Diary of an ex-banker: How many sexual partners is average?
Last week we ran one of our daily Facebook polls asking if men and women are judged differently on the number of sexual partners they’ve had. The poll was prompted by a recent episode of Love Island where contestants were asked to guess how many sexual partners their respective other halves had had.
The men were clearly proud of their number, with Adam boasting around 200 (he’s only 22), whilst the women were more defensive and downplayed their figure. Laura even felt the need to add the disclaimer that at 29 she is older than most of the other contestants, which was why her number might be a bit higher.
The reason I mention this poll is that I naively assumed that 100% of those voting would agree with the proposition that women were judged differently. Certainly, this was my experience talking to people within my own circle of friends and based on what I’d seen in the media (my filter bubble).
But, whilst the overwhelming majority in our poll agreed that women are judged differently, 19% disagreed. Although our poll was more a bit of fun than a serious piece of research, if accurate, it would mean that 10 million adults in the UK had a different opinion to me. That’s a serious wake-up call and makes me realise how important it is to pierce my personal bubble and get a better understanding of what the rest of the country thinks.
For the record, the Love Island Contestants’ answers for the past number of sexual partners were:
- Adam (M): 200
- Jack (M): 50 (but later boasted of another 30)
- Alex (M): 30
- Laura (F): 30-ish
- Megan (F): 20
- Dani (F): 6
Of course, Love Island is unlikely to be representative of the whole population!
There are plenty of studies out there that purport to show the actual average number for the country as a whole.
Perhaps the most comprehensive study is the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. The 2012 survey of over 15,000 men and women showed the average number of lifetime sexual partners to be 11.7 for men and 7.7 for women.
Of course, we’re interested in all sorts of things…not just the number of sexual partners people have.
I was at a social event last Tuesday and, as a result, missed most of the England / Colombia match (I managed to see the penalty shoot-out). My host was pretty annoyed that a few people had dropped out at the last minute preferring to watch the football. This made me wonder what would people miss to see a match.
So, just for fun, the day before the England / Sweden game, we asked: “Would you miss a wedding to watch the match?”. I thought that perhaps 25% of people would say ‘yes’. In fact, a whopping 69% said they’d miss a wedding! I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
Today, we’re asking if you have a ‘side hustle’ (a secondary business outside of your main job). This could be to bring in extra income or maybe to follow a passion or as a path to a career change. Since we started Just Six Questions I’ve certainly met plenty of people who’ve done this prior to quitting their jobs to become freelancers or to set up their own business.
Indeed a recent study by the Henley Business School has shown a growing trend in side hustles with 1 in 4 people in the UK running at least one business project alongside their main day job. Henley suggests this increasing trend could be a result of a shift in millennial attitudes towards work and advances in technology, which makes it easier for people to run a business from their phone.
Please comment and share your experiences. Or please take our quick Facebook poll and tell us if you are running a side hustle.
Originally published at jsixq.com on July 10, 2018.
