# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Normal\_Phase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Normal\_Phase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Normal_Phase)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/41 "2012-08-11T15:01:21Z")
The only sexual partner I regret, I didn’t actually sleep with by any reasonable definition. So none. But what a bastard that guy was, ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/42 "2012-08-11T15:52:38Z")
Half of them. And also only one. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/43 "2012-08-11T16:09:47Z")
Three (people, not percent. Math is hard.). One of them because nearly twenty years later he still feels the need to mention it every time we see each other. Its creepy, especially in light of how utterly mediocre the sex was. One of them because he’s buckets of crazy and it wound up having a lingering negative effect on a relationship that actually means something to me. One of them because that’s ten years of my life that I’ll never get back, and which I can honestly say that I wish I’d spent differently. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/44 "2012-08-11T18:30:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 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. I don’t even regret my crazy ones. They might have been a living hell in the rest of my life, but in bed (and anywhere else we decided to have fun… which, since they were crazy, was pretty much everywhere) they were the bee’s knees. It’s the other decisions made (marriage, engagement, etc.) that have been regrettable. I do agree with your last sentiment. Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I’ve had a lot of past crushes let me know that I’d had a 100% guaranteed chance of success back in the day, and I’m like… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/45 "2012-08-12T02:14:17Z")
I truly only regret one, but only because I was totally in it for the sex and he thought it would lead to more. My biggest regrets in the area are 1) not doing it more often when I had the chance and 2) not doing more than I did with those I didn’t fully explore. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/46 "2012-08-12T04:41:38Z")
All but one. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/47 "2012-08-12T13:47:36Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Hmm. Perhaps I should have been clearer in the OP. I was looking for cases in which you regret the entire interaction with the person. If the sex was good but the person was a shit to you otherwise (or the reverse), and on balance you would have been better off never meeting the person, it counts as regretting that sexual partner. Well that changes everything. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/48 "2012-08-12T15:01:14Z")
It’s better to regret something you did than to regret not doing something. So, yes, there are a few that I shouldn’t have shagged, but what’s done is done. And in terms of evil bad crazy toxic (ex) girlfriends; they’ve happened to my friends, but not directly to me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/49 "2012-08-12T15:11:30Z")
There’s one with whom I regret repeating. But he sure counted as a learning experience: I learned that there is such a thing as bad sex, and how to see it coming. ---
**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 12, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/50 "2012-08-12T17:59:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > What fraction of your sexual partners do you regret sleeping with? You mean we’re supposed to _ **sleep with** _ them??? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/51 "2012-08-12T18:17:20Z")
Gay male slut back in my 20’s - there were a few regrets: Insane Dutch dude - I had to hide from him a few weeks until he moved back to Holland. Stalker French guy. Two very needy Brits in a six month period - lots of crying and begging for me to come live with them and one threatened suicide if I didn’t do so (he luckily didn’t follow through and eventually moved on). A couple of scary Americans who seemed nice enough at the time. Then again, I didn’t exactly meet them at a church social, so I learned to stay away from certain places. But otherwise, have stayed friends with many people I have had sexual relations with and all of the others were right at the time and we parted friends and would say hello when running in to each other over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/52 "2012-08-12T18:52:19Z")
I voted “None of them.” I look back and smile about all of them, to one degree or another. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/53 "2012-08-13T00:26:19Z")
The magic of only sleeping with one person is you either regret zero or one hundred percent. For me it’s zero with a qualifying statement. Certainly there have been times the next day I’ve regretted a weird stretchy position or something but that’s muscle and joint pain, not emotional regret. ---
**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 13, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/54 "2012-08-13T02:22:57Z")
> [@Leiko](#): > > The magic of only sleeping with one person is you either regret zero or one hundred percent. For me it’s zero with a qualifying statement. Certainly there have been times the next day I’ve regretted a weird stretchy position or something but that’s muscle and joint pain, not emotional regret. So 100% true. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/55 "2012-08-13T13:28:51Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Yeah, one of those is supposed to be “only one of them.” I voted for a “small but measurable portion” since _isomeone_ messed up the poll options. Really, I only regret one. All the rest of them just contributed to my life experiences. And even the “one” wasn’t that bad or anything, it just changed things between us so badly that we were never able to go back. Well, I wasn’t. He might have been able to, I don’t know. I’ve never really had a “bad” ex or anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/56 "2012-08-13T15:40:41Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > I voted for a “small but measurable portion” since _someone_ messed up the poll options. In my own defense I was baking cookies. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/57 "2012-08-13T15:46:24Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > In my own defense I was baking cookies. All I see is banana pudding? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/58 "2012-08-13T15:52:53Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > All I see is banana pudding? 😕 Sigh. Obviously I made the banana pudding _before_ starting the thread, not _while working on the thread_. Otherwise it could not have been ready for voters to partake of. My word, what DO they teach in these schools. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/59 "2012-08-13T16:20:18Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Sigh. > > Obviously I made the banana pudding _before_ starting the thread, not _while working on the thread_. Otherwise it could not have been ready for voters to partake of. > > My word, what DO they teach in these schools. The point is not when you were baking what. The point is there is banana pudding which I do not like and no cookies, which I do like. Make with the cookies already! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123/60 "2012-08-13T16:23:11Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > The point is not when you were baking what. The point is there is banana pudding which I do not like and no cookies, which I do like. > > Make with the cookies already! How can you not like banana pudding? Athena gave us banana pudding to make up for _Firefly_ getting cancelled. So do want the crunchy chocolate chip cookies, or the chewy chocolate chip cookies, or the chew chocolate cookies with chocolate chips as an added bonus, or the ginger snaps? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-fraction-of-your-sexual-partners-do-you-regret-sleeping-with/631123.md?page=4)