Scientists found a strange correlation between hot women and condom usage: the hotter the woman is, the less likely it is for the guy to wear a condom.
Condoms aren’t really anyone’s favorite object, but they definitely get the job done… the job being avoiding an unwanted pregnancy and keeping you free of STDs. There are several demographics predicting how likely men are to wear condoms, but a new (rather small) study found an unexpected one – hotness.
The study found that the more attractive a guy finds his hook-up buddy (for a fling), the less he is interested in having protected sex. Even if that partner is more likely to have an STD.
I’ve mentioned that the study is small, because the sample size is of only 51 heterosexual men aged between 19 and 61, so we’re not talking about a big and diverse sample size. Researchers from the University of Southampton and University of Bristol asked them all about their sex lives, and then moved on to the actual study. They showed them black-and-white pictures of 20 women’s faces, asking them the following:
- Please rate the attractiveness of the following woman.
- If you were single, how likely would you be to have sex with this woman should the opportunity arise?
- If you were single and you were to have sex with this woman, how likely is it that you would use a condom?
- How likely is this woman to have an STI?
“The more attractive a woman was judged to be on average, the more likely participants would be willing to have sex with her and the less likely they were to intend to use a condom during sex,” the study writes.
While the first conclusion is obviously understandable, the second one came as a surprise. Scientists also explained the significance of their findings:
“Male perceptions of attractiveness influence their condom use intentions; such risk biases could profitably be discussed during sex education sessions and in condom use promotion interventions.”
Journal Reference: Does attractiveness influence condom use intentions in heterosexual men? An experimental study
