When I was 5 years old and in kindergarten, I had my first ever crush.

His name was Colin, and he was the epitome of dreamy. At 3 foot 9 inches, sporting sandy brown hair and the desirable 64 pack of crayons – with the built in sharpener- Colin sent a whirlwind of butterflies fluttering through my stomach.

I didn’t like Colin because he was nice, smart or sensible, for he was none of the above; instead, my adoration of him found its roots in the rude names by which he called me during recess, the way he once pushed me off of the jungle gym and his ongoing insistence that cooties plagued me with “grossness.” The meaner Colin was, the more enchanting he became, and the more hours I spent fantasizing about the next time he might trip me on the wood chips.

My infatuation only grew stronger as he began to rebel by using awful curse words such as “stupid” or by sticking his tongue out at our teacher behind her back. And when he punched my best friend Rachel in her stomach after she told him about how I longed to kiss him in the treehouse, he officially captivated my heart.

You see, my affection for Colin stemmed from a part of myself that- even at the ripe age of 5- was already in clear control of my love life: my bad-boy complex. It’s the little voice that exists inside of every girl, screaming, “If he’s a reckless jerk, then YOU WANT HIM!”

In an ideal world, girls would go for the sweet, smart, respectable men who would always treat them right and stray away from wrongdoing. I should have been repulsed by Colin’s bad-boy persona and instead become enamored with the nice, nerdy guy who always shared his goldfish with me during snack time.

Unfortunately, this is not the way women think and the phrase “nice guys finish last” has proven true time and time again. In the second grade, it was Trenton, who used far too much hair gel and cheated off of my math homework nearly every day.  In the fourth grade, it was Jackson, who was rumored to have once used the s-word in the presence of a teacher.

And come high school, every guy that drew my attention was practically the poster child for “the boy that your mother warned you about”. It’s not because we girls enjoy being made to feel inferior or are enchanted by delinquents of the law – I certainly don’t. But every girl is subconsciously attracted to the challenges being posed by a rule-breaker with an “I don’t give an F” attitude. Without even realizing it, we begin to crave their validation and appreciation, longing to untangle the intriguing mystery beneath that fraying leather jacket.

So, is the bad-boy complex a voluntary choice of attraction? No. But is it present in every single girl, regardless of whether or not she wants to admit it? Absolutely.

Although this may come as devastating news to the dorkier, four-eyed fellows of the world, guys lacking this “bad-boy” appeal should cease to panic. If anything, they should be glad that they aren’t, at heart, as morally repugnant as those who have such sexy rebellion in their nature. Any guy who wants to can possess the allure of a bad-boy simply by toning down their overwhelming nice-guy facade and leaving a little room for a girl to become enticed.

I don’t mean you should turn into a complete jerk overnight, but embracing your charmingly brazen side once in awhile can definitely help your case. After all, Mr. Right and Mr. Always-does-what’s-right are two very different people.

By Anna Wright

This is labeled as opinion on the desktop version.