I know this is going to come as a shock, but it's socially-acceptable for MEN to have a bigger "body count" than women. But not by as much as you might think.
A new study claims to have found a "sweet spot" for the ideal number of sexual partners.
For men, the magic numbers were about 4 to 5 lifetime sex partners, with 2 or 3 being casual . . . and the age of their first sexual encounter between 18 and 20.
For women, the "ideal" was lower: 2 to 3 total sex partners, with 1 or 2 casual ones . . . and an age of the first encounter between 16 and 18. The study used data from Germany, where the age of consent is 14, among peers.
The thing is: The study was focused on perceptions of 25-year-olds. So apparently, that's "lifetime" for 25. (Not, like, for a frisky 70-year-old.) (???)
In any event, people with moderate sex lives are judged most positively, while those at either extreme . . . super active or completely inactive . . . tend to face more "punishment."
And men don't always get more leeway . . .
The study also found that men who had LESS sex than their ideal were judged more harshly than women in the same situation . . . so men still face "pressure to perform," while women are penalized more for "exceeding expectations."