New “body count” study reveals how sexual history shapes social perceptions

A recent study published in the journal Sexuality & Culture sheds light on how one’s sexual history affects how they are evaluated by others. The study found that individuals with a higher number of sexual partners, or those who had engaged in casual or non-exclusive relationships, were evaluated less favorably. Interestingly, men were judged more negatively than women for the same sexual behavior.

The study aimed to explore how societal standards and perceptions regarding sexual behavior have evolved, particularly in relation to the sexual double standard (SDS). The SDS refers to the tendency for society to reward men and disadvantage women for the same sexual behaviors.

Despite changing societal norms regarding premarital sex and casual relationships, past research indicates that sex outside of committed relationships is still more acceptable for men than for women. This study aimed to better understand how the number and types of past sexual relationships impact perceptions of individuals and the desire to engage with them socially or romantically.

“The topic of how people perceived others for their number of sexual partners or ‘body count’ has always been of interest to me, and I wondered if perhaps people’s opinions of others changed if sexual partners came from different relationships,” explained study author Tara M. Busch, a human behavior instructor at the College of Southern Nevada

“Specifically, if they would potentially be less judgmental if someone had a ‘high’ body count but no one night stands, or vice versa, or if someone had only participated in sexual intercourse with monogamous partners, would they be seen as more ‘moral,’ etc., previous SDS research seems to suggest this, along with cultural and societal values about engaging in monogamous relationships.”

Free daily newsletter

The researchers conducted an online survey through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, a crowdsourcing platform that compensates participants for completing tasks. The study involved 853 participants from the United States, ranging in age from 18 to 69.

Participants were randomly assigned to read one of eight vignettes about a fictional target individual. These vignettes varied by three factors: the target’s gender (male or female), the number of sexual partners the target had (one or twelve), and the type of relationships those partners came from (long-term/committed or short-term/casual). These variables were chosen to examine how these aspects of sexual history influenced participants’ perceptions and intentions.

After reading the vignettes, participants completed a series of questionnaires. They answered questions about their willingness to engage with the target in various social settings, including friendship, dating, and sexual relationships. Additionally, they evaluated the target’s likability, success, intelligence, and values.

The researchers found a significant effect of relationship type. Participants evaluated targets who had been in long-term/committed relationships more favorably than those who had engaged in short-term/casual relationships. This trend was consistent across various measures, including overall evaluations and behavioral intentions. Participants expressed greater willingness to associate with individuals who had engaged in committed relationships, suggesting that relationship type plays a crucial role in how sexual history is perceived.

There was also a significant main effect of the number of sexual partners. Targets with only one previous sexual partner were evaluated more positively than those with twelve. Participants reported higher willingness to engage with targets who had fewer sexual partners, indicating a preference for individuals with a less extensive sexual history. This preference was evident in both general evaluations and specific intentions to interact socially or romantically.

The researchers uncovered surprising gender differences in evaluations. Female targets were generally evaluated more positively than male targets, regardless of the number of sexual partners or the type of relationships they had engaged in.

This finding suggests the presence of a reverse sexual double standard, where men are judged more harshly than women for the same sexual behaviors. Participants showed higher behavioral intentions toward female targets, indicating a bias in favor of women when it comes to evaluating sexual history.

“I was expecting women to be judged harsher for higher numbers of sexual partners, but that wasn’t what we found, men were judged harsher,” Busch said.

Interestingly, the researchers did not find significant interactions between gender, number of sexual partners, and relationship type in terms of general evaluations and behavioral intentions. This suggests that these factors independently influence perceptions rather than combining to produce compounded effects.

However, significant three-way interactions emerged for interest in dating and having sex with the target individuals. Participants expressed more interest in dating and having sex with women, particularly those with fewer sexual partners from committed relationships.

“The key takeaways are that relationship type and number of sexual partners did not interact with each other, meaning that people judged others for engaging in short-term/casual relationships more than long-term/exclusive relationships, and for having higher numbers of sexual partners,” Busch told PsyPost. “People also were less interested in having sex with, or dating those individuals. It did not necessarily have to be both high numbers of partners and casual/short-term relationships though, one or the other was enough to bring judgement and less interest.”

But the study, like all research, has some caveats to consider. The sample was broad in terms of age and relationship status. Future studies might benefit from focusing on specific age groups or relationship statuses to see if these factors influence perceptions differently. Additionally, the study did not account for participants’ own levels of sexual activity, which could influence their evaluations of others.

Importantly, the use of hypothetical vignettes may not fully capture real-world perceptions. “Other recent research suggests that when evaluating people in the real world, or real people rather than hypothetical people, women are evaluated more negatively than men when their numbers of sexual partners increase,” Busch noted. “This leads me to believe that if we conducted this study in a similar fashion, with real targets rather than hypothetical targets, we might see different results.”

“It would be interesting to conduct a study I described above where instead of vignettes of hypothetical targets, people evaluate others whom they know in their own lives.”

Despite these caveats, the study offers important contributions to our understanding of societal perceptions of sexual behavior. It highlights the enduring stigmas associated with casual sexual activity and multiple partners.

The study, “The Impact of Sexual History and Relationship Type on Social Perceptions,” was authored by Tara M. Busch and Patricia Saldala-Torres.