A survey of 51 straight-identified men hints that men are operating under the delusion that attractive women are less likely to have STDs - and that they would be more willing to have sex with them without condoms.
A survey of 51 people wouldn't cause too much alarm on its own; it's too small a number of people to say much about the general population.
But this is far from the first study to turn up results like this.
As writer Beth Mole reports at Ars Technica, the researchers showed the surveyed men 51 black-and-white pictures of women's faces and asked them several questions:
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 men, ages 19 to 61, consistently said the women they considered more attractive were lower-risk.
This apparent willingness to take foolish risks is not isolated to straight men. A mixed-gender study and an all-female study turned up a similar bad ideas about when and with whom condoms are necessary.
This is probably a good time to note that STD cases are on the rise in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
So, ladies and gentleman, let's make something clear: Unless you're in a long-term, monogamous relationship and you've both received clean bills of health from a doctor, it's never safe to go without a condom.