Are people today more promiscuous?

Post Reply New Topic

I've been a member of several groups and sites and everytime a question about sexual partners comes up, I am always struck by the high number of partners both genders claim to have had. For obvious reasons, the people who write in these boards are overwhelmingly NTs.

Sometimes I wonder if people in my family would be considered "normal" by most of these people who post on boards (who really represent your average Joe). I mean, most people in my family, inlcuding myself, have only had 1-3 partners. Many of the women have never been with a man other than their husband (and, yes, I do believe them). Only two of the men in my family have a reputation for sleeping around.

What gives? Judging by these people it seems that the "norm" for the NT population is to have had around 10-15 partners.....maybe a bit less for women, but still more than 5.

Which brings me to my question. Do you think that people today, in general, are more promiscuous than they were in the 1950s? Keep in mind that in the 1950s, people married a lot earlier than they do today, so perhaps that is another fact to throw into the debate (which is often overlooked by most researchers).

I wouldn't say that people have become more promiscuous... they're just able to get away with it more in this day and age when compared to other times...

Really? You think that back in the 50s, your parents or grantparents were as promiscuous as today's people are? Don't forget that back then they did not really use the birth control pill or condoms as much as we do today.

Do you mean simply going through many relationships or having many at once? I don't think it's promiscuity unless it's several partners at once.

Still, people are more promiscuous. Society is more accepting of it. Desperate Housewives...enough said.

Well, Merle - it does stipulate that the comparison between the 1950's specifically, not the years in between. In the 50's one could imagine it being less promiscuous than now, but the 1960s being more than the present.


M.

Merle, I was not talking about the 1960s and 1970s. Yes, those were the years of the sexual revolution. I meants the 1950s and before. And I meant promiscuity in terms of the number of sexual partners.

They invented birth control pills in the 60's or 70's, and it suddenly became a whole lot "safer" to sleep around. I think this was the biggest factor.

Oh, God, no!

yes, the pill changed everything from the early 70's here.

still, every time you talk to someone, they're not getting any, whether they're NT, married or whatever.

No, I really doubt they are. Humans have always been pretty close to their ancestors in terms of sexuality, I assume, and that's been carried through. There are some different people popping up now, so if anything, non-promiscuity may some day tip the scales.

I've only had two, both virgins, and as I've said before, I would love to keep it at that. Three'll be my limit, I swear. I just want a best friend to be doing it with exclusively because it just feels better.

Yeah I wonder if it's all just a media generated notion, the perfect sex life. The best way to sell people something is to make them feel inadequate, so... if you have a large percentage of the population feeling inadequate and believing everybody else is having lots...you've created a consumer base, especially in a culture where porn is fairly unlimited and a lot of merchandise is sold with a sexual or sexy slant.

or am i reading too much into this?

The American people are no less promiscuous than they were in the 1920s onward. We just hide it a bit less nowadays The advent of the car most likely being the single biggest influence on that. Sorry guys, but the "good old days" never existed.

You've got to be kidding me! It's the same as in the 1950s? From the standpoint of women, at least, it would be unimaginable. Most women did not have a high number of partners like they do today. Many only had one or two partners, unlike most women today. In Mediterranean countries, most women only had one partner......same for the USA in general. And it was not just because they were prudes and did not discuss sex. Back then, women were "supposed" to not enjoy sex.

One thing they did have, though, is that they had on average more sex within marriage than we have today. I read in an article that the average married woman today has sex with her husband twice a week, if she is lucky, but the 1950s wives had double the sex we have today.

well in the 50's we didn't have Desperate housewives, grey's anatomy, the hills, and RnB music telling people it's romantic to cheat and play mind games...

I think the difference between the 1950's and today is that it's more socially acceptable to talk about it, whereas decades ago you kept that news to yourself. So with that being the case, I think it's hard to determine how accurate the numbers were back then. People just didn't talk about it.