So my girlfriend was, today, appalled to find out that I have had sex with 28 individuals in my life. So appalled, in fact, that she got quite angry about it, and called me a slut (this was largely predicated on the fact that I had slept with a mutual friend before I became involved with her).

I personally feel that my strike rate isn't above average, and, if anything (because I am one ugly motherfucker) is slightly below average, so it's time to do a straw poll to find out if that is in fact the case. I have slept with an average of 1.86 people every year since I lost my virginity, or a new person every 194 days (on average, in reality there's been some severe dry patches, and times of plenty).

The math is [Number of sexual partners]/[Years since you first had sex] so mine was 28/15.

So what is your strike rate? 0.25 or less     6    35%  0.26-0.50     2    12%  0.51-0.75     1    6%  0.76-1.00     4    24%  1.01-1.25     0    0%  1.26-1.50     1    6%  1.51-1.75     0    0%  1.76-2.00     2    12%  2.01-2.25     0    0%  2.26 or greater     1    6%  Total votes : 17

I have had sex with two women over the last 18 years, for an average of .111111...

And no, it wasn't one long relationship followed by another. It was one back in 1995, and another in 2007 with nothing in between or since for a grand total of eight encounters of intercourse in my entire life. Bleh...

In Reply To #2

Listen, do not be sad about that. I'm 100% deathly positive that I have the most pathetic sexual history of anyone here. I'm not even going to bother to vote because my number would not be really representative of anything. I'm really too ashamed to go into detail.

PHEW now I don't have to think up fake women and their backstories!

6 over 8 for 0.75 here. That data is strangely comforting.

Can I be hot without being a slut?

In Reply To #5

Most certainly, as I am apparently a slut while being definitively not hot.

I guess I come in somewhere within 0.26-0.50. Been with my current partner a few years now, and that's it for me.

Fin, I knew you were a slut the moment I laid eyes on you in Brunswick.

I'm in the "or less" category. Having spent a while with the wife.

I'm 4 for 4, 1.0 here.

I think the premise of this topic is flawed, as your girlfriend's argument assumes that there is an inherent immorality from having had sex with large numbers of people, and your counter argument implies that someone who's significantly over the average (by your measurement) could legitimately be viewed as 'bad'. Neither of these options considers consent or trustworthy conduct within the past sexual encounters as factors, which I would argue are far more important.

Unless you're Catholic (or otherwise of the belief that a partner is for life) then having sex with more than one person is not inherently bad. There's no logical behind any argument that says you have some kind of immorality score that's added to every time you have sex with a new partner.

In Reply To #10

So... Your number is?

Also, I doubt you're foolish enough to draw any conclusions about averages from the responses to this poll, but... yeah, this doesn't prove anything. Unless it was a competition, in which case well done for winning dude.

In Reply To #11

Enough to know what I'm doing and not enough to beat Fin's high score. That's all I'm gonna say :P

In Reply To #10

The logic is that in order to have that many sexual encounters in that amount of time one would have to engage in duplicitous if not downright nefarious behaviour at least part of the time. This shows at best a lack of consideration for the sexual partners concerned, or at worst a complete disregard for them as people. Thus, my lady friend concludes, I am morally suspect with respect to women and sex.

It is not the amount of people alone, but the amount of people within a particular period of time that leads her to make this assumption.

My alternative contention is that that number of sexual partners over the course of fifteen years is not unusual, and because that fact, it would be unreasonable to assume a cavalier approach on my part - as you would be condemning a fair chunk of the population if you did so, which is always a shaky prospect. However, clearly the data is not backing me up on this point, so perhaps I should make an alternative argument.

In Reply To #11

Given that it's entirely possible to maintain simultaneous relationships with multiple partners without being duplicitous or callous, that argument falls flat. Whether you WERE duplicitous or callous or not is another thing entirely, but it's completely unnecessary for 'making up the numbers' as it were.

You may well be within averages for your national age group, but you're soliciting responses from a forum full of geeks, a subculture not known for its promiscuity. Also, your sample size sucks balls.