Bad boys—they possess that certain allure. Women want them, pine for them even. While good guys are busy making homemade valentines, bad boys are busy not calling back. And by some mysterious alchemy, not calling back makes some women pine for them all the more.
Or perhaps it’s not so mysterious. Perhaps the allure of the bad boy can be defined. I believe women are attracted to bad boys by two main causes; one is cultural, the other chemical.
The Cultural Allure
It begins with sex. Sex is a powerful, primal force. In order to form civilized societies, we’ve created rules around sex; we’ve designated places we can have it and designated people we can have it with. While necessary, these rules give the impression that sex is a negative force. Sex is seen as something unbridled, a wild beast that needs to be tamed. It’s dangerous.
Yet our desire for sex is always there. We want to have it. And if the thing we want is dangerous, well, who better to have it with than someone who is dangerous? Who better to engage with in the untamed primal force of sex than the untamed bad boy?
Every time he behaves badly, doesn’t call back, or drives too fast, he’s saying he doesn’t care for civil society’s rules. He’s saying he’s willing to be wild and primal. He’s saying he’s comfortable being sexual. And that’s attractive.
The Chemical Cause
Women’s love of bad boys also has a lot to do with one word: testosterone. Of course, it’s more complicated than that.
Evolutionary biology tells us that all of our behavior evolved to help us attract a mate. In essence, men are prancing around trying to prove to women that they will produce strong children and protect them. Meanwhile, women are busy trying to attract men who will—you guessed it—produce strong children and be protective.
So, how does a woman make this determination? Often it’s by unconsciously registering displays of high testosterone.
In a study conducted by the Kinsey Institute on masculinity and attractiveness, women’s brains showed a higher response to photos of masculine men (defined as men with high testosterone levels). And if women were at their most fertile, just before ovulation, their responses were even higher.
