If A Woman Has These 7 Qualities, Psychology Says She'll Often Attract Predators
Some traits that seem admirable at first can unfortunately make women magnets for toxic partners.
Misha Voguel | Canva If you've ever jokingly claimed, "I'm a total psycho magnet!" to your friends, the situation might not be such a laughing matter. You might think you're just having a streak of bad luck in the love department — but in reality, you could be attracting partners who are actual predators.
Picture this: You start dating a new guy who seems perfect. Charming, charismatic, gorgeous — he was everything you thought you wanted in a long-term partner. Then, suddenly, he gets weirdly distant, controlling, or starts using you.
The pathological lies won't stop (you learn he uses drugs, has other partners, massive debt, or worse), the perfect man you started dating is long gone, and a total stranger is in his place. Sound familiar?
It's easy to blame getting involved with bad guys after bad guys on your town's horrible dating scene, but if you find that dating people with personality disorders starts to become a pattern, it could be because you are subconsciously attracting them.
It can happen to anyone, so don’t blame yourself. Predators are not usually serial killers. They are people who wreak havoc in their personal relationships because they have little to no empathy or regard for others, have no guilt, do not fear repercussions like others do, and are very skilled at manipulating.
But there are certain personality traits that a woman can have that make her more attractive as a target for a psychopath. And they may not be traits you would have thought of, for they are generally traits that women aspire to — positive traits that, unfortunately, in the hands of a psychopath or other antisocial predatory individual, are turned against her.
If a woman has these 7 qualities, psychology says she'll often attract predators:
1. Empathetic
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Those who are predators are low empaths — in other words, they don’t care about anyone except themselves. It leaves no imprint on their conscience to use and abuse.
Conversely, their victims are often high empaths or emotionally sensitive people. Women like this truly care and are hurt when others are in trouble or pain. They may cry easily at heart-tugging commercials. They are often in helping industries such as nursing or social work.
Predators love these types of women because their inherent caring makes them not give up easily, especially after the predator begins exhibiting disturbing behavior.
While someone who is not so sensitive may run from a man who starts to show signs of aggression or lying, a highly empathetic woman will instead think that she can save or help the predator.
Thus, she doesn’t leave the relationship early and becomes even more bonded and involved with the predator, and convinced that her help is needed, despite escalating troubling behavior on his part.
"I’ve asked men like this how they pick their targets, and they say they’ll tell a sad story about early childhood abuse to see someone’s reaction," says Sandra L. Brown, MA, author of Women Who Love Psychopaths.
"They’re looking for someone very compassionate who is willing to problem solve, who will be all ‘oh that’s terrible, oh my god, you should get some help,’ because that woman has to get hooked into their storyline and be willing to rescue their butt over and over again.
The woman who says ‘good luck with that’ — he’s not going to be chasing her into a corner."
2. Codependent
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Codependent women tend to be reliable, emotionally mature, and take charge. She is the woman who perhaps grew up taking care of alcoholic parents, and who now bears the majority of the burden of raising her kids, or she rescues animals, or she volunteers to help refugees or orphans.
They are often people pleasers. These are not inherently bad qualities; in fact, they are great ones. But in the wrong hands, they can keep a woman tied to a toxic relationship.
Codependents often need to be needed. They will find themselves more attracted to men who are more like little boys, spontaneous and irresponsible, so they can step in and straighten everything out. Women like this don’t feel quite alive without someone to care for.
They are often susceptible to one of a predator's favorite weapons — gaslighting. If the predator is arrested for drunk driving, he might say, "If you hadn’t started that argument with me, I wouldn’t have been drinking."
If the predator is physically abusive, he might say, "If you hadn’t flirted with that guy, I wouldn’t have gotten so angry."
Since the codependent feels responsible for other people’s happiness, she may not spot the manipulation in these proclamations, and instead become more convinced that if only she did a, b, or c, his destructive behavior will stop.
3. Extroverted
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While the stereotype of a woman who gets involved with a predator might be that of a mousy, quiet woman who doesn’t know how to stand up for herself, the opposite is often true, says Donna Andersen, founder of LoveFraud, a site that educates people about sociopaths.
"The fact that a woman who is a go-getter, ambitious, and has a powerful job can get involved with a predator is surprising for people, but those are the women whom ‘regular’ men are often intimidated by and won’t approach.
Sociopaths, however, are magnetic and charismatic, and he’s not afraid of someone like that. An extroverted woman may feel like she’s met her match. She may view a ‘regular’ guy as kind of wimpy."
Women like this often feel like they have the situation under control, even as her Mr. Perfect starts to unravel into something far from perfect, keeping her in the relationship longer than she should be. No matter how smart, powerful, or together a woman like this is, she will never win with a predator.
4. Older
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By the time a woman gets to be somewhat older, her mid-30s and upwards, she’s probably amassed some assets like a car, a house, savings, or even just good credit.
She may have a good job and a pension coming to her. Never underestimate the predator’s ability to mine a woman’s assets, whether financial or emotional.
Additionally, an older woman might feel that the predator, especially when he turns on the charm, is her second chance at love after a divorce or the death of a spouse.
If she wants children and is nearing the end of her childbearing years, she may override her instincts or good sense to cling to her last chance at being a mother or wife, no matter how undesirable that last-chance guy is starting to look.
If she’s been cocooned in a happy marriage for decades before meeting the predator, she probably has no idea that predators can be charming, well-educated, and well-dressed, as her exposure to predators is limited to hearing about serial killers on the news.
"It’s a big problem for mature women because by [the time a woman is older], they probably have some assets and have a lot to offer the men. In the meantime, the men at that age have perfected their scam, and they know exactly what to say to a woman to reel her in," says Andersen.
Being well-off financially, being eager to find love before she is too old, and being unaware of what a predator is and what the red flags are are all combined to make older women a prime target.
5. Close to her father
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We tend to think of women who get involved with toxic men as having come from dysfunctional families where they never learned what a healthy relationship is — and no doubt that can be true.
But, surprisingly, having a healthy, loving relationship with your father can leave you vulnerable to a predator. If you grew up with a dad who was always there for you, you may have a hard time believing that there are bad men out there.
Donna Andersen, who wrote a memoir about her marriage to a man she considers a predator, and who is also close with her father, says, "I was clueless. I had no idea that this type of bad person existed unless they looked like a criminal.
When a guy comes along wearing a sports jacket and a cravat, and is talking about business things… I just had no clue somebody like that could be disordered."
Andersen’s husband ended up milking her out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. She also found out he was lying about nearly every aspect of his life, and even had a baby with another woman while they were married.
6. Loyal
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While being committed to your relationship is a good thing, women who commit to a relationship over their own emotional health can be ripe targets for a predator.
Andersen and her coauthor, Dr. Leann Leedom, a psychiatrist, surveyed 1,300 people who were involved with disordered personalities, and their commitment to the relationship was one of the top three traits those people had. "The problem is, those people are committed to the sociopath over themselves," says Andersen.
7. Trusting
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Brown says that women who have the super traits that may make them more susceptible to predators could have been born that way. They tend to be women who have high levels of trust, compassion, tolerance, and attachment, and low levels of harm avoidance.
They simply do not see the red flags that others might have until it’s too late. Once a woman like this gets involved with someone, no matter how toxic the person turns out to be, it’s very difficult for her to disengage.
Women with high levels of trust will often give all-encompassing trust to a man before it’s earned.
“Most people think when they meet someone new, 'I don’t know you from Adam, you’re going to earn my trust and that is built over time,' but women with super traits will start by thinking, 'I don’t know you from Adam, but you are probably just like me.' They won’t withdraw their trust until it’s violated over and over. That kind of blind trust is dangerous.”
Some good ways to predator-proof yourself: Set firm boundaries and don’t let anyone cross them no matter how much he is guilting you; listen to your gut and don’t override your instincts out of an eagerness to please or to have your last chance at love; do not dismiss or minimize red flags such as lying, cheating or abusive behavior; do not take responsibility for someone else’s actions, even if that person is doing his best to blame you.
And most importantly, realize you can’t change anyone, and that your mental, physical, and emotional health is more important than keeping a relationship together, no matter what.
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