BEDPOST SCORE: Numbers count against women, but make men 'studs'

In the romantic comedy What's Your Number?, Anna Faris plays a woman who has had more than 20 sexual partners. Because of her sexual past, friends tell her she will not find a man to marry.

It might sound like a silly plot, but women can relate to it. The number of sexual partners a woman has had determines whether she is perceived as a "lady" or a "harlot" by many people.

On his blog Single Dad House, Ed Housewright said a woman shouldn't have had more than 10 partners before him: "Those numbers are totally arbitrary, I'll admit, but they reflect my comfort zone with a woman's sexual history."

In the Men's Health and Women's Health 2013 sex survey, 35% of male respondents said their lovers should not have slept with more than three people, while only 21% of the men themselves had had less than three sexual partners. The double standard isn't surprising.

For men, having a high number of past sex partners isn't as catastrophic as it can be to a woman's reputation. In the dating world, women are prized on their perceived purity, particularly by potential long-term lovers.

Writing for the blog The Stir, Janelle Harris said: "I can't think of one culture, one religion, one social convention that encourages us to explore our sexuality. It's a badge of honour for a man to be a ho, [but] it's a mark of shame for a woman."

Many women whose sexual conquests reach the double digits often water down the number when asked by their lovers. After all, you don't want him thinking you're easy. Being judged is never fun, especially if it is coming from a man with whom you are in a relationship.

A woman, says the modern cliche, should be "a lady in the street but a freak in the bed". But how is she supposed to be a freak if she kept her legs tightly crossed before meeting you? Navigating a world of double standards is exhausting.