Too Many Or Too Few Sexual Partners? This Study Has Found The Sweet Spot

We might have come far in the journey towards sex positivity, but there are still certain standards that are used to judge sexually active men and women in our society. The number is especially skewed against women who are more in charge of their sexuality, and this recent study just confirms this.

Published in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, the study revealed the magic number, or the socially acceptable number of sexual partners, for each gender.

As it turns out, the sweet spot for guys is four to five partners in their lifetime, with two to three of them being casual hook-ups.  For women, the number racks up to a mere two to three partners, with one to two of them being casual partners.

The Germany-based researchers surveyed two distinct groups of people. The first sample, comprising 190 participants, consisted of young adults recruited from a medium-sized German university and the surrounding community. The second sample included 170 participants, comprising German residents recruited via the online platform Clickworker.

The participants from both groups were asked to consider how society would view a 25-year-old man or woman who exhibited one of seven levels of sexual activities. These levels were assessed across seven different sexual outcomes: number of sex partners, number of casual sex partners, age at sexual debut, frequency of sexual intercourse, frequency of masturbation, sexual desire, and frequency of sexual fantasies.

The findings, to put simply, weren’t groundbreaking. Men with a lower number of sexual partners were viewed negatively by the participants, while women were praised for their sexual restraint. There was one novel finding from the study, which was that the Goldilocks phenomenon prevailed.

“There are both similarities and differences in the societal evaluation of male and female sexuality,” reads the study, “However, contrary to common assumptions, moderate rather than extremely low or extremely high levels of sexual activity are most valued for both genders.”

It’s important to note that the study had several limitations, the biggest one being that it focused on German residents only. This means that the results could differ in different societies, as cultural contexts and sexual norms could be vastly different. It also failed to capture the nuances of individual attitudes.

So take this finding with a pinch of salt and live your truth!