What do girls like in a guy? It’s not necessarily their responsibility or reliability. It turns out that a lot of us are suckers for bad boys.

You know they’re bad news. They may cut class, smoke, curse like sailors. But you can’t keep your eyes–and sometimes other body parts–off of them. It’s easy to be addicted to bad boys. And now some scientists think they know why: biology.

A new study suggests that the week before we ovulate, we’re a lot more likely to want a bad boy–a dangerous, sexy, rebel type that we know is no good, like that hot guy who’s perpetually in detention… You know, when he shows up to school at all.

One of the scientists involved in the study put it like this, “Previous research has shown in the week near ovulation women become attracted to sexy, rebellious and handsome men like George Clooney or James Bond.”

Hold up. Let’s be real for a second: Most women, ovulating or not, would look at George Clooney–or in our younger case, Liam Hemsworth or Alex Pettyfer or even Johnny Depp–and want him. They’re beautiful. Case in point: I had a crush on a bad boy that we’ll call Jack Cracker from like, fifth grade up to graduation day. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t ovulating when I was 10. He was just hot as hell to me at the time. And you know what? If I saw him on the street today and he still had that shaggy hair and beyond perfect bone structure, I probably make a go of it, regardless of where I happen to be in my cycle.

So how did this study work? Researchers had women look at online dating profiles of hot “bad boy” types and of good, reliable guys during different times of their menstrual cycle. The women were asked to pretty much rate the dudes as how good they’d be as providers and dads. What happened? “Under the hormonal influence of ovulation, women delude themselves into thinking that the sexy bad boys will become devoted partners and better dads,” researcher Kristina Durante said. “When looking at the sexy cad through ovulation goggles, Mr. Wrong looked exactly like Mr. Right.”

Or maybe Mr. Wrong just tends to be better looking than Mr. Right. What do girls like in a guy? Probably the same things guys like in Megan Fox: good looks, even if it means a potentially crappy attitude. Plus, who’s to say a hot guy wouldn’t make a great dad? He’d at least make really cute kids. And one more thing: Is it delusional to think a “bad boy” could commit to you–or just confident, since you know you’re worth it?

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch Cops to see if I can find my next boyfriend.

Speaking of boys being bad, why do they act immature around their friends? Find out!

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