A few days ago I found a very interesting study about status, attractiveness and sexual success. Unfortunately, the study was available to me thanks to the school where I go, so I can't publish it. Some sites offer the option to access it by providing your school information. In any case, you could read the abstract here.

I'm writing a short summary because the abstract is very general when describing the results. English isn't my first language so my description might not be very elegant.

It is important to note that the numbers are based on the quantity of partners during the last year as opposed to the total number of partners.

Findings:

  • The average number of sexual partners for the previous year for men and women is 1.63 and 1.64.

  • Overall, women are rated higher for physical attractiveness, but there is less agreement of what constitutes an attractive man. This means that not all women are chasing Chad.

  • Financial status had no influence in the number of sexual partners. In other words, economic status is hardly an advantage when it comes to attracting partners for casual sex.

  • Attractive women aren't likely to have more than 5 partners. However, the most attractive women have had more partners than the mean (2 and 3). Women with 5 partners are average or above average. Unattractive men and women are more likely to have a count lower than the mean.

  • Styling in men was a better predictor of a high number of sexual partners than physical attractiveness. This might be consistent with some of RP advice about grooming. However, men with more than 5 sexual partners are all above average in styling and attractiveness.

  • Contrary to TRP beliefs, most attractive and stylish men had less than 5 partners. In fact, many attractive men had less than 3 partners. Also, many unattractive and ungroomed men had more than one partner.

Overall, the data supports that a small amount of men are having more partners sex partners than the majority of men. On the other hand, the situation is nowhere near as dramatic as TRP portrays it. Moreover, this doesn't seem an issue as most men would be able to get into short term sexual relationships if they wanted to. Apparently, male desire for constant casual sex is driven by more than their gender.