The following hard science study does not bode well for all those topless anchorwomen—according to two researchers from Indiana University, male viewers will certainly sit up and pay attention to a sexy female newscaster, but that doesn’t mean they’ll absorb the news any better. Less so, in fact.

The researchers used one of the “most compelling visual cues of female sexual attractiveness”—or, the magical “waist-to-hip” ratio—to test their subjects. They placed volunteers in front of newscasts first with an anchorwomen tarted up in a tight-fitting dark blue jacket, jewelry and lipstick and then with an anchorwomen in a loose jacket with no jewelry or lipstick.

According to a ten-question survey given to the volunteers afterwards, the male participants in the study “saw the sexualized version of the anchor as less suited for war and political reporting. They also encoded less news information presented by the sexualized than her unsexualized version.” Meaning, maybe they were a bit distracted by that lipstick. Female participants on the other hand actually absorbed more information from the sexy anchor than the unsexy one—saucy, ladies.

(More Sex Feed)