Why Do Men Prefer Women With Fewer Sexual Partners?

Let’s unpack the double standard.

Photo by Lucrezia Carnelos on Unsplash

Let’s start with a definition.

Body count (n): the overall number of people you’ve had sex with.

The greater the number of people, the higher your body count.

The Double Standard

Men and women have different expectations for their partners’ sexual histories. While men generally prefer their girlfriends, wives, etc. to have had fewer previous partners, women generally expect men to have had a greater number of partners. (There are exceptions to this, of course.)

While women with subjectively “higher” body counts are frequently looked down upon or shamed for their choices, men with “higher” body counts are given a free pass (or even praised for this behavior).

While this double-standard has been changing with the modern social climate, there is some biological backing for it.

Women are biologically programmed to be more selective with their sexual partners. Since we can only be impregnated by one man at a time, there is a sense of wanting to select the best possible mate. Thus, being more selective as a woman is…