r/TwoXChromosomes: You are the community. You have all the power of the internet to mold it.

When asked, we should respond with “8 Billion” or whatever the world population is at the time.

This will make the fact that we are lying very obvious, and we should readily admit we are lying, but assert that this is the only number they’ll get.

The ridiculousness of the answer matches the ridiculousness of the question.

Body count is private and shouldn’t matter. Some people have pasts, but we create a better future for both of us if we look past that and treat each other well and as equals.

Edit to add:

A couple people have asked why this bothers me. I don’t want to keep re-typing it, so here you go:

In summary, everyone has a different magic number in their head for what they determine is acceptable, and different ideas for how it should be calculated (some say just PIV sex, some say to include oral, hand stuff, and some say to include kissing, and some even say to include people who’ve sexually assaulted you- mostly religious folk are the ones who want to include kissing and sexual assault).

If I include all five of those categories in the number in my head, and you assume I’m only talking about PIV sex, my number will seem ridiculously high to you and you could make absolutely cruel judgements of me - judgements that I don’t value sex, or commitment, or that I’m unworthy of love). If my number is lower than the magic number you’ve determined in your head, you could judge me all the same.

Even people who try to claim they’re just trying to determine compatibility and do not think any lower of people with high body counts, they’re still assuming that other person doesn’t value sex and commitment.

It bothers me because it leaves no room for compassion towards other people. People have reasons for the sex they’ve had, and I’m sure many people have slept with someone who seemed like a promising life partner but then proved themselves otherwise. That one sexual regret could push themselves beyond your threshold of the magic number.