A new study proves what annoyed girlfriends everywhere have been saying since the beginning of time: boys are dumb.

A team of (all-male) researchers from Newcastle University found that men engage in riskier, more “idiotic” behavior than women. To prove their point, they studied data from the past 20 years of the Darwin Awards, which recognize people who have died because of their own stupidity. Yes, it’s a real award, and among its past winners include a guy who chewed his beer glass and a terrorist who posted a bomb in a letter with insufficient postage and then opened it when it was mailed back to him.

The scientists reviewed all Darwin Award nominations and winners from 1995 to 2014 and found that out of 318 cases, 282, or almost 90 percent, involved men.

Giphy
In their study — which was published in the British Medical Journal and appropriately titled “The Darwin Awards: Sex Differences In Idiot Behaviour” — the researchers write that the gender difference is “entirely consistent with male idiot theory (MIT) and supports the hypothesis that men are idiots and idiots who do stupid things.” Ouch.

Giphy
Lucky for us, they also concluded by saying they plan to investigate further, in a far more entertaining way. “With the festive season upon us, we intend to follow up with observational field studies and an experimental study — males and females, with and without alcohol— in a semi-naturalistic Christmas party setting,” they wrote.

.