I think the amount of sexual partners a person has is really dependent on how they were brought up. One girlfriend I had had only 6 in her whole life because she was raised to value her body. She also came from a stable home.

Another girlfriend had 13, came from a broken home (father walked out on his own kids to hook up with a woman who had kids of her own whom he then supported while doing nothing for his own).

I myself came from a family where my father was into sexual freedom (yet stayed faithful to my mother) and a puritanical mother who cheated on my father numerous times. Go figure. After being told repeatedly from a young age by my parents that marriage and raising children is hell on earth, I've decided to forego the whole marriage thing and prefer being in relationships that have an escape route for me. After my parents divorced my father had a string of girlfriends, and despite being 65 still dates a lot.

My father has always encouraged me to go out into the world and explore and be free. Even my mother says that a lot of women are like a ball-and-chain and feel the need to negatively control men. This has resulted in me being very wary of long-term commitments, especially when I feel that a woman is becoming too needy around me. I've had two long-term relationships (one for 8 years, the other for 3) and they both ended disastrously. The first one I cheated on a lot, including with her best friend. Being a cheater makes you disreputable and a liar and I have learnt that you do a lot of harm to those you love and to yourself too. The second long relationship I went the opposite way and dedicated myself to making her happy. In the end she got used to it and took me for granted. I left her and am now happily single again (after a total of 11 years being in a relationship).

I am living it to the hilt and feel 10 years younger (24 instead of 34). Life is one big adventure again and I can mess around with other women without feeling the guilt of having to be faithful. I have become very self-aware and when a girl comes on to me looking for commitment I make it very clear to her how I will probably never be ready for it and she shouldn't waste time on me. The idea of waking up with the same person for the next 90 years (I'm convinced I will live a long life) fills me with dread. I would much rather have several sexual partners who I am good friends with. However, finding a woman who feels the same way is hard work - I do know a few though.

Back to upbringing again - I also came from a very deprived area of England where, as a young man, you were nothing unless you could prove yourself physically or sexually. Not being of the violent persuasion (I was also quite small as a teenager (luckily I shot up when I was 19)), I chose to chase women instead, and became quite good at it (at least I think I did). I've had many sexual encounters and they've all been good (except for the time I accidentally made out with a Spanish woman who, after the act, told me she was a prostitute and expected me to pay her, and another time when I was unknowingly with a married woman, whose husband walked into the room butt-naked (I'm into kinky stuff, but that one caught me by surprise because I hadn't been consulted)).