Here’s a very intriguing article by Dr. Justin J. Lehmiller, Sex Degrees of Separation: How Many Indirect Sexual Partners Have You Had? that asks us to reconsider the idea of what our “number” is.
Traditionally, that has referred to how many sex partners you have had. But a British pharmacy has produced a calculator (of varying accuracy, the link is in the original article) that will tell you the number of indirect—people your sex partners have slept with—sexual partners you have had.
While the number that comes back can be huge and seem a bit ludicrous, there are some significant factors to consider by knowing your indirect number. As Dr. Lehmiller notes, when you have sex with someone, you are exposing yourself to all of their past partners, leaving you open to STI’s.
I decided to try the calculator and my number is below. I’m not entirely sure how accurate it is, because I’m not sure that I know everyone’s ages. I’m sure people with a more prolific sexual career will have a very hard time just trying to remember the number, never mind ages. Unless you’ve keep a detailed journal.
Does my number seem significant?
6,799,113
