It’s a tale as old as time. A nice boy – presumably you – falls head over heels in love with a girl and proceeds to shower her with attention, compliments, gifts, and whatever else her heart may desire only to have that same girl abandon him in favor of a guy who can be most politely described as “a bit of a jerk”.

Bad boys have been stealing women away from more palatable suitors for centuries. The burly and ruthless American novelist Ernest Hemingway was married four times during his life. The Emperor Napoleon wooed and subsequently wed Joséphine de Beauharnais, the most beautiful widow in all of Paris. Attila the Hun, the “ravager of the provinces of Europe” who murdered literally millions of people before choking on a chicken bone, is said to have bedded so many women during his time on Earth that 1 in every 200 men shares his DNA.

But just why did the women of history prefer the rule breakers? Just why do the women of today gravitate towards the sinners and not the saints? To tell you the truth, there’s no one reason, which is why we’ve compiled this list of 15.

Here are 15 reasons girls love bad boys.

15. They Want To Annoy Their Parents

Girls who come from well-to-do families often find their parents pushing certain suitors on top of them, generally as a consequence of some business deal between the father of the female and the father of the affable though insufferable male.

Many girls from affluent families will run to the tattooed arms of a stereotypical bad boy in an attempt to infuriate their parents and show them that they will not be forced into arranged relationships. For the most part, this behavior is typical among women in their late teens and early 20s, but women with particularly pushy parents may find themselves turning to bad boys in an act of rebellion well into their 30s and 40s (by which point many former bad boys have turned into convicted felons).

14. Bad Boys Are More Experienced

I have a very vivid memory of being 13 years of age, standing in the hallway of my school with half a dozen of my peers and listening to my classroom bully describe in all too graphic detail the story of him losing his virginity.

While 13 is undoubtedly way too young to be “active”, it is this premature maturity which makes bad boys so popular with girls today. Like my bully, the vast majority of bad boys begin fooling around with women (or, more accurately, girls) when still in their early teens, which means by the time they have reached their early 20s they have a wide array of weapons in their sexual arsenal. This experience allows them to satisfy women in a way that we former nerds just aren’t capable of.

13. Bad Boys Can Be Vain

A couple of decades ago, your typical bad boy wore tattered, mud-covered jeans, had a head full of greasy, unwashed hair, and drank directly from the milk carton before emitting a loud burp. Recently, however, bad boys have evolved to be a whole lot less slobbish. While his bedroom may be a mess, the average contemporary bad boy is actually quite vain. Guys of his ilk are sure to wear hair gel and stylish clothes whenever they hit up the town for a night out. Many have tattoos and full beards, which generally can’t be found on their more caring counterparts.

A lot of today’s bad boys are essentially dime store editions of Conor McGregor, making them a popular choice among girls who would very much like to sleep with the most famous sportsman in the world.

12. They’ve Seen Rebel Without A Cause

When a girl thinks about what it would be like to date a bad boy, much of what she imagines comes from the movie Rebel Without A Cause. The classic film features James Dean playing the role of Jim Stark, who is essentially just James Dean under a different name. A surly and rebellious youth, Dean’s character wears a bada*s leather jacket and rides around on a motorcycle, getting in fights and causing trouble. The movie really glamorizes bad boys and is to this day seen as the greatest depiction of teenage angst in the history of cinema. Pretty much every girl who has seen Rebel Without A Cause since it was released in the fall of 1955, has fallen madly in love with James Dean (I may have even developed something of a crush on him when I first saw it).

11. Bad Boys Are honest About Being Bad

As a life-long male, I can confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that guys can be pretty terrible. Even the most seemingly caring male can turn into a total sleaze when he gets turned on, which has resulted in millions of women throughout history having their feelings hurt and their hearts broken.

A major reason women have begun to gravitate towards guys who have very obvious flaws is that said guys are up front and honest about their problems. They may break a law or two; they may get in a fight after drinking a little too much; they may even ‘Like’ another girl’s Facebook profile picture, but at least they won’t lie about their transgressions. Such honesty is refreshing in an age where lying is presented as a necessary evil and practiced by almost every apparently nice guy.

10. They Crave Adventure

Any girl who has dated a typical nice guy will tell you that no matter how loving the guy is, it can get pretty boring after a while. Your stereotypical nice guy, while certainly easy to live with, generally doesn’t do anything beyond working and watching television, with the occasional outing on a Friday night to see friends.

Say what you want about the merits – or lack thereof – of dating a bad boy, I don’t think anybody can deny that going out with somebody who has had their run-ins with the law and other facets of authority is anything less than consistently interesting. Girls who want to trade dull nights watching Netflix for zany schemes and ill-fated road trips often find themselves dating guys the majority of civilized society would try to avoid. To flirt with danger, you must flirt with a bad boy.

9. They Need A Ride

As well as being fascinated with breaking the law and general troublemaking, the typical bad boy is an auto junkie. Most spend a significant portion of their ill-gotten income on car parts and many will have more than one vehicle in their garage.

Young women who are tired of riding the subway or the bus – or relying on their boyfriend’s father to drop them from place to place – have a tendency to gravitate towards car-driving bad boys. Of course, the novelty of being able to go anywhere at any time will eventually wear off, but by that point the morally questionable male will have already gotten everything he wanted.

8. They Feel Unwanted

I know a lot of people think beautiful women have it easy, but life as a beautiful woman is surprisingly difficult. Any woman who is in any way attractive must endure an endless stream of chat-up lines and flirtation techniques, be they forward or subtle. Day after day, they face encounters with nice guys who open doors for them and offer to carry their bags with some vague hope that it may result in the exchanging of phone numbers or a wedding.

Bad boys, however, don’t do any of that. In fact, they tend to ignore women completely when they are not turned on. That means refusing to hold doors for them, help them carry heavy loads, or even give them directions. When a pretty girl is treated in this manner, she begins to understand what it is like to be unwanted. This, of course, results in her actively seeking the validation of the unhelpful jerk who made her feel that way.

7. They Want Protection

A nice guy will usually have a decent job and a nice apartment or house, which means any girl who dates him will have financial security. That being said, he will usually be pretty ill-equipped to deal with intruders and other threats.

Bad boys, stereotypically speaking, aren’t afraid of a fight and most tend to be pretty skilled with their fists and feet when the time comes to use them. Some may even have access to and know how to use a gun. For that reason, a lot of girls who, for whatever reason, find themselves in need of a little extra security will make a conscious effort to meet a bad boy boyfriend, much in the same way some people go out and adopt a pit bull when their house gets broken into.

6. Bad Boys Have A Lot Of Free Time

As anybody who has ever pursued a degree will tell you, college puts a major strain on romantic relationships. Once-strong couples often find themselves struggling to adapt to a schedule which prevents them from seeing each other. This, combined with the stress of maintaining good grades, leads to the demise of a whole lot of relationships.

Despite the fact more people than ever before are going to college, stereotypical bad boys remain staunchly opposed to further education and choose instead to spend their days lying in bed or playing video games. It is this free time which makes them appeal to female college students. Their lack of obligations means they will be able to spend plenty of time with their girlfriends, giving them all the attention and romantic dinners they need.

5. They Like To Party

For some girls, there is nothing like a night out on the town to relax after a long week at work. A lot of guys become less and less interested in nights out the older they get, which can drive a wedge between a couple and ultimately lead to a break up.

Bad boys start drinking to excess when they’re young and most don’t slow down until it kills them in their 50s, which makes them the perfect party partners for 30-year-old women who are not yet ready to hang up their high heels. As well as copious amounts of alcohol, most bad boys have access to a variety of recreational drugs. For this reason, they are almost impossibly popular with women who like to try new things.

4. Money, Money, Money

Although most bad boys have neither the skills nor the qualifications (not to mention the drive) to score a high-paying job, many do earn quite a bit of money. The base of this money comes from legitimate unemployment and welfare programs, but the vast majority of it is usually earned through a series of illicit activities.

Off the top of my head, I can think of three people I know who can be accurately described as “bad boys”. Two of them are earning serious cash as drug deals and the third makes a nice bit of money robbing iPhones and iPads and selling them on eBay. A surprising number of generally upstanding women are willing to turn a blind eye to such disgusting behavior as the money earned from it can provide them with jewelry and clothes and sun holidays.

3. They Want To Change Their Reputation

In the movie Grease, arguably the most iconic musical of all time, Sandra Dee Olsson, portrayed by Olivia Newton-John, abandons her good-girl dresses and cardigans for a pair of leather trousers and a packet of cigarettes. This she does in an attempt to win the heart of Danny Zuko, the school’s most eligible greaser.

Today, there are hundreds upon thousands of girls who would like to follow in the footsteps of Olivia Newton-John’s character and shed their reputations as shy, law-abiding girls to become known as leather-clad rebels, always good for some red lipstick or a fake ID. The most surefire way to earn such a reputation is to hook up with an established bad boy and make sure everybody sees you getting up to no good together.

2. They Like Tattoos

A significant portion of the typical girl’s love for the typical bad boy can be traced back to tattoos. Women have long had a fascination with guys with tattoos and the rise of the internet has made it possible for them to admire heavily tattooed males via websites and blogs entirely dedicated to the subject. Once they have grown used to seeing tatted-up men clad in boxer briefs, they are unable to derive any joy from baby-faced good guys with no ink on their skin.

Tattoos are a favorite of the contemporary “bad boy”. Most have more than one, with many opting for full tattoo sleeves and a Conor McGregor inspired spread across the chest. Such tattoos are bound to look silly decades from now, but for the time being they are undisputed chick magnets.

1. They Like A Challenge

Dating a guy who has spent the majority of his life breaking the rules and doing pretty much whatever the hell he wanted can pose a number of challenges. For many women, however, it it these challenges that make the idea of entering into a relationship with a bad boy so appealing. They like the thought of having a man they must retrain, for lack of a better term. They convince themselves that not only can their chosen bad boy be rehabilitated and reintroduced to society à la My Fair Lady, but that they are the only woman for the job. Obviously, most attempts to salvage a bad boy don’t exactly go according to plan and many women come out on the other end having realized the convenience of store-bought nice guys.