What's Your Tanning IQ?

A weekend showing of the new indie flick Please Give got us thinking about attitudes toward the sun: In it, Amanda Peet's character is a facialist who indoor-tans obsessively in the pursuit of beauty and chastises her normally-pale sister for getting sun damage.

And now, a new survey by the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) that polled 7,000 adults about their attitude towards tanning returned rather disturbing results.

The majority of respondents prefer the look of tanned skin over au naturel complexions, and a whopping 60 percent believe that sun exposure is actually good for your health (a misguided belief that links sun-worshiping with increased levels of vitamin D). To the contrary, the American Academy of Dermatology does not advocate soaking up vitamin D from sun exposure, but rather sticking with a good diet and supplements.

The (contradictory?) good news: 75 percent of respondents said they would do anything possible to prevent skin cancer. Check out the AAD site to find out the best ways.

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Photo Credit: IMDb