It takes courage (and often a couple of glasses of wine) to utter those three words for the first time in a relationship: I love you.
But if you think women are more likely to put themselves out there first, you're wrong, according to a new survey.
The research by Pennsylvania State University in the US found the modern man isn't afraid of telling his partner how he really feels.
Of 171 heterosexual students under the age of 25 surveyed, 64 percent of men admitted they had said 'I love you' to a partner first, compared with just 18 percent of women.
"This shows that women tend to be more cautious about love and the expression thereof than is commonly believed," read the study published in the Journal Of Social Psychology.
But could there be a more sinister intent behind many men's early declarations of love?
The study also acknowledged that "It can be argued that men's falling in love and exclaiming this love first may be explained as a by-product of men equating love with sexual desire."
Academic speak translation: he wants to get in your pants.
Are you cynical about how genuine a man is when he says 'I love you' early on in a relationship? Tell us what you think.
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