Promiscuity: Social Norms and Behavioral Patterns

Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners.

There is a social norm for sexual activity that is monogamous relationships.

Different standards are often applied to different genders and civil statutes.

Feminists have traditionally argued a significant double standard exists between how men and women are judged for promiscuity.

Historically, stereotypes of the promiscuous woman have tended to be pejorative, such as "the slut" or "the harlot", while male stereotypes have been more varied, some expressing approval, such as "the stud" or "the player", while others imply societal deviance, such as "the womanizer" or "the philanderer".

A scientific study published in 2005 found that promiscuous men and women are both prone to derogatory judgment.

Promiscuity is common in many animal species.

While men were in general comfortable with the requests, regardless of their willingness, women responded with shock and disgust.

Studies of the spread of sexually transmitted diseases consistently demonstrate a small percentage of the studied population has more partners than the average man or woman, and a smaller number of people have fewer than the statistical average.

A 2006 systematic review analyzing data from 59 countries worldwide found no association between regional sexual behavior tendencies, such as number of sexual partners, and sexual-health status.

Much more predictive of sexual-health status are socioeconomic factors like poverty and mobility.

Men are more likely to engage in promiscuity than women

People who engage in promiscuity are more likely to have mental health disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder

Cross-cultural studies have found that Finns have had the largest number of sex partners in the industrialized world, and British people have the largest number among big western industrial nations

The top-10-ranking OECD nations with a population over 10 million on the study's promiscuity index, in descending order, were the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Australia, the United States, France, Turkey, Mexico, and Canada

A 2017 survey by Superdrug found that the United Kingdom was the country with the most sex partners with an average of 7, while Austria had around 6.5.

Gay men typically have similar numbers of sexual partners as straight men and women.

Gay men have a median of 19 sexual partners in a lifetime.

Female promiscuity is common among heterosexual women.

Primitive promiscuity or original promiscuity was the 19th-century hypothesis that humans originally lived in a state of promiscuity or "hetaerism" prior to the advent of society as we understand it.

This hypothesis was based on the idea of progress, according to which all cultures have degrees of improvement and becoming more complicated.

Primitive promiscuity or original promiscuity was considered advantageous because it allowed females to choose fathers for their children who had better genes than their mates, to ensure better care for their offspring, and as a form of fertility insurance.

Male promiscuity was likely advantageous because it allowed males to father more children.

Primitive promiscuity or original promiscuity is no longer a popular hypothesis and is considered to be outdated.