Men are idiots, and idiots do stupid things. At least that’s what women would have us believe. A recent study conducted at Newcastle University in the UK verifies the male idiot theory. However, results of this analysis should be taken with a grain of salt, since women tend to nominate men for their idiotic honors and, more often than not, alcohol fuels a man’s poor decision-making.

“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,” the research team said in a statement.

Researchers from northeast England gathered close to 20 years of data surrounding the idiotic behaviors exhibited by winners of the Darwin Award and the sex of the winner. The Darwin Awards are a playful honor presented to individuals whose contribution to human evolution includes self-selecting themselves out of the gene pool through death or sterilization. Past winners include a man who died attaching a shopping cart to the back of a train and a terrorist who mailed himself a bomb.

Out of the 413 Darwin Award nominations covered by the study, 332 were verified and confirmed by the Darwin Awards Committee. Fourteen nominations were shared by a male and female nominee, the majority of which ended up in a deadly situation thanks to their adventurous sexual escapades. Of the remaining 318 Darwin Award winners, 282 were men and 36 were women. In accordance with the male idiot theory, men made up 88.7 percent of the Darwin Award winner between 1995 and 2014.

Not so fast, ladies. The research team did recognize that there were limitations to this study. One being that women and men nominate men for a Darwin Award more often than men. Men’s presumably idiotic behavior could also be the result of excessive alcohol use. On average, men report 12.5 binge drinking episodes each year compared to women who report 2.7 binge drinking episodes each year. Due to binge drinking tendencies, men are at a higher risk for alcohol-related deaths and hospitalizations compared to women.

Although the study does have its flaws, it is interesting that men seem to throw caution to the wind when it comes to a rite of passage, male social esteem, and so-called “bragging rights.” After all, men have higher rates of being admitted to a hospital’s emergency department due to accidental injuries, sports-related injuries, and fatal road traffic collisions compared to women.

Source: Lendrem B, Lendrem D, Dudley J. The Darwin Awards: sex differences in idiotic behavior. BMJ. 2014.