6 days ago
Revealed: What your number of sexual partners says about you, according to science
It's a topic that many people dread discussing with a new love interest.
How many previous sexual partners have you had?
Now, a study has revealed what your answer says about your prospects as a long-term partner.
According to experts from Swanswea University, it's not the total number of previous partners you have had that matters.
Instead, it's when those encounters took place.
For example, if you have had 12 previous partners, but those encounters were a long time ago, you'd be seen as a more appealing long-term partner than someone who had 12 previous partners but whose encounters were more recent.
'Previous studies have shown that people are generally less inclined to pursue relationships with individuals who have had many past sexual partners,' said Dr. Andrew G. Thomas, lead author of the study.
'However, what's particularly interesting about this study's findings is that this effect diminishes when those encounters occurred primarily in the past and this is something we found across the globe.'
If you have had 12 previous partners, but those encounters were a long time ago (see chart 3), you'd be seen as a more appealing long-term partner than someone who had 12 previous partners but whose encounters had been more recent (see chart 2)
Sexual history and its impact on future relationships has been widely studied through the years.
For example, a 2017 study found that women with 10 or more previous partners were the most likely to divorce.
However, until now, the timing of sexual history has remained largely unexplored.
'A prospective partner's sexual history provides important information that can be used to minimise mating-related risks,' the researchers explained in their study, published in Scientific Reports.
'Such information includes the number of past sexual partners, which has an inverse relationship with positive suitor evaluation.
'However, sexual encounters with new partners vary in frequency over time, providing an additional dimension of context not previously considered.'
To get to the bottom of it, the researchers enlisted 5,000 participants from 11 countries.
The participants were shown simple visual timelines representing a potential partner's sexual history.
Each timeline showed the number of past partners, as well as when each encounter took place.
After viewing each timeline, the participants were asked to rate their willingness to pursue a committed relationship, and whether the timing of past encounters swayed their decision.
The results revealed that people were generally less willing to commit to someone with a high number of sexual partners.
However, they were more open if those encounters had become less frequent over time.
Somewhat surprisingly, the researchers found little evidence of a sexual double standard.
In fact, both male and female participants were found to evaluate sexual history in similar ways.
'The results of this study point to a lack of sexual double standards, challenging the idea that women are judged more harshly for their sexual past than men,' Dr Thomas said.
Overall, the results show that the impact of sexual history is far more naunced than we thought, according to the researchers.
'The online discourse around people's sexual history can be very damning, but the results of this study reveal the picture is far more nuanced,' Dr Thomas added.
'We've been led to believe that society harshly judges those with a sexually adventurous past, but as individuals, people are in fact far more forgiving, particularly if someone's approach to sex has changed.
'The results of this study not only shed light on the universal nature of our sexual psychology but could be used to combat misogynistic discussion of sexual history online.'
