# What fraction of your sexual partners do you regret sleeping with? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123 "2012-08-10T20:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/21 "2012-08-10T21:40:43Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > than just slash your tires and harass you for years, and years later calls you every night at like 4am playing clips of pornos. Now I regret the women of my history even less. I would regret a true harrasser. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/22 "2012-08-10T21:48:03Z")
While one turned out to be a bad idea for a variety of complex reasons, the experience was educational, and therefore, “regret” isn’t the right word for it. So I voted none. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/23 "2012-08-10T21:55:12Z")
One thing I do now regret: my cavalier post above, as it occurs to me that there’s bound to be another poll: “What percentage of your sex partners regret ‘sleeping with’ _you_?” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/24 "2012-08-10T21:58:07Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Now I regret the women of my history even less. I would regret a true harrasser. I did have to move because of him (after he slashed my tires and claimed he was down to get a life sentence over me which I don’t think he meant but not worth finding out), but then I like my new apartment much better than my old one. That’s why it can be hard to regret someone who was a big part of your life (unless something REALLY bad that can’t be taken back happened), because you don’t know how things would have turned out otherwise. But it is really irritating especially because I still miss the good times with him, and I have to be constantly reminded of that stupid fact. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/25 "2012-08-10T22:01:16Z")
None of them. Although I’ve certainly had some crappy sexual partners, I learned something valuable from every single encounter. No regrets! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/26 "2012-08-10T22:11:03Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Yeah, one of those is supposed to be “only one of them.” And that option would have been mine. The only one I regret was the guy who, when we were done, immediately started castigating me because “the woman is supposed to say no! You should have stopped me!” And I mean immediately, like, before the condom was off. Er…what? Sorry, I thought this was 1999, not 1959. My bad. Dick. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/27 "2012-08-10T22:43:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > And that option would have been mine. > > The only one I regret was the guy who, when we were done, immediately started castigating me because “the woman is supposed to say no! You should have stopped me!” And I mean immediately, like, before the condom was off. > > Er…what? Sorry, I thought this was 1999, not 1959. My bad. Dick. haha, woooow. What a douche! I can think of a few choice things I’d say to someone that ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/28 "2012-08-10T22:49:35Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > haha, woooow. What a douche! I can think of a few choice things I’d say to someone that ridiculous. I know, right? Shame, too, he was really cute. Looked just like Daniel Tosh. (I wish I had said anything “choice” or really witty, but as I recall I simply gathered my clothing and walked out in shock.) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/29 "2012-08-11T00:02:22Z")
A small but measurable portion. “Don’t put your dick in the crazy.” I actually have more that I regret **not** sleeping with when I had the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/30 "2012-08-11T00:17:43Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Don’t put your dick in the crazy.” There’s actually a corollary to that: If _you’re_ the crazy, don’t put your dick in anyone. I wish I’d taken that advice a lot sooner. ☹ (Yeah, guys can be crazy too.) Anyway, I got away with it all without any major catastrophes, I think. I’m not dead, neither is anyone else, no one is maimed or seriously harmed, and somehow, _amazingly_, I never knocked anyone up. But if I was to do it all over again, I would skip out on my sexual career entirely. Way, \*way \*too risky and complicated, in all sorts of ways. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/31 "2012-08-11T00:19:20Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > I was very sexual in high school and university. I had quite a number of partners. I don’t regret even one of them. > > Some were good, some bad but I never regretted any of them. > > Editted to change the word ‘slut’ in my post. While I don’t give it a negative connotation, some people get squidgy about that word. This pretty much sums up my feelings perfectly, even to the word slut. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/32 "2012-08-11T00:22:51Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > And that option would have been mine. > > The only one I regret was the guy who, when we were done, immediately started castigating me because “the woman is supposed to say no! You should have stopped me!” And I mean immediately, like, before the condom was off. > > Er…what? Sorry, I thought this was 1999, not 1959. My bad. Dick. That reminded me of something similar, but in my case I don’t regret it because it finally got me over him for GOOD, lemme tell ya. 😛 Most of my experiences seemed like an ok, if not great, idea at the time. Most of them were good or great ideas, but you know how it goes. There are definitely are those “Oh what the hell, why not” times. I know I’ve had a few of those that, if wiped from my memory, would not be missed at all. Oddly enough, the only one sexual relationship with super-serious consequences is one that, at the time, I couldn’t have said ‘no’ to if I’d wanted to. I mean, yes, I could have, no OUTSIDE pressure. But my hormones wouldn’t let me, even though I knew it could be trouble. And it was. 😛 So I suppose, going back now to do it over, I’d _have_ to do it differently. But even at the time, knowing how it’d have turned out, I couldn’t have stopped. Seriously. It was something I just HAD to do. I wasn’t even that young, and not inexperienced, either. But there was nothing that was going to stop me, lol. Not people in the same room, not possibility of pregnancy, nothing. Man, I sure am stupid sometimes. 😛 STILL don’t regret that one 😉 But others, yeah. Could have done without them. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/33 "2012-08-11T00:55:08Z")
None, but it’s only been one and I’m married to her. ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/34 "2012-08-11T01:06:17Z")
Larger fraction, but less than half. The percentage is either 33 1/3% or 28.57%, depending upon how liberally you define “slept with.” It’s not really a shame thing. One was my ex-spouse, and the other was a one-night stand that happened twice. In the latter case, the performance wasn’t really good enough to warrant the risk involved. In the former case, it’s not so much that I regret the sex _specifically_, but more that I regret everything involved in the situation. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/35 "2012-08-11T02:06:28Z")
10.5% ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/36 "2012-08-11T02:17:25Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > 10.5% What, exactly? (Pulls out Diophantine analysis textbook.) So, **Loach** has slept with at least … 200 people. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/37 "2012-08-11T02:25:56Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > What, exactly? (Pulls out Diophantine analysis textbook.) So, **Loach** has slept with at least … 200 people. :dubious: Sure, I’ll go with that. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/38 "2012-08-11T02:25:56Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > While one turned out to be a bad idea for a variety of complex reasons, the experience was educational, and therefore, “regret” isn’t the right word for it. So I voted none. Liiiiiike, you learned that life _does_ indeed go on after genital herpes?? 😃 But seriously, I agree with this general sentiment. I don’t really know what “regret” means anyway. I’m not saying that in some philosophical sense but literally; do I wish I could rewind certain aspects/actions of my life and re-do them now with the knowledge I have currently? Well how did I _get_ that knowledge in the first place? By learning the things I had learned living my life up to that point. If I re-did any of those experiences, I would be re-writing who I am as a person as well. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/39 "2012-08-11T02:40:18Z")
Man, if I started having regrets about my sexual past, we’d be here all month. My only regret is that I didn’t meet my partner sooner. I had to kiss beaucoup frogs before finding my prince. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/40 "2012-08-11T05:48:21Z")
Just one, and she was one of the women I married. (what a complete mistake) The rest I’m fine with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123.md?page=3)