The INSIDER Summary:
- A survey asked people how many sexual partners they had.
- It found that the average person who identifies as a woman has seven sexual partners in her life, while a person who identifies as a man has around six.
- This study should be taken with a grain of salt, because it's not clear what they define as a "sexual partner."
- You also don't need to disclose your "sex number" to anyone that you don't want to and there is no such thing as an "ideal number."
A study conducted by SuperDrug surveyed more than 2,000 people in the US and Europe about their sexual habits and found that the average number of sexual partners a person has in their lifetime is lower than you might think.
According to their findings, the average person who identifies as a woman has seven sexual partners in her life, while a person who identifies as a man has around six.
And while you might think this is a little low — after all, a lifetime is a long time — apparently these numbers are "ideal" for many in the US. US survey participants ranked seven to be the most "desirable" number of sexual partners a person could have.
You should take this survey with a grain — or a microscopic speck of salt — for a few different reasons. For one, the study itself pretty much suggests these numbers may not be accurate. According to the survey, only 67.4% of women and 58.6% of men have told the truth about their "sex number" 100% of the time.
On top of that, nowhere in the study does it define what makes a "sexual partner." Because the definition is never given — and because everyone, especially people of varying gender and sexual identities, defines "sex" differently — this number could be even more skewed than we think.
Human beings are naturally competitive, and want to know how they stack up to others, so that's why so many people are fascinated with studies like this. But it's important to keep in mind how little a "sex number" matters.
A person's value does not decrease or increase based on how many sexual partners they have. As long as you're having "safe" sex, your partner is not entitled to know anything about your sexual history, besides any STIs they could be susceptible to contracting by sleeping with you.
For their credit, the survey authors at SuperDrug make this point in the release of the study, saying that the "sex number" is incredibly personal and that everyone is free to divulge it or not divulge it whenever they want to.
But it's important to remember that the "ideal" number of past partners your current partner had is however many they felt comfortable with and not to ascribe positive or negative connotations to a person based on how many times they've had sex.
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