not)
in any other way, had no impact on the masculine man’s femininity, or
on the average man’s masculinity or femininity.
Explanation? Conclusions
Once people experience a man as very masculine, their perception of
Consistent with the findings of Perrine & Osbourne (1998), a man’s
him is particularly sensitive to (and easily influenced by) any
being a dog person makes him appear more masculine than being a cat
indication that his masculinity is not “real.” Thus, people’s learning
person. By contrast with their findings, however, this transformation
that a highly masculine man is gay or a cat person can diminish their
was true only for a highly masculine man, not for a man of average
experience of his masculinity somewhat, whereas their learning that he
masculinity. Being a dog person results in the same masculinity rating
is heterosexual or a dog person is consistent with their perception of
for a highly masculine man as does his being heterosexual or adopted.
his extensive masculinity.
It may be that attributes (like preferring dogs and being heterosexual)
For the man of average masculinity, by contrast, people’s experience of
believed to be consistent with masculinity have no impact on a very
his masculinity is not readily diminished by any of the labels used, as
masculine man’s masculinity, whereas attributes (like preferring cats
his having some masculinity is consistent with any of the stereotypes
and being gay) believed to be inconsistent with masculinity diminish it.
associated with the labels.