Sexual Spiderweb

Posted by: LifeHut

This post is not meant to come off as taking a moral stance on the issue of sex, but I want to bring an issue to the table that might not always be considered when sleeping with multiple people.

I have thought about the issue of a “Sexual Network” before, but recently I caught an article on Digg that provided a link to THE SEXUAL NETWORK OF AN ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL

Typically, when 2 people are discussing sex and asking about “how many partners they have had”, the numbers that are thrown out seem to only pertain to that specific individual.

Let’s use John and Alice as an example

John: So, how many partners have you had?
Alice: Hehe, 6. You?
John: I have had 4

Ok, so in their minds, they have had a total of 10 partners. So, hypothetically, if they have had unprotected sex with ALL their partners, in Alice’s mind, she has had sex with 6 people, and John has had sex with 4.

Right?

Wrong! Here is a common misconception that people, especially young sexually active people, make.

Alice and her numbers

In Alice’s case, she said “6 partners”. Let’s take 1 of those partners out real quick. We will call him “Partner #1″.

Partner #1 has had sex with 5 people himself. All unprotected.

Whoops. Alice didn’t think about that. So now, technically, Alice has had unprotected sex with 11 people total (6 of her partners, and 5 of Partner #1).

That is from 1 of her 6 partners. But wait, there’s more!

Let’s analyze Partner #1’s 5 partners. Let’s say each one has had 5 partners themselves and THAT IS ALL! I am cutting it off so we can get a rough idea of the numbers game here.

So, Partner #1’s 5 partners each have had 5 partners (say that 10 times fast).

5 (# of partners) x 5 (the partners partners) = 25.

So, Partner #1 has had unprotected sex with 30 people (5 from the original 5 partners, and then 25 from their partners)

Whew, getting complicated yet?

Ok, so, let’s say that the other 5 partners of Alice’s have the same formula as Partner #1.

Well, let’s do the math

If Partner #1 has had unprotected sex with a total of 30 people (remember, we are including partner's partners here) and there are 5 partners left for Alice, then we can take 6 x 30 to get our answer.

6 (Alice's Partners) x 30 (the combined total per Alice's Partners) = 180 people.

Now, because Alice was the last one to have unprotected sex with the 6 men, she technically has shared related fluids with 180 people.

Sure, thinking of this whole equation certainly is not romantic or erotic, but it is important to understand how far these sex chains can really go, especially when no protection is in place.

We haven’t even added in the factor of John having sex with Alice given the partners HE has had.

John and his numbers

John mentioned he had sex with 4 partners. Using the formula above, we will say that those 4 partners each have had 4 partners themselves. Let’s use 1 of those 4 partners as an example. We will call her Partner #2.

Partner #2 has had sex with 4 people. Those 4 people have had sex with 4 people. WE ARE DONE! That’s all for this one.

So, 4 (Partner #2’s partners) x 4 (Partner’s Partners) = 16 total partners.

Now, since Partner #2 had sex with those 4, we have to add that in.

4 (Partner #2’s Partners) + 16 (Total partners of Partners) = 20.

Partner #2 has had unprotected sex with 20 people.

Since this happened with 3 others, we have to combine them

4 (John’s 4 partners) x 20 (Total per Partner’s Partners) = 80 Partners.

Now, because John was the last one to have unprotected sex with the 4 women, he technically has shared related fluids with 80 people.

Conclusion

By the time John and Alice decide to have sex, they will be sharing technically 260 people (80 from John, 180 from Alice). That is A LOT of fluids and disease potential.

With living in a world of being promiscuous, lying, being deceitful, etc., it’s not hard to imagine how many people fall into this spider web of partners when choosing who they have sex with, especially when no protection is used.

Unless you know your partner’s past, inside and out, USE PROTECTION!

Many of us, in this crazy world, struggle to find a partner to be monogamous with. Many married couples stay faithful to one another, and many don’t. Many people date other people constantly, others don’t.

You have to think about the consequences of your actions. If someone tells you they have had “x” amount of partners, that is not enough information. Because assuming those “x” amount of partners have had sex before, the total number will skyrocket with each specific partner.

It’s a sexual spider web and you have to be careful in this day in age.

USE PROTECTION