A study featured on CNN attempted to answer the question: why do people think clowns are so creepy?

Psychologist Frank McAndrew conducted a study to answer that very question, and the results are unsurprising, which may help answer why many parents and children find Drag Queen Story Time to be creepy as well.

McAndrew had over 1,300 volunteers aged between 18 to 77 fill out an online survey asking what behaviors, physical characteristics, and hobbies they found to be “creepy.”

“The results indicated that people we perceive as creepy are much more likely to be males than females, that unpredictability is an important component of creepiness and that unusual patterns of eye contact and other nonverbal behaviors set off our creepiness detectors big time,” McAndrew wrote.

“Unusual or strange physical characteristics such as bulging eyes, a peculiar smile or inordinately long fingers did not, in and of themselves, cause us to perceive someone as creepy. But the presence of weird physical traits can amplify any other creepy tendencies that the person might be exhibiting, such as persistently steering conversations toward peculiar sexual topics or failing to understand the policy about bringing reptiles into the office.”

“When we asked people to rate the creepiness of different occupations, the one that rose to the top of the creep list was — you guessed it — clowns,” McAndrew added.

In other words, clowns appear like menacing demons at an archetypal level with their bizarre physical and behavioral characteristics.

But if that’s the case, why do drag queens essentially dress as clowns for their Drag Queen Story Time events?

It could be because they enjoy horrifying children as a sick form of child abuse in their mission to confuse their gender identities.

In any case, it does help explain why many parents are outraged at the events aimed at grooming their children.

Children are now being encouraged to roll around in Drag Queens’ crotches as they play “ride the horsie” games with men dressed as women.